Intel Readies Its Fastest Core i3 Mobile CPU to Date, the 2330M

Since Intel introduced its first Sandy Bridge processors at the beginning of the year, the Santa Clara-based company has been hard at work expanding its second-generation Core CPU lineup and a recent report claims that the company is now getting ready to launch the Core i3-2330M.

Once the 2330M is officially introduced, it will become the company's fastest Core i3 mobile processors to date as its operating speed is set at 2.2GHz, 100MHz higher than the current Core i3-2310M.

However, the rest of the features are similar to that of the i3-2310M CPU model as the 2330M packs the same dual-core design, 3MB of Level 3 cache memory, DDR3-1333 support and has a 35 Watt Thermal Design power (TDP).

In addition, users who opt for the 2330M also get Hyper-Threading, SSE4, Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) and virtualization support.

Graphics is handled by the same on-die HD 3000 GPU that is common to all Intel's mobile offering and packs 12 EUs, Quick Sync Video, Clear Video HD and InTRU 3D support. Sadly, the stock and Turbo frequencies of the graphics core aren't yet known.

The Core i3-2330M has been spotted in the specifications sheet of the not-yet-released Lenovo G770 as well as in some Acer notebooks that have recently popped up in online stores around Eastern Europe.

According to CPU-World, the Lenovo G770 is expected to make its debut in May, which means that the i3-2330M could be launched within a month.

The G770 will also be available with Pentium B940 and B950 processors, so these could also be released sometime in May.

Both Pentium chips will use the current G2 socket, packs 2MB of shared Level 2 cache and their operating frequencies are set at 2GHz and 2.1GHz, respectively.