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Is a quad core MacBook Pro now possible?

M

moworks2

macrumors member
Original poster
May 3, 2007
83
3
After seeing the new, 60 percent smaller processor created for the MacBook Air I was wondering if Apple could put two of them in the larger MBP?

Not even sure that would be desireable...too much heat, not enough benefit...I'm no tech person, just a designer/photographer who is about to buy his first new Mac in eight years...waiting till first week in April to order when I'll have the cash in hand...

anyone here with enough knowledge know if this is possible?...I'm just curious about what to expect down the road as far as possible upgrades from our dear friends at Apple...I have been reading about penryn and maybe a new touch pad soon...

thanks, kind regards...

M
 
It will happen eventually, just not very soon IMO. Intel hasn't released any mobile quad-core chips yet (but they were promised?), and I'd expect quad-core MBPs some time after the chips come out.
 
You cannot use 2 laptop CPUs (counting dual or quad core CPUs as a single CPU): they do not support it (only Xeons do out of the current Intel x86 lineup) and neither do the chipsets.
 
robbieduncan said:
You cannot use 2 laptop CPUs (counting dual or quad core CPUs as a single CPU): they do not support it (only Xeons do out of the current Intel x86 lineup) and neither do the chipsets.
Click to expand...

not only that, a single quad core is going to produce much less heat than two dual core chips, and apple certainly cant take that much heat right now, espically with all of the people on this forum whining about how big the macbook pro is, demanding a smaller machine...:rolleyes:
 
I'd say late 2009 at the earliest. Even the latest dual core CPUs are barely cool enough for notebooks (let your macbook pro be an example). Intel will need to get the thermal profile down by at least half to allow quad cores without frying the user. Also none of intel's existing designs are that feasable. Current intel quads are actually 2 duos on one package but still separate dies. Intel will likely not consider quad mobiles until they start placing all 4 cores on one die. Thats not likely till 2009.
 
f1400 said:
Out of curiosity, the X7900 in the dell XPS 17 inch, is that a desktop chip?
Click to expand...

No. It's an Intel Core 2 Extreme Mobile. Note these CPUs are massively expensive (normally around twice the price of the nearest speed non-Extreme CPU). In addition these run a lot hotter than the non-Extreme version
 
moworks2 said:
After seeing the new, 60 percent smaller processor created for the MacBook Air I was wondering if Apple could put two of them in the larger MBP?

Not even sure that would be desireable...too much heat, not enough benefit...I'm no tech person, just a designer/photographer who is about to buy his first new Mac in eight years...waiting till first week in April to order when I'll have the cash in hand...

anyone here with enough knowledge know if this is possible?...I'm just curious about what to expect down the road as far as possible upgrades from our dear friends at Apple...I have been reading about penryn and maybe a new touch pad soon...

thanks, kind regards...

M
Click to expand...

Why would you need a quad-core laptop? Everything is possible technically at an engineering level. I guess they would have to increase the laptop size and put powerful fans to cool it down.

Are you willing to do that sacrifice to have 4 cpus onboard? I'm not, neither is Apple imo.

I actually see no need for quad-core laptops. The cpu is hardly the system bottleneck. The hard drive instead is what we all should want faster and more reliable. SSD is making progress on that field, but there is a long way to go. If someone really needs a cpu-bound computer then buy a mac pro or other power desktop out there.

Even RAM(667mhz) is slower than the system frontside bus(800mhz) although we also start seeing faster ones but still very very expensive.
 
moworks2 said:
After seeing the new, 60 percent smaller processor created for the MacBook Air I was wondering if Apple could put two of them in the larger MBP?
M
Click to expand...
Sadly, when Intel and Apple crow about the 60% smaller CPU all they are talking about is the package. The die is still the same size. So no you wouldn't see two of them in a notebook anytime soon, well not an Apple notebook.

Penryn is supposed to bring quad core chips to the mobile space later this year. But I would only expect Apple to use them in the iMac line. I believe the TDP is supposed to be 45W for the quad core chip.
 
diamond.g said:
I believe the TDP is supposed to be 45W for the quad core chip.
Click to expand...

Which is the same as the X7900 currently available in the iMac, so that should work out OK. I agree that this will not be coming to the MBP. If they could Apple would offer the X7900 now...
 
While to a normal user the CPU isn't usually the bottleneck, it can be for tasks such as 3D rendering/music and video encoding/ and other multimedia tasks. I would personally see a great increase in rendering speed with a quad core vs. a dual core, and would love to see a quad on a mobile platform. So while for the most part the demand isn't high to have multiple CPUs there is still some demand. You may say, just get a octo core if you want serious CPU power, but imo I would like the versatility of a laptop. So with that said, I am eagerly awaiting the release of a quad core.

And I also must note that many programs don't fully take advantage of multiple cores yet, and until they do one may not realize the full advantage of them.
 

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Oh yeah that's is right. I wonder why they did no go with the CD2 Quad Core for the imac and give us the CD2E as an option for us MBP owners.
 
As far as pc desktop specs go, the quad core chips are the same overall size as the dual core... also there isnt much difference in heat temps. I assume it is possible that there could be a quad core MBP on the next revision... but probably only as a BTO option, not standard.
 
shoulin333 said:
As far as pc desktop specs go, the quad core chips are the same overall size as the dual core... also there isnt much difference in heat temps. I assume it is possible that there could be a quad core MBP on the next revision... but probably only as a BTO option, not standard.
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no..https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/436685/

bloodycape said:
Isn't the imac using the desktop chip of the CD2E? If so the CD2 quad should be able to fit?
Click to expand...

its still a mobile chip SOCKET P not T
 
shoulin333 said:
As far as pc desktop specs go, the quad core chips are the same overall size as the dual core... also there isnt much difference in heat temps. I assume it is possible that there could be a quad core MBP on the next revision... but probably only as a BTO option, not standard.
Click to expand...
The 95W TDP of the Q6660/X3210 is a long way from the blistering 45W of the X7900. You can find much slower Low Voltage Xeon 50W TDP quad core processors though. I've always wondered why Intel has never released sub-2.0 GHz quad core processors in the desktop market. It'd more then likely cut into their dual core processors.
 
first quad core mobile procs are coming out in 3rd quarter of the year which will be an extreme proc who knows if imacs might get an option for them.. but as for macbook pros.. i dont see it happening until sometime in 2009.
 
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