Intel Update: MacBook Airs Get Penryn, MacBooks and Pros Get Montevina Benefits

[MacRumors]

Intel's processor and chipset codenames have long been a source of confusion, and the adoption of NVIDIA's chipset in the newest MacBooks and MacBook Pros won't help matters.

One of the updates that had been long anticipated for the late 2008 MacBook and MacBook Pro updates has been the adoption of Intel's Montevina platform. This topic got lost with all the recent rumors of hardware redesigns and the adoption of NVIDIA's chipsets.

Despite Apple's migration to NVIDIA chipsets, Apple has still adopted the key advantages of the Montevina platform. This primarily includes a 1066MHz front side bus and the latest Penryn processors. How much of a difference (if any) the higher bus speeds have will have to wait for side-by-side benchmark testing, though the graphics performance of the new NVIDIA GPUs should give the new notebooks a clear graphical advantage.

This likely doesn't change anything for future planning as Apple will certainly adopt Intel's upcoming Nehalem processors over time. Nehalem is expected to offer a dramatic performance boost over existing processors. These next-generation Intel processors will be first launched for servers in Q4 2008, and come to desktop and mobile platforms in 2009.

Meanwhile, Intel confirms that Apple has quietly replaced the processors in the MacBook Air with the latest 45nm Penryn processors.

But new Intel processors did make a debut in the refresh of the MacBook Air. Instead of the Small-Form-Factor (SFF) 65-nanometer Merom chips, Apple has gone with with the more advanced 45-nanometer Penryn SSF processor. Penryn chips typically boast either 3MB or 6MB of cache memory versus the 2MB or 4MB that the older mobile procesors offer. (Cache memory speeds performance.)

The MacBook Air's processors now carry 6MB of cache memory (up from 3MB) and use a more power-efficient design. Apple had previously been using a custom 65-nm Merom chip. Any power savings from the new processors, however, may be offset by the adoption of the NVIDIA graphics card as Apple has not advertised any benefits to the change.


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[chewbaccacabra]

Nice info on the AIR. The 1.8/128GB SSD AIR . . . probably the only laptop I would buy out of todays update. Love my 1.6/80 *most* of the time.

[dubhe]

Think I'll wait for the Nehalem MacBook, hopefully in the Spring

[emigrand]

I would not expext Nahalem to arive befor late 2009 into Macs...

I just called Apple Support line to ask about a full spec of machine but ... THEY did not KNOW about a processor model and if Hybrid SLI work in new MAc BOOK Pros.

So I am asking you, will it ??

The other thing is people are complaing about Pros to be not for Pros any more. People it still is a Pro machine. Just think about 4GB of DDR3 and what boost you get out of it !!

Glossy display, ok it is crap but glossy LED dispaly is not that bad even for pro desigers !!

Overall I think it is a good update in a line...

[dlewis23]

Originally Posted by emigrand

I would not expext Nahalem to arive befor late 2009 into Macs...

I would expect Nahalem in a Mac Pro this year or in January 09. And in the rest of the line around July of 2009.

You can already buy a 6 core Nehalem processor right now. its just a bit expensive http://www.pcsforeveryone.com/Produc...l/BX80582X7460

[ageha]

Originally Posted by dlewis23

I would expect Nahalem in a Mac Pro this year or in January 09. And in the rest of the line around July of 2009.

You can already buy a 6 core Nehalem processor right now. its just a bit expensive http://www.pcsforeveryone.com/Produc...l/BX80582X7460

Right, you can preorder it now.

[shawmanus]

Originally Posted by dlewis23

I would expect Nahalem in a Mac Pro this year or in January 09. And in the rest of the line around July of 2009.

You can already buy a 6 core Nehalem processor right now. its just a bit expensive http://www.pcsforeveryone.com/Produc...l/BX80582X7460

That is not nehalem. it is intel dunnington which is the last cpu based on core micro architecture.

1st cpu for MP platform based on nehalem will come in an years time. That is beckton which will be 1st 8-core cpu on a single die by intel.

[Santabean2000]

Originally Posted by dubhe

Think I'll wait for the Nehalem MacBook, hopefully in the Spring

Agreed. Although, wan't Penryn meant to offer a 'significant' jump on previous gen too?

,

[Malooga]

Yea, the 4GB DDR3 ram is going to be nice. I figure in Jan. at WWDC 09, they will introduce the option to go higher, 6/8GB because it wont be until Snow Leopard that we will really be able to reap the benefits of 4+GB ram.

WWDC 09' will be all about Snow Leopard and maybe minor speed bumps. Maybe also new processors for the Mac Pros.

I think the mbp and mb wont be updated again until fall 09 and maybe even then well begin to see the i7 processors.

[Doodledoo]

Is the new processor still a SSF one?

[allforpiratebay]

Originally Posted by Santabean2000

Agreed. Although, wan't Penryn meant to offer a 'significant' jump on previous gen too?

,

... yeah. Its worth thinking about that isn't it. I think better power efficiency is some thing to most look forward to rather than 'significant' performance jumps. Even Longer lasting laptops - cool.

[Saladinos]

Originally Posted by Santabean2000

Agreed. Although, wan't Penryn meant to offer a 'significant' jump on previous gen too?

,

Penryn was largely a shrink. It had some more instructions and some circuitry changes, but the improvements were largely due to the 45nm shrink. Nehalem is a "whole new architecture", meaning that any performance gains come solely from circuitry changes, because it'll use the same 45nm process as Penryn. After a year, Nehalem too will be shrunk down to 32nm with a few new instructions, and that will provide more speed and power savings.

It's the "tick-tock" model. From a microarchitecture perspective, Penryn is a "tock" and Nehalem is a "tick". From a transistor size perspective, Penryn is a "tick" and Nehalem is a "tock"

The MacBook Air should probably get a battery boost from the new design, though. Either that, or it'll run cooler. Consolidating the GPU and chipset in to one IC is great for lots of things (power efficiency, speed).

It also raises the possibility of the MBA becoming even thinner or getting a bigger battery at the next revision, as it cuts on cables (well, copper PCB tracks). Those take up a considerable amount of size for electronics at the PCB level (look at a PCB. See how many capacitors and wires it's got? Takes a lot of room, right?). I'd love to see a thinner MBA. Something you could lose in a stack of paper. Fantastic.

[pytter]

Originally Posted by dubhe

Think I'll wait for the Nehalem MacBook, hopefully in the Spring

I doubt that very much! Mobile Nehalem (i7) aren't due until the second half of 2009.

In any case, Apple is very unlikely to do a major upgrade of their MB/MBP/MBA range within 6 months. More likely that we may see Mac Pros with Nehalem at Macworld in January as the chips should be available and they are due an upgrade (as is the Mac Mini - but I have given up of waiting for that one...)

I for one can't wait a year for nehalem chips in MBPs so I'll probably get myself one in the next week or so.....

[Srai-W]

Originally Posted by chewbaccacabra

Nice info on the AIR. The 1.8/128GB SSD AIR . . . probably the only laptop I would buy out of todays update. Love my 1.6/80 *most* of the time.

I have had a look through the Singapore Apple store and I pretty much agree. They knock $1000 off the price of the MBA, double the SSD, give it an NVIDIA. The MBP is the same price (yes with upgraded features) and the new MB is actually $200 more. That is the one bit of "news" really. The casing we knew about, NVIDIA we knew about, but a $1k drop on the MBA is kinda disappointing overall I feel...

[amac4me]

I'll be replacing my Penryn MBP once Nehalem based MBP's are released. Hopefully Apple will once again sell a matte version

[ageha]

Originally Posted by amac4me

I'll be replacing my Penryn MBP once Nehalem based MBP's are released. Hopefully Apple will once again sell a matte version

Of course! lol

[pgifford]

Originally Posted by amac4me

I'll be replacing my Penryn MBP once Nehalem based MBP's are released. Hopefully Apple will once again sell a matte version

I think I'm in that boat too.

[princigalli]

Does anyone know if those Nvidia chips would speed up h.264 encoding from FCP or Compressor? Or is it a strictly CPU task?

[maddog9]

I need a new laptop, and I was thinking of buying this update but it seems if I can squeeze 6-9 months out of this one it might be worth the wait!

[lazyrighteye]

Originally Posted by maddog9

I need a new laptop, and I was thinking of buying this update but it seems if I can squeeze 6-9 months out of this one it might be worth the wait!

Ah yes... One of the more common post-keynote questions.
My ¢2: don't be like my grandfather. He waited and waited and waited and died. LOVED the man, but he never really enjoyed life (to the fullest) as he always waited to do things because he knew there was always something better around the corner.

I used to be that way, to a degree. And then one day, I just stopped. I started living more in the moment.
So, if what was announced meets your needs today, purchase. Use. Enjoy. Don't look back. Life is short.
If not, wait. Keep enjoying your current Mac (assuming ii still meets your needs). Don't be tempted by the shiny new offerings (it can be sooo easy) just because they are shiny. And keep in mind that whenever you do decide to make the plunge, there will still be something better, faster & cheaper "just around the corner."

I'm sure this post was of little help.
You're welcome.

[MrCrowbar]

Originally Posted by princigalli

Does anyone know if those Nvidia chips would speed up h.264 encoding from FCP or Compressor? Or is it a strictly CPU task?

Right now, compressing video is CPU-only. Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6) is supposed to change that so that the graphics chips will be used to help out.

If you only need to re-encode stuff for iPod/iPhone, I recommend VisualHub. It's super fast (about 3 times faster than Quicktime Pro), there's a working queue for batch encoding, there's plenty of settings and the single pass quality is gorgeous.

[princigalli]

Thanks!

Originally Posted by MrCrowbar

Right now, compressing video is CPU-only. Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6) is supposed to change that so that the graphics chips will be used to help out.

If you only need to re-encode stuff for iPod/iPhone, I recommend VisualHub. It's super fast (about 3 times faster than Quicktime Pro), there's a working queue for batch encoding, there's plenty of settings and the single pass quality is gorgeous.

[Compile 'em all]

Originally Posted by princigalli

Does anyone know if those Nvidia chips would speed up h.264 encoding from FCP or Compressor? Or is it a strictly CPU task?

until snow leopard is here, that is a cpu task.

[princigalli]

When's snow leopard going to be here?

[xVeinx]

I would expect the faster bus, memory to add about 5% minimum performance. It should have the most effect on applications like photoshop, etc. that use lots of memory for filters and such.

Early benchmarks of Nehalem ES (bloomfield enthusiast platform) are suggesting that the cores make larger gains in multi-threading, but that the single-threaded performance will be similar to penryn, within 5% or so. This could obviously jump, but the Mac Pro typically uses the Xeon processors, so it should be about the same. I don't expect that Nehalem anything will be released until Snow Leopard, which should be able to take advantage of the core due to it's increased multi-threading capabilities. The new processors might not be as big a "jump" in performance otherwise...