First Quad-core Mobile CPU Later This Year

Intel will release their first ever quad-core CPU for notebooks later this year, the third quarter to be precise.

Dubbed the Core 2 Extreme QX9300, it will surely not come cheap. The launch price is reported to be $1038 in thousand-unit tray quantities. Obviously, the QX9300 will find its way into the high-end and performance notebooks. But, Intel is not very optimistic about quad-core going mainstream for notebooks until late 2009.

It will be manufactured using the company's advanced 45nm process, and have a core frequency of 2.53GHz (1066MHz FSB). Using a socket P package, the chip will include 12MB L2 cache and maximum TDP of 45W.