Apple stopped REALLY caring about their computer lines once the iPod came out. Now all they're concerned with is the iPhone,iPod,iPad because the profit is all theirs, and they can micro manage every aspect of the process.
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Intel Experiencing Shortages of Notebook Chips?
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I have a ~4 year-old Core Duo MacBook. I want to replace it, but it's not completely broken/lost/useless. Therefore I am waiting for the Core i5/i7s to come out so that I can have the latest generation processors (and whatever other improvements), which have been benchmarked with significantly better performance. I think most people are in my situation. If I had no computer at all, I would've pulled the trigger in June '09 at WWDC. I do, so I'm waiting.
because a 13" screen sucks?
that is a very valid reason
13"is too small to work with, unless you dont need to do serious work
wishful thinking! 🙂 waaaay to advanced for a mac..not saying they couldn't integrate all of this but they usually don't make such an advanced machine. 🙁
not sure if anyone has mentioned this but the macmall.com prices have slightly dropped lately. the 2.8ghz with the 512mb card used to be 2150(7% off) there. and it is now 2125 (8% off). this may mean that they are slowly trying to get rid of the current model and make room for the updated model. although, this doesnt give us any guarantee on when the unit may come out, just speculation.
You're never too old to learn 😉
You all certainly do. See, a discussion is one thing. It's an entirely different thing if somebody is "participating", but willfully twisting arguments, shifting his point of view, not answering to anything directly but instead just making unfounded claims, etc., in short, if somebody is purposefully provoking others instead of contributing to the discussion in any meaningful way, there comes a point in time when you just have to accept that nothing useful can come out of that discussion. I tried for quite a while to get that person to participate properly, but the response was completely uncooperative. And, as I have stated before, when the time comes to realize that there is no further point in the discussion, I'm not afraid to call a duck a duck.
Well, I'm honestly sorry you feel that way, as you have given me no reason to disrespect you (coincidentally, that doesn't change just because you disagree with me on this matter, not even when you call me immature). I just don't feel that showing respect to people who do not deserve any is a sign of maturity. It is, in fact, a sign of weakness to eternally put up with these people's rubbish who just want to provoke without putting them in their place. I do not have to be friendly to people who behave like total retards for a number of consecutive postings.
Yep, that's exactely what I'm thinking, and I'm quite sure of it unless ATI have a viable alternative to NVidia's Optimus.
Anyway I don't think it will be too long before we se something new.
satcomer
Suspended
It could have something to do with the iPad and not trying to force too many product launches/updates at one time, but still, the two markets are hardly encroaching upon each other. Any serious user who is looking to invest in a MBP likely isn't about to just give up that interest and settle for the inferior iPad, and those who are looking to purchase an iPad, aren't about to change their mind and pay more than double to instead go with a MBP. Could either case happen? Sure, but I honestly don't see to any meaningful extent.
Arrandale is still a relatively "freshly released" product, since it just debuted in January. It's probably a combination of several factors: whether Apple is willing to put up with the integrated performance of the Arrandale GPU; if not, what do they select to use instead for a discrete offering? Which Arrandale to go with, etc. For all we know, maybe they'll use i3s in the 13.3" models, i5s in the 15.4" units, and i7s in the 17" ones (I doubt it, but obviously it could become a complex issue), and plus, as we've recently found out, supply has largely been constrained thanks to Acer. A lot of people here tend to think that Apple gets preferential treatment, but in this case, Intel is very much satisfying the demands of its larger consumer base, and compared to the likes of an Acer or a Dell, Apple is simply not in that league (in terms of unit sales, not quality of product, etc).
Hopefully we'll see it soon though, because it really has been too long since their last refresh. :/
Well, I think the MB is fairly decently priced given what you get. It could due for a little bit more powerful hardware, but for the most part it's not too bad.
The MBPs though, yeah... not a good deal at all right now.
It's both the blessing and the curse of the iMacs. Everyone yearns for a sleek system that doesn't take up too much desk space, but there's the trade off of having to used older, lower-power consumption components (or usually laptop components) to be able to nicely engineer it all into a thin enclosure. Now, Apple deserves props for getting the i5 and i7 in, but it's not like the i5- or i7/P55 combination is a huge heat generator anyway. The P55 chipset uses something like 4-5W and like 1-2 W of thermal output. The most annoying disadvantage of the iMacs are in the GPUs, where because of the small form factor, Apple has to continue to rely upon mobile GPUs (and somewhat dated ones at that).
Sadly, I'd very much be a fun of a "headless" Mac that would provide greater performance, but I don't think we'll ever see Apple go that route. It's a shame too, because I was always a fan of the G4 Cube (outside of its ridiculous price point).
scottness
macrumors 65816
Nah, I'm posting from a netbook. Actually, it's the netbook that's making me madder and madder every day. I bought this damn thing as a stop-gap months ago, and I'm kinda wishing I just bought the darn MBP at the time. This thing is pathetic.
arkmannj
macrumors 68000
Being a dreamer is funner than not, though I probably get disappointed a fair amount.
Eric S.
macrumors 68040
As far as I can tell, there isn't enough room on the 13" logic board for both Arrandale and dedicated graphics. I think Apple will either offer integrated graphics only on the 13", which will make some people very unhappy, or else stick with a simple C2D spec bump, which will make other people very unhappy. The other possibility is optionally removing the optical drive, but Apple isn't big on giving its customers those kind of choices.
If you are an AAPL stockholder and/or read their publicly-accessible SEC filings and financial statements, you would be reassured that Apple has not forgotten about their computer product lines. The revenue numbers and margins indicate strong focus by Apple in Macs, iPhone, and iPod.
AidenShaw
macrumors P6
I'm sure that those clever folks at Apple could fit both in.
Sony's 13" Z-series has up to a quad i7 and discreet Nvidia
GeForce GT330M graphics with 1 GiB of VRAM - in a 3 lb 1" to 1.3"
thick case.
kaiserben
macrumors member
As nvidia is stopping its chipset activity, it would mean that Apple will integrate an Intel graphic solution... Which sucks really hard with really poor performance. It's impossible. The only way for apple is to stick into the MBP 13" a dedicated GPU.
Eric S.
macrumors 68040
Where?
http://s1.guide-images.ifixit.com/igi/XaPYhlwqukefDI4j.large
By removing the optical drive, or by using an SSD instead of a HD.
Personal attacks are only useless if the arguments they support aren't good. If they are, then the opposition is in a place where neither the argument nor the attack can be refuted.
AidenShaw
macrumors P6
Since the Northbridge is on the Arrandale, you don't need that
big, honking Nvidia chip, for starters. 😉
You are making the assumption of no case or board redesign - I
wouldn't make that assumption.
Good idea - remove the optical. That will shut up the Blu-ray
fans as well!
theLimit
macrumors 6502a
Only five of the linked systems used Arrandale chips, and none of them used chips with low enough TDP to meet the specifications of the MacBook Pro.
It's only been a mere three weeks since the MBP update was "due" to happen. It was also stated in January that the lower power chips would be in low supply in the beginning. I'm sure Apple has been stocking all they can get, and working with nVidia and ATI on a graphics solution. Laptops with nVidia's Optimus technology only started shipping just three weeks ago.
35 W Arrandales should work in the MacBook Pro. LV Arrandales are for the MacBook Air.
Eric S.
macrumors 68040
Nope, Arrandale is a two-die solution - a 32nm chip w/ CPU and southbridge + a 45nm GPU and memory controller. So you have two dies even without discrete graphics. That's the problem.
There may be a redesign, but I don't see the board getting any bigger without a major change, like a bigger case (unlikely, given Jobs' obsession with "thin"), or removal of the optical drive. I also think that is unlikely, despite that it would be many MR readers' preference. So I think it's down to the two options I mentioned before.
AidenShaw
macrumors P6
The PCH looks like it is smaller than the 9400M, since the
GPU and northbridge are on the CPU package. (It's 3 dies, 2
packages.) The 9400M is also a 2 package solution.
Arrandale and SFF platform controller hub (click to enlarge)
There's always the third dimension - components could be mounted
on the back of the board, or on daughtercards.
It would not be a fine tune of optimus. It is another implementation. A huge chunk of optimus is software. That is low level software of which significant portions quite likely aren't going to port over to Mac OS X since there is low level windows hackery in there. They are going to need another set of low level Mac OS X hackery to make it work. The major structural elements will be the same but there are substantive parts that would require porting.
Similarly, yet another set of entries database for a substantial number of Mac OS X applications. ( again not necessarily portable )
Optimus is not necesary. Apple could go with what they have now. (logout and restart the display server ). They can get better results ( support for Open GL 3.2 and performance/power if just go with AMD/ATI solutions. Or just skip the Arrandale/IGP all together by just using a speed bumped CPU from the previous generation. It doesn't make any sense to use the Arrandale IGP doesn't meet the minimal acceptable criteria. For the most part it does. The folks primarily with their shorts in a twist are those who want to do mid-high end 3D graphics but don't want to pay for a discrete GPU configuration of the product ( or choose a "compromise" platform MBA .)
Saddling the laptops with a requirement of a discrete GPU and additional RAM only increases the internal space and overall system cost of the system. The iMac line up is split on "old" and "new" architectures. No reason why the laptop line up could not be also.
So would have Apple spend huge amount of money on software and incremental increases on hardware if go with optimus. Only really makes sense if advocating across the board increase in MB/MBP/MBA prices.