Apple’s iMac has just got a much-needed speed boost from new Intel quad-core chips to add more brawn to the eye-pleaser. Going from S$1,648 at the Apple store here, these Core i5 and i7-equipped machines will enable users to multi-task better than its slower dual-core predecessors.

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The official word’s out – the next big leap in Intel CPUs will come next month, when the chipmaker launches its much-awaited Core i7 chips, also known as the “Nehalem”.

An Intel blog written by its PR folks confirm that the new chip will be out in November, just as supporting motherboards featuring the new X58 chipset start appearing.

These Core i7 babies are the biggest shift in CPU technology since the successful Core and Core2 series of chips started dominating the market in the past couple of years. …