Help understanding

[JJLT76]

sorry for making a new thread, but i just wanted to ask what exactly the santa rosa chips will do when they are included in the macbooks? I ask this because at my local Comp USA they have the 10% off closing sale, and i wana take advantage of the small but good savings. I just went to the store and test drived my first mac, and all i got to say is they are lighting fast, even the standard Mac Mini is faster than my current PC. I honestly cant see how faster these beasts can get. so this is why im asking what exactly they will do, because if its just a speed boost, then i think ill just buy one of the current models because those seem fast enough for me.

 

[skubish]

I think it is not so much of a speed bump as a power usage reduction (better battery life).

 

[suneohair]

While Santa Rosa is a "chip," chipset is a better term as it encompasses a multiple of new features and "chips."

A chipset is a collection of things, and thus Santa rosa brings a multitude of things such as a faster FSB, GMA3000 graphics, newer wireless card, NAND memory caching which is all the rage. HSDPA, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrino#Santa_Rosa_platform_.282007.29

It will most likely has a faster memory controller, new instructions sets etc. Overall performance should increase and power usage will decrease.

Also coming is Penryn which takes us from a 65nm transistors to 45nm, decreasing heat and power usage while also increase speed yields.