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MacBook and MacBook Pro: Penryn, Battery Life, Updates Sooner than Later?

MacRumors said:
According to our sources, Apple was forced by Intel into upgrading the MacBooks at this time. Intel is aggressively phasing out the older generation 65nm Merom chips over the coming months.
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So besides the iMac and mini, what does this mean for the MBA? It also uses a 65nm Merom chip, and could REALLY use a faster, smaller processor that doesn't generate as much heat or use as much power like penryn.

Might we see MBA updates sooner than later? And what will be the likely processor they will use? Do they make a low-end penryn that wouldn't melt down in its claustrophobic confines?
 
Led?

so the way ive seen it on the apple site is that all the mbp's (not sure about mb) have an LED backlit screen, however just the 17" offers a Hi-Res LED screen. Check out here Spectacular Display
 
desmond said:
Hi all, thanks for this article and comments, I think I'm finally ready to buy!

Just wanted to ask if anyone could tell me the difference in the performance of a 200GB Serial ATA @ 7200 rpm Hard drive compared to the 250GB Serial ATA @ 5400 rpm?

I would like to have a storage capacity of 250GB, but will the 7200 rpm be a lot faster performance wise compared to 5400 rpm, or is the speed more down to the memory?

Would appreciate any advice.
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If you work with hard drive intensive applications, such as video editing, the 7200 RPM will be better. However at that point you are probably better off getting an external Firewire drive because you'll have much more room to use.

In terms of noticeable difference on a day to day use, with nothing intense, say web browsing, office apps, and some light gaming, you won't notice the difference much.

I contemplated getting 200GB 7200 RPM or 320GB 5400 RPM for my MBP... ended up going with the 320GB 5400 RPM, figure honestly I won't need the speed that badly.
 
noob questions: What could montevina possbily do, I suppose I could wait if its gonna change the mbp design.i guess
 
whidbeyben said:
I'm still hoping Apple will come out with a 12 or 13" MBP with the next major MBP revision.
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i second that as a proud previous user of the 12" powerbook, now forced to use a 15" macbook pro, which is a bit unwieldy. maybe it can use an nvidia geforce 8400m g instead of an 8600m gt for potential power savings. i strongly believe there is a legitimate market for it. do the right thing apple and make the 12" powerb:apple::apple:k! i'll be first in line!
 
MacRumors said:

Why Now?

The biggest question is why Apple bothered speed bumping the MacBooks which were not yet due for revision. According to our sources, Apple was forced by Intel into upgrading the MacBooks at this time. Intel is aggressively phasing out the older generation 65nm Merom chips over the coming months. As a result, Apple needed to upgrade the MacBooks in the interim to maintain a proper supply. One could speculate that, consequently, the next MacBook refreshes may occur mid-year, ahead of their expected product cycle.

Article Link
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I'm more concerned that the MBP didn't get a redesign after all this time. I think the hottest Apple design, research and development teams are focusing on the iPhone and the iPod - look at the innovative physical changes in those. The MBP looks tired. That keyboard really sticks out from the rest of the range. I think it looked great when it first came out, but I think it lacks the 'crave factor' that makes me need it, that so many other apple products have.

What a shame.
 
GOOD! I hope this will become the norm. That should keep Apple on it's toes.

MacRumors said:
...Apple was forced by Intel into upgrading the MacBooks at this time. Intel is aggressively phasing out the older generation 65nm Merom chips over the coming months. As a result, Apple needed to upgrade the MacBooks in the interim to maintain a proper supply...
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whidbeyben said:
The MBA and MBP refreshes show progress, but the market for a 12" MBP has got to be at least as large as the MBA target audience. ...
The 4.5 pound laptop is still a sweet spot. I'm still hoping Apple will come out with a 12 or 13" MBP with the next major MBP revision.
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I would imagine a combination:
10-12" MBA, comming soon, maybe next bigger event. With people trying to run OS X on the "eee", and the (still!) hot market on the 12" PB, its a give away that they need some small laptop.

It makes sence as well to expand the MBA-concept with an even smaller model, keeping the "Air" as highly transportable and the "pro" as real pro.

I think this release is to keep the MBP new, and then they´ll enter the enter the marked for small machines soon...
 
Lyshen said:
If you work with hard drive intensive applications, such as video editing, the 7200 RPM will be better. However at that point you are probably better off getting an external Firewire drive because you'll have much more room to use.

In terms of noticeable difference on a day to day use, with nothing intense, say web browsing, office apps, and some light gaming, you won't notice the difference much.

I contemplated getting 200GB 7200 RPM or 320GB 5400 RPM for my MBP... ended up going with the 320GB 5400 RPM, figure honestly I won't need the speed that badly.
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Thanks for your reply Lyshen. I will be using it for music, IE Logic Pro, so I guess I might as well go for the 7200 rpm. 50GB isn't too much difference if I have everything on an External HD I guess.

Thanks again.
 
One new feature all Penryn processors share is the SSE4 instruction set. Similar to the PowerPC's Altivec instruction set, SSE4 can provide dramatic speed increases (40% faster) for applications specifically written for them.

Thats the most telling line, nothing has been written for SSE4.1 yet. 4 months after the chips became commercially available and nothing has yet been released to take advantage of that. If programmers are already so far being, how slow will they be in taking advantage of the new benefits from Nehalem and in turn Sandy bridge. It's all well and good Intel throwing out new instruction sets and architectures every year or so, but if developers can't keep up, what's the point!
 
bov said:
correct me if im wrong but arent those unboxing pictures of the "new" macbook pro actually pictures of the old one? theres only 1 USB port on the left side, while the new ones have 2 on the left side.

am i missing something here?
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Yes, you are wrong - the old MBP and the new MBP are identical casewise - and yes you are missing something here - about 200 posts in the previous thread where this non-question/non-issue was done to death.

Can we have a ban on questions which can be answered simply by looking on the Apple web site at the specs. There you will find what has always been the case for at least the last 2 years - both new and old 15 MBPs have 2 usbs, and the 17 MBPs have 3. If one more person posts saying 'why are people saying MBPs have 2 usbs when mine has 3'...[fades into muttered rant]
 
I have mixed feeling regarding this MB and MBP update. While it's great for the people who were looking to buy a new MBP, I will wait for the next bigger upgrade of the MB. Speed Bump and more storage is fine but I was so hoping for a multi-touch-pad. A new casing would be nice to, although wouldn't that kinda narrow the niche for the MBA?

I'm waiting for the MB overhaul in Q4 of 2008 or @Macworld '09
(can you spell "MONTEVINA-platform"? ;-D )
 
PenrynMBP said:
Someone tell me why its only 3MB L2 Cache? I waited so long and paid this much for a lower cache than the previous MBP? You got to be kidding me, I am very close to canceling my order. Someone tell me if its a big difference with 3MB to 4MB.
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Yes, it will probably only be 7% as fast as its predecessor... :rolleyes:
Perhaps it has more to do with the new architechture and it will simply be over-justified by other technologies in that chipset. Honestly, given the massive graphic cards in these machines etc., I DO NOT think it will be too slow for you. I'm still doing perfectly usable and billable things on my PowerMac G5 (Dual 1.8 GHz) - considering your machine is about 4-5x faster than mine, I think you will be quite fine! ;)

Enjoy your rocking new machine & welcome to the club! :)
I'm sure you will love it!
Jonas
 
desmond said:
Thanks for your reply Lyshen. I will be using it for music, IE Logic Pro, so I guess I might as well go for the 7200 rpm. 50GB isn't too much difference if I have everything on an External HD I guess.

Thanks again.
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Very sensible choice methinks. It can make quite a difference for Aperture, FCP etc. As you say, considering a 250 GB external drive the size not much larger than an iPhone (WG PAssport for example), the extra 50 GB don't seem so necessary. 200 GB is pretty good to start with! :)
 
DrAtheist said:
If this bits true that's fantastic news. It might kick apple into not falling too far behind in processors in future.
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And when has Apple fallen behind? Barring their low-end consumer offerings, Apples tend to offer the newest and best processors right on time.

As for the whingers, it's a very nice update. If I were considering a new MBP or MB, I'd be rather chuffed.
 
PenrynMBP said:
Someone tell me why its only 3MB L2 Cache? I waited so long and paid this much for a lower cache than the previous MBP? You got to be kidding me, I am very close to canceling my order. Someone tell me if its a big difference with 3MB to 4MB.
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Relax. First of all, the performance-difference due to cache is not that big. Second, only the low-end model has less cache than it's predecessor, but it has faster clock-speed (2.4GHz vs. 2.2GHz). The other CPU's have more cache than their predecessors (6MB vs. 4MB) in addition of having faster clock-speed (2.5GHz vs. 2.4GHz). Of course there are other improvements as well, like better battery-life and SSE4.

You will get better performance from each new model, when compared to it's immediate predecessor. So don't worry about the cache :).
 
I was typing this long, drawn out post for my first post but thendaileytech updated with pretty much everything I was going to say sooo... Im only going to quote and highlight stuff that I think is really interesting and why even tho I really wanted one of these a new MBP (whenever the update came, which was today) proves why I am waiting till summer. I dont NEED a MNP yet, I just want one, so I CAN hold off for this:

"...Apple yesterday launched revised MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks that incorporate Intel’s first run of Penryn processors. Apple insiders confirmed the company will refresh its notebook lineups in June, which comes as no surprise since all Centrino partners indicated they will announce notebooks based on the new Montevina Centrino 2.

Don't expect just the same old notebooks from January this June. The upcoming second-generation Penryn mobile processors require the new Socket B motherboards."

This justifies a redesign. And if I have to explain why, then you just dont understand the tech.

Briefly:These Penryn chips were late, which is why you see a shoddy MBA (not using a penryn), and just another "bump" so late. Santa rosa isn't penryn's true platform just as Merom was limited by Napa (before santa rosa finally replaced it). Montevina is where you will see the huge PERFORMANCE potential of penryn over merom which you all are complaining about a lack thereof today. 2nd round Penryns (remember 1st round was late and limited) will have a higher FSB of 1066 vs 800 combined with the support of DDR3800(vs DDR2-667 SODIMMS), will feed the already bandwidth starved mobile chip. Intel themselves are also using Montenvina as the hardware where they finally re-brand the platform from Centrino to Centrino 2. Centrino is huge and has been out since 01/02. Intel poors a lot of money into it and its marketing and certification. So logically all these notebooks based of this new platform will be special and newly redesigned. Just as how hugely special and different the first Centrino laptops were. This doesnt mean Apple WILL DO this in MBP, but just think logically here..

Also montenvina will support the quad-core penryn coming out, QX9300. Quadcore MBP this summer? If apple doesnt want to be left in the dust, then yes. Dell, hp, gateway, alienware etc. already have quadcore laptops lined up for when Montevina drops in Taipai at CEBit this summer. Hopefully steve isn't greedy!
 
asdavis10 said:
Intel pushing Apple to use the Penryn chip isn't a good thing. Yes the MBP was due for an update, by Apple product standards, but it was still comparably better than anything else in its class. Instead of getting a major revision in specs and design, Apple was forced to introduce a marginal upgrade. Yes multi-touch was something everyone wanted in the new MB ad MBP, but even that is minor.
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All companies have to deal with this. Apple choose Intel. The problem here is the Hype generated by mac users everytime a MBP is up for an update, and it is this hype that results in disapointment. I think its the users who need who need to come to grips that the MBP will be updated 2/3 times a year, and it will always be a speed boost. Now taking the speed boost for granted as this is being pushed by intel (discontinued old CPUs), any other update is Apples choice. Apple failed you this time as it concentrated on the AIR and the MBPs where not touched (CPU update and reusing the multitrack from the AIR, shows they have not put effort into the update).

I would call this update an intel update, I think apple threw in the multitouch as it knew that people would be really disapointed just with a speed bump. We the users build up the hype, so some blame rests with us. We just need to get out of the expectation that every revision will be a revolution in the laptop industry.

The reality check is that in the next few years Apple is going to concentrate on the Iphone, Ipod market and multimedia market (itunes), the days where it was a computer company first have changed. Expect a shiny new MBP every few years, and then only speed/minor updates to stay with the industry.

I have actaully ordered the New MBP, my previous one was a 12" 1.5 powerbook, but since the move to intel, there has not been any major revison on the MBP, just slow evolution....yes intel will force apple to update and stay upto date while apple is still producting computers.

You should actually thank Intel, cause if it was not for them, i think the updates would be far less by apple, and in every update apple is being forced to add other features due to the hype. Expect further big changes/redesigns in the Ipods and Iphones though.
 
tenks said:
This justifies a redesign. And if I have to explain why, then you just dont understand the tech.
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It justifies a redesign of the internal for sure, but it does not force a redesign of the exterior. Apple might choose to redesign the exterior, but they are not required to do so.

If you believe that a new processor-socket required a redesigned case, then I would say that it's you who doesn't understand tech.
 
I've been using a maxxed out last revision 12" PB, and before that a 12" iBook, 10.5" PB 2400, and 9.5" PB 520. I fortunately have the resources to buy any machine I desire, but have been committed to the small but full function form factor (so not a subnotebook or MBA). I've been patiently awaiting a 12" MB, but I really need to upgrade. So I was about to relent and pull the trigger on a new 13" MB until tenks' much appreciated post. But then I noticed the DailyTech article ends with "since the thermal envelopes will not change between Penryn revisions vendors will be able to keep the existing form factors." So even a June release may not bring a 12-incher. I'll buy a 13-incher if I must, but it will be sad to buy my first Mac (loyal since 1985) with a built-in regret that I really wanted something else.
 
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