which i7 are these $2199 15 inch mbp's sporting?

[vegas-steven]

Searching bestbuys site there are a slew of i7 notebooks with 1.6ghz processors. They claim to have something called "turbo boost" in them up to 2.8ghz

So what is this technology? And how does this differ from the cpu in the macbook pros announced today?

I am not rich but my wife and i INVEST in gokd technoligy which can last us 3-5 years so i need to be very thorough when i research a purchase.

 

[IntelliUser]

Basically the processor start working at full power when doing resource-intensive tasks. No difference between Crapdows laptops and Macs.

 

[theLimit]

They have the newest Intel processors, codenamed Arrandale, that were released on January 7, 2010.

i5-520M, i5-540M, i7-620M

Turbo boost is Intel's technology that lets the processor run at higher clock speeds if it is using less cores. All the MBP processors are dual-core with HyperThreading, which gives the OS access to four virtual cores to work with four threads at a time.

The only i7 running at 1.6GHz is the older i7-720QM, which is a true quad-core processor. Laptops with this chip are typically thicker and offer lower battery life, in the neighborhood of three hours. But if you are planning on using highly threaded apps such as video encoding or protein folding simulations, the lower clock speed of the quad will be surpassed by its ability to work eight threads at a time.

 

[striatedglutes]

I am not rich but my wife and i INVEST in gokd technoligy which can last us 3-5 years so i need to be very thorough when i research a purchase.

What do you use your computer for?

 

[Bratboy]

They have the newest Intel processors, codenamed Arrandale, that were released on January 7, 2010.

i5-520M, i5-540M, i7-620M

.

Having mentioned the above chips....I read earlier on Apple insider that there is a different chip between the low end 15" (i5-520), and the mid-range 15" (i5-540).

Been trying to find this info when comparing the two on the Apple site, but they're being vague, and just saying "i5".
Anyone know if this is true or how to find out?

 

[vegas-steven]

What do you use your computer for?

Photoshop, dreamweaver. iMovie hd/iMovie 09. Basically the iLife apps and Photoshop.
I like to do hd video. I do stuff like video stabilization on my late 2006 core2 duo iMac in iMovie etc...

Also the machine will be hooked up to my 60" tv to playback hd mkv files (tv shows mainly) and it will dualboot windows 7 to be a gaming machine... But the bulk of it will be mac with os x.

The 4gb ram seems cheap on apples behalf. Or is that just me?

 

[striatedglutes]

To answer the original question, it looks like the i7s in the newest MBPs are clocked higher and can reach higher speeds in turbo boost mode. I would imagine that this would translate to faster processing/render times. For a direct comparison to previous MBPs, see Apple's page. If you go with the mac, you won't have to find a suitable iMovie equivalent in windows land (There might be an obvious answer, I just don't know what it is).

Looks like iMovie will use 2 cores: http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11286612&tstart=0

Looks like turbo boost is independent of # cores and is activated "if the part is operating under power, temperature, and current specifications limits of the Thermal Design Power (TDP).": http://www.intel.com/support/processors/sb/cs-029908.htm

Here's info on apps using multiple cores in OS X: http://macperformanceguide.com/Optimizing-Cores.html

Turbo boost is Intel's technology that lets the processor run at higher clock speeds if it is using less cores.

Incorrect, see above.

The 4gb ram seems cheap on apples behalf. Or is that just me?

What do you mean? It's cheap that they only included 4GB? Or upgrading 4GB more is cheap comparatively? Apple 8GB upgrade is $400. An 8GB kit from crucial is $500, and the cheapest compatible 8GB kit I see on newegg is $340.