Intel Core i7-4610M vs Intel Core i7-4800MQ

The Intel Core i7-4610M is a high-end dual-core processor for laptops launched in Q1 2014. It is based on the Haswell architecture and is manufactured in 22nm. Due to Hyper-Threading, the two cores can handle up to four threads in parallel leading to better utilization of the CPU. Each core offers a base speed of 3.0 GHz but can dynamically increase clock rates with Turbo Boost up to 3.7 GHz for 1 active core or 3.6 GHz for 2 active cores. The 2C Turbo clock has not been confirmed yet.

Architecture

Haswell is the successor to the Ivy Bridge architecture with improvements on both GPU and CPU performance. The CPUs are produced in 22nm and offer an optimized branch prediction as well as additional execution ports, improving the performance per clock by 5 - 10 percent. Furthermore, new features like AVX2 and FMA should increase the performance in future applications.

Performance

Compared to the Core i7-4600M, the 4610M is clocked just 100 MHz higher and therefore only slightly faster. However, the i7-4610M is still the fastest dual-core CPU in H1/2014. Even very demanding software or multitasking will be handled easily.

Graphics

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600 offers 20 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 400 MHz up to 1300 MHz, making it about 30 % faster than the HD 4000. This is slightly slower than the AMD Radeon HD 8650G, but similar to a dedicated Nvidia GeForce GT 720M.

Power Consumption

The i7-4610M is rated at a TDP of 37 W including the graphics card, memory controller and VRMs. Therefore, the CPU is suited for laptops 14-inches or greater.

The Intel Core i7-4800MQ is a high-end quad-core processor for laptops which has been launched in Q2/2013. It is based on the Haswell architecture and manufactured in 22nm. Due to Hyperthreading, the four cores can handle up to eight threads in parallel leading to better utilization of the CPU. Each core offers a base speed of 2.7 GHz but can dynamically increase clock rates with Turbo Boost up to 3.5 GHz (for 4 active cores), 3.6 GHz (for 2 active cores) and 3.7 GHz (for 1 active core).

Haswell is the successor to the Ivy Bridge architecture with improvements on both GPU and CPU performance. The CPUs are produced in 22nm and offer an optimized branch prediction as well as additional execution ports, improving the performance per clock by almost 10 percent. Furthermore, new features like AVX2 and FMA should increase the performance in future applications.

Due to these changes, the performance has been improved slightly compared to Ivy Bridge. Therefore, the 4800MQ is about 10 % faster than the former i7-3740QM.

The integrated Intel HD Graphics 4600 offers 20 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 400 MHz up to 1300 MHz with Turbo Boost, making it about 30 % faster than the HD 4000.

The i7-4800MQ is rated at a TDP of 47 W including graphics card, memory controller and VRMs.  Therefore, the CPU is only suited for laptops 15-inches or greater.