Kentsfield (Quad-core Intel) by end of 2006?

[jemmX]

Predictions ...

MBP 20" inch (1920 x 1200)
Quad-core
4gb ram
Dual HD = 250gb 7200rpm Raid 0
Superdrive HD w/lightscribe
iSight HD
Audio Digital & analog in/out
Vram 512MB GDDR 4 (PCI Xpress, HDMI + DVI + TV)
3 - USB 2 / 2 - FW 400 / 2 - FW 800 / 1 - Sata
Dual Ethernet
PCMCIA
Leopard

 

[jakemikey]

It is expected to be a Conroe "drop-in" and should work with the same motherboards as Conroe.

This won't be the case:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=16078

just because it's LGA 775 doesn't mean it's a Conroe 'drop-in'. It'll need at least a 975x or p965 chipset and modified motherboard circuitry to handle it. And please, people, stop with the 'pin compatible' crap. Just because a proc is 'pin compatible' with another proc doesn't mean you can mix and match as you like. You have to think about the chipset, and about voltage regulators, and the motherboard circuitry in general. I have a board with a Pentium D in it right now - both the socket and the chipset support Conroe, but the board itself doesn't simply because of the voltage regulator. By the 'pin compatible' theory, I should be able to shove a Kentsfield into just about any late-model P4 board and have it work just fine -- won't happen!

 

[EagerDragon]

This is the chip to use in a (stop gap) gamer machine, but it needs to be fully 64 bit for 4+ gig of RAM, 4 slots of non-buffered ram, support SLI, be user upgradable, multiple video cards inside, 2 disk drives (stripping mode), lots of USB and Firewire ports in a new enclosure.

Just my opinion.

 

[EagerDragon]

I guess Apple should'a put Conroe in the iMacs. Is there a chance this will mean Conroe will be in MacPro's?

I bet this go in the "Mac Gamer" regardless of form factor. Either the mini-tower or a revised Mac Pro enclosure.

 

[Marx55]

What about Clovertown - Quad-core - Xeon-class - 8 CORES ON 2 PROCESSORS (4th quarter 2006)?

 

[PlayUltimate]

Apple's current line up is as follows:

Mac mini - Core Duo (Yonah)
iMac - Core 2 Duo (Merom)
MacBook - Core Duo (Yonah)*
MacBook Pro - Core Duo (Yonah)*
Mac Pro - Xeon (Woodcrest)
Xserve - Xeon (Woodcrest)

* Unlike the other models, the MacBook and MacBook Pro have not seen updates for 4-5 months. As a result, many are speculating that they will see updates soon.

Sure is a different world for Apple when 4-5 months without a product update is a long time.

 

[IlluminatedSage]

I'd like to see merom in MBP

I'd really like to see the conroe, and conroe replacement in a mid sized tower/media center.

something bigger and better than the mac mini, more powerful than the imac. no integrated display. good upgradability and of course.... priced between the imac and tower. accounting for NO display included, ie about same price as imac. or even a little less.

 

[holycat]

new realeased iMac worTh to get it noW?

Erhm..so the new realeased merom iMac will last for how long

worth it to buy now???

thinkiNG of getting one...cant bear with my 3 yrs old of centrinO noteBook...

 

[Lollypop]

Not if you transcode multiple files simultaneously - which is what I do with multiple instances of Toast 7 and Handbrake..

Plus that will probably be fixed in QuickTime 8 which is likely to come with Leopard.

Its nice to say multiple instances of everything, but thats not really ideal... do I really want to run 3 copies of final cut and 2 copies of handbrake and and and and to efficiently use my machine? doesnt running multiple copies of something also come with a bit of a memory overhead? The core wars will also run into problems, just like the Mhz war did, Mhz doesnt always mean performance, nor does core count.

Apple now has a entire lineup with dual cores, they will have to think ahead, and make their software run effectively on 4 or 8 cpu's.

The problem with the xMac as a product for Apple is two fold. Firstly, it has to be agressively priced, because, of all the Macs, it's the one that will be facing the most head-to-head competition from other vendors, and it will have the fewest Apple-only features to justify significant price differences. Secondly, it will have to be easily expandable to be competitive, and consequently, it will suffer from 3rd-party hardware and software quality issues.

I dont see how cheap hardware wil be a problem for a xMac, it isnt really a problem for the mac pro??? With 2 pci express slots people wont have to much choices (but at least they will have a choice), and its very very rare to have PC hardware that will even work on a mac, rom issues are normally to blame. But I agree apple needs to compete, and will have to be very very inovative if they go xMac classed machine.

 

[zwida]

Erhm..so the new realeased merom iMac will last for how long

worth it to buy now???

thinkiNG of getting one...cant bear with my 3 yrs old of centrinO noteBook...

I think it's worth buying now. There will always be something better out there. If you're suffering with a 3-year-old Centrino, make your computing life better now with a new iMac.

 

[Marx55]

Apple, please,

BRING BACK THE MAC CUBE concept!

A small yet powerful Mac. But this this at a REASONABLE price, to be a best-seller.

Thanks.

 

[Lollypop]

I would love to see a mid-tower with these in it and there seems to be some demand for a mini-macpro among forum contributers (based on what I've seen). However, with the release of the 24" imac it makes me wonder if we would ever see a mid range tower. The 24" imac provides the increased power and improved GPU. Also if the GPU does turn out to be replaceable, it makes for a harder argument for mid-tower no? The price range does seem to fit well between the regular imacs and pros...

I agree that the expandability of the 24inch imac is impressive, but until I see ease of upgradability as well Im all for a mid range. Its also about the CPU, the C2D's are nice, but their not really a match for their desktop counterparts, there are some of us that want the power of a desktop but dont have the budget for the xeon range...

 

[~Shard~]

Great news that Kentsfield is coming early, however I am curious to see what Apple does with it (if anything). Since it is based on the Conroe chipset, and Apple has elected not to incorporate Conroe into any of the Mac line-up (yet), I wonder what Kentsfield's role will be (if any) in the Mac world.

Once again, all signs point towards that Conroe Mini-tower...

 

[AidenShaw]

Once again, all signs point towards that Conroe Mini-tower...

What mini-tower?

 

[aegisdesign]

Sure is a different world for Apple when 4-5 months without a product update is a long time.

No, that was about normal even in the PowerPC days.

Once again, all signs point towards that Conroe Mini-tower...

Yes. In the same way the PowerPC 4xx series pointed to a sub notebook.

 

[aegisdesign]

I agree that the expandability of the 24inch imac is impressive, but until I see ease of upgradability as well Im all for a mid range. Its also about the CPU, the C2D's are nice, but their not really a match for their desktop counterparts, there are some of us that want the power of a desktop but dont have the budget for the xeon range...

The Merom and Conroe are almost identical clock for clock. Really, if there's 1 or 2% difference in real world tests I'd be surprised and it's usually down to other factors like RAM or disk.

 

[timmillwood]

can they fit one of these into a MBP?

 

[Josias]

Predictions ...

MBP 20" inch (1920 x 1200)
Quad-core
4gb ram
Dual HD = 250gb 7200rpm Raid 0
Superdrive HD w/lightscribe
iSight HD
Audio Digital & analog in/out
Vram 512MB GDDR 4 (PCI Xpress, HDMI + DVI + TV)
3 - USB 2 / 2 - FW 400 / 2 - FW 800 / 1 - Sata
Dual Ethernet
PCMCIA
Leopard

4" thick.
$6000.
12 minutes of batterylife.

NO! Why would anyone need such a laptop? Go buy a MacPro instead.

Amd just tell me, why Lightscribe?

 

[MacinDoc]

Great news that Kentsfield is coming early, however I am curious to see what Apple does with it (if anything). Since it is based on the Conroe chipset, and Apple has elected not to incorporate Conroe into any of the Mac line-up (yet), I wonder what Kentsfield's role will be (if any) in the Mac world.

Once again, all signs point towards that Conroe Mini-tower...

Agreed.

 

[EagerDragon]

Erhm..so the new realeased merom iMac will last for how long

worth it to buy now???

thinkiNG of getting one...cant bear with my 3 yrs old of centrinO noteBook...

If you need it get it now. If you can wait 6 months then wait. What is out is better than what you have, just be ready than in 6 months there will be something better. This is always the case even if you stay in the Win Camp.

 

[puuukeey]

BRING BACK THE MAC CUBE concept!

or half of one....

 

[Eidorian]

I've gone over the 30" mock up with Multimedia. I like the idea and it's possible. Still, has anyone else looked at the road map for mobile chips? There's nothing beyond dual core! We just get die shrinking and more cache.

 

[bradc]

Not naming names, but I find it funny how everyone suddenly becomes an engineer.

 

[cecildk9999]

Apple, please,

BRING BACK THE MAC CUBE concept!

A small yet powerful Mac. But this this at a REASONABLE price, to be a best-seller.

Thanks.

You might just get your wish; I saw this article/link while surfing over the MacNN website a couple of days ago (I'm still waiting for new MBPs myself, though! ):


http://www.electronista.com/articles/06/09/08/new.apple.cube.patent/

Hope this isn't old news for everyone; this is my first post, although I've been following the forums ever since I started thinking about replacing my old Powerbook (should finally have the money by next month!).

 

[Mundy]

Clovertown will not be a workstation-class CPU, and I'm surprised that so many people are expecting to see it in the Mac Pro. Adopting Clovertown would be a big step backward for Apple, since Woodcrest uses dual, independent front-side busses, while Clovertown will use a single, shared FSB. Clovertown will be okay (and probably even excellent) for server applications, but most analysts aren't expecting it to be better than Woodcrest for the types of things most creative professionals do on the desktop.

Tigerton will be a bigger performance leap over Woodcrest than Clovertown. In truth, I don't expect Intel to release anything that will make a Mac Pro look remotely obsolete until their CPU line goes to a 45 nanometer process in the last half of 2007.

Quite simply, the way Intel is going about quad-core at this point in the game is both cautious and underwhelming. Once true quad core becomes a reality (and not simply two dual-core chips on a single peice of silicon, like Clovertown and Kentsfield), and the FSB is replaced by direct interconnects, then I'll upgrade from my Mac Pro. Otherwise, I expect the machine to remain capable and viable for the next three years or so.