Upcoming Mobile Intel Penryn Prototype Previewed

[John Musbach]

Taiwanese site Coolaler previewed an early version of Intel's upcoming Penryn X9000 CPU. A translation of some of the findings was provided by Fudzilla.

The CPU previewed was an engineering build of the Penryn X9000 CPU clocked at 2.8GHz. Along with the 45-nm die shrink, the upcoming mobile CPUs increase the L2 cache, and boost processor speeds. The 3dmark06 benchmark for the production sample 2.8GHz processor gives a CPU score of 2569, which compares to scores of 2106-2339 for the current top-of-the-line 2.6GHz CPU available as a build-to-order open in MacBook Pros.

Obviously, not too much weight should be given to benchmarks for early engineering sample CPUs, but the release of new mobile processors may trigger an upgrade cycle for Apple's MacBook Pro laptops, which have not seen substantial updates since June.

The new mobile Penryn processors are expected to be released in January 2008.

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Sounds good to me, those benchmarks seem to indicate that the upgrade will indeed be beneficial which is always good

 

[Umbongo]

...says the guy who won't buy because he's waiting for... wait for it... a 200MHz increase!

You don't need to read many Wild-Bill posts to know that he really, and I mean really, isn't waiting for processor speed increases.

Sony charges $300 to go from 2.4 to 2.6 so Apple is really not out of line here.

Nope they aren't, the Intel OEM price between 2.4GHz and 2.6GHz is $214 and a whopping $535 between 2.4 and 2.8. I don't think that was his point though, with the high end mobile processors you pay a large fee for the performance increase you get.

 

[Wild-Bill]

...says the guy who won't buy because he's waiting for... wait for it... a 200MHz increase!

^ says the noobie who has.......wait for it........no idea what he is talking about. No idea.

You don't need to read many Wild-Bill posts to know that he really, and I mean really, isn't waiting for processor speed increases.

Thanks Umbongo. There seems to be a rash of people busting in on threads and making posts that are woefully underinformed or downright mistaken.

 

[thebeat]

Guess what? Intel will announce these in January, but they won't ship til mid/late February....

You're wrong

 

[TurboSC]

You're wrong

seconded... I really hope they pop these bad boys in the new MBP update come MacWorld... that's my backup just in case they don't announce an ultra-thin

 

[capitanbuzo]

You're wrong

seconded... I really hope they pop these bad boys in the new MBP update come MacWorld... that's my backup just in case they don't announce an ultra-thin

I doubt it will be mid to late February but I also have doubts of immediate shipments. If they are being released on Jan 6, I would assume that Apple would get them a bit earlier than that along with the other manufacturers. I would think that the worse case senerio would be early February to mid-February.

 

[Digital Skunk]

I doubt it will be mid to late February but I also have doubts of immediate shipments. If they are being released on Jan 6, I would assume that Apple would get them a bit earlier than that along with the other manufacturers. I would think that the worse case senerio would be early February to mid-February.

The chips are coming on January 6th. MWSF isn't until the 15th and as many have said Apple and other manufacturers are getting early OEM shipments of the parts, so I am sure that by the 15th they will be available in ready to ship Mac Pro and workstation units.

 

[vixapphire]

I hate to be a dum-dum here, but I'm not immersed enough in the Intel lexicon to know what to make of this stuff and I'm about to make my purchasing decision on a 17" mbp.

I nixed a refurb 2.4 hi-res because the price diff between that and the best deal on a 2.6 hi-res with 40GB bigger drive (7200) is less than $200, so I'm looking hard at the 2.6 right now.

It looks like the penryn will have the same FSB but larger L2 cache, and perhaps I can get the 2.6 a little cheaper since it appears a 2.8 will be taking the top-of-line spot.

I'd appreciate someone providing an intelligent estimate of what % performance difference the boosted L2 cache size in the proposed penryn 2.6 (according to the numbers in the original post) would provide, all else (RAM, HD speed, etc.) being equal. I don't care about battery life either, since this is basically going to replace both my old laptop and desktop machines and will likely be stationary/plugged in most of the time.

Thanks for your advise; I'm burning to pull the trigger here, but I'll wait the 3 weeks if there's substantial reason to. So far, I'm not really convinced that there's a compelling reason for my uses (I need something that can really do the do with Logic Pro, and I'm getting out of the desktop I'm currently using because I like to work mobile).

 

[Digital Skunk]

I hate to be a dum-dum here, but I'm not immersed enough in the Intel lexicon to know what to make of this stuff and I'm about to make my purchasing decision on a 17" mbp.

I nixed a refurb 2.4 hi-res because the price diff between that and the best deal on a 2.6 hi-res with 40GB bigger drive (7200) is less than $200, so I'm looking hard at the 2.6 right now.

It looks like the penryn will have the same FSB but larger L2 cache, and perhaps I can get the 2.6 a little cheaper since it appears a 2.8 will be taking the top-of-line spot.

I'd appreciate someone providing an intelligent estimate of what % performance difference the boosted L2 cache size in the proposed penryn 2.6 (according to the numbers in the original post) would provide, all else (RAM, HD speed, etc.) being equal. I don't care about battery life either, since this is basically going to replace both my old laptop and desktop machines and will likely be stationary/plugged in most of the time.

Thanks for your advise; I'm burning to pull the trigger here, but I'll wait the 3 weeks if there's substantial reason to. So far, I'm not really convinced that there's a compelling reason for my uses (I need something that can really do the do with Logic Pro, and I'm getting out of the desktop I'm currently using because I like to work mobile).

Honestly there is no reason to wait if you can pull the trigger on the 2.6 now. From what the persons in the know tell me the Dual 2.8 is too hot to be put into a MBP right now so the top of the line will be a 2.6. I am hoping that the 2.6 becomes the standard config for the either the mid range 15" or the high-end 17" so I don't have to pay the extra cash for it.

The L2 cache may not add that much of a performance boost, but may add stability and cooler running temps. The last iteration of the Dual Core PPC G5 towers had that benefit, single chip dual core meant VERY stable and very cool running. So Penryn is really just an updated SR in my opinion, one that is more refined and gives us cooler running temps, a more stable system, and maybe a slight boost in performance but nothing more than that.

I am crossing my fingers for a much more refined design in the MBP and a new GFX card. My dream is for a real desktop replacement that gives me 512MB GFX memory and at least up to 320GB HDD @ 5400rpm as a BTO option if I ever decided to go for more storage.

I am starting to come to grips with a very boring outcome of MWSF '08. Just Mac Pro updates (maybe silent) and iTunes movie rentals and kiddy sh*t like the iPhone.

 

[waffle911]

I am crossing my fingers for a much more refined design in the MBP and a new GFX card. My dream is for a real desktop replacement that gives me 512MB GFX memory and at least up to 320GB HDD @ 5400rpm as a BTO option if I ever decided to go for more storage.

512 MB gfx memory is pushing it, currently only SLi for notebooks, and then battery life is kaput. Apple wouldn't allow that. Also, experience tells me that if you want to upgrade memory or storage, doing it yourself is hundreds cheaper. 320GB from Newegg is $200 now, probably will go down by the time you need it. Otherwise Apple's mobile drive prices are right on target, but you can still sell the old drive and recuperate more of the cost of upgrading when you do it yourself. But $700 for a 4GB ram upgrade is just downright malicious. 80-90 bucks is the realistic low end of the price range, and that's not for crappy no-name silicon.

Personally, I think the biggest update Apple could use is a free 3/yr warranty/support plan. The current cost of the option is ridiculous for a high-end machine like this.

 

[vixapphire]

512 MB gfx memory is pushing it, currently only SLi for notebooks, and then battery life is kaput. Apple wouldn't allow that. Also, experience tells me that if you want to upgrade memory or storage, doing it yourself is hundreds cheaper. 320GB from Newegg is $200 now, probably will go down by the time you need it. Otherwise Apple's mobile drive prices are right on target, but you can still sell the old drive and recuperate more of the cost of upgrading when you do it yourself. But $700 for a 4GB ram upgrade is just downright malicious. 80-90 bucks is the realistic low end of the price range, and that's not for crappy no-name silicon.

Personally, I think the biggest update Apple could use is a free 3/yr warranty/support plan. The current cost of the option is ridiculous for a high-end machine like this.

agreed with the last bit particularly; i can't believe the company nickle-and-dimes buyers of these BTO >$3k boxes for the support. Given they're pricing stuff like 4GB RAM at $700, they make arguments like "there's not enough profit in these machines" ring very foolish.

i'm going to wait til macworld. if nothing else, the price on the outgoing machines (if there's any material difference) may go down a bit at the CDW-type places that keep stock on hand, making for possible further bargains on new machines at that time; worst case, i pay in a few weeks what i would be paying now, and will have to "de-authorize" a bunch of software to port it from my current computer to the new one, rather than installing it on the new one next week...