Anyone waiting for the Intel Dual Core 2 to come out?

The Intel Dual Core 2 is supposed to be release in July. Anyone holding off on buying a laptop until it comes out? Did I make the mistake of buying an A8Jm right now? My friend is making me doubt my decision a little because he is waiting for the Dual Core 2.

 

I'm not... new technology is constantly coming out... at some point you just have to decide if what is available suits your needs

the fact of the matter is that current, computer hardware isn't being pushed to it's maximum capability

most applications are written for single core 32 bit cpus... any thing more than that standard is more than sufficient now and in the near future

 

I have owned computers all the way from the 8086, 286, 386, 486, 486dx, and then Pentiums in all of there various configurations as well. The point is that if you are a hobbyist as I am you will always crave and "need" the lastest and greatest processor simply because it is there...not that you might even need it.

The next point is that there will always be something more powerful on the drawing board and any equipment that a consumer can get his hands on is already "old and outdated" compaired to what will be out in 6 months...

That just the Catch-22 situation of computer technology...but it sure is FUN!!

Lee

 

you mean the memeron whatever its called. The only difference is its 64bit 99%of the people will see no benifit to it. there not even a good OS out till 2007 that can use it properly vista. XP 64bit sucks.

 

While the Core 2 Duo may be "released" on paper by July (which in itself is doubtful) it will not be actually shipping in laptops for several months.

It will then be several months more before 64-bit software has matured, so if I were buying now I certainly wouldn't wait for it. It will finally be mature by the time you are ready to replace whatever you are buying now.

[Edit] At this point it is said that the NAPA (Intel 945 chipset) will support both the Yonah (Core Duo) and Merom (Core 2 Duo) processors. "Merom will make its debut in the second half of this year on a platform Intel is referring to as the Napa Refresh. The new platform is essentially Napa, but with a Merom processor instead of Yonah. The other beauty of Merom is that it is 100% compatible with existing Yonah designs, meaning that all Core Duo notebooks today should be able to accept a Merom processor with at most a BIOS update." See http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2715 [/Edit]

 

I completely agree. Well said.

 

Yes but the 4MB cache will improve all-round performace, noticeable in all applications from internet/office to gaming/video editing.

 

I'm not waiting. That is the reason I only got a 1.83 GHz Duo. When the Duo 2 comes out I will wait a bit until prices come down and then I will buy and put in my notebook. I think it is great strategy of intel to have a napa version on Duo 2 (Merom) that is a drop in replacement.

 

It may be coming out in July, but it will probably won't be until the end of the year that you can get one in an Asus.

 

Yes cache can make a big difference but only if the chip design takes advantage. the old pentium Ms already had 2 megs cache and it helped. But there are other chips in the past that havent performed much better just by adding more cache. I will have to see benchmarks before making an imformed statement though. yes the chip will be better but the 64bit itsself leaves little benifit for most. In the future yes but for the next 2 years 32bit chips are fine.

 

I've been comtemplating this for a little bit, and ive decided im just gonna go ahead and get a laptop, if im always waiting for new technology, ill NEVER get one, its impossible to always have the best, and greatest technology, i think everyone hates the thought of their laptops becoming obsolete, but its inevitable none the less, might as well not worry about it and enjoy

 

obsolete what does that mean these days? machines are so fast that no matter what they will be fine for 3 years easy. Maybe they wont be able to play games 3 years later but for productivity apps they are fine.

 

Yes i agree with you but at this point in time, you are in a transition period between Core Dual 1 and Core Dual 2. The decision is more difficult to make here.

 

Reality is that we are NOT in transition between Core Duo and Core 2 Duo...Core Duo is now finally just being shipped.

Core 2 Duo won't be shipping until very late this year, or early next year.

 

Technology is constantly rising and we can never be able to keep up to the MOST current thing. Everytime you buy something such as a computer, things tend to change after a week or so, and then you fall behind again. Catching up with tecnology is pointless. Use what you got and change when you really need to. Things get better and better and usually in a short period of time. and Duo core hasn't even been out for like a year yet. ( correct me if wrong) when i mean duo i mean for laptops. Now duo 2 is too soon. But if u got money go buy it then, you will be a foolish person to do so, using something not even 1 year old and then switching to something new already is pointless.

 

Thats true, but i havent been in that position lol. my rig cant run anything.

 

wait until you see it on laptops at the end of the year, after that wait a while longer until the price drops. Youll be fine for 2+ years

 

Core Duo started shipping in laptops in March of this year, but only a few were available. Right about now there are several releasing, so it is still brand new to the market.

 

I am wondering about the ugrade possibility on current Napa platforms using Yonah processors.

Is it possible, as a previous post mentioned, to ugrade to a 64bit Merom (Core Duo 2) processor when it is released, and go with a 32bit Yonah (Core Duo) processor today? What makes this upgrade option possible?

If it is possible to upgrade when Merom is released, then I see little reason to wait up to a full year, as some suggest they might. I feel there are better reasons to wait for a new laptop than to have a 64bit processor. In the coming 4 months, I would hope for better GPU options on sleeker designs that run cooler and quieter. I would not wait for Duo Core 2, especially if you can upgrade in the future.

alex

 

Since I don't game, if I can run word, excel, and powerpoint now, I should be able to run them in the future for a loooong time

 

At this point it is said that the NAPA (Intel 945 chipset) will support both the Yonah (Core Duo) and Merom (Core 2 Duo) processors. "Merom will make its debut in the second half of this year on a platform Intel is referring to as the Napa Refresh. The new platform is essentially Napa, but with a Merom processor instead of Yonah. The other beauty of Merom is that it is 100% compatible with existing Yonah designs, meaning that all Core Duo notebooks today should be able to accept a Merom processor with at most a BIOS update." See http://www.anandtech.com/tradeshows/showdoc.aspx?i=2715

 

alex, if you have the macbook pro, you cannot upgrade to merom b/c the cpu is soldered to the motherboard. thus, you cannot take out the yonah to replace it with merom.

early benchmarks of the core duo 2 have shown pretty decent performance increases, but its real potential probably won't be realized until it is released with the santa rosa chipset, which won't be out until next year. so for performance increases, it wouldn't be worth it to wait for the core duo 2, unless you can wait for it in the newer chipset. like others have said, 64-bit is not going to be important for at least another 1-2 years, and even then, they will probably be released with 32-bit counterparts.

 

in one word

NO......

The reason being..... even when the new chip gets released, it is still going to be a while before it gets released into laptops, then you will have to wait for Visa and all the bugs to be worked out with that, and then.... you wil have to wait for software developers to follow suite.

I am a heavy photoshop user at work and would love the benifits of 64bit processors and OS but in reality how long have 64bit AMD chips been out...... and we still havent got a standard 64bit windows OS.......

Personally I have had enough of waiting, I am buying a W3J now and will upgrade in 2 years once 64bit OS, software and hardware are all up to speed.

 

Just to be different....I AM waiting for the new core duo.
But my main reasons are that I dont need a laptop right now, will be travelling around November so will pick up the best deal and get it duty free, thus saving me a few hundred. Thus if everything goes to plan I will be able to get either a Macbook or w7 with a core2duo!
I really hope that apple makes a 13" macbook pro version, really want something under 2kg....but hey the w7 isnt a bad backup!
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