Upcoming Mobile Intel Penryn Prototype Previewed

[MacRumors]

Taiwanese site Coolaler previewed an early version of Intel's upcoming Penryn X9000 CPU. A translation of some of the findings was provided by Fudzilla.

The CPU previewed was an engineering build of the Penryn X9000 CPU clocked at 2.8GHz. Along with the 45-nm die shrink, the upcoming mobile CPUs increase the L2 cache, and boost processor speeds. The 3dmark06 benchmark for the production sample 2.8GHz processor gives a CPU score of 2569, which compares to scores of 2106-2339 for the current top-of-the-line 2.6GHz CPU available as a build-to-order open in MacBook Pros.

Obviously, not too much weight should be given to benchmarks for early engineering sample CPUs, but the release of new mobile processors may trigger an upgrade cycle for Apple's MacBook Pro laptops, which have not seen substantial updates since June.

The new mobile Penryn processors are expected to be released in January 2008.

Article Link

[Darkroom]

january iMac update? yes please...

[miketcool]

No new MBP for me, but I would like a a desktop in the next few months...

[Stella]

I'm waiting upon the next mobile processors. thus I'm very interested in the next batch... assuming the price has been adjusted to the current Canadian currency. I don't mind paying a fair price, I dislike being ripped off, otherwise, I may as well live back in ( Rip off ) UK.

[daddywags214]

those will be hot!

[plumbingandtech]

Why?

Shouldn't the decrease in die size help eleviate that?

[BKKbill]

And the march for speed continues. Onward and upward.

[basesloaded190]

hopefully we will see the very soon in the mbp then very shortly after the imacs then eventually the macbook lineup

[OscarAlert]

IMAC UPDATE PLEASE APPLE I BEG YOU !


now that thats out of my system....those cpus look great!

WHY ARE THEY STILL 800MHZ Bus tho can some one explain maybe?

[IzzyJG99]

This bodes well for me when I plan on getting my new iMac in about 10 months. By then there very well may be a 3.0 Ghz BTO option.

[thePolitikPoet]

Who cares about the MBP (so people i guess). I looking to switch to a Mac early next year but the vid card and processors are keeping me back. Want to wait for Penryn and acording to the update cycles on MacRumors if i wait 3 months i might get a better deal....But i might not be able to wait that long it would suck if there is a update the next month i buy my new system

[bigbossbmb]

Guess what? Intel will announce these in January, but they won't ship til mid/late February....

The new Xeons for the Mac Pro were "released" last month and nobody is shipping them (the faster 1600mhz FSB ones) yet. My G5 are on its last legs and I am in desperate need for new MPs to start shipping.

I don't doubt that Apple can/probably will announce new iMacs/MBPs at MacWorld. But don't put too much stock in them shipping at that time.

[thagomizer]

Originally Posted by OscarAlert

IMAC UPDATE PLEASE APPLE I BEG YOU !

WHY ARE THEY STILL 800MHZ Bus tho can some one explain maybe?

1066MHz bus for mobile systems isn't due until Q2 (probably late Q2), with the "Montevina" chipset. CPU speeds on this platform will top out at 3.06GHz, and allow the use of 800MHz memory.

Just like Santa Rosa chipset improvements came several months after the introduction of Merom CPUs, the Montevina chipset will come several months after the introduction of Penryn CPUs.

[emotion]

Serve me up a T8100-based 12" powerbook replacement Apple and I'll be happy.

[Rocketman]

This is real news.

This makes iPhone+ practical.

This makes MacBook Nano practical.

This combined with wimax chips makes for broadband anywhere.

This combined with 3G makes for broadband mobile.

This combined with EDGE mobile makes for anywhere access at above modem speeds.

Rocketman

[mikeyman13]

Okay - So I am looking at buying an imac and mb as gifts, yet the with all of the recent rumors and news the question still remains: how soon can I expect upgrades to come? I would hate to give a picture of an imac/mb and say, "upgrade coming soon, you will be glad I didn't buy it now," only to have upgrades come 4 months later. Any thoughts?

[TurboSC]

interesting, Mid-Janurary is going to be a very exciting time now..

[esquared]

patiently waiting for new Macpro, hoping they ship close to announcement date. Didn't they just bring out new iMac's? What's wrong with you people?

[suneohair]

You won't be seeing these at Macworld.

[Eidorian]

25w TDP is nice for slimmer, cooler machines.

[JayLenochiniMac]

Originally Posted by Macrumors

The 3dmark06 benchmark for the production sample 2.8GHz processor gives a CPU score of 2569, which compares to scores of 2106-2339 for the current top-of-the-line 2.6GHz CPU available as a build-to-order open in MacBook Pros.
Article Link

That's nice, but will they even place the 2.8GHz X9000 in the MacBook Pro? It has the same TDP of 44W as X7900, the current Core 2 Extreme processor in the high-end iMac, and they didn't include it in the MBP due to heat reasons.

[FX120]

Originally Posted by JayLenochiniMac

That's nice, but will they even place the 2.8GHz X9000 in the MacBook Pro? It has the same TDP of 44W as X7800, the current Core 2 Extreme processor in the high-end iMac, and they didn't include it in the MBP due to heat reasons.

Maybe if Apple would get off their ass and actually design a decent cooling solution for their laptops...

[SirOmega]

IF this is true, I can see where these chips are going - the 2.1GHz and 2.4GHz 3MB chips in the MacBooks and the 2.5 and 2.6GHz 6MB chips in the MBPs. We could see the announcement at MWSF, along with MacPro bumps. Though it seems a little too much at once.

Perhaps we see the announcement for MBPs and MacPros at MWSF (with the "BIG" announcements being Movie Rentals and the Thin MacBook) and the MB updates later in the month or Feb (stealth update).

However, I don't think those chip speeds are accurate. It just doesn't seem right. If anything I'd expect 2.8, 2.6, 2.4, 2.2 and 2.1 speeds.

[matthewHUB]

i find all these numbers of chips hard to keep track of. So we've shrunk to a 45nm chipset. Does that mean lower temperatures? more cores? i'm a little confused. When do we see a reduction in wattage for these chips? It's getting to the point where a 2.8ghz processor in a macbook pro will do everything i want it to at a fast enough speed. I'd rather have longer battery life then a faster computer. hell.. i'm still using a 1ghz PB G4 and i won't get rid of it yet as it's still coping with everything i need it for absolutely fine. Runs Leopard great! Give me 6-7 hours of battery life and i have a reason for upgrading. I'm on my 3rd battery now and it's dead - going to be buying a 4th. UGH

[winterspan]

Originally Posted by matthewHUB

i find all these numbers of chips hard to keep track of. So we've shrunk to a 45nm chipset. Does that mean lower temperatures? more cores? i'm a little confused. When do we see a reduction in wattage for these chips? It's getting to the point where a 2.8ghz processor in a macbook pro will do everything i want it to at a fast enough speed. I'd rather have longer battery life then a faster computer. hell.. i'm still using a 1ghz PB G4 and i won't get rid of it yet as it's still coping with everything i need it for absolutely fine. Runs Leopard great! Give me 6-7 hours of battery life and i have a reason for upgrading. I'm on my 3rd battery now and it's dead - going to be buying a 4th. UGH

45nm is the size of the process technology Intel uses to make their chips, usually referred to as a "die-shrink". Basically, 45nm is the size of the smallest components on the chips. This decrease in physical size allows the chip to have a higher transistor density, use less energy, be more energy efficient per mhz, etc. The decreased power consumption allows the chips to run at a higher clock speed and consume the same amount of energy or keep/lower the clock speed and gain better battery life for a laptop.

Right now Intel has three groups of Core 2 mobile processors.
The standard Core2 Duo mobile processors which have a power rating of ~34W. There are also two categories of lower voltage chips which run much slower and cooler, but they are not used in most laptops except for small subnotebooks. (Intel Core2 Duo Low voltage (LV) and Ultra-Low Voltage (ULV)

The new "Penryn" standard line of processors will run at 35W and 29W.
In addition to the two low voltage lines, there is a new category of "medium-voltage" processors which have a 25W TDP, but which retain most of the speed, cache size, FSB speed, etc.. Which means they may show up standard laptops. I think these will be the best fit for a subnotebook or long running macbook.

In addition to the die-shrink, Penryn brings many new enhancements to the chip architecture itself, including SSE4 which will speed up multimedia-type operations (video encoding, audio encoding, rendering) for applications that are updated for it.