Merom in upcoming notebooks?

Do any of the current models on the roadmap seem to have Merom, that we know about?

ie v1j etc


Because buying Yonah now might seem a fast track to buying old tech honestly

 

None are in the pipeline no. There have been rumors that Merom could be ready by the end of summer. However, I think most think that to see Merom in a notebook by Christmas would be a pretty optimistic projection - at least I do.

 

Nope. The Merom technology will only first be released towards the end of this year. Then there will be a period of time that we will have to wait for the manufacturing of these products. I mean ASUS still hasnt even gotten out their lines of duo's yet, so there is no way.

In respect to old technology, duo will be fast enough to handle anything you put at it (I hope.) But if you find that merom is definatly worth it you can do two things: 1) wait for merom 2) buy duo and upgrade the cpu yourself (yonah / merom have compatible chipsets.)

I honestly need a laptop for college, and there is no way merom will be in a laptop in my possesion by september. If i am really compelled to get 64 bit (which would be a great upgrade) I am just going to buy it myself and install it.

Only problem is unlike desktops, laptop CPU's use a bonding / heat dispersal cream (like artic silver) that makes it very hard to remove properly, while the cpu's in a pc arent hardened into place. Once i figure out how to get it off, I could do it. But then again is it really worth voiding the warrenty? Again this is all stuff you should consider.

 

Merom is a pin-compatible replacement for the Core Duo and already work in the current motherboard used in Asus i945 based notebooks (new bios might be required but the Calistoga platform supports Merom).

Normally to remove any processor in the socket 479, you just need a flat screwdriver.

 

WEll, it is best ot upgrade from Yonah to Merom after your warranty is complete, by then 64bit would be mature enought for the 64bit processing of Merom anyways.

However, 64 bit is not the only thing missing, Dx10 will be released with 64bit ( i think), so when you buy a Yonah your Vid card can only go up to Dx9.

so that may deter gamers to a certain degree.

As for the V1J, you prolly already know, it is set to have a Yonah and an X1600 256mb. which is 32bit processing and a gpu compatible up to Dx9 with Pixel Shader 2(PS2)

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

The Mobility X1600 is a Shader Model 3.0 part (as is every GPU in the X1x00 designation), MysticGolem.

 

So what's the consensus - will you technically/eventually be able to drop in 4GB Memory (w/ bios flash) and a Mermon into the latest Core Duo based lappys? Has this been confirmed without a reasonable doubt?

 

oh wow! pressure your right! woah i can't beleive i misread ps2.

Thanks for pointing that out.

TheUndertow, i previousely speculated that with the Yonah platform companies were only able to use max 2gb because 2gb sticks were not available.

We know the Yonah can handle 4gb i think there's a laptop that has 4 slots.

Meaning once 2x 2gb is available, the Yonah can handle it, but it may not work properly or at all. Then a bios upgrade would be needed.

As for Merom, it will definately support 4gb because of the release date, the 2gb sticks would be available then and companies would be able to test that out and then state that their laptops can handle a max of 4gb.

But this is really speculations on what i've seen.

It would be realy interesting to see someone stick 2x 2gb sticks into a W3J without a bios upgrade or a Merom upgrade and see what happens. Hope it don't void warranty lol.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

It'll void warranty, hehe

 

Yeah - I'm kind of saying best case scenario - if/when 2GB sticks were available and it's been proven that A: it can be put into the W3j (w/ a bios flash) and B: Merom can be dropped in and take advantage.

Just so you know where I'm coming from, I'm thinking from an extended warranty standpoint - I dont' want to pay for extra years of warranty if I'm going to be voiding it. I also don't want to NOT get the warranty if this isn't going to work. I'm looking for more than speculation.

 

This timing of 32-bit yonah and 64-bit merom being scheduled for the same year is giving me major headaches too. I don't know whether or not I should just get a w3j and live with 32-bit for a couple years. It's just not feasible for me to purchase 2 mid-end notebooks within a year

 

ive come to the understanding that the merom and the yonah are compatible, but if you popped the merom into a yonah's chipset, would you still have a 64-bit dual-core processor, or would you be using the merom at 32-bit? The release of the merom this year is cruddy, as i placed a pre-order on a w3j yesterday.

 

2gb sticks are already available on the crucial website but they run around $700 each.

 

Why Intel is doing this to us by releasing a new line of processors so quickly? It would be so much better if it did not release 32 bit Yonah and just go straight to 64 bit Merom. I am seriously considering of canceling the pre-order of W3J and wait for Merom to come out because I don't really want to pay such a premium for something that is going to be outdated in just a few months. Before the news of 64 bit Merom is coming in later this year, I was really excited about getting the W3J and was waiting for it to arrive patiently. Oh well, have to make up my mind really soon. Any suggestions and inputs?

 

I've just cancelled the preorder...
BUt there's one thing you'd keep in mind - merom notebooks come in october-december, right...
but to get most of it.. you'd better wait for santa rosa - q1 of 2007
oh well...

 

here is a link that will hopefully clarify the difference between the merom on the Napa refresh platform and the Merom on the santa rosa platform (which features a new chipset called Crestline, sorry if this link has been posted already.)

 

Good link Gusto - amazing if you can get a 25% performance boost just by dropping in the new chip.

 

THeundertow yah i understand where your coming from, makes sense not to get extended warranty if your gonna void it with putting in Merom.

As of right now we still don't know enough about Merom being fully working 100% with all abilities on the Napa platform.

Gobzz, im curious to why you cancelled your order? can you explain?

Also its hard to tell when MErom is gonna be exactly released and how many notebooks will be made and put out for sale and when.

As of right now we can not tell whether evrything will go as we said here. For all we know intel could throw some delays and merom could be expected for X-mas. who knows.

For many who ordered the W3J stick with it, for those who plan on buying a notebook for school but are looking to use it rgiht now for fun, i suggest wait, because there's alot of new things and info to take advantage of in about 2-4 months of notebook development.

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Why Intel is doing this to us by releasing a new line of processors so quickly? It would be so much better if it did not release 32 bit Yonah and just go straight to 64 bit Merom.

That guy JIm Cramer on that show Mad Money on MSNBC recently went on an anti-intel rant saying that intel used to be a good company run by engineers but is now a crumby company run by business, while AMD is a good company run by engineers that makes far superior products.

They're prolly releasing yonah so that they have an excuse to charge out the ass for a "superior" chip. AMD's lowest end dual core not only runs at a much higher clock speed than the current intel core duo's, but it's also 64 bit. AND it's only about 50 bucks more.

Is it me or are intels chips a rip-off when you compare them to AMD's?

 

or the release of the core duo could be the influence of apple. think what would've happened if apple waited for the merom. not a big blow, bit not the highest win. course, thats just raw observation.

 

If Intel keeps doing business this way, its reputation will only keep going down to drain. It was not that long ago that Intel was offering far superior chips than AMD, and lately it has been nothing but disappointments.

.

 

Hmm, you're comparing apples to oranges here. Seeing as AMD hasn't released a mobile dual core CPU yet, comparing the desktop X2 with the Core Duo on clockspeed (increasingly meaningless anyway) or price seems unfair, and a little pointless. BTW, the speeds listed for the X2 series are "Pentium Equivalents" and thus are also becoming increasingly meaningless. For example, the X2 4200+ is actually clocked at 2.2GHz...

AMD is also guilty of gouging in the "enthusiast" market... look at what they charge for their FX CPUs.

I'm a big fan of AMD's desktop and server products, but Intel is more than holding their own in the mobile market, especially in the power per watt stakes.

Personally, I can't wait for the Turion X2 to come out. This will force Intel to cut prices on their mobile CPUs and we all benefit.

 

What? If they want to keep earning money? Intel still has around 80% market control from the pure fact alone that they can supply chips in all market segments.

Given the release of Woodcrest, Conroe and Merom, Intel will be steadily ahead of the competition regarding performance and the marketing watt/performance measurement.

The question about 64-bit or not has mostly been because they did not think the mobile segment needed it. Nothing you run today will benefit anyway. Surfing the internet? Not any faster. Writing in Word? Not any faster. Multitasking? Not any faster.

All other Intel chips are 64-bit capable now, except their mobile offerings but this will change in Q'3 this year.

Yonah is a great processor and it performs really well, even compared to desktop processors.

 

Actually, the rating of the AMD Athlon X2 has nothing to do with Intel equivalents. They are based on the rating system of how they perform relatively to the Palomino (Socket A) processor.

I would honestly say the rating system is rather skewed as it is now and will honestly confuse buyers when the Conroe hits the market.

 

Which would be stuff like the good'o athlons (ahhh...the thunderbird....)

 

dont worry to much about the mermon... if you find you really want a 64 bit capable processor then by one... I am pretty sure that they are compatible with the napa platform... the AMD FX chips are expensive... but for a good reason, more tests (that means less pass and ensures better end user product) and they have another multiplyer that their other chips dont have... forth it, but definately only those into overclocking... and if you overclock, wow, the fx 60 I have seen being run around 3.5 ghz +...

I personally will pick up a mermon in a year or so for my wj3, I am pretty sure they fix