New Macbook Pro owners, Wait for Core i7!

I have been, but no one seems to be giving a totally straight answer on what is going on. It does appear that Nvidia does NOT have licencing agreements with intel for the architecture though. guess we wait and see as I dont trust the bloggers and media writers to get much right anymore

 

i would go amd over nvidia if i were you...the future lies with ati...nvidia has lost lost of customers because of the overheating gpu fiasco. besides that, they have gotten into the habit of overclocking, flashing and rebranding the same gpu lately...

 

Very true, But if Nvidia cant get licencing and apple does not have a design for an AMD or intel chipset MOBO for units. We may not have a refresh with nehalem or i5/i7 cpu's untill a whole design cycle is completed meaning NO new CPU's for MB's for quite possibly up to a whole year or more hope they didnt put all their eggs in one basket

 

I find this hard to believe. I don't think Apple will just sit there while other PC vendors are dropping Core i7s in their laptops.

Either Nvidia will figure something out or Apple will go with AMD. IMO a CPU is much more important than a GPU.

 

quite true, but if there is not a design for a motherboard in the works it takes ALOT of time to design a new board. to do it properly could take up to 18 mos. like I said before .... I wait and see

 

where on earth did the 18month figure for the motherboard come up from?

i've NEVER heard of it taking anywhere near that long for a mobo before...ESPECIALLY not a laptop mobo.

 

Full design of a board from scratch and all test phases is usually estimated at 12 to 18 mos unless test cycles have changed alot since I was involved in the late 90's

 

MBP's internals are actually rather behind the curve now.

CPU's have no quad-core option, a gen behind.
GPU's are a gen behind AND not the highest model of the previous gen.

I love my late 2007 MBP but there's no way in hell I'm upgrading to another $2000+ machine without the internals being top of the line or close to it at the time of release.

This doesn't apply to new, potential MBP owners, as the OP suggests, but anyone who already owns a MBP probably feels the same as me.

 

i feel the same as you, although the gpus in there currently are 2 generations behind. and im looking to update with the next refresh. I would love to see apple drop nvidia and do a intel/ati setup, the upcoming ati chips look to have a lot of potential.

 

I would expect Apple to have parallel development of platforms in their labs for something like this. They pulled the Power to Intel transition off and probably had Mac OS X running on multiple CPU architectures before the announcement with Intel.

At the moment, I won't buy another computer with an architecture older than Nehalem. But then again my Penryn MacBook Pro should be good for another five years.

 

Can't get too crazy about CPU's, they are ALL fast right now. Most people don't even fully challenge any Core 2 regardless of clock speed or cache. Lot of marketing involved.

 

The newer CPUs are more power-efficient too. Intel's current mantra is get the work done fast and then go into a deep sleep state. The newest stuff has power management capabilities so that the operating system can more effectively minimize power use related to context switching.

 

http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/10/day-of-nvidia-chipset-reckoning-arrives.ars

Just wondering what will apple use for their GPU's now? Assuming Intel's IGP option won't be as powerful as what's out there right now. ATI I guess?

 

they can start using dedicated GPUs.

 

... Well yeah, but I was wondering a few things.

Does this mean Apple will now use Ati for their dedicated MBP's (15" + 17"). And more importantly, what does that mean for the 13" which has an IGP. Do they use the one that comes with Arrandale? Especially what if the newer Arrandale GPU is weaker than the 9400M in the 13" right now, since it is apparently just a faster version of the 4500M Intel IGP. Would they release a newer updated model that has a weaker gpu than the previous version?

Just wait and find out I guess.

 

why should they use ati gpus?

 

because ATI is the shiznit and everyone should use it?

 

Most people dont fully use the CPU power available, but there are users out there such as myself that could benefit from the extra horsepower from the Core i7.

Because Nvidia is halting chipset production for Nehalem. Meaning their gpu will not coincide with the upcoming Arrandle.

This creates a predicament. Either keep current processors to use Nvidia, or upgrade to mobile Nehalem and use ATI.

 

does ATI have nehalem chipsets either?

i think the most likely set of events is:

-macbook/macbook pros will get nvidia discrete graphics with integrated Intel and clarksfield CPUS

-the macbook air will get the arrandale CPU.

 

Then battery life for the MBP will tank w/o switchable graphics. Back to 3-4 hours anyone? MBP will never get Clarksfield CPUs due to this. They will use Arrandale.

 

Eh, I would say both events are unlikely.

The most likely events is that Apple will skip Clarksfield and will go for Arrandale.

 

halting chipset, not GPU manufacturing... it can be intel chipset and nvidia GPU.

 

I agree that Apple will most likely skip clarksfield, since the quad parts (even the low end 720), requires 45w. A Macbook Pro 17" w/ a T9900 (3.06ghz), is already sickeningly hot as is in that purdy little bawdy.

While Macbooks will most likely be stuck with dual cores for quite some time with Arrandale, they have some wicked thermal profiles and should run not only potentially faster but cooler than the Core 2 parts.

 

The benefit of Nehalem is turbo-boost mode where it normally runs at low-clocks and bumps up the clockspeed if needed. That would be nice to have in a dual-core chip.

If I really needed a system now, it would be a tough decision. I might have to go with a couple of Mac Pros.

 

What about Nvidia's IGP 9400m?

 

apparently, if apple chooses to take on the next set of intel cpu's, it has to give up the awesome 9400m for an intel integrated chip (the living suck).

 

So if thats the case, it would actually be better to buy a notebook from them now instead of waiting?

 

You can always wait and pick up their old stock for cheaper...

 

So if i'm looking at buying a mbp...........I should wait how long? Is there any dates on the release of these new ones w/the new i7?

 

From what I hear, it'll be sometime in Q1 2010.

 

The release will probably be near the beginning of Q1 2010, ie. sometime in January, but I doubt you will be able to get one in your hands til end of February or early March (at the earliest). Tends to follow a similar timeline mentioned in my previous sentence everytime a new refresh comes out.

 

Thanks guys that helps a lot. I planned on buying one in Dec/Jan so I might as well tough it out til that comes out.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but the new ATI mobility GPUs come out 2010 Q1?
(And nvidia 3xxm series doesn't even have a predicted ETA?)

Wouldn't it make sense to include ATI's GPU's because they coincide with the release of Arrandale?

Apple would be behind par if they refreshed their top performing portable line without a major GPU update, since their GPU standards are already so far behind?

It wouldn't make sense if Apple only bumped their GPU from 65nm to 55nm. Wouldn't it be a far better move to aim for the 40nm tech? (Allowing for extended battery life and better performance?)

 

If you believe some sources, Nvidia and Apple are set for a big time break-up.

9400m stays for the value line, which will keep Core 2 for another year and use Intel/AMD combos for the Pros. That means probably no more hybrid mode and Mobility RADEONs.

The 5650 should be about as fast as a 260m while using much less power.

 

Yeah... I personally won't be getting an upgrade till the MBP's have Quad Core's in them... Hoping for next year.... big hopes

 

Also remember that Arrandale has an integrated GPU. So Apple may not even need the 9400m.

Although the integrated GPU is not as powerful as the 9400m

 

15" MBP just got a $200 price drop in Canada.. I'm tempted but I'm not sure if I should wait till Q1 2010 and hope for i7's.

 

Would core i7 ever come to a 13" machine?
I dont see any laptop manufacture released a 13" laptop with core i7.

 

You're thinking of Clarksfield core i7, which puts out quite a bit of heat.

The processor we're talking about is Arrandale core i7, which is a dual core /w HT and GPU and runs much cooler.

 

Intel has scrapped Larabee

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/353899/intel-scraps-larrabee-chips