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Note that due to discrepancies in the scores for SYSmark 2002 and PCMark 05 with Merom, we were unable to bring you the results on those tests, which is something we’ll continue to look into.

As well as comparing to each other, we also ran the SpodeMark 2D tests on a recently reviewed IBM ThinkPad T60. Featuring a ‘Yonah’ Core Duo - this should make an interesting comparison to the new Merom machines. The CPU in the T60 is a T2600 running at 2.16GHz, which is the second fastest Core Duo available – there is a T2700 but it’s a rare beast and very expensive. As a further comparison we put the numbers up against out own reference E6600, 2.4Ghz Conroe system to see how these laptops would compare to a desktop system – a question that many potential customers will be asking.

Inevitably, the E6600 in the desktop system was the fastest, courtesy of a higher clock and FSB. The higher clocked Core Duo outperformed the 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo in most of the tests, but it was a draw in the VirtualDub rendering and Audio Compression/DeCompression + File Compression/DeCompression/Encyrption/DeCryption test, which is a good result for the junior Core 2 Duo.

The performance difference between the top end Merom and the lower end Merom is quite marked however – over three minutes in PhotoShop Elements for example, which is frankly enormous. The message straight away is clear. If performance is a priority then spending the extra really is worth it in this case. If the price differential is too great for your budget then the mid-range 2.0GHz should be a great sweet-spot, as this is the lowest clocked chip to feature that huge 4MB of Level 2 cache.

In 3D the different display resolutions limited the point of direct comparison to 1,280 x 1,024. At lower resolutions games are CPU limited anyway so it demonstrates the benefit of the faster CPU. However, you’ll most likely want to play at native resolution if your game allows. The results show that with a 1,920 x 1,200 screen a single Go 7900 GTX struggles to deliver very high frame rates with features turned on – only 38.3fps in Prey with 4 x FSAA and 8 x AF – so 1,680 x 1,050 might be a better choice or you might have to choose between resolution and features.

In MobileMark 2005, the AJP lags behind the Rock, probably due to the higher resolution screen. Neither battery life score is outstanding but these are demanding large machines and while Merom is relatively energy efficient, it still draws more power than Yonah. However, it makes up for this with greater performance per Watt.

Verdict

Both of these are impressive machines for anyone who wants to get hold of the power of Merom straight away. The lower clocked AJP does seem slightly lack-lustre compared to the top end Rock, especially as the 1,920 x 1,200 screen wasn’t the best we’ve seen. If battery life is the primary concern you might do better with a Core Duo, due to its lower TDP, unless you can wait for ultra-low voltage Core 2 Duo laptops to appear.

If you can spend the money the T7600 based Rock is outrageously fast for a notebook and it’s well specced too. However, we think the mid-rage 2GHz, T7200 will end up being the Merom CPU of choice.

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