The Fastest Laptop Processor on the Planet¹

¹ The fastest laptop processor on the planet is based on SPECint*_rate_base2006.

² SPECint*_rate_base2006 and SPECfp*_rate_base2006 are capacity-based metrics used to measure throughput of a computer that is performing a number of tasks. This is achieved by running multiple copies of each benchmark simultaneously with the number of copies set to set to the number of logical hardware cores seen by the operating system. SPEC* CPU2006 provides a comparative measure of compute intensive performance across the widest practical range of hardware. The product consists of source code benchmarks that are developed from real user applications. These benchmarks depend on the processor, memory and compiler on the tested system.

SPEC, SPECint, SPECfp, SPECrate are trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. For more information go to: www.spec.org/spec/trademarks.html.

³ SiSoftware Sandra* 2009 (System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is a diagnostics utility and synthetic benchmark test suite that includes several tests for measuring the performance of the processor, video adapter, memory controller and on-board devices. We use Sandra 2009 to measure memory bandwidth performance.

µ Enabling Intel® Turbo Boost Technology (Intel® TBT) requires a PC with a processor with Intel TBT capability. Intel TBT performance varies depending on hardware, software and overall system configuration. Check with your PC manufacturer on whether your system delivers Intel TBT. For more information, see: www.intel.com/technology/turboboost.

± Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel® HT Technology) requires a computer system with a processor supporting Intel® HT Technology and an Intel® HT Technology-enabled chipset, BIOS and operating system. Performance will vary depending on the specific hardware and software you use. For more information including details on which processors support Intel® HT Technology, see www.intel.com/info/hyperthreading/.

ß Blender* workload consists of a ~6.9 MB character model of a flying squirrel.

Ω Intel® High Definition Experience and Performance Ratings Test 2009 (Intel® HDXPRT 2009) is a benchmark that runs consumer digital media applications on a PC, measures performance, and provides an indicator of the expected quality of video playback. Intel® HDXPRT 2009 automatically runs tests using commercially available applications from the following usage categories: music encoding, photo and video editing, and High Definition video playback. Test compared the Intel® Core™ i7-720QM processor to the Intel® Core™2 Quad processor Q9000. Actual performance may vary. See www.intel.com/performance/desktop/extreme/ for more information. Results may vary depending on many variables including the processor, memory, disk drive, graphics card and operating system on the test system. For more information go to: www.intelcapabilitiesforum.net/downloads/hdxprt/.

Δ CyberLink* PowerDirector 7* workload consists of a one minute high-definition AVC-HD 1080P video clip from a HD camcorder where the second pencil sketch effect is applied over the duration of the movie as the movie is exported out to an HD MPEG-2 1080i video file.

Φ Sony* Vegas Pro* 8.0b is a video editing, audio production, and DVD authoring tool. Using the DivX* 6.8 encoder, this test shows how long it took to convert and compress a 1-minute, 59 seconds, 370MB, 1440x1080 HD camcorder video file to a 108MB 1440x1080 HD video file in DivX* format. Extrapolation used to calculate the time it takes to convert and compress 10 minutes of Hi-Def video.

∑ WinRAR* 3.71 workload consists of five high-resolution, 48-bit TIFF images whose file sizes are around 70MB each which are then compressed into a single ~297MB file for archiving.

∇ Sonar 8 Producer* is a digital audio mixing application that can be used for recording, composing, editing, mixing, and mastering your music. In this case, The Sonar project workload mixes 40 tracks and uses 5 input audio wav files. The input wav files have sizes of 2537KB, 2540KB, 2537KB, 2540KB and 5070KB.

λ 3DMark* Vantage is a 3D graphics benchmark, designed for Microsoft Windows Vista* and DirectX*10. It includes two graphics tests, two CPU tests, and several feature tests. The CPU tests measures the contribution of the processor on 3D graphical performance while the graphics test measures game simulation performance.

∏ Pinnacle Studio* 12 Ultimate is a creative video-editing software that allows you to work with the latest in HD editing from AVCHD to Blu-ray. After editing and polishing your video, export them to portable devices, high-definition discs, or even publish them on YouTube* through Pinnacle Studio's built-in disc burning and web publishing features. The workload consists of a one minute high-definition AVC-HD 1080P video clip from a HD camcorder being imported in a project timeline and then encoded into an AVC-HD Blu-Ray disc folder structure ready to be burned to a disc. Extrapolation used to calculate the time it takes to convert 30 minutes of Hi-Def video.

Performance tests and ratings are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of Intel® products as measured by those tests. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they are considering purchasing. For more information on performance tests and on the performance of Intel products, visit Intel® Performance Benchmark Limitations.

Relative performance for each benchmark is calculated by taking the actual benchmark result for the first platform tested and assigning it a value of 1.0 as a baseline. Relative performance for the remaining platforms tested was calculated by dividing the actual benchmark result for the baseline platform into each of the specific benchmark results of each of the other platforms and assigning them a relative performance number that correlates with the performance improvements reported.