Quad-Core Nehalem Apple Notebooks Possible in Q3 2009?

[MacRumors]

Digitimes reports that Intel has targeted the launch of their next-generation Calpella notebook platform for Q3 2009.

Intel's next-generation Calpella notebook platform will launch as scheduled in the third quarter 2009 and targeting models in the 14.0-, 15.6-, 17.1- and 18.4-inch segments at retail prices of above US$1,200 initially for high-end market. Meanwhile, Intel will also reduce the price of the Montevina platform to clear out inventory.

Calpella will replace the Montevina platform that is used in current Intel notebooks. The new Calpella platform will support the long anticipated mobile Nehalem processors and architecture which are said to offer dramatic performance boosts over existing designs. Apple adopted the Nehalem processors for the Mac Pro in March.

Intel, however, is said to be only launching three mobile Nehalem processors this year -- all Quad core but with slower processor speeds from 1.6GHz, 1.73GHz and 2.0GHz.

The Core 2 Extreme XE, Core 2 Quad P2 and Core 2 Quad P1, will be priced at US$1,054, US$546 and US$364 in thousand-unit tray quantities, the sources revealed.

It won't be until the 1st quarter of 2010 that we'll see mobile Arrandale processors which have been widely expected to be used in the MacBook and MacBook Pro.

While it's possible Apple could use some of these Quad-core processors in a notebook, it would mean a drop in raw processor speed which, depending on your usage, may not be made up for with the additional cores. These sort of tradeoffs became apparent when Apple refreshed the Mac Pros with various multi-core options. While Apple has been positioning themselves to take better advantage of multi-core chips with their upcoming Snow Leopard, the real-word impact remains to be seen.

Note that while Apple has transitioned to an NVIDIA-based chipset for their current notebooks, they may be forced to switch back to Intel to be able to offer Nehalem processors. Intel and NVIDIA are in legal battle regarding the NVIDIA's right to produce Nehalem-based chipsets.

Article Link: Quad-Core Nehalem Apple Notebooks Possible in Q3 2009?

[t0mat0]

If Apple doesn't need the Calpella notebook platform, might it not get these processors early?
Will be very interesting to see the benchmarks on 10.6 to see if it can utilise more cores at lower processor speeds.
Hopefully the Nvidia Intel spat will subside -Least we know there will be Clarksfield processors for Back to school.

Nvidia's 9600M GT successor, and 9400M successor might be more of interest- but Nvidia's keeping things closer to their chest than Intel it seems.

[BlizzardBomb]

I think most people would prefer the cheaper Core 2 Duos for now. The 1.73 GHz model would be as expensive to Apple as the BTO 2.93 GHz model (which is about to be bumped to 3.06 GHz). The 2 GHz model would be twice that, so we're talking about a $3,000+ 15" MBP for that model to be feasible.

[DivineEvil]

I'd prefer better GPUs than these CPUs...

[jgerry]

Quad core is neat, and I'd like that, but I agree that we could really use cheaper Core 2 Duos. I love my MBP, but I'm due to upgrade soon. What I'd like is: slightly cheaper, 8GB RAM support, matte screen option on the 15".

[BlizzardBomb]

Originally Posted by t0mat0

Nvidia's 9600M GT successor, and 9400M successor might be more of interest- but Nvidia's keeping things closer to their chest than Intel it seems.

I haven't heard anything about a 9400M successor (but it should be round the corner seeing as it's about a year old), but the 9600M GT successor is the GT 130M. But it's only an incremental upgrade as you'd expect with NVIDIA these days.

[Eidorian]

I'm more interested in their chipset solution for the new mobile processors.

[Ross123]

Brilliant, if it happens

[JDee]

Does anyone know if this will take affect on the MacBook 2.4GHz option and an estimated date?

I'm thinking of buying a MacBook. Will it be out by September?

[BlizzardBomb]

Originally Posted by JDee

Does anyone know if this will take affect on the MacBook 2.4GHz option and an estimated date?

I'm thinking of buying a MacBook. Will it be out by September?

Seriously doubt it. The lowest end processor ($364) costs almost double what Apple pays now for the current processors. The next MB will probably be 2.13 GHz and 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duos (or similar) and I'm pretty sure it'd be out for Sept.

Originally Posted by brianus

So..what's the difference between these Calpellas and the Arrandales, besides release dates? This isn't very clear either here or in the linked article. And why do the new models have such low clock speeds? I know it's not supposed to be about clock anymore, but really? A whole gigahertz dropped and they're supposed to be comparable to or better than what we have now?

Think of it as premature quad-ulation. This is designed to be high-end mobile stuff, the only problem is quad-core mobile processors = low clock speed. Now that's OK if your apps can handle 4 cores, but most consumers won't notice the difference unless doing heavy multitasking, even with the Nehalem bonuses like hyper-threading.

And a quick glossary:
Calpella - The platform.
Clarksfield - The processors in the article.
Arrandale - The processors most are expecting to be the successor to the current Core 2 Duos. It should have similar clock speeds to today's C2Ds.

[brianus]

So..what's the difference between these Calpellas and the Arrandales, besides release dates? This isn't very clear either here or in the linked article. And why do the new models have such low clock speeds? I know it's not supposed to be about clock anymore, but really? A whole gigahertz dropped and they're supposed to be comparable to or better than what we have now?

[t0mat0]

Originally Posted by BlizzardBomb

I haven't heard anything about a 9400M successor (but it should be round the corner seeing as it's about a year old), but the 9600M GT successor is the GT 130M. But it's only an incremental upgrade as you'd expect with NVIDIA these days.

Dang - you're right - ~17% faster graphics processing.
9400M is the iG209 I think.

[gianly1985]

Geez...I didn't know about the legal problem between nvidia and intel...
I hope they manage to solve it so we can start drooling waiting for quad core nvidia-nehalem-based iMacs....

[Sun Baked]

Originally Posted by Eidorian

I'm more interested in their chipset solution for the new mobile processors.

Yep, if Intel is updating the chipset for the new chips, where does that leave Apple and the Nvidia chipset?

And with the changes in Integration between the current Nvidia and the next Intel solutions, should be interesting to see what Apple does.

[billandy]

i want my nehalem macbook air, anyone's got any idea at all when that might be up for sale???

[neosyc]

Hi, i'm now to the forum, and just wanted to ad something i heard last week.

I heard (from what has previously been a reliable source) that apple is going to make some upgrades ti the Macbook Air within the next couple of months.

As far as i heard the "major" changes would be changing the display type, so it will be possible to select glossy screens as know from the other macbook series.

Hopefully they're going to ad some other stuff

[Digital Skunk]

I am going with the consensus, the mobile quads are an interesting thing to think about, but with those clock speeds, even core aware apps may take a hit if they aren't using all four cores.

Once you take in the price point it's just not a very desirable thing IMHO. Now a 3.0GHz mobile chip would be nice. That would look good in my next MBP.

Originally Posted by neosyc

Hi, i'm now to the forum, and just wanted to ad something i heard last week.

I heard (from what has previously been a reliable source) that apple is going to make some upgrades ti the Macbook Air within the next couple of months.

As far as i heard the "major" changes would be changing the display type, so it will be possible to select glossy screens as know from the other macbook series.

Hopefully they're going to ad some other stuff

The Macbooks and Macbook Air have the same LED screen. That wouldn't be anything new. Unless you mean MATTE options for the Air, which would be okay only if the 15" MBP got the same treatment.

[iSee]

Is "Turbo" going to be supported for these processors?
If so, that will mitigate the low clock frequencies.

[mr.steevo]

I can't follow these Nehalem / Calpella / Core 1 names.

Mr. Old School prefers the simpler G3, G4, G5 terms.

s.

[neosyc]

Originally Posted by Digital Skunk

The Macbooks and Macbook Air have the same LED screen. That wouldn't be anything new. Unless you mean MATTE options for the Air, which would be okay only if the 15" MBP got the same treatment.

i couldn't agree more, i really missed the matte option when i got my new MBP ... unfortunately i dropped a cup of coffee in my more or less brand new MBP, got it about 6 months before the unibody release... i can only say i miss it sometimes i did prefer the keyboard on the "older" models, and the glossy displays is a bit of a bother on occasions.

[applecultvictim]

Crap news from intel. Switch to amd apple. Intel will saddle you with crap integrated graphics, super hot quads for a mere 2ghhz which will be WORSE than most dual Core CPUs of 3.0ghz or so for most user tasks, dual cores that are Cheaper and Cooler too. And "all" that "huge" 2.0ghz horsepower theyare pricing at $1000, are they nuts? For what, for finally making a real quad intead of sticking four CPUs together and dropping the fsb that amd has done so last century or so. ...

[Willis]

Originally Posted by applecultvictim

Crap news from intel. Switch to amd apple. Intel will saddle you with crap integrated graphics, super hot quads for a mere 2ghhz which will be WORSE than most dual Core CPUs of 3.0ghz or so for most user tasks, dual cores that are Cheaper and Cooler too. And "all" that "huge" 2.0ghz horsepower theyare pricing at $1000, are they nuts? For what, for finally making a real quad intead of sticking four CPUs together and dropping the fsb that amd has done so last century or so. ...

I didn't know AMD had jumped the curve

[ehurtley]

Minor quibbles:

The current desktop Nehalems are not branded "Core 2", they are branded "Core i7". Most rumor sites claim that the lower-end Nehalem parts will be "Core i5". It would be rather silly to brand the mobile Nehalems as "Core 2". So those prices may be for the newer Core 2, not for the Nehalem.

Second, Nehalem absolutely smokes Core 2 in every single benchmark. A 2.0 GHz Quad-core Nehalem is more than equal to a 3 GHz Core 2 Duo; even for single or dual-threaded apps; and completely dominates on anything that uses three or more theads.

For many benchmarks, the just-released four-core/two-socket Nehalem Xeons in the Mac Pro are at least equal to Intel's previous-generation six-core/four-socket server processors. (Yes, eight Nehalem cores benchmark on par with, and on a few tests, faster than, twenty four Xeon 74xx series cores.)

[bigwig]

Is Apple going to use Calpella? As I recall they don't use Montevina (or enough of it to allow them to use Intel's trademarks like other laptop manufacturers do).

[indiekiduk]

1.6GHz This is 2009 is it not!