First Core i3-2310 and i5-2410 notebooks go on sale

The first notebooks with Intels dual core mobile Sandy Bridge processors have just started to arrive at retailers, at least if youre lucky enough to live in Taiwan, although other countries should have them soon too and the first two models weve spotted are both from Acer. Intels little chipset snafu has delayed the shipment a bit, although the dual core models werent really expected until about now anyhow.

So what were looking at is the Acer Aspire 4750G and the Aspire 5750G. The first model is a 14-incher while the second one is a 15.6-incher and both models are available with either a Core i3-2310 or a Core i5-2410. We should point out that both of these CPUs differ somewhat from Intels other announced 35W dual core mobile processors, but more on that a little bit later. The Core i3-2310M clocks in at 2.1GHz and it sports Intel HD Graphics 3000 with a base clock speed of 650MHz and it will turbo all the way up to 1100MHz when needed.

The Core i5-2410M is slightly faster at 2.3GHz, but as this is an i5, it will also turbo to either 2.6GHz for both cores or 2.9GHz on one core. It has the same base graphics core clock of 650MHz as the Core i3-2310M, but it will turbo a little bit faster to 1200MHz. So whats different between these two OEM models and the other models that Intel includes on its price list? Well compared to the Core i5-2520M the turbo speed boost is much lower, as this 2.5GHz processor will go all the way to 3GHz with both cores working, thats a 500MHz boost compared to 300MHz for the Core i5-2410M. The graphics will also turbo to 1300MHz, although this is unlikely to be as useful. Finally the Core i5-2410M lacks support for Intels AES, TXT and vPro technology and this to us suggests that Intel has designed it as a consumer CPU, but as a model with turbo boost, something the Core i3s lack.

As for the notebooks, well, Acer has equipped both models with Nvidia GeForce GT 540M graphics with 1GB of memory, a 640GB hard drive, an optical drive, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and handily a USB 3.0 port as well. Other features include Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI out, a pair of USB 2.0 ports, a webcam and various other standard features youd expect to find on a modern notebook. The Aspire 4750G weighs in at 2.25kg and comes with a 6-cell 4400mAh 48Wh battery which Acer claims is good for up to 4.5h of battery life, while the Aspire 5750G weighs in at 2.6kg and features the same battery.

Price wise youre looking at S$1,115 for the Aspire 4750G with the Core i3-2310 processor and S$1,249 for the same model with the Core i5-2410M. The Aspire 5750G starts at S$1,163 with the Core i3-2310, but costs the same as the Aspire 4750G with the Core i5-2410M processor. Acer is currently the only notebook manufacturer to offers Sandy Bridge based notebooks in Taiwan with the B3 stepping chipset from Intel, but it shouldnt take long for other manufacturers to get their products ready as well.

Source: PChome Taiwan