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OrlandoTragic

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 13, 2007
1,506
368
Orlando, FL
I was holding out to get a new 13" MBP, but obviously the refresh was... underwhelming.

Should I snag a 13" MBP now, or wait until WWDC to see if something is announced?

Thanks :)
 

recKz

macrumors newbie
Mar 29, 2010
21
0
I seriously doubt they'll refresh something at WWDC. The earliest I see something happening is early 2011 as these are mid 2010 machines.
 

OrlandoTragic

macrumors 68000
Original poster
May 13, 2007
1,506
368
Orlando, FL
Ok, thanks guys.
Think I'm just gonna bite the bullet.

I'm selling my old black Macbook and I get the educational discount so I'll only be paying $~500 OOP. (lol, "only")

Worth it for the battery and extra RAM imo.
 

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
Highly doubtful anything will happen at WWDC.

Now's as good a time as any to buy one.

I agree. Maybe white MacBook update with similar specs as 13" MBP has along with iMacs.

I don't get it why people calls this a bad update, you got better GPUs, iX in 15" and 17"... Arrandales used in MBPs are simply too hot for 13" with current design. Sure there are 25W Arrandales running at 2GHz but they are +300$ each, meaning that Apple would have to raise prices
 

Markov

macrumors 6502
May 18, 2007
399
0
Philadelphia
OP, please list everything you do on your laptop. To be honest, everyone on this forum is crying about nothing. The 13" sports a CORE 2 DUO, not a Pentium II processor :p. Chances are the current update is good enough for what you're going to be doing. You must remember that the Core 2 Duo processors are very capable. I own 2.2 Ghz MBP from 2007 and it still blows everything I do out of the water which is: Internet surfing, music, email, Autocad, 3D rendering, gaming, running VM Ware OS's while using OS X at the same time...

Anyway, to answer your original question: No. I doubt there will be any refresh at WWDC. I think the next update will be in 6 months, October. Recall October of 2008 was when the unibody mbp's were introduced, so I would assume Apple is going to follow the same update pattern.
 

FnuGk

macrumors regular
Aug 6, 2009
134
0
I agree. Maybe white MacBook update with similar specs as 13" MBP has along with iMacs.

I don't get it why people calls this a bad update, you got better GPUs, iX in 15" and 17"... Arrandales used in MBPs are simply too hot for 13" with current design. Sure there are 25W Arrandales running at 2GHz but they are +300$ each, meaning that Apple would have to raise prices

uhm no? :S it could run i7 just as well. they all have the same tdp

the only thing holding them back is nvidia not being allowed to make igp's for the 13"
 

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
uhm no? :S it could run i7 just as well. they all have the same tdp

the only thing holding them back is nvidia not being allowed to make igp's for the 13"

13" currently uses 25W CPUs while Arrandales in MBPs are 35W. There are 25W Arrandales but they are 2GHz (300$) and 2.13GHz (332$) so too expensive for 13" (2.4GHz i5 in 15" MBP costs 225$).

I think 13" COULD handle 35W Arrandale as it doesn't need Northbridge which is another few watts but then it may be stuck with Intel GPU and seems like Apple wants to keep C2D around but why not, it's still a great chip. I don't get the "why no iX in 13"!!!" because i3 wouldn't be huge upgrade anyway.
 

FnuGk

macrumors regular
Aug 6, 2009
134
0
13" currently uses 25W CPUs while Arrandales in MBPs are 35W. There are 25W Arrandales but they are 2GHz (300$) and 2.13GHz (332$) so too expensive for 13" (2.4GHz i5 in 15" MBP costs 225$).

I think 13" COULD handle 35W Arrandale as it doesn't need Northbridge which is another few watts but then it may be stuck with Intel GPU and seems like Apple wants to keep C2D around but why not, it's still a great chip. I don't get the "why no iX in 13"!!!" because i3 wouldn't be huge upgrade anyway.

c2d+nb=25+10=35watt
arrandale=35watt
i dont see the difference?

well 20% performance increase is big enough for me to think its worth noticing


but yes the point about the gfx is very valid and i guess thats also the reason why apple only has the the c2d in their machines. But others have been able to make work-arounds with this so should apple
 

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
c2d+nb=25+10=35watt
arrandale=35watt
i dont see the difference?

well 20% performance increase is big enough for me to think its worth noticing


but yes the point about the gfx is very valid and i guess thats also the reason why apple only has the the c2d in their machines. But others have been able to make work-arounds with this so should apple

Is the Northbridge 10W? Anyway, it can be on the right top corner of logic board while CPU is on the left bottom corner so the heat won't be concentrated on one spot.

Apple isn't the best one to make work-arounds, especially in performance but sure, Steve does love making work-arounds to make Apple products even more limited and restricted :(
 

rob2809

macrumors newbie
Feb 6, 2010
24
0
I was holding out to get a new 13" MBP, but obviously the refresh was... underwhelming.

Should I snag a 13" MBP now, or wait until WWDC to see if something is announced?

Thanks :)

Are you really thinking about this ? We've just waited for 10 months and now you think apple will update again in 2 months ??

If apple wanted to implement i5 they couldnt use the 320M GPU but only integrated HD graphics which is less powerfull than the previous 9400M. So they kept C2D.

If they want to use i5 they also have to implement discrete graphics in the 13" to improve the graphics. My guess is that they will do this when they change the body design(probably to 16:9 ratio with more space to add dedicated graphics).

But please dont wait for WWDC...then the imac, mini, macbook and mac pro will probably be updated(also dont get your hopes to high for this because with apple you never know :) )
 

maclook

macrumors 65816
Nov 2, 2008
1,146
40
Ok, thanks guys.
Think I'm just gonna bite the bullet.

I'm selling my old black Macbook and I get the educational discount so I'll only be paying $~500 OOP. (lol, "only")

Worth it for the battery and extra RAM imo.

Can I ask how you are selling your MB and for how much. I want to do the exact same upgrade as you.
 

Hellhammer

Moderator emeritus
Dec 10, 2008
22,164
582
Finland
If apple wanted to implement i5 they couldnt use the 320M GPU but only integrated HD graphics which is less powerfull than the previous 9400M.

Integrated Intel GPU is actually better than 9400M, but only marginally ;)

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Graphics-Media-Accelerator-HD.23065.0.html

I was thinking the same before but after seeing that link, I changed my mind. There was articles before Arrandale's launch that Intel GPUs are going to be much worse than 9400M but luckily they were not right
 

Markov

macrumors 6502
May 18, 2007
399
0
Philadelphia
so we get a 200mhz speed bump going from 2007 to 2010 HURRAY!!

You should know clock speed isn't everything. Don't forget about front side bus, clock speed of memory. Running at 800mhz FSB and 667mhz for the ram here... not the same in the current line up.

But, my real response is: smart ass =P haha your reply did make me lol. :)
 

alphaod

macrumors Core
Feb 9, 2008
22,183
1,245
NYC
The 13" MacBook Pro will probably not see the combination of Nvidia integrated graphics and Intel i3/i5/i7 anytime soon as Nvidia does not have a license to make the chipset (and they're currently in litigation with Intel on that matter).

So for Apple to offer i3/i5/i7, they would need to either offer integrated graphics from Intel only or increase the cooling capacity of the 13" to accommodate a dedicated GPU. The latter would require some sort of chassis redesign.
 

Puqq

macrumors regular
Oct 18, 2009
117
0
I think 13" COULD handle 35W Arrandale as it doesn't need Northbridge which is another few watts but then it may be stuck with Intel GPU and seems like Apple wants to keep C2D around but why not, it's still a great chip. I don't get the "why no iX in 13"!!!" because i3 wouldn't be huge upgrade anyway.

Agreed
1. Core i processors are require more energy + integrated graphics are impossible. Therefore, it is either 7h battery again or crappy Intel HD graphics. BTW, 9400 is slightly faster than Intel HD, 320m is up to 2x faster than 9400...

2. i3 are on the level of 2.4 GHz C2D used in MBP 13
 

Chupa Chupa

macrumors G5
Jul 16, 2002
14,835
7,396
The reason the 13 is still C2D is because Intel requires Intel Integrated Video on the i series chips. noticed how the 15 and 17 have Intel integrated now and not NVidia. I don't think Apple wants a machine w/ only Intel graphics.

Nvidia is suing Intel because of this restriction and Apple is waiting its outcome or for the C2D to become truly obsolete. It will be a year or longer before we see an i anything on a 13 MBP.
 

FnuGk

macrumors regular
Aug 6, 2009
134
0
Nvidia is suing Intel because of this restriction and Apple is waiting its outcome or for the C2D to become truly obsolete. It will be a year or longer before we see an i anything on a 13 MBP.

Yes they will have to do something about it eventually. I just don't hope they will wait to come up with a real solution until the last minute
 

beto2012

macrumors newbie
Mar 14, 2010
7
0
OP, please list everything you do on your laptop. To be honest, everyone on this forum is crying about nothing. The 13" sports a CORE 2 DUO, not a Pentium II processor :p. Chances are the current update is good enough for what you're going to be doing. You must remember that the Core 2 Duo processors are very capable. I own 2.2 Ghz MBP from 2007 and it still blows everything I do out of the water which is: Internet surfing, music, email, Autocad, 3D rendering, gaming, running VM Ware OS's while using OS X at the same time...
.

Nothing wrong with the Core2Duo...
If the price had gone down.
But same technology at the same (high) price?
No way.
 

johnnymg

macrumors 65816
Nov 16, 2008
1,318
7
Nothing wrong with the Core2Duo...
If the price had gone down.
But same technology at the same (high) price?
No way.

Not really the "same technology". There are numerous updates in the 2010 13" MBP.

cheers
JohnG
 
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