It would be nice if we could have the users boot up these new machine's drives on older Macs.
You have to take the drive out on the Macbook but you still have Target Disk Mode on the MacBook Pro.
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Apple Enabled GPU Hardware Decoding of h.264 on New MacBooks, Pros and Airs?
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You have to take the drive out on the Macbook but you still have Target Disk Mode on the MacBook Pro.
Not sure if you have taken this into account or not, but OSX measures CPU as 100%=1 core utilized (or 2 cores half utilized, etc.), but Windows measures CPU usage as 100%=ALL cores utilized.
So 60% CPU under OSX is the equivalent of 7.5% CPU in Windows on an 8-core system. 17% CPU in Windows is the same as 136% in OSX.
It's also likely that the Quicktime decoder and the ffdshow decoder are using different (for better or worse) CPU optimizations, for example using some of the new SSE4 vector extensions introduced with Penryn.
Another possibility is that Quicktime may be doing higher or lower quality in-loop deblocking and deringing than the ffdshow decoder. This improves video quality at the expense of CPU cycles.
Yeah, that would be an interesting idea to try...
BTW, on a (ahem) Wolfdale CPU (w/SSE4) based OS X system using Quicktime Version 7.5.5 (249.13), the CPU utilization tops out at ~31% with the 1080p trailer (with some other crapola also running).
hardmac.com
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- NVidia SLI Hybrid Fully Functional with Mac OS X 10.5.6 - Lionel - 08:21:36
In its FAQ about GeForce products installed in the MacBook Pro, NVidia provide details about its SLI Hybrid technology applied in the Mac. Apparently the technology is not fully available in the MacBook Pro, but it will be fully supported with Mac OS X 10.5.6: Apple's hybrid graphics technology is supported under the Mac OS X operating system version 10.5.6 and higher only. Only the Hybrid Power function of the SLI Hybrid techbnology is currently available, the GeForce Boost ability allowing the simultaneous usage of both the video chipset and the discrete GPU will come later on with Mac OS X 10.5.6.
Apple might not like that a partner unveils some functions of the future version of its OS. However, it demonstrates also that NVidia is willing to update its drivers to bring its technologies to the Mac. One could now seriously think of a Mac Pro and NVidia SLI fully supported and managed by Snow Leopard.
In addition, NVidia mentions that when using BootCamp partition with the new MacBook Pro, one will not be able to choose which video chips to be used, it will be by default the discrete GeForce 9600M.
When applied in PC notebook SLI Hybrid technology does not provide the expected performance level so far, as both chipset and GPU spend a lot of time to exchange data and 2D/3D rendering are not really boosted. However, as a recent technology, it will improve over time and its GPGPU power might be important as well.
[translation by Linathael]
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- NVidia SLI Hybrid Fully Functional with Mac OS X 10.5.6 - Lionel - 08:21:36
In its FAQ about GeForce products installed in the MacBook Pro, NVidia provide details about its SLI Hybrid technology applied in the Mac. Apparently the technology is not fully available in the MacBook Pro, but it will be fully supported with Mac OS X 10.5.6: Apple's hybrid graphics technology is supported under the Mac OS X operating system version 10.5.6 and higher only. Only the Hybrid Power function of the SLI Hybrid techbnology is currently available, the GeForce Boost ability allowing the simultaneous usage of both the video chipset and the discrete GPU will come later on with Mac OS X 10.5.6.
Apple might not like that a partner unveils some functions of the future version of its OS. However, it demonstrates also that NVidia is willing to update its drivers to bring its technologies to the Mac. One could now seriously think of a Mac Pro and NVidia SLI fully supported and managed by Snow Leopard.
In addition, NVidia mentions that when using BootCamp partition with the new MacBook Pro, one will not be able to choose which video chips to be used, it will be by default the discrete GeForce 9600M.
When applied in PC notebook SLI Hybrid technology does not provide the expected performance level so far, as both chipset and GPU spend a lot of time to exchange data and 2D/3D rendering are not really boosted. However, as a recent technology, it will improve over time and its GPGPU power might be important as well.
[translation by Linathael]
Got an enclosure for the MacBook drive that you can boot on the MacBook Pro?
OK...I took out the hard drive from my MacBook (which by the way, is extremely easy compared to taking one out of a MacBook Pro), put it into a USB hard drive, and booted my MacBook Pro into the hard drive. CPU usage was same as before, but it was quite jerky since the USB 2.0 interface is so slow. This however, does not rule out SSE4 optimizations since my MacBook Pro is a Merom processor which doesn't have SSE4.
What a great piece of information, this would clarify many things in fact...and it reminds me of the Mhz myth spread for such a long time in PC circles...
For those of you who have the new MacBooks already, did you pick them up from Apple stores? I placed an order the morning after they were announced but I have a shipping date of 3-4th November. It has been stuck on 'shipping 8 days' for the last four days. Anyone else in Europe received them yet? I bought mine online from the Apple store ( Spain ). Of course being in Spain things tend to take ages to arrive here, they must be on the slow boat from China.
I'm in the same situation right now. Ordered the 15" MBP with education discount, payed it last friday morning with credit card, and I'm still waiting for any confirmation or update on the shipping info.
everyone in the eu are having their orders lagging afaik. mine is exactly like you, i even ordered next morning after the keynote. 3 weeks is a lot imo.
In Windows the decoding is off-loaded to your video card, while in OS X (well until we either get the special 10.5.5 or the next 10.6) it's done by the CPU.
Actually it depends on what you're looking at. In Task Manager, the general number is the total usage yes, but in the processes, it's per core, so you can have 8 threads at 100% on the processes page and that means 800% in OS X.
A good metric would be to measure using the UNIX load measurement. Run the video for 20 minutes, and see what the value are. You can either use top in terminal, or istat.
If on older MBPs it reads 4.2, 4.1, 3.6 for example, and the new machine 1.4, 1,4, 1.3, then something is being off loaded somewhere.
We also need to compare with a system loaded in bootcamp into Windows, try switching hardware acceleration on and off. I find on my old MacBook Pro, with acceleration off both cores in Windows are almost maxed when playing 1080p, with acceleration on the CPU's are at 15-20%. I cry SSE4 is in work for Mac OS X.
OS X video drivers have always been poor. I get over three times the frame rate when using Spore, Need For Speed or CNC Generals with Windows compared to OS X.
If on older MBPs it reads 4.2, 4.1, 3.6 for example, and the new machine 1.4, 1,4, 1.3, then something is being off loaded somewhere.
We also need to compare with a system loaded in bootcamp into Windows, try switching hardware acceleration on and off. I find on my old MacBook Pro, with acceleration off both cores in Windows are almost maxed when playing 1080p, with acceleration on the CPU's are at 15-20%. I cry SSE4 is in work for Mac OS X.
OS X video drivers have always been poor. I get over three times the frame rate when using Spore, Need For Speed or CNC Generals with Windows compared to OS X.
can't we all just agree that the new macbook, macbook Pro can do things faster than the old macs(quicktime and so on...)
Nope. That name difference is purely done by Perian. Try uninstalling / installing Perian and you will see the name changing. Current version is Perian 1.1.1
Btw, i have Ali iMac 2.4GHz with Ati HD2600. I got 40-70% CPU while playing "Yes Man 1080p". With and without Perian. Its nice to see they fixed the bug in Perian. Older Perian 1.1 (not 1.0) had a nasty bug that skipped frames while playing h.264.
Off CPU processing
Surely one of the things that has been talked about has been the use of the GPU to undertake processing. This should mean that when Snowy Mountain Panther Lion comes along the MBPs are going to fly.
Not just one GPU doing work but TWO.
I guess that the pathways within the machines are well set up to cope with this.
Comments ?
Surely one of the things that has been talked about has been the use of the GPU to undertake processing. This should mean that when Snowy Mountain Panther Lion comes along the MBPs are going to fly.
Not just one GPU doing work but TWO.
I guess that the pathways within the machines are well set up to cope with this.
Comments ?
Grand Unification
I think Snow Leopard is Apple's effort at leaning toward a grand unification of OS's for product lines from handtop to portable to desktop to server.
That said, I think the basis is a "banding" strategy. The build for handtops will be minimalist with several "toggles" set to that application and a very closed environment to prevent capability leakage that breaks bandwidth or power bottlenecks. In addition to that, handtops will become dramatically more capable with integrated CPU and GPU in form factors, clock speeds, and I/O capabilities tailored for handtops.
Another band or build of Snow Leopard will add lots of code suitable for laptops and desktops such as programming environments, widespread expandability, almost no closed systems approaches, and far broader bandwidth and power thresholds.
The final band or build will be for servers where whether for http and database applications, or for hard compute applications, it will be tailorable for sheer throughput and multiple instances and massive CPU counts, both inside each box and with multiple boxen. The option to add multiple GPU co-processors will be a standard feature.
This will make what amounts to a single codebase translate across a wide range of end user hardware and OS applications.
As I have been saying for a couple of years now, CPU speed exceeded user interface speed about 2 years ago, so now we have media and I/O bottlenecks being worked on. All within a steady state hardware form factor range that simply becomes more capable at each step within an essentially stable price point.
That is an amazing technical and marketing achievement.
I do not have an Apple NDA.
Rocketman
I think Snow Leopard is Apple's effort at leaning toward a grand unification of OS's for product lines from handtop to portable to desktop to server.
That said, I think the basis is a "banding" strategy. The build for handtops will be minimalist with several "toggles" set to that application and a very closed environment to prevent capability leakage that breaks bandwidth or power bottlenecks. In addition to that, handtops will become dramatically more capable with integrated CPU and GPU in form factors, clock speeds, and I/O capabilities tailored for handtops.
Another band or build of Snow Leopard will add lots of code suitable for laptops and desktops such as programming environments, widespread expandability, almost no closed systems approaches, and far broader bandwidth and power thresholds.
The final band or build will be for servers where whether for http and database applications, or for hard compute applications, it will be tailorable for sheer throughput and multiple instances and massive CPU counts, both inside each box and with multiple boxen. The option to add multiple GPU co-processors will be a standard feature.
This will make what amounts to a single codebase translate across a wide range of end user hardware and OS applications.
As I have been saying for a couple of years now, CPU speed exceeded user interface speed about 2 years ago, so now we have media and I/O bottlenecks being worked on. All within a steady state hardware form factor range that simply becomes more capable at each step within an essentially stable price point.
That is an amazing technical and marketing achievement.
I do not have an Apple NDA.
Rocketman
Surprisingly enough this was already the case in Tiger and still is in Leopard.
My Early 2008 MacBook Pro was only using 54% of my CPU. I have a standard model that I bought in may for $1999. The same movie and everything. (I would of put the screenshot but its above 1.14 MB)
So, can anyone just check a new MacBook Pro system to see what the build numbers of the NVIDIA kernel extensions are? Go to the system profiler, under 'extensions' and look for the following files (the version number listed is from an original penryn MBP with the 8600GT for comparison):
GeForce.kext 1.5.30.17 (16.8.0f07)
NVDANV50Hal.kext Same
NVDAResman.kext Same
OpenGL.framework 1.5.7.31.0
AGL.framework 3.0.9
And the following files from /System/Library/Quicktime/
QuartzComposer.component
QuicktimeH264.component
QuicktimeMPEG4.component
If they are different on the new machines, then someone needs to upload the new versions to something like rapidshare and we can inject them into older penryn MBP machines for a more systematic test. It would also be a more placebo-controlled test, as SSE4 would be partialled out and the only difference would be the 8600GT vs the 9600GT.
GeForce.kext 1.5.30.17 (16.8.0f07)
NVDANV50Hal.kext Same
NVDAResman.kext Same
OpenGL.framework 1.5.7.31.0
AGL.framework 3.0.9
And the following files from /System/Library/Quicktime/
QuartzComposer.component
QuicktimeH264.component
QuicktimeMPEG4.component
If they are different on the new machines, then someone needs to upload the new versions to something like rapidshare and we can inject them into older penryn MBP machines for a more systematic test. It would also be a more placebo-controlled test, as SSE4 would be partialled out and the only difference would be the 8600GT vs the 9600GT.
I couldn't find the AGL and OpenGL framework numbers you were looking for but here are my kext verisons:
GeForce.kext - 1.5.34
NVDANV50Hal.kext - 1.5.34
NVDAResman.kext -1.5.34
[EDIT] I'm blind...
AGL.framework - 3.0.9
OpenGL.framework - 1.5.8
Here is the screenshot with the same film at 1080p.
