2007 will be the year of dual-core processors!

According to analyzes by one market research firm, dual-core processor technology could prevail in two years, which may sound very surprising at first. Think about it! The first copies are yet to arrive, with no serious software background or other support behind them. We consider the pace of development to be surprising because, although it is a fact that raising the operating frequency is becoming more and more difficult, today's single-core top-level processor still provides as much as an average copy of around twenty thousand forints in two years.

 

 

The clear disadvantage of central data processors equipped with two processing units is the large core size, together with the high production cost. So, at first, it certainly makes more sense for cost-effective markets to remain dominated by single-core solutions for years to come. But let’s not forget that it’s much simpler, and thus relatively cheaper, to produce fewer types, so overall, everyone can do better if dual-core products are sold at ever lower clock speeds as well. As for entry-level solutions, the pieces that are most discarded during production, but still workable, are expected to end up here, disabling one half of them.

 

Another interesting issue with dual-core processors is the issue of software licensing. Fortunately, Microsoft is fairly generous in this regard: they have clearly stated that they only look at the number of physical processors, so a dual-core counts as one. In contrast, Oracle, for example, pays per seed.

 

We will only be able to meet these new CPUs in smaller quantities this year, but the biggest burden has now fallen on the shoulders of software developers anyway, as they will have to work hard to make sure that their programs actually take advantage of parallel processing.