Intel Experiencing Shortages of Notebook Chips?

[AidenShaw]

Same here. I was looking at a Lenovo Y550P on Newegg.com (well comon, I've been waiting since November) and noticed the battery life was something like an hour and a half with the i7 chip, crazy.

Not sure if it was mainly because of the processor, but I would guess Apple is taking their time to sort out battery life issues - especially after their "recent" 7 hour battery life update.

Two things to consider.

1. First, if someone really needs a quad-core laptop - they more than likely realize that it's not going to be in the top 10% of laptops on the battery life rankings.
2. Second, that "7 hour" Apple battery ranking is for some pretty light loads. Will you get 7 hours of video encoding on an MBP - LOL!!!! (Look at the capacity of the battery in an MBP, then look at the TDP of the CPU in the MBP. Less than two hours cranked to the max - and that ignores the display, networking, graphics, Northbridge/Southbridge, ....)

Do you want high performance, or battery life? Pick one.

 

[Eidorian]

Two things to consider.

1. First, if someone really needs a quad-core laptop - they more than likely realize that it's not going to be in the top 10% of laptops on the battery life rankings.
2. Second, that "7 hour" Apple battery ranking is for some pretty light loads. Will you get 7 hours of video encoding on an MBP - LOL!!!! (Look at the capacity of the battery in an MBP, then look at the TDP of the CPU in the MBP. Less than two hours cranked to the max - and that ignores the display, networking, graphics, Northbridge/Southbridge, ....)

Do you want high performance, or battery life? Pick one.

Intel's naming scheme on the mobile side is worse since you can have Core i7 Westmere based dual core parts. It's really confusing a lot of people.

The majority of what you're going to see is the Core i7-720QM Clarksfield quad core in 45nm. You get delicious 4C/8T but it's not something to show off the battery life on.

Supposedly Clarksfield is going to see a 32nm shrink later this year.

 

[roaringchicken]

Refresh not till May?

Ok, my (educated) guess on updates to the MacBook Pro line is that it won't happen until after 29th April.

Why? Here in Australia, there has been an educational promotion (since Jan) for university students buying a MacBook Pro where if one is purchased together with an iPod Touch by 29th March, Apple will give a rebate up to AUS$268 (basically an entry-level iPod Touch for free). So back in January, I thought great, wait a bit and I'll get to pick up a new improved MacBook Pro plus get an iPod Touch for free. However of course the refresh hasn't happened. And I'm convinced won't happen prior to 29 March. (Why would Apple have an attractive promotion like this except to clear a backlog of product?)

Now why do I state 29 April as the earliest date, one month after 29 March? Because one of the conditions of the promotion is that not only does the order have to be in by 29 March, but the rebate must be requested by 29 April after products have been received:

Download, fill out and mail the rebate form after you receive your products no later than April 29, 2010.

Now perhaps Apple has badly worded this but my guess is that there is the likely intention that no ones ends up with an updated MacBook Pro and a free iPod Touch.

Would love to be proven wrong as I've currently got to make the decision of waiting for an updated MacBook Pro sans free iPod Touch, or getting a current model MBP with free iPod Touch...

 

[MacbookSlow]

Intel's naming scheme on the mobile side is worse since you can have Core i7 Westmere based dual core parts. It's really confusing a lot of people.

Yeah, a very simple graph showing relative speed and battery life trade-off between the different i3/i5/i7 processors would be nice.

 

[AidenShaw]

Yeah, a very simple graph showing relative speed and battery life trade-off between the different i3/i5/i7 processors would be nice.

There is no "simple graph".

The power management features could give the i7 the same battery life as the i3 - if the task load is very light.

Put a heavy load, such as video under Apple OSX (Windows often uses GPU acceleration, so video loads aren't that bad), and the system warms up, the fans come on high, and battery life plummets.

Nothing new here - a Core 2 Duo MBP can drain the battery in 2 hours with a heavy load.

Part of the genius of the Intel CPUs is that they've been able to minimize the idle power requirements, while increasing the performance by orders of magnitude if you ask for the extra power. Today's quad core CPUs idle at the same or less power than single core chips from a few years ago.

 

[MacbookSlow]

Thanks for the explanations Aiden, I obviously need to do some more research. However, reading some of the Newegg.com reviews for the Lenovo Y550P, it seems like many people didn't need a quad core but thought they would be getting a super fast computer and the battery life was an afterthought. I probably would have been in the same frame of mind if I had not read the reviews! Given that the rumor says "apple is expected to use several of the chips in a highly-anticipated refresh to its notebook lines," what do you expect and want to see in the new MBP's? Seems like they might offer the quad core i7 in the 17" and maybe use i3's in the 13" models.

 

[Eidorian]

Thanks for the explanations Aiden, I obviously need to do some more research. However, reading some of the Newegg.com reviews for the Lenovo Y550P, it seems like many people didn't need a quad core but thought they would be getting a super fast computer and the battery life was an afterthought. I probably would have been in the same frame of mind if I had not read the reviews! Given that the rumor says "apple is expected to use several of the chips in a highly-anticipated refresh to its notebook lines," what do you expect and want to see in the new MBP's? Seems like they might offer the quad core i7 in the 17" and maybe use i3's in the 13" models.

Anything less than the Core i5 is criminal.

 

[twilightrose]

Anything less than the Core i5 is criminal.

Lol! Agreed

 

[auhsoj2012]

The apple is not ready?

Well, guess many of us are waiting like crazy for a new MBP. And, i believe that they are using the strategy to make us wait for their products and not buy others. OR, they just cannot produce the product (on time)!
In the earlier days, when the needs was smaller, they can control & managed. Now, more pple are trying to get it,.. and they are not ready to meet the demand.meaning? they are ready to meet more demands.

Ya,.. Job said 'don't worry', i think he is worry like crazy.We should tell them don't worry but tell the true. i believe that the publicities earlier about the ipad & possibliities of new MBP, etc, are trying to get people to 'buy' their stuff.
Look at it, most of the windows machines are already out! And, many other gadgets, too! But, recently, what is in the apple store?... same old..!
We need to be smart, too, and purchase things that we need now and use them now.
Not, think & hope to get it in....a months time...

 

[zMudvayne]

Ok, my (educated) guess on updates to the MacBook Pro line is that it won't happen until after 29th April.

Why? Here in Australia, there has been an educational promotion (since Jan) for university students buying a MacBook Pro where if one is purchased together with an iPod Touch by 29th March, Apple will give a rebate up to AUS$268 (basically an entry-level iPod Touch for free). So back in January, I thought great, wait a bit and I'll get to pick up a new improved MacBook Pro plus get an iPod Touch for free. However of course the refresh hasn't happened. And I'm convinced won't happen prior to 29 March. (Why would Apple have an attractive promotion like this except to clear a backlog of product?)

Now why do I state 29 April as the earliest date, one month after 29 March? Because one of the conditions of the promotion is that not only does the order have to be in by 29 March, but the rebate must be requested by 29 April after products have been received:



Now perhaps Apple has badly worded this but my guess is that there is the likely intention that no ones ends up with an updated MacBook Pro and a free iPod Touch.

Would love to be proven wrong as I've currently got to make the decision of waiting for an updated MacBook Pro sans free iPod Touch, or getting a current model MBP with free iPod Touch...

Apple could update March 30th and not have too much problems (since any returns at that point would be resold WITHOUT an iPod, so no special deal or people have already purchased and are happy) with the promotion, or they could update April 14th and avoid the situation entirely (14 day return policy). I belive you're misinterpretting the statement about April 29th. The Mac and iPod must be purchased on or before March 29th but the rebate form (to recieve the $259) must be completed and sent off before the end of April 29th. Apple just gives you a one-month time frame to fill out and send in your rebate form; nothing special about that.

 

[valexa]

You know, if all you MB-Pro people had all just bought one back when you needed it months ago you could have been enjoying a laptop for the last 5 or 6 months. Instead, you've been sitting around, laptopless, wondering what to do.

This is getting kind of funny now...I'm assuming you're all just posting from iPhones, getting madder and madder every day?

+1
*hides his iphone

 

[AidenShaw]

Anything less than the Core i5 is criminal.

Core i3 in the MacBook as the differentiator, i5 and CTO i7 in mBP.

 

[AidenShaw]

Fry's - only 1 C2D laptop in the sales flyer (an Apple)

Today's Fry's Electronics ad in the Mercury News has 10 laptops listed.

(3) Core i3
(3) Core i5
(1) Core i7
(2) AMD
(1) Core 2 Duo (an !)

Eight of the ten have HDMI outputs, and two have BD.

I think this proves that there's no shortage of Core i* mobile processors.

 

[Eidorian]

Today's Fry's Electronics ad in the Mercury News has 10 laptops listed.

(3) Core i3
(3) Core i5
(1) Core i7
(2) AMD
(1) Core 2 Duo (an !)

Eight of the ten have HDMI outputs, and two have BD.

I think this proves that there's no shortage of Core i* mobile processors.

The shortage might be limited to Low Voltage and Ultra Low Voltage parts. There appears to be no problem getting a hold of a 35W standard voltage Arrandale.

 

[AidenShaw]

The shortage might be limited to Low Voltage and Ultra Low Voltage parts. There appears to be no problem getting a hold of a 35W standard voltage Arrandale.

The Core i5-520UM and Core i7-620U are 1.06 GHz, the i7-640U is 1.20 GHz.

I doubt that Apple would want those....

 

[Eidorian]

The Core i5-520UM and Core i7-620U are 1.06 GHz, the i7-640U is 1.20 GHz.

I doubt that Apple would want those....

They managed to sell the "slower" Lynnfield and Bloomfield processors on their desktops.

Turbo Boost comes into play very strongly on this generation of LM/UM parts.

 

[MacbookSlow]

You know, if all you MB-Pro people had all just bought one back when you needed it months ago you could have been enjoying a laptop for the last 5 or 6 months ...I'm assuming you're all just posting from iPhones, getting madder and madder every day?

I'm using a borrowed TCL "LIFE3" computer that somebody bought in China...

 

[Reve101]

One of the nice things about Core i series is their reduced power consumption; which should result in equal or better battery life, not worse. If it's worse then the company making the computer probably isn't doing a good job of integrating the cpu into their system. For instance Asus UL80JT is using Corei7 with Nvidia Geforce 310 and it claims a 12 hour battery life! http://gizmodo.com/5445956/asus-core-i7-laptop-claims-12+hour-battery-life

So I'm sure Apple is easily capable of sorting out the battery life with Core ix processors.

 

[Eidorian]

One of the nice things about Core i series is their reduced power consumption; which should result in equal or better battery life, not worse. If it's worse then the company making the computer probably isn't doing a good job of integrating the cpu into their system. For instance Asus UL80JT is using Corei7 with Nvidia Geforce 310 and it claims a 12 hour battery life! http://gizmodo.com/5445956/asus-core-i7-laptop-claims-12+hour-battery-life

So I'm sure Apple is easily capable of sorting out the battery life with Core ix processors.

ASUS has done an excellent job with CULV processors and nVidia GPUs on their UL line of notebooks. They appear to get 8-10 hours of mobile life in the real world.

 

[bluefox9er]

You know, if all you MB-Pro people had all just bought one back when you needed it months ago you could have been enjoying a laptop for the last 5 or 6 months. Instead, you've been sitting around, laptopless, wondering what to do.

This is getting kind of funny now...I'm assuming you're all just posting from iPhones, getting madder and madder every day?

If they did that they would be buying old technology at ridiculous prices..thats why they are waiting, because even 5 or 6 months ago the MBPs were stupidly,stupidly over priced with similar spec machines available.

 

[kobewankenobi]

If they did that they would be buying old technology at ridiculous prices..thats why they are waiting, because even 5 or 6 months ago the MBPs were stupidly,stupidly over priced with similar spec machines available.

hey, nobody is forcing you to buy mac
macs cost more, u dont like it? enjoy pcs and all their troubles

otherwise stop complaining
i really would like to understand what do you do that a 3ghz mbp with 8gb ram and ssd drive can't do...
tell me, the only thing is probably gaming, but hey if you want to play games you are buying the wrong computer
pc is the best platform for that
people buy macs because they are reliable, have the best os in the market and the best customer service
are they cheap?
nope
if you dont like it buy sony, dell, etc etc and stop complaining

 

[jnc]

hey, nobody is forcing you to buy mac
macs cost more, u dont like it? enjoy pcs and all their troubles

otherwise stop complaining
i really would like to understand what do you do that a 3ghz mbp with 8gb ram and ssd drive can't do...

if you don't like it, Steve Jobs is my dad blah blah

You're everything wrong with Apple.

 

[chatin]

best body but no brains

Apple is horribly late to the i-party by post power era standards. May be a political distraction with ARM licensing or are notebooks with the best body last on Intel's list for smart brains.

 

[kobewankenobi]

You're everything wrong with Apple.

nice, quoting my comment changing it?
lol

grow up

 

[anthonybsd]

hey, nobody is forcing you to buy mac
macs cost more, u dont like it? enjoy pcs and all their troubles

otherwise stop complaining
i really would like to understand what do you do that a 3ghz mbp with 8gb ram and ssd drive can't do...

@Home: HD Video editing in FCP with multiple tracks, effect layers, and color correction suites
@Work: application development that requires running Tomcat from Eclipse, local JMS broker, and multiple VMs at the same time (i.e. XP & Linux).

But hey, I'm sure all I want is to play video games according to you.