The specifications for the motherboard already in the MacBook are out. Apple just needs to order them from their OEM(s) and have the machines assembled.
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Apple Releases New MacBooks
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Which is exactly why I say this update would have been better two weeks ago. Same things would be accomplished, minus the extremely let-down base of waiters (who would only be a little let-down).
I agree. Apple's timing sucked on this one. When SR came out and there was no announcement from Apple, everyone was like "Oh, they are just waiting until next week for the new GPUs". Then the day after the GPUs are announced (no mobile ones, actually made it that day), they come out with a speed bump. Disappointed a lot of tech watchers.
The theory that Apple has tons of current laptop Core 2 chips to clear out is interesting. Although they do have the Mac Mini and iMac to use for that too, and you wouldn't think it would take that long to get rid of them, unless they completely over bought.
I hope this is just a short term thing...
I'm not sure what you mean by that. OS X was the first OS to do it's interface in 3D, years and years before Vista did. And even now, Vista doesn't seem to do anything useful with it.
I hope this is just a short term thing...
I'm not sure what you mean by that. OS X was the first OS to do it's interface in 3D, years and years before Vista did. And even now, Vista doesn't seem to do anything useful with it.
Hmm, guess I didn't realize that the OEMs were able to retool at no extra cost.
Pretty much every other computer manufacturer (Dell, HP, etc.) is going to be ordering Santa Rosa parts.
Thing is, now that they have 2.0/2.16 CPUs in the MB they'll have to go 2.0/2.2 when the change to SR which will end up costing more than had they gone straight to SR with 2.0/1.8 now.
Yeah agreed.
That's why over 100 new Santa Rosa laptops were released on 9 May, from both large and small vendors.
</sarcasm>
I find all these arguments that Apple couldn't afford to switch to be suspect. Apple has superb supply chain management and just-in-time manufacturing. Does anyone really think that they have warehouses full of Napa Meroms that they have to unload?
Most of the other manufacturers had new systems on the 9th, surely Apple knew that date as well.
_____
By the way, here are a couple of nice Santa Rosa overviews for those who believe that it wouldn't bring anything to the MB:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/05/09/intel_santa_rosa_mobile_platform/1
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/print.php?cid=14&id=2256
First off, Usefulness is NOT the point eyecandy is the point.
Well the things I like on compiz are
- smooth zooming (I press ctrl-alt and the scroll wheel of my mouse to zoom wherever I want on the screen)
- wobbley windows (windows are like jello when you move them... rather than like paper)
- "bouncy" menus (very hard to describe this... its like menus seem to be made of jelly or something)
- superior transparency
- inside the cube feeling for switching virtual desktops (does osX even have virtual desktops?)
- Water effect when moving the mouse (its like your monitor is a pool of water that your mouse is lightly touching)
Its just eye candy stuff... but it really adds to the experience. Whatever Tiger has, I expect Leopard to be clearly superior (but also need better graphical hardware).
osX may already have these things. My point is that 3d desktops are perhaps more graphically intensive than what the 950 can handle, but not nearly as graphically intensive as games.
the 950 is a very poor graphics solution.
For what it counts the ATI 1600 is inferior technology now too and needs to be updated... when Apple first released these cards were mid-high range. Now they are low range.
The 3100 would give "acceptable" graphics capabilities, and I would feel assured that Leopard would run adaquately. I am not assured with 950, and wont be buying a MB until I see how Leopard runs on it (if it runs fine, I'll buy a MB with 950)
shocked at no Super Drive in base model
Oh well, my 'old' one is better than the base model and there is not much difference in the $1300 one I bought and the current one - few gigs and 166MHz - what a let down!!! That's 8% increase! LOL
Bring on new MBP!!!
Oh well, my 'old' one is better than the base model and there is not much difference in the $1300 one I bought and the current one - few gigs and 166MHz - what a let down!!! That's 8% increase! LOL
Bring on new MBP!!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2tallyAwesome View Post
The point is; that yes, it is your fault if you can't find a mac that suits your needs
In Soviet Russia computer plays you!
So we should change ourselves and our usage to suit Apples product range? That comment is beyond belief.
..............................................................
I agree that comment is beyond belief
Originally Posted by 2tallyAwesome View Post
The point is; that yes, it is your fault if you can't find a mac that suits your needs
In Soviet Russia computer plays you!
So we should change ourselves and our usage to suit Apples product range? That comment is beyond belief.
..............................................................
I agree that comment is beyond belief
Um... who are you to judge another's experience. If they enjoy their apple let them... I have quite a few "switcher" friends who constantly talk about how great their apple experience is. I tend to believe that people who constantly gripe about how much apple sucks have just forgotten how good apple can be when compared to other offerings. That being said, I think that this update is a waste of time and I cannot understand why apple would even bother. Not having a dvd burner in every MB is beyond my comprehension. Put it this way... for desktops you can by a dvd burner for less than USD$40. How expensive would it be to put into a laptop? And the graphics are absolutely NOT good enough when you consider that apple has always maintained an "elite" image. It's not like the 950 is even in the middle. It's pretty much the worst notebook graphics solution available.
I absolutely won't buy one unless the hard drive is user replaceable, so that's the bigee for me. My second biggest complaint is the GPU. I'm hoping they throw a mid range card in there like an 8600, though the way things are going we'll probably get a Radeon 9200 or something
The CPU bump is appreciated, but I would have bought months ago if not for the hard drive and GPU issues.
That's just not true. The Radeon x1600 was deemed not acceptable for games in Anandtech reviews over a year ago...and it's light years beyond Intel's graphics.
Yeah...you upgraded the hard drive, because you CAN upgrade the hard drive easily and cheaply. You CAN'T upgrade the GPU, which is why it's more important that it come with a decent GPU.
I've been waiting 10 months for new systems. Not one of Apple's systems meets my needs, and I'm just waiting for either Dell or Apple to release a new notebook that does. (Basically if Apple releases a system with a replaceable hard drive and mid range GPU, I'll get that, if not, I guess I'll look at Dell :-/ )
I was expecting mobile 8800GPUs in November...because that's what all the rumors said. Now it's May, and I'm still waiting for just a mobile 8600. Lame, I know.
I *sooooo* hope they release a model with a replaceable hard drive and 8600. I've saved up and have the money sitting in the bank if they just release something that suits me...
If you've been okay with waiting for 10 months, then it's likely that you don't really NEED a new machine, you just want one. If you really needed a new machine, you probably would've gotten a MBP with the 256mb video card in it.
Okay, so the Intel graphics in the MacBook can't play the latest games. But it can handle anything else I can throw at it with ease. That's pretty impressive to me, as a creative person.
And another thing: I would have more respect for your position on the Intel graphics if you were complaining that you couldn't MAKE cool 3D games on the MacBook (but then I'd tell you to throw down for a Mac Pro). Then, at least, you'd be doing something creative with your time!
I agree with many of the posters here. The MacBook wasn't meant for gamers. It was meant for people who want to use their laptops to make cool things like movies, podcasts, slide shows or even comic books. And guess what? The MacBook does that exceedingly well. Better than any PC with an awesome graphics card. And it has been wildly successful, a HUGE seller. It will continue to be a huge seller despite complaints from gamers.
Speaking of doing creative things. . . I'm going to stop fooling around with this post. I've got some awesome things to create with my fantastic MacBook!
Oh, and one more thing:
I guess you call Sims 2 HARDCORE then?
I've met people trying to run it on Intel Extreme Graphics 2 before.
Yes. It would be an indirect cost if they contract it out, but that merely means that it gets hidden in the contract's 'guarenteed minimum' quantity.
That's the same thing I've been saying, but its been falling on deaf ears:
Unfortunately, that is essentially that's what some folks around here are claiming. IMO, they need to work 5 years out in a manufacturing plant.
-hh
I enjoyed your injection molded widget example but what would need to be retooled to ship Santa Rosa?
Deaf ears, fu fu fu.
I'm sorry EA can't hear you from its pool of money.
Sorry kid, but that's your homework assignment, since you're the one claiming that it would somehow cost next to nothing.
-hh
I believe the OEM would be building the Santa Rosa platform motherboard PCB to physical specifications from final computer manufacturers.
1. Obtain Santa Rosa platform hardware, chipsets; wireless; processors; Robson flash, from Intel (Just like Napa...)
2. Build motherboard PCB to final specifications (Just like Napa...)
3. Insert/solder processor from Intel (Just like Napa...)
4. Install wireless option (Just like Napa...)
5. Robson Flash optional (New but it needs to simply be plugged in just like the wireless card.)
The retooling is where?
That comment was about their opinion of Sims 2 being a popular casual game and not the MacBook.flopticalcube said:
Pretty much commodity-like "Variable" costs.
The general approach will be the same, but not every step.
Where you get into retooling is that every piece of any sort of machinery that touches any aspect of that motherboard is going to have to be checked to see if its actions are EXACTLY the same. Where its not, it needs to (at best) be reprogrammed or (at worst) completely replaced. This means that if a row of components gets shifted over 1mm, all of the 'pic' heads that install those items need to be reprogrammed, etc.
Since motherboards aren't my thing, I'm going to pick something that seems simple: let's say that a new mounting screw has been added, and this screw happens to be a different size than the rest:
- Change in screw supplier / inventory tracking & control
- Change in a job description ('keeper the new screws')
- Add a new station location on the assembly line
- Add material hander (pull from transporting system into station)
- New power drop to run the new equipment
- (+Check building power)
- A new Vibratory Bowl Feeder (VBF) to supply screw to the line
- A new VBF bow design for orientating the different screw size
- A new VBF supply chute design to deliver it down to the picker
- New power drop to run the new equipment
- (+Check building power)
- New (maybe just updated) 'pic' head for the assember machine
- (+Check to see if the assembler has the free time to add this task)
- New programming for what the assembler's supposed to do with it
- (+Check programming if borrowing pic time; free for other tasks)
- Return material handling (return to transporting system)
- Document all production line changes
- Get safety release certifications for all the changes
- Establish employee training plan
- Conduct employee training
- New QA check
This is just off the cuff; the full checklist will probably be twice as long. After you have this checklist, you can then go and price out each item on it. Overall, I'd SWAG this one little item as probably around $300K by the time you're done.
Since its the P Socket, the procedure's going to be slightly different. You'll need to make sure that the machine to do this task has the right tool to grab the processor...after verifying that the supply racks are okay...and then go into the specifics as to how the two sockets are different and what the machine needs to do in order to do the assembly correctly. Once its all set up, it should run fine and probably not have a significant change in variable costs...but it does still need to be all checked over to be sure.
In general, the thing to remember is that the way that we drive down costs today is through automation, and that while robots do a very good job in these repetitive tasks, even the smallest things throw a spanner into the works and will screw up a line...checking out and being explicit for every single one of these details is where your tooling & retooling costs come from.
-hh
Take the words "pretty much" out of that quote
It IS the worst notebook graphics solution available.