A new research report from analyst IHS iSuppli's Compute Platform division estimates that by 2015 nearly 50 percent of notebooks will boast quad-core microprocessors. Just nine percent of notebooks currently available offer quad-core computing power, marking a 4o percent jump in only four years.
The massive production boost - from 21 million this year to 160 million in 2015 - boils down to the never-ending quest for progress and increased usability, noted Matthew Wilkins, a principal analyst with IHS, in his "Desktop and Notebook PC Technology Penetration Forecast" report. To that end, quad-core microprocessors will eventually make way for six-core technology - a transition that hasn't quite started, but will soon says the researcher.
"The cornerstone of PC performance, the microprocessor, is continuing to evolve to provide new levels of performance to the PC market," said Wilkins. "For decades, the main focus for increasing microprocessor performance was in the area of clock speed, with suppliers battling to offer parts with the most megahertz or gigahertz. However, the competition now has shifted to the battle over cores, with suppliers racing to offer parts that boost performance by providing greater parallelism. The battle now has moved from the dual-core segment into the quad-core area—and next will spread to the six-core realm."
Six-core microprocessors currently make up zero percent of the PC notebook market, so the burgeoning technology can't go anywhere but up. By 2015, IHS believes that lowly figure will grow to 18 percent and total nearly 59 million units, adding that the constant hardware tweaks are the result of an ever-increasing consumer need for mobility. The more we work outside the office, reasons Wilkins, the more powerful our already powerful machines need to be.
Do you already own a quad-core notebook? Will you pick up a six-core model once production ramps up? Let us know in the comment section.
