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Intel Arrandale Benchmarks Show Major Improvements for Notebooks

Z1NX said:
These new Macbook Pro's better include USB 3.0
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Yeah I think that's the least we can expect...

kakapo said:
what are these "second rev of Arrandale silicon towards the middle of the year with better power characteristics"? the ultra-low voltage variants are due out this week. there's nothing on the wiki page of future intel microprocessors about an arrandale variant in Q2 2010.
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+1.

What should we expect? I mean, what does this really mean?

I've been waiting for a while now, so If this middle-of-the-year update is really going to make the difference I might as well keep waiting untill then.

We'll have to see how all this moves on. Any ideas?
 
baryon said:
lol! "hold out"? A Mac should last around 5 years! Getting the new version each year would be quite a waste indeed!
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Until very recently, I bought every new version. There's nothing wasteful about it. The market for used Macs is vibrant, and if you're not stupid about your purchases, it doesn't cost you any more to buy each revision than it would to let your purchase completely depreciate before purchasing anew. Meanwhile, you get to enjoy the latest and greatest hardware.
 
St.Jimmy! said:
Yeah I think that's the least we can expect...


+1.

What should we expect? I mean, what does this really mean?

I've been waiting for a while now, so If this middle-of-the-year update is really going to make the difference I might as well keep waiting untill then.

We'll have to see how all this moves on. Any ideas?
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From what I understand, the Intel chipsets will not include USB 3.0 support until around 2011. It is not coming yet.
 
kakapo said:
what are these "second rev of Arrandale silicon towards the middle of the year with better power characteristics"? the ultra-low voltage variants are due out this week. there's nothing on the wiki page of future intel microprocessors about an arrandale variant in Q2 2010.
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It is just another rev of the CPU. It appears in the article that Intel is having problems with the idle power level. So much so that it isn't any better than the 45nm parts. Rev updates tend to be silent (to the average user). Tech sites usually keep up with that kind of thing. Of course this is only the case if the clock speeds aren't increased at the same time.
 
zedsdead said:
From what I understand, the Intel chipsets will not include USB 3.0 support until around 2011. It is not coming yet.
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**** i'd missed that. I just checked it out. You're damn right. That's so ****ing annoying.

I've been waiting for a while now, so I'll see what apple comes up with and then I'll se what I do.
 
sticky.chicken said:
The whole tablet thing is probably going to be a bit of a yawn. I just want the damn Macbook Pro line to be updated so that I can get one. I don't need a new laptop, but my old G4 Powerbook is starting to die.
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This is exactly my situation.
My warriorlike pbook G4 is at dead end.
I used it as much as I could during the last 5\6 years but now it's done.
 
mosx said:
I don't see the point in Apple using these slightly faster processors in their systems if they're still sticking with such low-end graphics.

Look at the current MacBook "Pro" lineup.

The highest end stock 15.4" and 17" MacBook "Pro" (yes I use the quotations for a reason) ship with 2.8GHz Core 2 Duos. But they're paired with GeForce 9600M GTs. The low end 15.4" system has a 2.53GHz Core 2 Duo paired with a GeForce 9400M.

Whats the point of having reasonably fast processors when they're held back by suck low end graphics? Even when Apple finally switched to the 9600M GT in 2008, it was already several months old and low end by that point.

How will Apple price the new systems? Are they seriously going to try to push dual core Core i5 chips at the same $1100 and up price point that currently gets you Core i7, blu-ray, and high end GPUs in Windows notebook PCs?

I guess we'll see. They have been pushing faster and faster Core 2 Duos and low end GPUs while, during the early half of last year, PC notebooks went Core 2 Quad with GPUs that were several times faster than the 9600M GT, all while costing less..
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While I agree that the graphics options in Apple laptops are indeed weak, there are many uses for fast processors outside of their pairing with higher end graphics cards. Not all CPU/RAM intensive apps care about what GPU the computer has, such as virtualization and audio apps.

However if Apple keeps pushing the OpenCL stuff, they'll need to do something more about the GPU's. I'd love to be able to have a GT260 or better and not use it for graphics, but rather offload processor intensive Audio Unit plug-ins from Logic onto it. This technology has existed for years (offloading to GPU for plugins), but it hasn't really latched on as much as I would have liked to have seen it.
 
Joe The Dragon said:
The mini should have a good video chip as it does not have a battery in it and at $800 you are not far off a core i7 system with a good video card and much bigger HDD.
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What about the MacBook, MacBook Air, 13" MBP? Are we going to have to use the crappy IGP? I had a MacBook with the GMA950 up until very recently, it was powerful enough all around except in one area: graphics. The X3100 isn't much of an improvement. And even with the 15" & and 17" MBPs, The 9400M gives the option of having decent graphics performance but the longer battery life (which is important in laptops), and if you need the extra horse power without concern for the power consumption (ie if you're plugged in) you can switch to the 9600M GT. Now it's going to be complete crap graphics with good battery life. My old MacBook with the GMA 950 hyper ventilated (fans spun up to 6200 RPM) when watching relatively low/moderate bit rate 720P video. My new 13" MBP with the 9400M doesn't rev up a bit with 1080i, and doesn't lag when editing in iMovie or iPhoto or Garageband. Plus keep in mind, they both have 2Gb of RAM, albeit the FSB and RAM on the 13" MBP is faster.
 
I an getting very good Price for my unibody MacBook late 08, are guys sure that new updated MacBook pros Will come out ón 27 th Jan. And will they be released the same day???. I am a bit confused.
 
Baadshah said:
I an getting very good Price for my unibody MacBook late 08, are guys sure that new updated MacBook pros Will come out ón 27 th Jan. And will they be released the same day???. I am a bit confused.
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Lmao. No mate - on the 27th, Intel/Apple will announce their new processors at CES. We won't see the new MBP's until at least February/March
 
Z1NX said:
Lmao. No mate - on the 27th, Intel/Apple will announce their new processors at CES. We won't see the new MBP's until at least February/March
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Arent new updated macbook pro coming up on 27th jan with new intel processor and more ram/hdd etc???
 
I know there are new CPUs coming out and the new MBP is probably just around the corner but I can pick up the 2.53GHz 13" model for $1350 but only half of that is out of my own pocket. Should I still wait? I kinda need a notebook at the moment...

For someone who mainly want to use the MBP for essays, web, and maybe minor creativity purposes (photoshop maybe? no games though)... should I really care how much better the new i5/i7 will be?

I'm a college student and since most of my classes require work to be submitted online or done on the comp and I'm on campus most of the time, I think it'd be nice to finally pick up a laptop...

Thoughts, anyone?
 
User10 said:
Should I still wait? I kinda need a notebook at the moment...
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Don't wait - if you need a laptop buy it. Especially since the current MacBook will be just as useful for you as the next version.

Nobody can predict when Apple will be shipping new notebooks - sometimes several weeks or months pass between Intel announcing a new CPU and Apple shipping systems that use it. (This can be partly Intel's fault, since at the official announcement only a trickle of new chips are shipping. Apple waits until they can ship in volume to announce.)
 
AidenShaw said:
Don't wait - if you need a laptop buy it. Especially since the current MacBook will be just as useful for you as the next version.

Nobody can predict when Apple will be shipping new notebooks - sometimes several weeks or months pass between Intel announcing a new CPU and Apple shipping systems that use it. (This can be partly Intel's fault, since at the official announcement only a trickle of new chips are shipping. Apple waits until they can ship in volume to announce.)
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The selection of notebooks in Apple's refurbished store is back as well. I'd get a new Unibody plastic MacBook if I was in real need of a replacement notebook. At $849 it's a steal. :D
 
Dell, HP and others already came out with new Arrandale models at very nice prices and specs that blow MBP's out of the water
 
Hope the new CPUs will not cost as mouch as a new iPhone
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Get what you can get now. The processor bump will be minimal at best. I suspect Apple is preparing a "major" update for later this year in the August-October time frame to include touch features on all laptops so they are directly compatible with the entire app store ecosystem.

The reason this is likely is the iBookstore will have content best viewed in a touch format as well. So whether you have a desktop, tabletop, laptop, handtop or pad, everything will run everywhere.

Rocketman
 
AidenShaw said:
Why aren't people complaining that the radio chip in the Iphone supports an FM tuner (which Apple is not using)? Is every Iphone user being penalized because a few transistors on a large scale integrated circuit aren't being utilized?

The Iphone would cost more, not less, if Apple insisted on a custom chip without the FM radio tuner. Same with Arrandale - a custom chip for Apple would cost much more.
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Yes. Sometimes things are counter intuitive: adding stuff to save money. But that's how it works.
 
Rocketman said:
I suspect Apple is preparing a "major" update for later this year in the August-October time frame to include touch features on all laptops so they are directly compatible with the entire app store ecosystem.
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Are you suggesting that new Macbooks will run IPhone apps? This sounds unlikely.
 
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