Intel lifts lid off Core 2 Duo

Intel's Core micro-architecture promises improved performance and significant power savings

Intel is planning to sell its forthcoming low-power dual-core desktop and laptop processors under the brand name Core 2 Duo when they come out later this summer, the company said yesterday. 

The desktop processor has been developed under the Conroe codename and the mobile model is better known under its Merom name.

They are the first Intel chips scheduled to use the new Core micro-architecture which promises significant power savings and improved performance.

Intel said at its Developer Forum in San Francisco last March that the desktop processor will run 40 per cent faster while cutting power consumption by 40 per cent.

Intel uses the Core Duo moniker for its current line of microprocessors that do not use the Core micro-architecture to indicate that the chips have two processing engines.