32bit Mac now or wait for 64bit Intel Mac???

[kevin.rivers]

Err..Yonah and Merom are pin compatible. What kind of optimizations could their be? Is the 945 somehow limited?

If there were no difference whatsoever, they would keep the 945... why move to the 965? The 965 will be quicker than the 945 unless they screw up. This is how chipsets move forward even if they are pin compatible. Merom will be faster on a 965 than on a 945, yonah may be faster on a 965 as well. However we are talking about the Merom.

 

[SeRgIo_42]

Just to keep something in mind :

As many will remember, years ago AMD started to announce that they were
ready for the 64bit revolution. Many sites like this started to be filled
with the question about "is it worthy to buy it now ?". Some paid
top price to be ready...and the so called revolution did not come.
Actually, the craziest thing was the fact that most motherboards back then
had only 2 memory slots and there were not 2Gb modules available at
the time. In other words, no way to enjoy more than 4Gb even though
AMD warned you to be ready for the future.

So, time has passed and IMHO regular users still do not need to worry
about it.

If you have very specific hardware/software needs you might need to
consider 64bits (do you handle clusters ? databases ? scientific
programming ? high end videos ?). Other than that, it is just the cool
factor of saying "I am ready" even though you will never use its real power.

S.

 

[Macer]

Wait for the one after the one that will be released in August.

 

[kevin.rivers]

Just to keep something in mind :

As many will remember, years ago AMD started to announce that they were
ready for the 64bit revolution. Many sites like this started to be filled
with the question about "is it worthy to buy it now ?". Some paid
top price to be ready...and the so called revolution did not come.
Actually, the craziest thing was the fact that most motherboards back then
had only 2 memory slots and there were not 2Gb modules available at
the time. In other words, no way to enjoy more than 4Gb even though
AMD warned you to be ready for the future.

So, time has passed and IMHO regular users still do not need to worry
about it.

If you have very specific hardware/software needs you might need to
consider 64bits (do you handle clusters ? databases ? scientific
programming ? high end videos ?). Other than that, it is just the cool
factor of saying "I am ready" even though you will never use its real power.

S.

Very true. I remember this "revolution", I worked at Best Buy and they were pushing 64-bit like crazy. This was 2.5 years ago. Look how far we have come. It will be a years before general users have applications so advanced that they need 4GB+ of memory. Our standard right now is 512MB, with some machines coming with 256MB still. It should really be 1GB at this point especially considering how cheap memory is.

With people buying 512MB PC's I am sure they don't care or know what 64-bit does for them. If we make the switch completely(which is happening) then that is fine, but we surely can't sell people on it. It is going to take AMD and Intel simply moving to 64-bit and the market will follow.

With that said, the need for 64-bit is a long way away. You can buy into 64-bit now, but chances are that by the time we need it, you will have bought a new, better, faster computer.

The real advances with Merom will be performance per watt which equates to 20% increase over yonah at equivelent clock speeds. What's more is that I think Merom will be debuting at higher clocks than Yonah is at which equates to an even higher performance boost at the same price point. And, it is 64-bit to boot. However this should not be the driving factor for waiting because for current home users it does not matter.

$50 bucks says if Apple moves Merom, they will be boasting speed ratings and not 64-bit.

 

[purelithium]

(boo intel)

Why do you say that only for one of your computers in your signature when both of your computers are intels?

 

[gman71882]

Lastly - Apple have not said that they will be releasing any 64-bit based Intel computers. As usual, people look to Intel to see what's coming next, but I really don't think that Apple make their machines just to show off the new Intel processors.

Its pretty much a given that the Power Mac replacement will have to be 64bit. The current G5 is 64 bit and lets you install upto 16 GB of RAM into that machine. Apple will not backstep with the MacPro. There are a few scientific programs that require 64 bit processing and they will not go 32bit in the High end machine.