Next Generation Intel Platform (Santa Rosa) Tracking For May

[Val-kyrie]

Graphics Distinctions

Please note that there is a difference between the Intel GMA 3000 and the GMA x3000. Some forum members are not distinguishing between the two. Let's hope that Apple chooses quality (X3000) over price and poorer performance (3000) for their integrated graphics.

 

[Eidorian]

Please note that there is a difference between the Intel GMA 3000 and the GMA x3000. Some forum members are not distinguishing between the two. Let's hope that Apple chooses quality (X3000) over price and poorer performance (3000) for their integrated graphics.

It seems that the X3000 is going to be the standard for the Santa Rosa platform.

 

[matticus008]

Total $1290 saved by waiting.

Not at all. Family packs are designed for this exact scenario, and if you're not planning on upgrading right away in any case, it's a moot point. Delaying your purchase by 3 months based on anticipation is foolish if you need new machines right away. If current products meet your needs, there's no reason not to buy. There will always be better products mere weeks away.

It never pays to put off purchases more than a few weeks unless you don't actually need to make the purchase in the first place.

 

[siefrat@barak.n]

What kind of computer are they using now for games? Santa Rosa is an evolutionary update which ultimately doesn't amount to much for the bulk of end users.
It would be wise, in my opinion, to get at least one of those five iMacs with an ATi graphics card in case your kids do start playing more demanding games in the next couple years. The bottom line is that the only certain thing is that there will not be an iMac with Santa Rosa before May or June, but also probably not after July, if it really does launch in May as planned.

Thanks to everyone for responding. We are upgrading the iMacs with an upgraded video card and 2 gig ram. The children are playing some internet stuff and packaged games as well. They are only 10, and aren't into what I assume would be called "heavy" gaming on line. Mostly they love SIMS which doesn't work on their current PCs because they are so old. We've also just bought a Star Trek game that doesn't work on anything but we don't know why. That's about as heavy as it gets, for the moment.

We're getting them iMacs because they want the video, cartoon making, all the neat stuff they can do creatively on the Mac, but they need the PC end for some games and for the Hebrew Word for school.

I've given up worrying about Leopard and iLife; we'll just buy the family packs and be done with it. But when we heard about hardware changes . . .

Anyway, will this upgraded card and 2 gig ram be sufficient?

Thanks!

susan

 

[Much Ado]

While we're on the subject of Graphics Cards (of which i know very little) how long will it be before i really start to notice my iMac's x600 XT struggling to keep up with Apple's nice but somewhat superfluous effects?

How does it comapre to the current iMac and Macbook set-ups, for example? Is an Intel integrated doo-dah better or worse?

I presume it will be fine for applications for at least a couple of years yet...

MA.

 

[mrgreen4242]

While we're on the subject of Graphics Cards (of which i know very little) how long will it be before i really start to notice my iMac's x600 XT struggling to keep up with Apple's nice but somewhat superfluous effects?

How does it comapre to the current iMac and Macbook set-ups, for example? Is an Intel integrated doo-dah better or worse?

I presume it will be fine for applications for at least a couple of years yet...

MA.

Well, the current talk is that the x3000 will perform somewhere around an ATI x1300 (how that compares to the x600 I'll leave as an exercise for you and Google ). That said, for just UI stuff the x600 should maintain it's usability through 10.5 at least, so you've got a few years I would guess.

That said there's no way to know what Leopard will ultimately require from the hardware, but Apple's track record on making sure older equipment runs the newest software at least reasonably well (and often better than the older version) is good so I wouldn't worry to much. I'm betting even the GMA950 (current really low end GPU in the Mac mini) will handle all/most of Leopards UI effects just fine, so you'll be in the clear!

 

[Eidorian]

http://www.gadgetell.com/2007/03/rumor-centrino-pro-to-be-released-may-8th-2007/

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/03/12/intel_releases_robson/

 

[Shaker]

Thanks to everyone for responding. We are upgrading the iMacs with an upgraded video card and 2 gig ram. The children are playing some internet stuff and packaged games as well. They are only 10, and aren't into what I assume would be called "heavy" gaming on line. Mostly they love SIMS which doesn't work on their current PCs because they are so old. We've also just bought a Star Trek game that doesn't work on anything but we don't know why. That's about as heavy as it gets, for the moment.

We're getting them iMacs because they want the video, cartoon making, all the neat stuff they can do creatively on the Mac, but they need the PC end for some games and for the Hebrew Word for school.

I've given up worrying about Leopard and iLife; we'll just buy the family packs and be done with it. But when we heard about hardware changes . . .

Anyway, will this upgraded card and 2 gig ram be sufficient?

Thanks!

susan

You should be more than fine for the needs that you describe. Enjoy you new Mac.

 

[andiwm2003]

i haven't read all of the thread so i apologize if this was covered already.

one of the advantages of the santa rosa platform is the robson caching. but is this with HDD based on flash memory any advantage. right now you can buy a 32GB HD based on flash for ~300 bucks. in 6 month you should be able to get a 80GB flash based HD for that price. then you just put that one in your notebook and robson caching is obsolete. is that correct?

http://www.sandisk.com/Oem/Default.aspx?CatID=1478

 

[weldon]

I'd still rather have a 200GB drive with 8GB cache for $300.

 

[andiwm2003]

I'd still rather have a 200GB drive with 8GB cache for $300.

i agree it's way more expensive. but my question goes towards upgrading a current MBP in let's say a year or two. by then you would get a performance boost for 300 dollar. (i'm hoping that the flash based drives go down in price quickly and a 120GB for that price would be available).

the question is how much faster are those solid state drives compared to 5400 or 7200 drives. would it be worthwile to do this?

 

[Eidorian]

http://insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ArticleID=14792

A little old but worth noting about the X3000's power if the hardware features are enabled.

 

[localoid]

... one of the advantages of the santa rosa platform is the robson caching. ...

While everyone's dreaming about 1TB flash drives that cost $19.98, the reality is that Intel's Robson technology during 2007 will likely be limited to Robson 1GB and 512MB sized components, with 2GB not expected to be available before later in the year. That said, these seemingly small-sized units won't be as limiting as most would think, as they can be used quite effectively as the home for the OS and other file that don't change often and give real-world boost in boot time and execution time. Probably the 2x performance increase (in some things) that Intel is claiming is in the ballpark...

 

[localoid]

http://insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ArticleID=14792

A little old but worth noting about the X3000's power if the hardware features are enabled.

Although the X3000 has been available for a few months (in desktop form), it still seems to be a work in progress. That said, it seems to offer real promise as a viable onboard 3D graphics solution compared to previous geneations. One of the little interesting things to surface at CeBIT this week was apparently a motherboard with a newly-created 945 chipset (for desktop cpus) by Intel that was able to use a x3000 onboard, apparently as a "technology stretcher" allowing older components to be used with the newer tech. Will there be a red-haired stepchild version of this 945 for Intel's current mobile (Socket M) cpus? And if so, will it matter to any of Apple's line? I guess time will tell...

 

[Ice642]

Pics of Games Running Beta X3000 Drivers

http://insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ArticleID=14792

A little old but worth noting about the X3000's power if the hardware features are enabled.

Just found pics of what I understand was this test session showing off the new beta drivers and what the X3000 is capable of.

http://tomshardware.co.uk/2007/03/08/gdc2007_intel_g965_integratedgraphics/

Note: This is running on the desktop version of the X3000 not Santa Rosa, But I think the Santa Rosa G965 (X3000) will have improved specs.

Also another article about this can be found here:

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3555&article=Intel+G965

 

[Eidorian]

I agree that the GMA X3000 is a work in progress. Intel provided hardware support but hasn't enabled it via drivers yet. The Beta drivers offer great performance for being an integrated solution.

 

[Cojack]

Hey, I looked at Buyer's Guide and counted when the macbook is supposedly to be upgraded. And guess what?...... For that Santa Rosa thing...... The Day od Upgrade hits right on Memorial Day..... So I would keep waiting until memorial day if i were you

 

[scrambledwonder]

Santa Rosa, Tiger

Okay, so according to Intel's site, Santa Rosa's Robson flash technolgy can literally halve application load time and other system functions. A dramatic improvement in everyday power. More so than any graphics card, actually. BUT there's no mention of OS X. All the literature states that these advantages are with Vista, with special features built into the OS. So, does that mean that we should expect a Robson patch in June or July for Tiger? Or will we have to wait for Leopard in October to see the real benefits of Robson tech?

Also, I've ready that SSD (solid-state drives) are coming down in price. If so, in a year or so, a 128GB SSD could be available. So then what is the point of Robson? Wouldn't the SSD basically provide the same performance boost, even a better performance boost? And why wouldn't you just be able to buy a SSD and put in in your 2006 MacBook? Then you'd have a MacBook with all the performance benefits of Robson, right?

 

[h110283]

WiMaX???

I'm new to the macworld but i've had my eye on the MBP for a while now. Like most of you I've been waiting for Santa Rosa to pick one up, but now im hearing of the Montevina Platform. Is WiMaX going to be the next big thing? If so, will santa rosa mean im stuck with out it, or would there be any way to make WiMaX compatible? What other major improvements would it be capable of? All knowledge would be greatly appreciated...

 

[jonutarr]

Yep, I'll be getting a MacBook with an x3000 and Leopard this may, can't wait!

Double that order

 

[MacBass]

Just as I bought my new MBP... awesome. Same thing happened when I bought my last iMac... the iSight/FrontRow version came out literally 15 days later...

I hear you, I bought my maxed out iBook G3 900 MHz roughly 2 weeks before the PowerMac G5 was released. I was pretty miffed.

 

[Rocketman]

http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20070417supp.htm

http://www.intel.com/pressroom/archive/releases/20070417corp_a.htm?iid=search

http://www.intel.com/products/mid/ultramobile2007.htm

http://www.intel.com/products/laptop/index.htm?iid=prod+prod_laptop

http://www.intel.com/products/laptop/chipsets/index.htm?iid=laptop_body+chips

I hope these links are helpful.

Rocketman

 

[Kashchei]

The jump from Core Duo to Core 2 Duo didn't turn out to be that big of a jump. How big of a leap does Santa Rosa represent over the Core 2 Duo? The expected use of X3000 will certainly be welcome, especially with Leopard's Core Animation. What about clock speed, cache, etc and how this all adds up in real performance gains?

 

[daveL]

The jump from Core Duo to Core 2 Duo didn't turn out to be that big of a jump. How big of a leap does Santa Rosa represent over the Core 2 Duo? The expected use of X3000 will certainly be welcome, especially with Leopard's Core Animation. What about clock speed, cache, etc and how this all adds up in real performance gains?

Core Duo and Core 2 Duo are processor lines. Santa Rosa is a mobile chipset / platform. The current MB and MBP use the Napa mobile chipset / platform, although they both have their own wifi chip and MBP has a discreet graphics chip. the C2D mobile processors work with both Napa and Santa Rosa.

 

[Sped]

All the literature states that these advantages are with Vista, with special features built into the OS. So, does that mean that we should expect a Robson patch in June or July for Tiger? Or will we have to wait for Leopard in October to see the real benefits of Robson tech?

I have been thinking about that question as well. I'm doubtful that Apple would release hardware without the appropriate software to make use of said hardware. Since Leopard is delayed, that makes me think Apple may delay incorporating Santa Rosa into its products similar to the delay for C2D (although I don't think software had anything to do with that delay). Hopefully that's not the case.