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MacBook Pro Refresh Seeing Only Minor Delays Due to Intel Problems?
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Like many others I am waiting for the refresh just so I can see the C2D's phased out like all obsolete technology should be. Put it in a museum. The core 2 Duo was an awesome CPU back in the day but now it's time to move on.
If they keep it in for the next refresh.. then they may as well replace it with a Pentium 4 as a joke
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If they keep it in for the next refresh.. then they may as well replace it with a Pentium 4 as a joke
.I think the key phrase here is "Im happy with the machine". Give yourself a break.
What hacked solution, using SATA6 only is a good thing. Those mentioning it are right that it would use more power, but we're talking low single digit percentage points at most.
That doesn't explain the wording. They said some, not all. If they were using the 3.0 ports, all MBP models would be affected.
Port 2 is actually the third port. The ODD and HDD occupy ports 0 and 1. There's nothing else in the system to occupy port 2 unless you add a second HDD or an eSATA port.
It's an issue affecting the chipset. There's nothing wrong with the CPUs themselves, and they would all experience this problem in one of these defective chipsets.
Either the motherboard wires the chipset pins to devices or connectors, or it doesn't. It's pretty cheap these days to just put a lot of stuff on the silicon and let OEMs decide what they want wired up. The fewer variants of a chipset (at the silicon level, not the package level), the easier production and inventory becomes for Intel.
I'm not really confident about this prediction, as a 13" MBP without an optical drive is one flash drive away from being an over-designed 13" MBA.
A Nice Visual of the Problem
http://www.nordichardware.com/news/...ets-for-sandy-bridge-manufacturing-error.html
Note: The two high speed ports are fine, it is the four slower ones that are the issue.
http://www.nordichardware.com/news/...ets-for-sandy-bridge-manufacturing-error.html
Note: The two high speed ports are fine, it is the four slower ones that are the issue.
But an ssd is going to make better use of of the higher speed ports, even if it's only there for optional extra then the ODD gets relegated to one of the slower ports (if they didn't have an oops).
Although the only real tweak they could do is a port multiplier on one port but which two would you split. The answer would seem to be HDD and ODD but that would suggest the SSD would need to be standard item. Then again features so far in lion would suggest and SSD needs to be standard at least in portables.
I don't get your point. There's two SATA6 ports, one for the ODD, one for the HDD/SSD.
Port 2 is the third port, or the first slow port. My theory is, that for some reason Apple might have planned to use it for the ODD (e.g. less power consumption). And now they are rewiring to use ports 0+1. And as the report says that not all but only some MBPs were affected, this could indicate that not all MPB models will have an ODD next revision.
Ok, that theory starts to begin to make sense, but I have to ask, why let some MBPs keep the ODD when others are ditching it (particularly the 13" which will just be called a fat MBA)?
I really don't want to derail this thread, but it's not set in stone that we'll always have three 13" MacBooks. While I know that the 13" MBP was selling well in 2010, this was *before* the new MBA was released. But still, a 13" MBP could use 35W CPUs (with the MBA using the 17W/25W chips), it could feature a better GPU, additional ports (ethernet+firewire), a backlit keyboard, a kensington lock,... which might be enough to differentiate it from the MBA.
See post #66, plus it's possible that Apple won't release a 13" MBP right now but only 15+17", and then either phase out the 13" MBP (in case everyone is buying the 13" MBA anyway) or release the 13" together with the next revision of the MBA in a few months.
Highly doubt it. Macbook pros will probably get a slight redesign, but I doubt there will be an improvement anywhere other than IPS screen and a few updates to its internals..
Maybe an improvement to edgeless screen similar to iMac.
So as I understand it, two of the six available SATA ports are functional but the other four aren't? As I've read, the MBP only uses two of these ports (HDD and ODD). If that's so, the current lineup wouldn't be affected by this problem.
However, the article says only some models are having problems. From that we can infer that there is an optional eSATA port or a second internal drive, presumably a SSD. Both of these things would boost the MBPs SATA usage to 3+ ports. There is nothing in this article that suggests Apple is dropping the ODD in some notebooks. In fact, it suggests the opposite - they are adding a drive, not taking one away.
My money's on an optional boot SSD, but that's just me.
I wouldn't call that a design improvement. On the iMac it makes sense and cleans up the look, but on a laptop all it does is puts the screen in danger of being damaged by the lower half.
However, the article says only some models are having problems. From that we can infer that there is an optional eSATA port or a second internal drive, presumably a SSD. Both of these things would boost the MBPs SATA usage to 3+ ports. There is nothing in this article that suggests Apple is dropping the ODD in some notebooks. In fact, it suggests the opposite - they are adding a drive, not taking one away.
My money's on an optional boot SSD, but that's just me.
I wouldn't call that a design improvement. On the iMac it makes sense and cleans up the look, but on a laptop all it does is puts the screen in danger of being damaged by the lower half.
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So, they'd keep the bigger models in which less space by % is used for the ODD, but only take the ODD out of one of them? That's what it takes to fulfill the "some" conditional.
The other four are functional, but will become non-functional over time quicker than normal because of an over-volted transistor that will fail.
Okay So I have been coming to this site for years, but have just never felt the need to write anything but suddenly I have a reason.
I really don't understand why everyone seems to think the removal of the ODD from the 13" macbook pro would make it "just another macbook air" or anything along those lines. In Apple did in fact remove the ODD, which I think is a fantastic idea, it would allow for them to make the machine even more different than the macbook air, not more the same. The space freed up by the removal would in turn allow for a discreet gpu, potentially a second hardrive, and even a better cooling solution. These changes would make the macbook even more different than the macbook air, because it would have significantly more horse power. The only true similarities would be screen size, and the fact that there is no ODD, and that is not at all enough to put them into the same classes.
Also to add to this removal of the ODD possiblilty I would like to say that I was strickly against this as well for the longest time, but I ended up getting a laptop with out an ODD anyways, and I really dont miss it. The only reason for getting rid of this laptop is that I am going to be getting the new MBP when it comes out.
Oh, and for those who think that the ODD is needed, please just think about how much you really use the ODD while on the go. I wont debate about whether or not you need it as everyone is different, but your never going to be installing software or burning discs from your ODD with the computer on your lap or while on the more, or atleast you really shouldn't. External ODD's are very cheap now, and also very good, they actually are a much better option in the long run.
Sorry for the really long post, but I just had to get this out there, haha
~Peace
I really don't understand why everyone seems to think the removal of the ODD from the 13" macbook pro would make it "just another macbook air" or anything along those lines. In Apple did in fact remove the ODD, which I think is a fantastic idea, it would allow for them to make the machine even more different than the macbook air, not more the same. The space freed up by the removal would in turn allow for a discreet gpu, potentially a second hardrive, and even a better cooling solution. These changes would make the macbook even more different than the macbook air, because it would have significantly more horse power. The only true similarities would be screen size, and the fact that there is no ODD, and that is not at all enough to put them into the same classes.
Also to add to this removal of the ODD possiblilty I would like to say that I was strickly against this as well for the longest time, but I ended up getting a laptop with out an ODD anyways, and I really dont miss it. The only reason for getting rid of this laptop is that I am going to be getting the new MBP when it comes out.
Oh, and for those who think that the ODD is needed, please just think about how much you really use the ODD while on the go. I wont debate about whether or not you need it as everyone is different, but your never going to be installing software or burning discs from your ODD with the computer on your lap or while on the more, or atleast you really shouldn't. External ODD's are very cheap now, and also very good, they actually are a much better option in the long run.
Sorry for the really long post, but I just had to get this out there, haha
~Peace
