Why cant Intel implement ARM's BIG.little concept in their laptop processors ?

[AbhMkh]

Currently Intel/AMD have two sets of processing chips for laptops namely

The standard lineup which focuses on performance but skimps on battery life and the ULV line which champions battery life but compromises on performance.

I was wondering why Intel doesn't have animplementation similar to ARM's BIG.little concept just for laptops.

For those of you who dont know, BIG.little is a concept devised by ARM for mobile chipsets.The concept dictates the use of n number of high performance CPU cores along with n number of low power/performance cores making a total number of 2n cores.

Now when the mobile phone is running normal apps like web browsers, video players etc the low power/performance cores are used but when demanding apps like games etc are run the high performance cores kick in.

ARM also has a concept called HMP(Heterogeneous MultiProcessing) which basically means all 2n cores can run simultaneously.

I was wondering, why Intel instead of having two lineups cannot implement what ARM has.

They can combine a pentium core with a standard quad core(4700mq or something) and use the same power saving concept(using the pentium core for normal apps and the quad core for heavy apps), this way we wont have to compromise on batterly life or performance.

Something to think about !

Cheers !
Abhijit

 

[seamon]

Wouldn't that cause space deficiency inside the proccy? Intel already has an Integrated GPU inside it to begin with.

 

[SaiyanGoku]

more cooling/power required than traditional setup i guess.

 

[skeletor]

Intel and AMD will do. Linux people will easily implement it in their kernel as well.

But will Microsoft be swift in this? I think not. Because of Windows being the dominant OS for x86 machines, this will also need Microsoft's involvement.