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Penryn update is going to be negligible?

B

BrittQ

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 23, 2007
235
0
That is what I hear a lot of people saying (mainly people that are trying to fight buyers remorse for not being patient enough or absolutely needed a new computer right away).:confused::eek::confused:

Of course the next update after the Penryn revision will be more significant, but there is a difference between waiting a month and waiting 8 months.

This is how I see it. Current MBP vs. Penryn upgrade.
+-5% speed increase between equally clocked processors.
The new base model will likely start at 2.5GHz.
That is already about a 18-20% boost :p

SSE4 will supply a speed increase up to 40%, especially as time goes on.

Also worth mentioning, 6mb L2, battery, and heat.

(All for the same price as the current model.)

I don't understand how people say this only a slight increase or a negligible update.:rolleyes:
 
SSE4 will supply a speed increase up to 40%, especially as time goes on.


what is this?^^^^^^^^^^
 
Csmitte said:
SSE4 will supply a speed increase up to 40%, especially as time goes on.


what is this?^^^^^^^^^^
Click to expand...

"Intel claims that SSE4, in combination with other new features..., will offer Penryn a performance improvement of as much as 40 percent over Core 2 Duo on some software like video codecs, and as much as 20 percent on games."
Link


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSE4
 
not to be overly optimistic but... anyone see the possibility for the 2.8? They could do it if they really tried...
 
well... Yeah I never understand why people think that you should be happy ripping yourself off when you can get something much better for the same price in a few weeks.

But as for performance the update isn't going to offer much. Santa rosa chipset over the previous core2duo was supposed to be a big deal. In everyday computing there is just no difference.
 
masse said:
well... Yeah I never understand why people think that you should be happy ripping yourself off when you can get something much better for the same price in a few weeks.

But as for performance the update isn't going to offer much. Santa rosa chipset over the previous core2duo was supposed to be a big deal. In everyday computing there is just no difference.
Click to expand...

It depends on what you are doing. If you are just surfing the net, emails, listening to music, etc you probably wont notice a huge difference. (But, why spend the money on a MBP in the first place?)

But if you do a lot of resource intensive work, like video editing, I'm sure there will be a significant difference.
 
The next upgrade will be small due to the fact that the platform is the same... it will still run on the Santa Rosa. Penryn is a bit better no doubt, but it isn't all that. SSE4 will take a long while to be useful, just as SSE2 and 3 were, it takes software developers to make use of these new instruction sets, it isn't just OMG, it's 40% faster! Could take years for SSE4 to see it's true benefits.

With that said, we don't know what Apple will do with the chassis, if anything at all. If they do a slight redesign some might see that as a big deal, others may not. My point is, all Penryn really is is the .45nm version of what we have now with 2MB more cache and SSE4 (amongst other things). Intel's history has proven that sometimes die shrinks don't perform as planned in terms of heat, sometimes it takes a stepping or two (processor revisions) to get it right. Anyone remember Prescott?

IMO the big revision will come when we see native quad core mobile chips, probably in the next year or so. Sooner, we will see the Montevina chipset which will sport DDR3, WiMax and other goodies, this is truly what Penryn was designed to be paired with... should be out late summer or so. This fact also makes what is rumored to be coming a 'minor' bump.

Hope this makes sense.
 
The revised MBPs will give me another years worth of use as opposed to the current model.

In my book, 20-40% speed increase is significant.
 
BrittQ said:
The revised MBPs will give me another years worth of use as opposed to the current model.

In my book, 20-40% speed increase is significant.
Click to expand...

Aren't these sped increases theoretical at the moment? Considering there aren't any real world benchmarks or are there?
 
rsm5068 said:
not to be overly optimistic but... anyone see the possibility for the 2.8? They could do it if they really tried...
Click to expand...

I see the Penryn MacBook Pros as this:

15-inch: 2.5GHz (low-end 15")
2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Penryn)
1680 x 1050 resolution
2GB memory
160GB hard drive 5400RPM
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Multi-touch trackpad
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 256MB SDRAM
$1,999.00

15-inch: 2.6 GHz (high-end 15")
2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Penryn)
1680 x 1050 resolution
2GB memory
200GB hard drive 5400RPM
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Multi-touch trackpad
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB SDRAM
$2,499.00

17-inch: 2.6GHz
2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Penryn) and option of 2.8GHz Extreme
1920 x 1200 resolution
2GB memory
200GB hard drive 5400RPM
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Multi-Touch Trackpad
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB SDRAM
LED display
$2,799.00
 
kabunaru said:
I see the Penryn MacBook Pros as this:

15-inch: 2.5GHz (low-end 15")
2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Penryn)
1680 x 1050 resolution
2GB memory
160GB hard drive 5400RPM
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Multi-touch trackpad
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 256MB SDRAM
$1,999.00

15-inch: 2.6 GHz (high-end 15")
2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Penryn)
1680 x 1050 resolution
2GB memory
200GB hard drive 5400RPM
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Multi-touch trackpad
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB SDRAM
$2,499.00

17-inch: 2.6GHz
2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Penryn) and option of 2.8GHz Extreme
1920 x 1200 resolution
2GB memory
200GB hard drive 5400RPM
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Multi-Touch Trackpad
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB SDRAM
LED display
$2,799.00
Click to expand...

They don't offer a 200 HDD at 5400 rpm, but maybe the 250. And do you really think they wont upgrade to 8800M or the ATI 3000 series? I see the high end 15" with an option for 2.8 like you have in the 17", but I'm an optimist... Everything else I agree with, and the option for 320 GB HDDs.
 
kabunaru said:
I see the Penryn MacBook Pros as this:

15-inch: 2.5GHz (low-end 15")
2.5GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Penryn)
1680 x 1050 resolution
2GB memory
160GB hard drive 5400RPM
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Multi-touch trackpad
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 256MB SDRAM
$1,999.00

15-inch: 2.6 GHz (high-end 15")
2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Penryn)
1680 x 1050 resolution
2GB memory
200GB hard drive 5400RPM
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Multi-touch trackpad
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB SDRAM
$2,499.00

17-inch: 2.6GHz
2.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Penryn) and option of 2.8GHz Extreme
1920 x 1200 resolution
2GB memory
200GB hard drive 5400RPM
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Multi-Touch Trackpad
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB SDRAM
LED display
$2,799.00
Click to expand...

I highly doubt a .1ghz difference in the two 15 inch models.

Right now, IMO, any laptop without Penryn isn't a buy.
 
GAS said:
Not really that amazing. In my opinion anyway.
Click to expand...

I believe that is for the same clock speeds (2.6).

The current 2.2 will likely be swapped out for the 2.5.
2.5-2.2 = .3
.3/2.2 = 14%
14%+ 1 to 8%
= 15 to 22% increase for just the processor alone.
For the same price.

I like it.
 
BrittQ said:
I believe that is for the same clock speeds (2.6).

The current 2.2 will likely be swapped out for the 2.5.
2.5-2.2 = .3
.3/2.2 = 14%
14%+ 1 to 8%
= 15 to 22% increase for just the processor alone.
For the same price.

I like it.
Click to expand...

You don't know if it will be the same price, or do you know if the 2.5 will replace the 2.2.
 
rsm5068 said:
They don't offer a 200 HDD at 5400 rpm, but maybe the 250. And do you really think they wont upgrade to 8800M or the ATI 3000 series? I see the high end 15" with an option for 2.8 like you have in the 17", but I'm an optimist... Everything else I agree with, and the option for 320 GB HDDs.
Click to expand...

they currently do a 7200 rpm 200GB in the top of line, they'd probably use the same one in the update.
 
BrittQ said:
I believe that is for the same clock speeds (2.6).

The current 2.2 will likely be swapped out for the 2.5.
2.5-2.2 = .3
.3/2.2 = 14%
14%+ 1 to 8%
= 15 to 22% increase for just the processor alone.
For the same price.

I like it.
Click to expand...

Only if the processor is the (sole) limiting factor in what you're doing. Given the laptop hard drive, 8600 mobile, and the (relatively) low 4 GB RAM limit, i find it unlikely that a 2.4 Ghz core 2 duo is the limiting factor for most people.
 
I'm not so sure it'll be negligible, but it won't be huge.
L2 cache is increasing, power consumption decreasing and base model in the MBP starting at 2.5GHz, it's not all that bad.
 
QCassidy352 said:
Only if the processor is the (sole) limiting factor in what you're doing. Given the laptop hard drive, 8600 mobile, and the (relatively) low 4 GB RAM limit, i find it unlikely that a 2.4 Ghz core 2 duo is the limiting factor for most people.
Click to expand...

BrittQ said:
It depends on what you are doing. If you are just surfing the net, emails, listening to music, etc you probably wont notice a huge difference. (But, why spend the money on a MBP in the first place?)

But if you do a lot of resource intensive work, like video editing, I'm sure there will be a significant difference.
Click to expand...
.
 
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