Sorry for the serial posts, but I wanted to break them up a little bit at least...
Well, Intel actually does a good job by making all kinds of different power/performance combinations available. The real problem is how Apple "chooses" hardware for you. I guess I am just used to the PC market where I can get whatever I want. I mean If Apple were more flexible with customization, you could order a new macbook with a low power processor, like a:
Core 2 Duo SL940: 1.86Ghz Penryn - 6MB L2 - 17W TDP
It's similar to the chip in the Air, but based on Penryn. Versus the normal 25 watt or 34 watt chips in the MB/MB Pro, It would definitely get better battery life. Even so, Nehalem is more efficient than Penryn and is supposed to have new power optimizations and lower power states. Also, it will really reduce the amount of L2 cache, which I'm sure eats a lot of power. Wikipedia says 30% less power use for Nehalem compared to Penryn.
Mobile Nehalem does have an IMC, it only doesn't have quickpath. There will be *native* one-die quad cores chips and it also brings support for DDR3 SDRAM, SSE4.2,
and SMT/2 threads per core. In short, It's a new microarchitecture with major improvements, and part of it's primary focus is on improving real-world performance from the previous generation. I would be very disappointed if Merom->Nehalem were to be anything like Yonah->Merom.
Worthless? Why would people tout how much faster their Penryn processor is? Most of the improvements were in power efficiency, and the primary increase in performance (up to 45%) comes when software updates are made available that support SSE4.1, which are not out for the majority of benefitting applications AFAIK.
Nah, you don't need a hardware class. I followed all this computer hardware nonsense closely when I was younger and only recently jumped back in before the release of Core Duo "Yonah". All you need is the internet. Between Wikipedia, Arstechnica archives, and Anandtech, I've learned everything I know... alas, you will waste a LOT of time on this stuff. It get's quite addicting, just like macrumors
Yeah, as you said, Apple does have a large design/R&D budget and software budget and they do sell their OS for a decent price, but at the same time they limit the amount of hardware options and stick to a pretty narrow spectrum of hardware for efficiency. Couple this when their always premium hardware prices, and I don't think it's an excuse. In fact, it really pisses me off that so many hardware-naive consumers end up getting so ripped off from Apple when they buy hardware late in the cycle. The more I think about it, the more I can't believe that they don't even discount hardware that is ancient in PC terms. They could at least reduce prices by a couple of hundred dollars or replace the oldest components. I mean how long did we see the Mac Pro with only a geforce 7300 or Radion X1900? The Radeon card was outdated when it was introduced!
I think Apple enthusiasts should do everything they can to discourage buyers from buying computers from apple after the first 4-5 months after introduction without seeing a price reduction. Consumers giving in to this crap is the only reason it continues. People should demand more.
Well, Intel actually does a good job by making all kinds of different power/performance combinations available. The real problem is how Apple "chooses" hardware for you. I guess I am just used to the PC market where I can get whatever I want. I mean If Apple were more flexible with customization, you could order a new macbook with a low power processor, like a:
Core 2 Duo SL940: 1.86Ghz Penryn - 6MB L2 - 17W TDP
It's similar to the chip in the Air, but based on Penryn. Versus the normal 25 watt or 34 watt chips in the MB/MB Pro, It would definitely get better battery life. Even so, Nehalem is more efficient than Penryn and is supposed to have new power optimizations and lower power states. Also, it will really reduce the amount of L2 cache, which I'm sure eats a lot of power. Wikipedia says 30% less power use for Nehalem compared to Penryn.
Mobile Nehalem does have an IMC, it only doesn't have quickpath. There will be *native* one-die quad cores chips and it also brings support for DDR3 SDRAM, SSE4.2,
and SMT/2 threads per core. In short, It's a new microarchitecture with major improvements, and part of it's primary focus is on improving real-world performance from the previous generation. I would be very disappointed if Merom->Nehalem were to be anything like Yonah->Merom.
Worthless? Why would people tout how much faster their Penryn processor is? Most of the improvements were in power efficiency, and the primary increase in performance (up to 45%) comes when software updates are made available that support SSE4.1, which are not out for the majority of benefitting applications AFAIK.
Nah, you don't need a hardware class. I followed all this computer hardware nonsense closely when I was younger and only recently jumped back in before the release of Core Duo "Yonah". All you need is the internet. Between Wikipedia, Arstechnica archives, and Anandtech, I've learned everything I know... alas, you will waste a LOT of time on this stuff. It get's quite addicting, just like macrumors
Yeah, as you said, Apple does have a large design/R&D budget and software budget and they do sell their OS for a decent price, but at the same time they limit the amount of hardware options and stick to a pretty narrow spectrum of hardware for efficiency. Couple this when their always premium hardware prices, and I don't think it's an excuse. In fact, it really pisses me off that so many hardware-naive consumers end up getting so ripped off from Apple when they buy hardware late in the cycle. The more I think about it, the more I can't believe that they don't even discount hardware that is ancient in PC terms. They could at least reduce prices by a couple of hundred dollars or replace the oldest components. I mean how long did we see the Mac Pro with only a geforce 7300 or Radion X1900? The Radeon card was outdated when it was introduced!
I think Apple enthusiasts should do everything they can to discourage buyers from buying computers from apple after the first 4-5 months after introduction without seeing a price reduction. Consumers giving in to this crap is the only reason it continues. People should demand more.
