Intel Core 2 Duo Chips Announced

[MacRumors]

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Intel announced the long anticipated Core 2 Duo processors today. Intel announced 10 new chips including 5 designed for latops (Merom) and 5 for desktops (Conroe).

Core 2 Duo runs at slower clock speeds than Pentium-era chips, but is still more productive because it handles more calculations per clock cycle, said Sean Tucker, a product manager at HP. Thanks to that slower speed, Core 2 Duo chips need less electricity, drawing just 65 watts compared to the Pentium 4’s 95 watts and Pentium D’s 130 watts.

Intel has already started shipping Core 2 Duo chips to manufacturers, so the first Core 2 Duo Desktop machines should reach consumers in early August. Meanwhile Core 2 Duo laptops will reach consumers by the end of August.

Conroe and Merom are successors to the Core Duo processor which was introduced by Intel early this year. The Core Duo (Yonah) was the first Intel chip used in Apple's switch to intel earlier this year.

At present Apple's lineup is as follows:

Intel: MacBook, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini: Core Duo or Core Solo (Yonah)
PowerPC: PowerMac, Xserve: PowerPC 970 (G5)

Newer processors from Intel sharing a new architecture now include:
Core 2 Duo mobile (Merom)
Core 2 Duo desktop (Conroe)
Xeon 5100 (Woodcrest)

Woodcrest is rumored to be used in the Mac Pro, which is expected be released at WWDC 2006. Apple's use of the Core 2 Duo is not yet clear, but the Core 2 Duo mobile (Merom) is pin compatible with the current Core Duo (Yonah). This means that Apple could easily upgrade the existing Intel-based Macs to the newer processor with no design changes.

[Chaszmyr]

All of the reviews of the Core 2 Duo say that it crushes AMD in the desktop arena. This is good news, now we just need new iMacs, MacBook Pros, and Mac Pros.

[joecool85]

Yay! Chips that don't suck and are fast! (I hate P4s)

[bigandy]

this makes me happy. jumping up and down for wwdc...

[supafly1703]

C'mon Steve, wow us...

[Littleodie914]

So since these new mobile chips are pin-compatible with the Yonah chips (like the one in my MBP), will it be easy/possible to simply buy one and upgrade myself?

[thejadedmonkey]

WWDC, WWDC, WWDC.... Or perhaps another one of those unannounced bumps.. I really don't like them though, I wish Apple would go back to big announcements on things like this, but yeah...that's life. Now lets have the upgrade!

Originally Posted by Littleodie914

So since these new mobile chips are pin-compatible with the Yonah chips (like the one in my MBP), will it be easy/possible to simply buy one and upgrade myself?

Yes. I believe people who have gotten their hands on Core 2 Duo beta chips have put them in their mini's with no difference (except a massive speed boost)

[G5power]

Assuming August 7 as an announcement date of new systems, the waiting is killer.

[ferguldy]

So are we really going to get ALL of these new toys come WWDC? Leopard preview, Merom laptops, Core2/Woodcrest Mac Pros, Core2 Imacs (oh, and maybe a movie download add to iTunes) That sounds like an awful lot of stuff to cover in such a short period of time. What do people think about timelines for introduction here?

[cwedl]

at last, I may be able to build a system that will run Vista well!

[odedia]

Originally Posted by thejadedmonkey

Yes. I believe people who have gotten their hands on Core 2 Duo beta chips have put them in their mini's with no difference (except a massive speed boost)

Only the Mac Mini and the iMac's processor can be replaced. the MacBook and MacBook Pro have the processor soldered into the motherboard.

[atari1356]

Originally Posted by thejadedmonkey

Yes. I believe people who have gotten their hands on Core 2 Duo beta chips have put them in their mini's with no difference (except a massive speed boost)

It's no problem in the Mini's, however, in both the MacBook and MacBook Pro the chips are soldered onto the logic board... so they're not upgradeable.

(although I expect some company like Daystar will eventually offer a "mail your computer in and we'll upgrade the processor" service like they do the PowerBook G4's)

[Aztechian]

Originally Posted by thejadedmonkey

Yes. I believe people who have gotten their hands on Core 2 Duo beta chips have put them in their mini's with no difference (except a massive speed boost)

Weren't the notebook CPU's soldered to the boards though?

^^^beat me to it ;-)

[Chundles]

Originally Posted by cwedl

at last, I may be able to build a system that will run Vista well!

Gee, talk about getting ahead of yourself.

Core 3 will be out before Vista is. I'm going to call it now.

Everybody, be my witness, Core 3 (any processor that goes beyond Core 2 because I don't know if they'll call it "Core 3") will be out before a consumer version of Vista is shipped.

[bigmc6000]

"...Core 2 Duo chips need less electricity, drawing just 65 watts compared to the Pentium 4’s 95 watts and Pentium D’s 130 watts"

Good Lord - does anybody know what the G5 is? I'd imagine that the elaborate cooling system in the current G5 towers probably won't be needed it it's running anything like the D's...

And about the WWDC, I think it is possible for Merom laptops, Core 2 iMacs, Leopard Preview, Mac Pro's and possibly Movie service. However, I think the movie thing could be replaced by a larger capacity nano but that's about it. Only 1, at most, iTunes/iPod announcement with all the Mac stuff that should be addressed.

[twoodcc]

Originally Posted by G5power

Assuming August 7 as an announcement date of new systems, the waiting is killer.

yes i hate waiting. but remember, "good things come to those who wait"

[BeefUK]

Merom in a macbook is all I want, add in 2GB of RAM, and that'll do me. Although they'll be released in the MBP first............looks like more waiting for my first mac!!!

PLEASE PLEASE hurry, I wanna get rid of my PC. The case in like a wind turbine and the CRT monitor is like a heater!

[4God]

My credit card is melting just thinking about WWDC.

[Chundles]

Originally Posted by ferguldy

So are we really going to get ALL of these new toys come WWDC? Leopard preview, Merom laptops, Core2/Woodcrest Mac Pros, Core2 Imacs (oh, and maybe a movie download add to iTunes) That sounds like an awful lot of stuff to cover in such a short period of time. What do people think about timelines for introduction here?

Rule 1 of Apple Events:

You never get all the marbles.

[michaelrjohnson]

Originally Posted by Chundles

Rule 1 of Apple Events:

You never get all the marbles.

Very very wise, Chundles. You are correct.

(In other words, they're always disappointing on some level to someone.)

[Chaszmyr]

Originally Posted by Chundles

Rule 1 of Apple Events:

You never get all the marbles.

Very, very true. You usually only get half the things you expect... the real gem is when you get something you didn't expect.

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by Littleodie914

So since these new mobile chips are pin-compatible with the Yonah chips (like the one in my MBP), will it be easy/possible to simply buy one and upgrade myself?

With things like this, my rule is: If you have to ask, then you can't do it :-(

At the very least, you have to open your MacBook, get access to the processor, remove it, put in a new ones. But laptops are not built to be opened, and the processor is most definitely not intented to be swapped, so you might have to take an awful lot of things apart. Now taking it apart is the easy part, putting all the things back together again with everything fitting and nothing left over, that is the more difficult part.

It is one thing to try these things with a cheap MacMini, especially if your goal is not to have a faster MacMini, but an impressive webpage. Risking a $2000 MacBook Pro is quite another thing. Better to sell your MacBook/MacBook Pro on eBay and buy a new one.

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by Chundles

Rule 1 of Apple Events:

You never get all the marbles.

Considering some of the rumors I'm thinking all the marbles would be:
MacPro
MBP, MB, iMac, Mini processor update
Leopard Preview
iTunes Movie Store
Larger capacity nanos
True Video iPod

So, you're right. Not a chance we're getting all of that (one can only dream).

[Eidorian]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

"...Core 2 Duo chips need less electricity, drawing just 65 watts compared to the Pentium 4’s 95 watts and Pentium D’s 130 watts"

Good Lord - does anybody know what the G5 is? I'd imagine that the elaborate cooling system in the current G5 towers probably won't be needed it it's running anything like the D's...

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=219310

[Peace]

Originally Posted by Chaszmyr

Very, very true. You usually only get half the things you expect... the real gem is when you get something you didn't expect.

Like the 30th Anniversary Mac