Intel uses iTunes for benchmarking

Here's a bit of interesting for you from the folks over at APC: during a press event at CES 2010, Intel used iTunes to tout its latest processors rather than one of the other oft-used performance-testing suites. Specifically, they showed off an i5 processor not by running some complex graphics simulation or commercial benchmarking algorithm, but by launching iTunes and synchronizing with an attached iPod.

Intel is attempting to make processor specifications more useful to normal people by focusing less on engineering statistics and more on actual applications. What is interesting here is that Intel is essentially admitting the difficulty in quantifying the improvements of their latest hardware. It is, however, easier to qualify their improvements by showcasing their hardware using applications people use everyday.

This de-obfuscation of a processor's ability is a good thing. It means that my mother-in-law can stroll through Best Buy and understand that a given set of hardware is going to perform better at the tasks she cares about most. In the end, it really is less about GHz and more about GTD.