Penryn now available!

can someone please explain to me what is better about it. other than it being 100 mhz faster. i could call them to change it out but that will delay everthing.

 

It's smaller. It's 45nm compared to Merom's 65nm. This means less power consumption, less heat output, and faster speed since data has a shorter distance to go.

 

As pointed out above, the Penryn chip uses 45 nm traces rather than 65 nm. This dimension is a measurement of the width of the trace, not its length. This results in lower power consumption which, in turn, results in lower heat output. Narrower traces also allow more components to be packaged in the same form factor; thus the 6 MB L2 cache as opposed to the 4 MB L2 cache on the 65 nm chip. The width of the trace does not directly impact the processor speed (no such thing as a "shorter distance to go"). It does, however, allow more components to be included in the same form factor thereby allowing for higher frequencies.

 

INTEL GMA X4500! LIKE ZOMG! THAT JUST MAKES MONTEVINA TOTALLY WORTH WAITING FOR!!! DX10 INTEGRATED GRAPHICS!!!

seriously though, I read random speculation, some here, some in other places of the interweb that Intel was going to take a serious crack at the GPU thing? not high end, but mid-range where the actual money is?

 

just ordered the m15x w/the 7800 chip last nite. i'm debating whether or not i should call AW to make the change to penryn...haha.

 

Sorry, thought I had read a while back that smaller chips meant fast transfers. My bad.

 

why wouldn't you; you just ordered it. Its a better chip for the same price? I would actually drop to the 2.5 penryn from the 2.6 merom as I did the same thing. Its only 100 megahertz slower but probably more powerful and will have better battery life and less heat. Its a win/win to call....and you save 250 bucks.

 

yea, i'm leaning towards the penryn chip. there are performance gain as well as gain in battery life. like you said it's a win/win situation...haha. i'll most likely give AW a call tomorrow to adjust the order

 

at your stage u should , they arleady finished assembling mine and i dont want more delays and possible issues with the laptop.

 

yea, since i'm only at phase 1. i also got a call from Dell financial and called them back to verify the order. i'm going to call AW tomorrow to change the cpu to the penryn one.

when will AW ship your laptop?

 

I would just caution thinking about your logic. The delay would only be a few days most likely. It is not only a bit faster MHZ wise, but it also has a larger cache, decreased power consumption and increased battery life. It is 45nm vs 65nm. It is a better product. Your order hasn't shipped. There really is a price to pay for less heat and more battery life. It most likely will keep your system fresh longer as there will be less stress on the system.

 

Penryn offers a few more FPS in games compare to the similar priced Merom Santa Rosa refresh.

 

All I'm waiting for now is the 9cell standard battery. I can't believe its sold with only a 6cell option for the USA. That and a Glossy 1920x1200

 

i dont ever intend on using this with out power. as i dont do much lan gaming. and that res is overkill for a laptop imo.

 

Buy the 17in then. You'll be happy. For a 15in for on the go, I need the battery life, and I still need it for business. The 1920x1200 will work great with my photo editing. Color details can be done on the work server, but at least I can see the whole thing. And if I order it with BluRay, I want my 1080P.

 

It's my opinion that anyone who has the chance to pick up a Penryn instead of a Merom should take that opportunity while they still can.

 

Yeah. You would feel a bit frustrated later and try and convince yourself there is no performance increase, nothing...

 

FYI: Just changed my config from the X7900 to the X9000. There's no additional cost (my build is at Phase 2) and it didn't impact my estimated ship date.

 

What is your shipping date? I changed my extreme and she swears that its not even coming in till mid march and I wont have it till end of march. Hello.

 

Maybe we need to say which site we're ordering from?

How do you know whether swapping over the CPU affects your due date? My due date was 10th March upon order, and I was told the swap may delay order by 3-5 business days. Does that mean I just add that crude estimate to my 10th of March, or is there a more customer/order specific way of checking that you folks are using?

 

I talked to my sales person in corporate sales. He told me she the chip would delay mine that long. but Im thinking its only the x9000.

 

I ordered from www.alienware.com, and the CS rep provided me with the new estimated ship date, which was identical to the original estimated ship date (3/13) I was quoted on 2/18.

From what I've read, these chips started shipping from Intel last month. Did she put you on hold to inquire, or just state mid-March?

 

Huh? Please rephrase.

 

After making the change, I am still in Phase 5. I need to call to see what is going on with my order. Has anyone else called to request the Penryn and not seen a change in their build status?

 

I am changing it from 2.4 to x9000. since my order was delayed allot and it nearly took a month, and since i received new Dell laptop from my work, it will be ok for me to wait another one month. i was phase6, then received email it was shipped but that was mistake, so phase 7 but yesterday it went to phase 6 again. so am lucky ..

 

I was in Phase 5 when I called yesterday to change. I checked this morning and I'm now in Phase 6. I hope the change went through. The lady on the phone said I should see an email verifying the change in 24-48 hours. Nothing yet.

 

by the way, does somebody know the impact of the x9000 cpu on the battery life? will it be much shorter than that of the T9xxx series? I only know that the x9000 has a higher TDP but I think TDP says more about the cooling than about the battery life.
thanks in advance

 

Yes, it will have a noticeable impact on the battery life. More power -> more heat (therefore the high TDP).

 

Thanks, as far as I know the CPU voltage has a big impact on the battery life, I think the T9xxx series has a 1.15 voltage, but I have no idea about the voltage of the x9000. so do you think that the t9500 will have the best performance-mobility ratio?

 

The T9500 is a useless CPU. The T9300 is what you should get. An extra 100Mhz is like having 10 more BHP. 200 and some $ is a big price to pay for such small performance differences (less than 5%).
And yes, it will have an impact on mobility. If you want battery life the extreme CPU is to be avoided.

 

ok thanks, then I will either take the 9300 or the 9500, had enough problems with my P4 3.2 in my last lappy, got really hot and the battery life was like 20 min. xD. the 9300 offers of course the best price-performance ratio

 

You might regret getting a T9500 when others will get the same performance with a T9300. It's a waste of money in my opinion.

 

Of course it is more about the gpu, would be nice, if we were able to upgrade the gpu later. by the way, I don't think that AW is overpriced, especially in Europe, but it also has something to do with the strong euro. but I agree that it was not a smart move from intel to offer the t9300 with 2.5 ghz and to have the t9500 with only 100mhz more for additional 230 euro, the t9300 has the bigger bang for buck, no question.

 

i just changed my order , she said it would be delayed by only 5 business days this time. i hope its worth it.

 

She just knew. Honestly, who knows. As soon as someone gets theirs and I dont have it, I will be complaining. She thought it was a quad core too then she warned me that it was a dual core, and I said yeah, I wish It was a quadcore.... so Im just going to see when it actually ships.

 

well the UK site are refusing to give ETA's on notebooks ordered already that havent even been changed, yet another reason for me to wish I lived in Florida Like I have wanted to for years, (just my family dont want to move BOOOO!)

 

you mean @ the max frequency! what if I use x9000 or T9300 downclocked? the first step of the multiplier, I mean. won't they have the same power consumption? x9000 has an higher tdp, but I think it will be @ the max freq.
what can you say about that?

obviously it's not worth to buy T9500, but x9000 instead of t9300? what do you think ? especially if x9000 will be OCable

 

I assume that the x9000 will still operate at a higher voltage than the T9300 and thus will have shorter battery life even if not running with 2.8 ghz

 

just called to change my order today for the penryn cpu. i was told it may delay for 3-5 business day. i also asked for a confirmation email....hope i'll receive the email within 24-48 hrs...haha.

 

fade... I dub thee resident cynic of the alienware forums. haha!

seriously. someone else mentioned it. just thought we should make it official.

 

I'm not cynic, just realistic.

 

answer to me fade, what do you think?

 

I am afraid I do not know how they will behave downclocked, but I think that the T9300 will take less power, even in idle (the TDP confirms it).
If I were to have the money to buy a X9000 I might consider it, since it should overclock to 3.2 or more, but if you don't want to keep the notebook for too long (less than two years), get the T9300. The X9000 is for very long term use (it will not really live in the mainstream for more than two and some years, but it will handle better than a T9300 after that period of time).
My advice is to not waste your money on the X9000. You might as well get the T9300 and save some money there.

 

If I will buy this notebook, I think it will last for more than 2 years for me. so yours is a good advice, and maybe I will consider to get the x9000. if not so, I will take T9300

 

What proc will they offer with base(1499) config?

 

Hi everyone, first post.

I was quite happy today because I actually got 79Pounds back after i upgraded to the Penryn 2.6ghz from the Merom 2.6ghz.

My order was made 4 days ago and so i was stil able to change things.

So in the end i got a better CPU and got 80quid refund!!

Great company!

 

Wow, you are very lucky!

 

you are very lucky!

 

Take the T9300 with the M15x, leave the X9000 for the M17x

 

yea but for bragging rights, i'd put it into the 15x rather than 17x.......I have most powerful 15" out......hehe!!