Why are identical processors clocked at different speeds?

[mitya]

Sometimes you see different laptops with the same processor of the same gen, but clocked at different speeds.

For example, I've seen i5 3337Us clocked at 2.5mHz, whereas on this laptop it's clocked at a much more pedestrian 1.8mHz.

On what basis did Asus (in this case) decide to clock it relatively slowly - or at least slower than others with the same processors? Is it to keep power consumption/temperature down in ultrabooks, or something?

 

[erocker]

Is it to keep power consumption/temperature down in ultrabooks, or something?

Yeah, pretty much. They can also charge a bit more for a higher clocked processor as well.

 

[Chetkigaming]

TurboBoost maybe.

 

[Maban]

The base clock is 1.8 GHz, the turbo clock for two cores is 2.5 GHz, and the turbo clock for one core is 2.7 GHz. It's the exact same processor and should behave identically (save for some BIOS tweaks).

 

[overclocking101]

simple asus charges more for the same cpu/mobo setup just allows it to run at normal full speeds and underclocks it for the cheaper version. OR if it is an ultrabook then it is only for the heat/power consumption