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Quad Cores in the Next MBP

D

drexl5

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 10, 2010
37
0
Right now i have a Imac i7 and 13inch mbp bought both around september. So do you guys think the next update will bring quad core cpus to the laptop lineup. If the 15 or 17 inch model has a quad core i would consider selling both my Imac and current mbp and pickup a quad core mbp and taking whats left over maybe getting a ipad and pocketing the rest if any left pending how good of a seller i am. Do you guys think thy will have the quad Cores
 
Of course. The high-end 15" or 17" must have Quad Core Sandy Bridge processor.

And the iPad 2 and iPhone 5 are likely to have Duo Core processors.

2011 is for performance enhancement.

:cool:
 
michaelshen said:
Of course. The high-end 15" or 17" must have Quad Core Sandy Bridge processor.

And the iPad 2 and iPhone 5 are likely to have Duo Core processors.

2011 is for performance enhancement.

:cool:
Click to expand...

We can only hope. Not so sure about 2 cores in the iDevices. They still got plenty of room to up the clock in the single core before they need to consider adding a 2nd.
 
i could see apple adding a quad core BTO option midway through the year like they did with the 2.8 i7. but in all honesty, unless they take out a component (hdd), they wont be able to fit in the appropriate increase in battery and cooling mechanism. ivy bridge will make quads standard.

heres hoping that i'm wrong
 
A quad core would be one of the only things I'd trade the optical drive for. I want them to keep the DVD drive in there, but if losing it means I get a quad core laptop that will equal or even out-perform my 3 yr. old Q6600 PC, then I'm very interested.
 
skiltrip said:
A quad core would be one of the only things I'd trade the optical drive for. I want them to keep the DVD drive in there, but if losing it means I get a quad core laptop that will equal or even out-perform my 3 yr. old Q6600 PC, then I'm very interested.
Click to expand...

Why would you NEED to give up your opti drive for...a processor thats the same size?
 
I'm not an electrical engineer, I'm just a musician. I'll gladly take both a quad and my optical drive. I won't complain.
 
bossmanjunior said:
i could see apple adding a quad core BTO option midway through the year like they did with the 2.8 i7. but in all honesty, unless they take out a component (hdd), they wont be able to fit in the appropriate increase in battery and cooling mechanism. ivy bridge will make quads standard.

heres hoping that i'm wrong
Click to expand...
I think you will get your wish. All of Sandy Bridge early reviews measured improvements in both battery life and heat for quad mobile processors. Although TDP (thermal design power) is indeed higher (35W vs 25W), keep in mind that TDP measures maximum the processor dissipates. In vast majority of benchmark scenarios, SB quad dissipated less than i5 dual.
 
nutmac said:
keep in mind that TDP measures maximum the processor dissipates.
Click to expand...

Actually, it is not.

The Thermal Design Power (TDP) is the average maximum power a processor can dissipate while running commercially available software. TDP is primarily used as a guideline for manufacturers of thermal solutions (heatsinks/fans, etc) which tells them how much heat their solution should dissipate. TDP is not the maximum power the CPU may generate - there may be periods of time when the CPU dissipates more power than designed, in which case either the CPU temperature will rise closer to the maximum, or special CPU circuitry will activate and add idle cycles or reduce CPU frequency with the intent of reducing the amount of generated power.

TDP is usually 20% - 30% lower than the CPU maximum power dissipation.
Click to expand...

Maximum power dissipation is the maximum power dissipated by the CPU under the worst conditions - at the maximum core voltage, maximum temperature and maximum signal loading conditions. Maximum Power dissipation is always higher than Thermal Design Power.
Click to expand...

http://www.cpu-world.com/Glossary/T/Thermal_Design_Power_(TDP).html

I know it doesn't matter because the case is the same for all CPUs.

In vast majority of benchmark scenarios, SB quad dissipated less than i5 dual.
Click to expand...

I would like to see those benchmarks. AT's article is showing up to 57.85W power consumption, which sounds reasonable (28.5% more than the reported 45W)

Sandy%20Bridge%20-%20HWMonitor%20New.png
 
I hope they do get them... just in time for me to purchase a 15" MBP to replace my poor, tired White MacBook (The things Final Cut does to a machine with integrated Intel graphics is just sad).
 
just wondering, when was the last time apple increased the 35W TDP on processors. it seems like they have had that requirement going back to C2D for a while now. im wondering if that is a hard limit, and is 45W really too much of an increase?
 
bossmanjunior said:
just wondering, when was the last time apple increased the 35W TDP on processors. it seems like they have had that requirement going back to C2D for a while now. im wondering if that is a hard limit, and is 45W really too much of an increase?
Click to expand...

They've redesigned the insides of the Unibody Macbooks a couple of times before. *shrug*
 
Supposedly, some laptops are about to see more than 4 cores all capable of hyperthreading. That would really suck for us between USB3/BluRay/HDMI/Dual Core :(
 
My real question is (I have two questions), if Apple does offer the Sandy Bridge quad-core i7 option as a processor configuration for their 15" and 17" models, they will probably be looking at the following processors, right?

2630QM 2.0GHz Quad-Core 6MB L3 Cache
2720QM 2.2GHz Quad-Core 6MB L3 Cache
2820QM 2.3GHz Quad-Core 8MB L3 Cache

(these are all the 45W TDP processors, excluding the 2710QE and 2715QE)

And what kind of prices will we be looking at for these quad-core configurations? Are we talking $2500? $2700? $3000? Just what kind of price range are we looking at here?
 
I highly doubt it.
even the entry level mobile quad SB has a TDP of 45W, in comparison the current i7/i5 have a TDP of 35W, and I'm sure everyone remembers the endless "omg my MBP is overheating" threads on here?
 
^^ If it goes to quad core, I would bet the farm that the cooling mechanism would have to be drastically different. With that said, using aluminum makes a tougher laptop but also one that is hotter to the touch, so the current case would need changing and possibly even heat shielding to keep from burning the user if we are looking at 45+ watts. Also, the thin profile of the MBP makes cooling design more difficult as well. Now can it be done? I'm sure. Apple may wait till Ivy Bridge, but we'll see. The next MacBook needs some major revisions anyway or else a lot of prospective buyers are going to walk away, so why not gear a design that either can or will accommodate quad core?
 
highly unlikely.

Why? These machines scream already. Faster drive IO would be a bigger win than 4 cores (a la the new air).

Also:

-too much heat for such a small package.

-they'd have to update the power bricks again.

Maybe in the 17.

I so doubt it though.
 
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