Intel Launches Penryn Mobile Processors

[ezekielrage_99]

So it looks like Penryns for the Mac Pro, iMac and Macbook Pro come macworld. Personally I'm not surprise Intel has been hinting on a January 08 release for the Penryns and it's been 160+ days since most hardware updates.

 

[Brianstorm91]

So, my question is this: IF they were to put these penryn chips in the MBPs (at Macworld or shortly after), what is the chance that they upgrade the MBPs again in the Spring (or whenever Q2 is) with Montevina chips.

Maybe Autumn time, somewhat in-line with when the MacBook was updated a couple of months ago?

 

[Towhead]

That is great! ;-)
I remember the sales clerk telling my parents the extra 16K RAM card on the "new Apple ][ plus" wasn't really necessary and that for all the applications 48K was more than enough. 64K was overkill. Lol.

64K was required to use Pascal, remember? Called it the "Language Card." Basically had to bankswitch 16K so it had its limited use but yuppers, it was 16K you could stuff a driver into.

On that note, remember ProDOS that came out in about 1983 and it had long case sensitive file names, a binary-tree file system, etc, and all those neat things? That too used the Language Card if available leaving the lower 48K for a massive amount of free space. Even then, in 1983, Apple was decades ahead of the rest of the world. It still is.

 

[joefinan]

A newbie has given you a definitive answer. Put an end to any doubt in your head!

[/SARCASM]

Is being a member for 2.5 years still being a newbie??

 

[scrambledwonder]

Update already?

The MBP is due for a revision? Man, seems like i just got my 2.4 MBP. Anyway, prolly won't upgrade for another year or so. This thing is wicked fast.

 

[taintedwheat]

You mean 200-400% increase for [maximum] RAM and 150% increase for [maximum] HDD. You apparently haven't seen the 500GB 2.5" drive announcement. Although, as usual, they are 12mm and not the 9.5mm. Therefore, it could only be used in the 17" MBP and possibly the 17" PB.

Actually, Samsung annouced a standard height (9.5mm) 2.5" 500gb HDD at CES

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/06/samsung-intros-spinpoint-m6-500gb-standard-height-laptop-drive/

 

[Wild-Bill]

What about the iMacs? so when will we see an updated iMac? It has been 155 days since the last update.

Oh no... 155 days. Try over 500 for the Mac Pro. The iMac should be at the back of the line.

 

[tbobmccoy]

Oh no... 155 days. Try over 500 for the Mac Pro. The iMac should be at the back of the line.

I'm actually betting the iMac'll be first to get the Penryn Mobile chips... they're the easiest form factor to cool the furnace those things can produce. But... leave it to Apple to cool things more efficiently..

Also... just because you're a "newbie" on the forum doesn't mean you haven't been around the block for a while. Some people on these forums are so elitist...

 

[fivepoint]

Oh no... 155 days. Try over 500 for the Mac Pro. The iMac should be at the back of the line.

Your argument would be more effective if you used real numbers.
The Mac Pro was last updated 279 days ago... not 500.

That being said, I do agree that the Mac Pro should come next... I want you to get your update, why don't you want me to get mine?

 

[capitanbuzo]

Your argument would be more effective if you used real numbers.
The Mac Pro was last updated 279 days ago... not 500.

That being said, I do agree that the Mac Pro should come next... I want you to get your update, why don't you want me to get mine?

Apple added the 3.0ghz 8 core bto. I wouldn't really consider that an update. Mabey if it incorporated more graphics cards and such but not on its own.

 

[Wild-Bill]

Your argument would be more effective if you used real numbers.
The Mac Pro was last updated 279 days ago... not 500.

Um, no. You are wrong. I am sure many, many others will be along shortly to further enlighten you about this fact.

 

[zedsdead]

Um, no. You are wrong. I am sure many, many others will be along shortly to further enlighten you about this fact.

Apple only added the 8-Core option on this date and left the entire Mac Pro untouched. It HAS NOT been updated. Because of this I am expecting a decent overhaul and new Cinema Displays.

As for the iMac...it is the least liekly to see an update in their entire line...I'd expect not until the Summer...you never know of course, but don't expect it soon or you probably will be disappointed.

 

[bubble27]

Wake me up when my long wait (haven't purchased a new computer since 2003) has been worth it. I'm holding off until montevina because of principle. I didn't buy last year at this time because i was waiting for SR, when it came I decided to wait for penryn etc...now, since I could have bought back then and not even noticed a difference with the next upgrade, I continue my wait.

Hey im with you on that and it seems like you know what your talking about. But can i ask why not wait till laptops become quad-core? Read up that they'll appear end of the 2nd half of 2008.

Btw im dead broke, being a student and all and really want to invest in a MBP when i know that i'll keep it for at least 2-3years. You think Montevina will be worth the wait?

P.S. Im waiting for MBP17" to hopefully get blu-ray and better GPUs

 

[SimonTheSoundMa]

Sure, it can even use networked processor power through Xsan as well. Saw this live when they introduced Final Cut Studio 2.

One were showcasing it on one 8-core Mac Pro, while the other used two 4-core Mac Pro's in tandem.

Just use Qmaster. We have fourteen four cores and eight quad cores networked for video and also help running Logic in the sound studios a good 50m way. Enough processing power for several people to be working on 4k HD material.

 

[Lefteous]

It's not a simple processor upgrade what could make the Mac Pro faster. Sure the new Intel processors feature SSE4 which allows adapted software to run certain operations faster but that doesn't make these processors specialized hardware.
As Apple put their shirt on h.264/mpeg-4 AVC hardware encoding in Mac Pros and hardware decoding in all Macs would be a real speed boost and something that most PCs doesn't have.

 

[MrCrowbar]

It's not a simple processor upgrade what could make the Mac Pro faster. Sure the new Intel processors feature SSE4 which allows adapted software to run certain operations faster but that doesn't make these processors specialized hardware.
As Apple put their shirt on h.264/mpeg-4 AVC hardware encoding in Mac Pros and hardware decoding in all Macs would be a real speed boost and something that most PCs doesn't have.

True. Video encoding (and realtime multitrack audio) are the only things I wish for some performance boost. An H.264 encoder would be nice. I tried the ELgato Turbo, but it doesn't do high def and only does 1 pass encoding. Nice for getting your stuff on your iPod quickly, but it doesn't look great for bigger files. Maybe SSE4 for Quicktime (and x264) would make it faster?

 

[paja]

I believe there will be Mac Pro and Xserve updates this week. Perhaps as soon as tomorrow. Long, long overdue.

MacWorld is for the consumer. I'm not getting too excited about it. I've learned my lesson from years past.

Apple has 10 billion in the bank. You'd think they could hire a few more programmers and engineers.

 

[vixapphire]

2.6ghz on a 17" high res with 4gig and 200 gig 7200 rpm is already pretty dang sweet.

don't rub it in...

 

[MrCrowbar]

I assumed it meant the operations that DO benefit (like certain types of video encoding for instance) would improve at least 10%. No?

Could also be a speed boost by multiples, i.e. 10 times faster. If you implement something in the CPU that used to be done in software in a very complicated way, it's very possible to get serious speed boosts like that.

 

[etrigan63]

i can almost guarantee we won't see 8-16GB of Ram in 2009 (400-800% increase in a year)

750GB... I doubt we'll see that also... (300% increase in a year)

Asus just announced at CES a laptop with 1 TB of disk storage. Never say never.

Mac Pro's are due. Despite the fact that they move fewer of those units than all the others, they are higher margin products. Apple does not want to alienate it's professional customers.

The Intel announcements include Xeons that are not destined for Mac Pros. Those were announced November 12. As I predicted the iMac processors were announced and are due 2H 08. Expect more details next week from the House of Jobs.

The major thrust of Penryn was the shift to 45nm and the greening of the CPU. No lead, hi-K dielectrics, and lower voltages all contribute to a significant reduction in power consumption without sacrificing performance.

 

[Stridder44]

People get too caught up in the hype. a year ago penryn seemed like this amazing progression with evolutionary performance gain. Not true. I doubt any casual user would notice the difference between a penryn mobile processor and any 2.0 ghz core 2 duo.

Wake me up when my long wait (haven't purchased a new computer since 2003) has been worth it. I'm holding off until montevina because of principle. I didn't buy last year at this time because i was waiting for SR, when it came I decided to wait for penryn etc...now, since I could have bought back then and not even noticed a difference with the next upgrade, I continue my wait.

you wait when you shouldn't, then end up waiting so that you feel the wait was worth it...and it never is. Anyway, the benchmarks shall tell the story.

Exactly. I think I win that award here. I'm still on my CUTTING EDGE G4 running at a nut-smashingly fast 800Mhz. Sometimes I think about this MASSIVE 80GB HD and almost crap myself.

/Can't wait for the new MBP's

 

[AidenShaw]

...my 2.5 dual G5 has 2 1TB (really about 920GB)...

No, they're really 1 TB drives.

The Apple OS incorrectly reports them as 920 "GB", when they are in fact about 920 "GiB".

For more info on the correct usage of "Tera", "Giga" and "Mega", check out:

(US) National Institute of Standards and Technology: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/11/08/i_say_petabyte_you_say/

 

[BowZinger]

I will hold out for a quad core macbookpro if it ever happens!

 

[Stridder44]

Where/what is the priority for "new" laptops? A little speed bump, *maybe* a "better" graphics card, an option for a bigger HD?

We may see more LED screens, the rumored sub-notebook... But where is the market *need* (or desire, even) for a slightly improved 'Book?

Um, have you been reading the millions of posts saying "can't wait for the new MBP's", "Got $2k ready for departure on a MBP", "(insert 'I'm waiting' quote here)"?

I'd also like to see a smaller tower. Even something the size of my MDD would be an improvement over the Monolith. I've wanted a Cube II, but would settle for a smaller Mac Pro. The current one is just a little large for a music server and email station. Something just big enough for a real, upgradeable video card, two HDs, and one optical drive. I'd prefer a slot drive, myself. A fan is acceptable.

Seriously doubt it.

An iPhone on steroids would be nice. Actually, I'd like something similar but with the option of no phone, just Edge/3G, with a Data Only plan. That would be great. One for the shirt pocket, one for the jacket pocket.

Don't hold your breath.

 

[vixapphire]

"If you look at raw power from Merom to Penryn, the performance gain isn't going to be huge," says Intel spokesperson Connie Brown. "If it's something that relies on SSE4 instruction set, it's in the double digits."

It's in the double digits? Am I the only one who doesn't know what this means?

i'm guessing it means a 10-99% speed improvement.