Sandy Bridge Core i7LM chips coming!

[fyrefly]

These will hopefully be in the next MBA refresh - hopefully in Summer 2011 (and hopefully with a Blacklit keyboard!)

http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/11/15/intel.to.intro.sandy.bridge.with.five.lv.chips/

A roadmap slip has uncovered today... three low-voltage Core i7 chips, the 2610LM, 2620LM and 2640LM. Two ultra-low voltage chips are set to make their start, Digitimes said, including the Core i5 2530UM and Core i7 2630UM.

Clock speeds and other performance traits for the low-power chips weren't given out, but Intel's ultra-low voltage processors usually have an 18W peak power when including the chipset. Low-voltage chips have a combined 25W power draw.

18W TDP is the magic number for MBA (13" at least) CPU usage - or 25W for the LMs using only the Intel IGP, which is supposed to be as good as a Radeon 5450 on the desktop side.

So, fingers crossed that Intel can get these out as part of their reportedly really aggressive push to Sandy Bridge so we can finally see an iX processor in the 13" MacBook/Pro/Air lineup.

 

[efirmage]

This is at once the most depressing and exciting news in the techworld, I just ordered an MBA today.

But really, I can't wait any longer so at least I'll have fresh tech for a couple months

 

[centymeat]

This is at once the most depressing and exciting news in the techworld, I just ordered an MBA today.

But really, I can't wait any longer so at least I'll have fresh tech for a couple months

If they do come out end of next year with the refresh, (I somehow feel like they'll wait 2 years), we can probably still sell the MBA's at 60-70% of original value, which is pretty darn good.

 

[Dammit Cubs]

meh.

If you are gonna buy a corvette and garage it then its pretty mute point.

For people who will take advantage of this processing power then I'm happy for them.

 

[lzbones]

I don't think the graphic performance can be as good as 320m, though intel did a lot work for the new GPU and AVX instructions as well.

 

[neteng101]

Most of the time my CPU sits pretty idle - its the SSD and the GPU that drives overall system performance and gaming ability. CPU is only ever going to matter if you do tons of processing or encoding, tasks better reserved for a bigger MBP.

 

[teski]

This is at once the most depressing and exciting news in the techworld, I just ordered an MBA today.

But really, I can't wait any longer so at least I'll have fresh tech for a couple months

It's not depressing. These new procs are don't until they are sitting in a machine you want/need. In the meantime, you've bought a kickass laptop. The depressing thing is if you bought an MBA only for the cool factor and you had no need. Then I'd be depressed. I have a need now, and I'm getting a ton of use out of it!

 

[fyrefly]

This thread wasn't meant to crap on people who already bought MBA's. It'll still be months before a new one is released.

But there is more news: Intel has confirmed they're launching Sandy Bridge chips on Jan 5th at CES. Now, those will probably be desktop chips, and even if the launch includes laptop chips, they'll be high end (ie: not meant for MBA) i7's most likely.

 

[efirmage]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7)

I was exaggerating a bit. I'm really excited about my MBA. I had the last gen and, despite it's many flaws, it was one of my favorite computers. The only use I need for a better processor in a laptop is gaming, which really isn't important enough to me to upgrade to the MBP, or wait around for these. Stupid intel though for forcing Sandy Bridge onto everyone.

 

[KnightWRX]

Uh, what about the GPU ? The fact is, these things have Core 2 Duos because of Intel's refusal to license the key technologies to nVidia to make chipsets for the Core iX series.

Intel GPU ? Don't make me laugh, I wouldn't have bought a Core i7 equipped MBA.

 

[Chundles]

Uh, what about the GPU ? The fact is, these things have Core 2 Duos because of Intel's refusal to license the key technologies to nVidia to make chipsets for the Core iX series.

Intel GPU ? Don't make me laugh, I wouldn't have bought a Core i7 equipped MBA.

The IGP in Sandy Bridge is supposed to be 2x that of the current Core iX processors.

So, still lagging behind the 320M...

 

[Hellhammer]

This thread wasn't meant to crap on people who already bought MBA's. It'll still be months before a new one is released.

But there is more news: Intel has confirmed they're launching Sandy Bridge chips on Jan 5th at CES. Now, those will probably be desktop chips, and even if the launch includes laptop chips, they'll be high end (ie: not meant for MBA) i7's most likely.

Well, last time Intel released the whole lineup in CES, including ULV and LV chips. These chips will anyway be for mainstream products so I can't see why would Intel release only i7s.

Uh, what about the GPU ? The fact is, these things have Core 2 Duos because of Intel's refusal to license the key technologies to nVidia to make chipsets for the Core iX series.

Intel GPU ? Don't make me laugh, I wouldn't have bought a Core i7 equipped MBA.

Don't worry, nVidia just said they won't be doing another chipset in the future

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainbo...dia_We_Are_Not_Building_Chipsets_Anymore.html

AMD Fusion is still viable option for MBAs, its IGP is much better

 

[Adidas Addict]

Most of the time my CPU sits pretty idle - its the SSD and the GPU that drives overall system performance and gaming ability. CPU is only ever going to matter if you do tons of processing or encoding, tasks better reserved for a bigger MBP.

This says it all for me, I used to be worried about the whole "still a core2duo" thing but in reality the GPU and fast SSD are what matters. (for my usuage anyway)

 

[KnightWRX]

Don't worry, nVidia just said they won't be doing another chipset in the future

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainbo...dia_We_Are_Not_Building_Chipsets_Anymore.html

AMD Fusion is still viable option for MBAs, its IGP is much better

I don't quite get how you understood my post, but if Apple moves back to Intel IGPs, this was my last Apple laptop.

 

[Hellhammer]

I don't quite get how you understood my post, but if Apple moves back to Intel IGPs, this was my last Apple laptop.

I guess that was bad sarcasm

Intel IGPs are one option but the recent rumors about AMD are suggesting Fusion for some Apple products. There are plenty of option though but nVidia IGP is not one of them.

 

[OSMac]

It will only matter when its time to sell,
the current Air has many areas that can be improved,
and Apple is the king of generating demand for improved products.

Not just new mobile processors coming,
but a lot of new tablets and slates are due over the next 6 months
and the price of SSDs are in decline.

In many ways the Air is very attractive today
but long term value is probably its weakest point.

As always, it will be a much different market over the next year
and riding into that with a 2008 processor will be interesting
if you want to sell.

I can hear Steve now ...
"These new Intel processors are just amazing,
and yes we listened, the back-lit keyboard is back."

 

[KnightWRX]

There are plenty of option though but nVidia IGP is not one of them.

I don't quite see how there are plenty of options. As it stands, with nVidia, we had 3. Without, we're down to 2. Apple moving to AMD means also using AMD processors and would create bad blood with Intel.

So really, I don't really see the options here. Apple is in a bind, hence why they still ship Core 2 Duo in the smaller packages that require IGPs.

 

[Hellhammer]

I don't quite see how there are plenty of options. As it stands, with nVidia, we had 3. Without, we're down to 2. Apple moving to AMD means also using AMD processors and would create bad blood with Intel.

So really, I don't really see the options here. Apple is in a bind, hence why they still ship Core 2 Duo in the smaller packages that require IGPs.

1. Intel iX + Intel IGP
2. Intel iX + discrete GPU (remove ODD?)
3. AMD Fusion + AMD IGP

If Intel can't provide something what Apple wants but AMD can, then it's not that unlikely that Apple will go for AMD. The Intel vs nVidia fight was definitely something that Apple did not like since Apple has used nVidia chipsets in some products. Now they cannot and Intel cannot provide anything similar.

Apple didn't use Intel in iToys. Sure Intel didn't like that but they can't control Apple

 

[KnightWRX]

2. Intel iX + discrete GPU (remove ODD?)

Again, this is not really an option for the Air / Mac Mini, only the MBP/MB 13". And I don't quite think Apple is ready to drop the optical drive from those, at least not next year. So we're saying the same thing, there's not really a ton of options left (2, or 3 if you're a dreamer and believe in the discrete GPU thing).

It will be interesting to see what Apple moves to once Core 2 duo dries up.

EDIT : Or you know, the much simpler solution : Intel buys up nVidia and finally gets their graphics part up to standard and enter the GPU market. nVidia's know-how and Intel's money would be sure to give AMD quite a blow.

 

[C64]

Would it be possible for Apple to create their own CPUs and make a deal with either AMD or nVidia to integrate one of their GPUs? Since they already have the A4 chips that they created themselves, they're at least capable of something in that field. Or is the step from the A4 to an Apple-made CPU that gives similar performance as the newer Intel CPUs simply out of Apple's reach?

 

[Hellhammer]

Would it be possible for Apple to create their own CPUs and make a deal with either AMD or nVidia to integrate one of their GPUs? Since they already have the A4 chips that they created themselves, they're at least capable of something in that field. Or is the step from the A4 to an Apple-made CPU that gives similar performance as the newer Intel CPUs simply out of Apple's reach?

I wouldn't say Apple created the A4. It's more or less an ARM CPU with integrated GPU, not a completely new CPU. Creating a CPU out of nothing is something that takes years to do and costs A LOT money.

It might be possible if Intel provided the CPU core and nVidia or AMD provided the GPU core. I somehow doubt that though. Besides, Mac market isn't that big either compared to iToy market

 

[KnightWRX]

Would it be possible for Apple to create their own CPUs and make a deal with either AMD or nVidia to integrate one of their GPUs? Since they already have the A4 chips that they created themselves, they're at least capable of something in that field. Or is the step from the A4 to an Apple-made CPU that gives similar performance as the newer Intel CPUs simply out of Apple's reach?

The ARM architecture is much simpler and open than the x86/x86-64 architectures.

 

[maflynn]

There will always be a better, faster computer coming soon. Why worry about the future, enjoy the MBA now. Besides, apple's track for updating the MBA is horrid. Its kind of ludicrous to think about how awesome the next version will be when this is a great computer in its own right.

 

[acron1]

Would it be possible for Apple to create their own CPUs and make a deal with either AMD or nVidia to integrate one of their GPUs? Since they already have the A4 chips that they created themselves, they're at least capable of something in that field. Or is the step from the A4 to an Apple-made CPU that gives similar performance as the newer Intel CPUs simply out of Apple's reach?

Designing a modern CPU in itself is a huge undertaking, even for mighty Apple.
Making that self designed CPU a proprietary part for Apple is simply financially impossible. The so-called Apple CPU in the iPad is not really Apple's own design... There is NO DOUBT that the Intel-Nvidia dispute is hurting Apple's and the industry's options as a whole...

 

[jbzoom]

Next MBA upgrade to come from AMD

With Intel trying to lock out rival gpu's and no fast graphic low voltage option in the Intel stable, it only makes sense for Apple to go for AMD/Radion integrated solution for the MBA 2011 upgrade. Which will be being developed in deadly secrecy so as not to irritate Intel ahead of the Apple/Intel Lightpeak launch in Q1 or Q2 of 2011.