Are you waiting for Penryn chips? Please tell...

[spicyapple]

OK, so MR has posted a news item on Intel demoing new 45nm Penryn laptop chips, ready before the end of this year.

... a few improvements.

- 45 nm
- lower heat
- better battery life
- SSE4
- quad core (possibly 8-core?)

Great news to those waiting, like myself who's still using an old, slow 2004 PowerBook. But given the delays in going from 90nm to 65nm, it might be possible the transition to 45nm could prove troublesome for the chipmaker.

Should I buy a MacBook now, or should I wait for Penryn?

 

[MacNut]

Buy now or wait a year. We still don't know if these chips will ship on time.

 

[Chundles]

OK, so MR has posted a news item on Intel demoing new 45nm Penryn laptop chips, ready before the end of this year.

... a few improvements.

- 45 nm
- lower heat
- better battery life
- SSE4
- quad core (possibly 8-core?)

Great news to those waiting, like myself who's still using an old, slow 2004 PowerBook. But given the delays in going from 90nm to 65nm, it might be possible the transition to 45nm could prove troublesome for the chipmaker.

Should I buy a MacBook now, or should I wait for Penryn?

Don't buy anything. Just use your PowerBook till it blows up then use a pen and paper.

 

[valdore]

the penryn rumors coincide with my time frame for getting a mac desktop. w00t!

 

[bearbo]

OK, so MR has posted a news item on Intel demoing new 45nm Penryn laptop chips, ready before the end of this year.

... a few improvements.

- 45 nm
- lower heat
- better battery life
- SSE4
- quad core (possibly 8-core?)

Great news to those waiting, like myself who's still using an old, slow 2004 PowerBook. But given the delays in going from 90nm to 65nm, it might be possible the transition to 45nm could prove troublesome for the chipmaker.

Should I buy a MacBook now, or should I wait for Penryn?

i always thought only newbies would ask this kind of question. i think you are above that, spicyapple.

someone has to say it... so "buy it if you need it now, wait if you can(or have the money and REALLY REALLY want it - i added this part myself)", but i'm sure you already know this.

if you have the budget, then i say go for it, you can get it when the next one comes out, it will probably take another yr and half, seeing how fast they adopted merom.

 

[SMM]

OK, so MR has posted a news item on Intel demoing new 45nm Penryn laptop chips, ready before the end of this year.

... a few improvements.

- 45 nm
- lower heat
- better battery life
- SSE4
- quad core (possibly 8-core?)

Great news to those waiting, like myself who's still using an old, slow 2004 PowerBook. But given the delays in going from 90nm to 65nm, it might be possible the transition to 45nm could prove troublesome for the chipmaker.

Should I buy a MacBook now, or should I wait for Penryn?

First of all, it is nice to see you posting again.

As for the 45nm process, I suspect they have solved the manufacturing process. Otherwise, it is just a PR show. However, they have provided availability guidance, so I would also think they will deliver the goods close to their published schedule. I read a blurb that indicated their reject rate was still above optimum.

Rumor has it, the 32nm is also on track, but lacks engineering for the production phase.

 

[iW00t]

Well, Intel did say that we can expect double digit percentage in speed increases, a nice way to say 10%.

10% is not exactly revolutionary IMO, but it sure is nice to have!

I am waiting for a better screen worthy of the "pro" moniker though.

 

[j26]

My next upgrade will likely be in the first half of 2008 (before I finish college, so I can still avail of student pricing), so it sounds like perfect timing for me.

For you, if the powerbook still does what you want, hang on to it, but if you need a faster processor and longer battery life, get a macbook now. My 2.0 CD was a fine choice for me for what I do.

 

[Diatribe]

Always depends on your needs.
Not all people want a faster processor. I for one need a bigger HD, which is the driving reason for a new notebook every 1 1/2 years.
As soon as they put 250GB HDs in the MBPs one is mine.

 

[iW00t]

I actually found this bit on the 'pedia

* Stealey - 65 nm, single-core, 512 KiB L2 cache (mid 2007) [3]
* Gilo - 65 nm, multi-core (Q4 2007) [4]
* Penryn - 45 nm, dual-core, 3-6 MiB L2 cache (Q4 2007) [5]; will introduce SSE4 instructions [6]

Gilo... multi core?

What is that supposed to mean? Quad core processors for laptops?

 

[siurpeeman]

i didn't want to wait for anything any longer. i bought a macbook a month ago.

 

[acoustics940]

If you wait a year for a new chip why not just wait another extra year for the next newest one?? Or maybe another 2 years for the even newer one!!!!!!

 

[flopticalcube]

IIRC, Intel has no current plans for a quad-core mobile cpu. Of course, they could always change their minds.

 

[maxp1]

I'm waiting for 10.5 and the Santa Rosa chips. That's as long as I can wait. Hopefully that upgrade will be fairly significant and offer some other things like LED backlight and lower power cunsuption pre-n wireless cards.

 

[kerisimasi]

why not buy now and sell later

Here's a thought - if you need one now, get a MBP, then sell it when the new Pennryn has proven itself - maybe G2. I can't imagine they would charge too much for it, and the resale is good on mbps....win-win

 

[mkrishnan]

Gilo... multi core?

It's kind of suspicious that the timeline calls for Gilo as the successor to Merom and coming out in "2006/2007"....

 

[flashphire]

I read somewhere among my internet travels that Penryn is likely to be delayed an extra 3 months or so. If it was upto me, I'd just buy a new one now and not delay for that chip. There's always bugs to workout when you shrink an architecture- so don't count on it being instantly great.

 

[Episteme]

OK, so MR has posted a news item on Intel demoing new 45nm Penryn laptop chips, ready before the end of this year.

... a few improvements.

- 45 nm
- lower heat
- better battery life
- SSE4
- quad core (possibly 8-core?)

Great news to those waiting, like myself who's still using an old, slow 2004 PowerBook. But given the delays in going from 90nm to 65nm, it might be possible the transition to 45nm could prove troublesome for the chipmaker.

Should I buy a MacBook now, or should I wait for Penryn?

... or should you wait for Nehalem ... ?

Unlike Penryn, Nehalem will have complete SSE4, and should continue the improvements in the heat/power/battery stakes. Due sometime 3/4Q 2008, if I'm not mistaken.

You can wait for shinier, faster, better forever. Unless something's imminent or the next iteration is especially compelling to you, it's generally not worth hanging on, IMO. Leopard and Santa Rosa are probably worth waiting for if you're not absolutely desperate for a new machine, but another six months or so on top? Probably not worth it... I only think it's worth it for Leopard/SR because the two will likely arrive together...

 

[acoustics940]

I think you can only have so much fast. I didnt know people actually needed terabytes of ram and 10.0ghz cpus I think current chips are fine I wouldnt waste money on something just because its new

 

[SMM]

I think you can only have so much fast. I didnt know people actually needed terabytes of ram and 10.0ghz cpus I think current chips are fine I wouldnt waste money on something just because its new

I agree with you, with the small exception of investment protection. Assuming a person wants to get >2 years use out of an investment, even a 2 year old machine can seem antiquated. Personally, I do not see it that way. Computers have become so powerful, many people do not actually use the processing power they have.

Hardcore gamers seem to be the worse. They often do not have a clue as to how a computer actually works, but they read (when possible) about the latest/greatest and just have to own it.

But, that is the world we live in. I have only one personal complaint. All of this powerful hardware is making for some very sloppy programming.

 

[ready2switch]

I'm waiting for 10.5 and the Santa Rosa chips. That's as long as I can wait. Hopefully that upgrade will be fairly significant and offer some other things like LED backlight and lower power cunsuption pre-n wireless cards.

Ditto.

By the time I work that machine to death, there will be something even better than Penryn around the bend to look forward to. (Whereas right now, almost anything will be better than my hand-me-down Dell)

 

[iW00t]

It's kind of suspicious that the timeline calls for Gilo as the successor to Merom and coming out in "2006/2007"....

What I find funny is Gilo is a 65nm chip.

With "multi" cores and the same feature size wouldn't that make a big ass processor for a small laptop?

 

[gothiquegirrl]

i'm waiting for 10.5 .. that's it.. I can't wait forever for the newest.. because that always changes.. I just can't afford a 2K laptop and another 129 for the new operating system.. and since i'm already running tiger.. i'd like the new OS.

Angie

 

[Episteme]

What I find funny is Gilo is a 65nm chip.

With "multi" cores and the same feature size wouldn't that make a big ass processor for a small laptop?

Nope -- package will be the same size.

The real problem is heat dissipation -- bear in mind how hot some MBPs were with dual core processors...

 

[Queso]

**squeezes spicyapple's cheek**

You little attention seeker you