How soon will we see hex core i7's for mobile?

[jn77]

I think Intel has been dragging its feet on this and want to know if anyone has a timeline or estimate on when hex core i7's will be available on the mobile market.

Before people ask why and who needs that,etc,etc..... The market I am in for laptops is Eurocom, Sager, Clevo, Origin, etc for business use of mobile photo and video real time editing and we are moving to desktop replacement laptops. Surfing the web, reading email, complaining about how long it takes Photo Shop and Light Room to run or load is for people that buy $499 laptops from best buy and complain about how slow their laptops are.

Or people that buy Macbooks that end up being bricks when they can't perform anymore.

It is nice to finally see laptops that will accept 64gb of ram with DDR4, so where are the CPU's with 6 cores for the workstation grade laptops?

 

[synphul]

Current quad core i7's already produce a fair amount of heat in laptops when under full load for extended periods of time. There's usually a tradeoff, the smaller the device, more cramped the components, less airflow options etc result in lower core counts or reduced frequencies. It may happen eventually if they see a need for it. Some people may have a use for something specific but unless it's a large enough segment it's doubtful that intel and oem's are going to cater to such a small crowd.

The hex core i7's generally come with a much higher tdp design, at least in desktop form. Looking at intel's current i7 mobile cpu lineup for 6th gen skylake, the top speed is 2.9ghz (turbo up to 3.8ghz) for the 4c/8t 6920hq at 45w tdp. 45w is a pretty significant drop from the standard 6700k at 91w, however the 6800k and 6850k hex cores drop their speeds a bit and tdp goes up to 140w. It's one thing to cut down a 91w cpu to 45w, I'm not so sure it's as easy to do with a 140w tdp cpu. Just my theory on it.

It might be something to ask of eurocom since they did this once already 6yrs ago. If they're no longer offering 6core i7's in laptops there must be a reason. That's who I would try and find out from since they've gone down that road.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/203529/pc_maker_offers_six_core_laptop_woot.html

 

[Karadjgne]

Current trend in laptops is to make them as thin and light as possible, pretty much gone are the days of laptops weighing like a brick and thick as a pack of smokes. With such thin specs, heatsinks are taking a beating, getting thinner and less effective with every revision. So until someone comes up with a superior cooling solution, high core laptops don't look like dropping anytime soon.

 

[jn77]

Current quad core i7's already produce a fair amount of heat in laptops when under full load for extended periods of time. There's usually a tradeoff, the smaller the device, more cramped the components, less airflow options etc result in lower core counts or reduced frequencies. It may happen eventually if they see a need for it. Some people may have a use for something specific but unless it's a large enough segment it's doubtful that intel and oem's are going to cater to such a small crowd.

The hex core i7's generally come with a much higher tdp design, at least in desktop form. Looking at intel's current i7 mobile cpu lineup for 6th gen skylake, the top speed is 2.9ghz (turbo up to 3.8ghz) for the 4c/8t 6920hq at 45w tdp. 45w is a pretty significant drop from the standard 6700k at 91w, however the 6800k and 6850k hex cores drop their speeds a bit and tdp goes up to 140w. It's one thing to cut down a 91w cpu to 45w, I'm not so sure it's as easy to do with a 140w tdp cpu. Just my theory on it.

It might be something to ask of eurocom since they did this once already 6yrs ago. If they're no longer offering 6core i7's in laptops there must be a reason. That's who I would try and find out from since they've gone down that road.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/203529/pc_maker_offers_six_core_laptop_woot.html

I get it, but I hope the high end manufacturers do something about it soon, maybe Eurocom.

 

[jn77]

Current trend in laptops is to make them as thin and light as possible, pretty much gone are the days of laptops weighing like a brick and thick as a pack of smokes. With such thin specs, heatsinks are taking a beating, getting thinner and less effective with every revision. So until someone comes up with a superior cooling solution, high core laptops don't look like dropping anytime soon.

This is true about the mass market manufacturers, but not so much about the manufacturers that I mentioned.

 

[Karadjgne]

True. To a point. Those companies mentioned however, are not innovators, they are copycat companies. They take existing technologies and apply them to their own ideas. Not a one of them has actually designed a pc from scratch, none of their parts are really proprietary. Pull one apart, and likely you'll find an Asus or msi mobo, Intel cpu, nvidia gpu, hynex or Samsung ram etc. It's all subbed out work, they just supply the case and battery.

So until Dell or HP or Asus etc offers Intel plans for a hex-core capable laptop and makes demands for a low wattage hex-core cpu that's actually going to provide Intel a source of profit, Intel won't even think about investing in that kind of expenditure. Not when the market for 8 thread quads is still peaking.

 

[Ecky]

Intel's roadmaps show that the Coffee Lake core design, to be released in about a year and some months, will have hex-core options for Intel's mainstream desktop and mobile sockets. Right now you need a high-end (and expensive) 2011v3 motherboard to use hex cores, and I don't think any of these exist in mobile.