Oh, Merom. It felt like just yesterday that we were shaking our heads in disappointment after reading lackluster reviews and wondering when you'd finally make an appearance in Apple's MacBook Pro. Thankfully, times change, and with Intel's mobile Penryn stealing all the limelight of late, we 'spose it's about time the Merom lineup cashed out its 401(k) and sailed off to Maui. According to a PCN (product change notification) from the chip maker, the Core 2 Duo T7200, T7600, T5500, T5600 and LV L7200 are being flagged for discontinuation along with the less potent Celeron M 520 and 530. Granted, the whole family will still be available to ship until sometime in 2009, but for us, it's on to bigger smaller and faster things. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via TGDaily, image courtesy of Gutenberg]

Hot on the heels of Intel's mobile Core 2 Extreme X7900 comes word that the chip maker has eleven 45-nanometer CPUs in the backroom just waiting to take the laptop scene by storm. DigiTimes has it that Intel will indeed launch the five Penryns we heard about recently "in the first quarter of 2008," and also notes that Q2 holds six more chips destined for the Montevina platform. More specifically, "sources at motherboard makers" suggested that the Q2-bound processors will consume between 25 and 35-watts of energy, sport a 1,066MHz front-side-bus, boast between 3MB and 6MB of L2 cache, and feature clock speeds ranging from 2.13GHz to 3.06GHz. As expected, no model numbers have been assigned just yet, and considering that Intel "declined the opportunity to respond to this report," we suppose you should tuck this all away in the rumor folder for the time being.

[Via TGDaily]

All set to one-up the 2.6GHz X7800, Intel has reportedly launched the 2.8GHz successor, unsurprisingly dubbed the Core 2 Extreme X7900. The processor purportedly relies on a 65-nanometer die, but boasts updated specs to go along with the 200MHz jump in speed. The chip will apparently offer up an 800MHz front-side-bus, chew through 44-watts of power, and arrive at OEMs unlocked and ready for a (likely minor) does of overclocking. At the GC Press Day, an Intel representative was said to be demonstrating the new CPU on the Asus G2 and a Dell M1730, but nothing was mentioned about a release date.

Considering that Zepto isn't exactly "the name" in full-blown gaming laptops, we certainly hope this one won't turn out like ones prior, but the Znote 6625WD purportedly packs a plethora of lavish innards if it proves legitimate. The 15.4-inch machine is based around Intel's Santa Rosa, er, Centrino Pro platform, and sports a WSXGA resolution, Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth 2.0, NVIDIA's 512MB GeForce Go 8600 graphics card, DirectX 10 support, an optional HD DVD writer, 802.11a/b/g/n, HSDPA compatibility, and to top things off, an HDMI output. The company will supposedly be taking customized orders in May to satisfy your wildest dreams, and while the bottom-end of the bunch could land at around "$1,100 to $1,200," we imagine that some of the aforementioned luxuries will ratchet that right on up.

[Via Laptopical]

So those pokey UMPCs and super-duper ultraportables that we love to hate are about to get a little more peppy, thanks to a pair of ultra low voltage processors from Intel that just happen to sport that AMD-killin' Merom core. Without much fanfare (or any at all, really -- where's the OCC ULV chopper?), Santa Clara introduced the 1.06GHz U7500 and 1.2GHz U7600 CPUs today, the latest chips to join the powerful Core 2 Duo family. Headed straight for the smallest of the small PCs, the new models are compatible with both the Napa and upcoming Santa Rosa platforms, with a minor pinout change necessary to accommodate the latter when it's released. Pricing details were not immediately available when we wrote this, but you can probably expect these two low-enders to be some of the cheapest Merom parts yet.

Gigabyte chose to unveil the products it'll be showing off at CeBit today, and though we had been anticipating the 6.5-inch, Via-powered U60 UMPC Medion-rebadge, the five new Santa Rosa / Centrino Pro-based notebooks come as mostly a surprise. Built around Intel's latest, Merom-specific mobile platform, all five models sport a capacious 10,000mAH eight-hour battery and are loaded up with Vista. The entire spec sheets won't be made available until the show kicks off, but what we do know for now is that the W251U is a 12.1-inch ultraportable with built-in webcam, the W466U and W468N are both 14.1-inch machines -- with the latter offering 256MB NVIDIA NB8P graphics as well as Robson quick-boot technology -- the 15.4-inch W566N sports the same chipset along with Dual-Heatpipe cooling, and the 17-inch W756N is a gaming workhorse with 1GB worth of graphics cards in SLI. Obviously with the lack of details comes a dearth of info on pricing and availability as well, but all that and more should be revealed in just a few short days. [Warning: PDF link].

[Via Core Duo News, thanks Staska]

It's not always easy to balance power and portability when it comes to gaming notebooks, mainly because gamers want to stuff as many graphics cards, fans, and sticks of RAM as possible into a big screen package. Well ABS Computer Technology's new Mayhem Blackhawk may only offer a 14.1-inch XGA display, but it makes up for the relatively low resolution by offering a Core 2 Duo processor, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 graphics, up to 2GB of RAM, and 160GB of storage in just a 3.8-pound enclosure. Also on board are a DVD burner, three-flavor WiFi, your choice of XP or Vista, and of course the all-important 56.6kbps modem. All this and more -- like a free Logitech headset, Age of Empires III, Far Cry, and MS Works 2004 -- can be yours starting at $1,500.

[Via Computer Shopper]

If you're interested in picking a svelte new Merom-powered lappie, but just aren't down with the traditional Windows XP approach that essentially every manufacturer in the world forces upon you, DosPara feels your pain. Hot on the heels of its 13-inch NW2 and 15.4-inch Prime Note Chronos NR2, the forthcoming (and yet-to-be-named) successor sports a typical black / silver enclosure and gives you the choice of having an operating system pre-installed or not. Beneath the hood lies a 1.66GHz Intel T5500 Core 2 Duo processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 100GB SATA hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 256MB graphics card, dual-layer DVD burner, built-in 802.11a/b/g, and a 4-in-1 flash card reader. Additionally, the unit boasts a WSXGA+ widescreen LCD and a bevy of ports including PCMCIA, 4-pin FireWire, VGA / S-Video output, Ethernet, 56k modem, audio in / out, and four USB 2.0 ports to boot. The 6.4-pound machine will reportedly only last "three hours" on a single charge, but it's not like we expected a gaming-centric laptop to carry you through the workday anyway. Nevertheless, the impending Chronos should be available soon for around €1,000 ($1,282).

We know Epson's engineering team prides itself on cranking out the tiniest, most miniscule products they possibly can, and the company has veered from the printing / scanning world for a bit to unveil its Endeavor ST100 "micro PC." While the Endeavor NA101 did its wee thing on the laptop side, the ST100 packs an Intel Core 2 Duo (T7200, T7400, or T7600) processor, ATi's Radeon Xpress 200M graphics chipset, up to 2GB of DDR2 RAM, 40GB to 160GB SATA drive options, and a dual-layer DVD burner. It also sports a ho hum port assortment including VGA, audio in / out, Ethernet, 56k modem, and six USB 2.0 ports with a pair of them being on the front panel. While it doesn't quite undercut the Mac Mini's 6.5- x 6.5- x 2-inch enclosure and 2.9-pound weight, this PC weighs in at just over five pounds while boasting a 7.28- x 7.68- x 2.95-inch package. Those looking for an ultraportable desktop on a budget shouldn't find much to complain about here, as the ST100 starts at just ¥59,850 ($508), but we're sure adding a speedier CPU and gobs of RAM will ratchet that right up.

[Via Akihabara News]

What a time to be alive for the discriminating gamer: not only has next-gen console madness begun sweeping the country prior to the PS3 and Wii launches, even PC manufacturers are dropping some impressive hardware, with Toshiba offering up a Merom-powered version of its Satellite P100 hot on the heels of Dell's quad-core XPS 710 desktop. Besides a dual-core 2.0GHz T7200 CPU, the 17-inch P100-ST9742 also brings a 1,680 x 1,050 resolution, top-of-the-line NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GTX graphics, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 100GB, 7,200RPM hard drive, 5-in-1 card reader, DVD SuperDuperMulti drive, and three-flavor WiFi plus Bluetooth. On the connection tip, this 7.1-pound machine delivers four USB 2.0 ports along with RGB, S-video, DVI, FireWire, S/PDIF, and both PCMCIA and ExpressCard slots. Getting your frag on Toshiba-style will set you back $2,900, and for now, this system is available exclusively through the company's website.

[Via The Inquirer]

Although the new Core 2 Duo chips haven't exactly lived up to their hype, it stands to reason that Apple will soon grace MacBooks with the Merom magic as it has with the MacBook Pros. When would such a bump happen? AppleInsider is reporting that the new C2D MacBooks may be coming as soon as this week, or possibly later this month. Still, we're more concerned about a second generation of MacBooks that fixes the whining, discoloration, heat issues, and other such problems, rather than the meager 10 percent boost a Core 2 Duo is going to bring to the table.

We're not really sure how exactly Apple measured the new Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros in order to get a purported 39 percent speed increase from the previous models, but then again, that's what we depend upon the free and independent press for. Macworld has taken the new MBPs for a test flight and, guess what, Apple's been pulling our legs. Yep, Macworld could only get a 10 percent bump on the new 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MBP (just like those Core 2 Duo iMacs) when compared to the original 2.16GHz Intel Core Duo MBP running the Speedmark benchmark. The top of the line 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MBP with 2GB of RAM, as expected, was the leader of the pack, coming in with a Speedmark score of 226 ("19 percent faster than the older model"), and bested its companions in every category ranging from running Unreal Tournament 2004 to video Cinema 4D rendering. Now all we need are some Core 2 Duo MacBooks and we'll have the family fully upgraded -- that is, until they get those quad-core chips going.

This 15.4-inch design seems pretty popular with the OEM types in Asia -- we just saw Wolf-N-Fox bust out a nearly identical model a couple of weeks ago -- but just in case you were feeling constricted by your current options for a middling Core 2 Duo boringbook, we thought we'd let you know about Frontier Kouziro's new FRNV71 BTO version of the laptop. Based on a 1.66GHz T5500 Core 2 Duo processor (there's also the FRNV11 which sports a 1.46GHz Celeron M 410 CPU), the laptop boasts of a weak sauce 1,280 x 800 display, 256MB of RAM, 60GB HDD and a CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive. Luckily, connectivity options such as gigabit Ethernet, FireWire, a multi-card reader and ExpressCard/54 make things a bit more exciting. The price also isn't too shabby for a Japanese laptop, at 129,900 yen, about $1,106 USD.

[Via Akihabara]

Well, that didn't take long. Shortly after a shiny new Core 2 Duo-equipped MacBook Pro arrived on their doorstep, the folks at iFixit lovingly cracked it open so you don't have to. There aren't a whole lot of surprises under the hood -- unless you haven't already heard about a certain undisclosed bonus -- but if you want to see where all your hard-earned money went up close, they've got the pics to satisfy you.

[Via Digg]