Any news on MB's Merom update?

Though SZ would be clearly superior to MB for my wife - she's <100lbs -, I'm still not fully convinced to spend ~$2k on a machine she will use for internet and music only... what's the latest rumor, when will MB get the now long-awaited Core 2 Duo update?

 

If you mean the regular MacBook, who knows...... possibly not for a long time. If you mean the MBP, hopefully soon, but again, no-one seems to know for sure.

Perhaps you might want to consider the new Sony C series? It is considerably cheaper than the SZ, and basically seems to be the same as the SZ except that it's heavier and has Intel graphics only (although a GeForce 7400 is on the high-end black model according to the NBR article). Could be a good option.

Of course, based on what you said your wife is using it for, it seems like it wouldn't make much of a difference to have a MacBook with Core Duo instead of Core 2 Duo.

 

Um... the MB isn't close to $2000. You can get the basic model for about $1000, and even a bit cheaper if you get a refurbished.
Again, the main reason to go with the MB over the sony is due to OS X and platform support.

 

No one has any idea. It will likely just show up at the Apple Store. No fanfare, no announcement. Despite the hype, Merom is not a huge upgrade. The only major enhancements are the extra cache and 64-bit. Neither of which most notebook owners, especially ones such as you wife, need. Get a Yonah laptop. It will be more than enough power for her for a long time.

 

Yeah, that caught my eyes today too but they won't ship before Nov, it seems..

[bquote]
Of course, based on what you said your wife is using it for, it seems like it wouldn't make much of a difference to have a MacBook with Core Duo instead of Core 2 Duo.[/QUOTE]

I know but when you can get a clock-for-clock 20% faster CPU for the same price, I think it's worth to wait a few weeks - and let's not get into other expected updates of MB (dual-layer writer, ExpressCard slot, some might want dedicated gfx option).

 

? I was talking about the SZ...

Well, she's pretty platform agnostic, so OS X wouldn't be any plus - rather a minus if I consider my XP/linux workstation home...

 

If OS X would be a minus, I don't know, it really does seem like something like the Sony C series makes the most sense (I thought they were shipping in October, so not too far out anyway).

I just don't think we're going to see a MacBook update any time soon; especially not adding an ExpressCard slot and any form of dedicated graphics, which would really make the differentiation between it and the MBP almost negligible.

 

I agree with hallownail about possible MB updates. Also, don't expect a 20% speed increase over Yonah. Real life is more arounf 5-10%, not much.

**EDIT** Also, T2k, I would probably advise against a MacBook for you. You seem to have quite the disdain for OS X and Apple. Given your preconceived ideas, it would be difficult for you to work with that computer. I would reccomend the SZ or C series since it seems to be more up your alley.

 

Dunno... it looks more from reviews:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2008728,00.asp
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2808&p=10
It might be media encoding only but nthat's what conerns me most - Firefox won't be faster...

Not at all, I just like to choose my tool for the task, not vica versa and on OS X you have a somewhat limited sw lineup - it is *not* the silver bullet for everything... but for certain things it's great - in fact I just recently sold my dual G5.
OTOH my wife will use it mostly and she liked the design of the MacBook (from a picture)...

Yeah, those are great but C won't ship before late October, rather November, SZ is excellent but $5-600 extra.