Santa Rosa, LED... What is the big deal?

[jhranicky88]

1. Is Santa Rosa that big of an improvement over the Core 2 Duo chips? What all does it help out? From what I read, it improves battery life and temperature.

2. What is so special about LED backlight displays? Do they show better color than LCD's?

 

[iBookG4user]

1. Is Santa Rosa that big of an improvement over the Core 2 Duo chips? What all does it help out? From what I read, it improves battery life and temperature.

Santa Rosa is not a chipset, it's a platform. And there is a decent performance increase, along with better battery life.

2. What is so special about LED backlight displays? Do they show better color than LCD's?

LED backlit displays do not replace LCD displays, they replace the CCFL backlights and LED backlights take up a lot less power.

 

[MattyP]

Led

Also LEDs are supposed to be a little brighter and thinner than LCD screens.

 

[CalBoy]

Also LEDs are supposed to be a little brighter and thinner than LCD screens.

And if Al Gore is reading, they're supposed to be better (or not as bad) for the environment when they're thrown away (although you should recycle your e-waste anyways!).

 

[Eric5h5]

Also LEDs are supposed to be a little brighter and thinner than LCD screens.

The screens are still LCD. They simply have LEDs as backlights instead of compact flourescent backlights. LCDs by themselves are not particularly visible. That is why you need a backlight.

--Eric

 

[mathwhiz90601]

Santa Rosa is not a chipset, it's a platform. And there is a decent performance increase, along with better battery life.



LED backlit displays do not replace LCD displays, they replace the CCFL backlights and LED backlights take up a lot less power.

Less power = less heat generated = more stuff that can be fit in before things start shutting down. If on iMacs, I hope that means they can put full-powered desktop processors in....

 

[savar]

LED backlit displays do not replace LCD displays, they replace the CCFL backlights and LED backlights take up a lot less power.

And [supposedly] the LED backlighting is more uniform...

 

[Abstract]

Santa Rosa, LED... What is the big deal?

I'm going to respond with "Not really."


If you're thinking about getting a MacBook or iMac or something, just get it. Santa Rosa chipsets still use the same Core 2 Duo cpus/processors. LED backlighting uses less power than conventional backlighting, but honestly, you're not going to start seeing a fantazmic display with incredible colours and 3D in-yer-faceness just because it's LED. You're probably not going to notice a difference. It's not really an exciting technology, although it is useful if the difference between 3h 30min of battery life, and 4h 15min is a big deal to you. I'd like more battery life, but is all this considered a BIG upgrade? No, not really.

Flash harddisks would be considered big, IMO. Same with a carbon fibre MBP. Santa Rosa isn't big. It's going to be completely forgotten about in a year, once the faster chipsets are released.

 

[imac/cheese]

And if Al Gore is reading, they're supposed to be better (or not as bad) for the environment when they're thrown away (although you should recycle your e-waste anyways!).

This is correct. The LEDs do not have toxic chemicals that leach into the water table when they are thrown into a landfill.

 

[Gandhi]

I'm going to respond with "Not really."


It's not really an exciting technology, although it is useful if the difference between 3h 30min of battery life, and 4h 15min is a big deal to you. I'd like more battery life, but is all this considered a BIG upgrade? No, not really.

Flash harddisks would be considered big, IMO. Same with a carbon fibre MBP. Santa Rosa isn't big. It's going to be completely forgotten about in a year, once the faster chipsets are released.

It *IS* a huge upgrade! Just based on the numbers you gave, that s a +10% increase in battery life. Any laptop user who actually uses it as a portable (as opposed to a desktop replacement plugged in all the time) will tell you how much of a big deal that is.

Flash drives will help battery life as well - but at what costs?! I do not want to pay through the nose for a flash drives, as nice as they may be. And flash drives are not there yet in terms of transfer rates.

http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/supertalent-flashide/index.x?pg=1

And adding carbon fiber is not going to help much on laptops. Just because other makers use it does not mean Apple will be using it. Have you seen the heat dissipation rates for carbon fiber? That one-inch MBP will cook its internals if carbon fiber is used!