DX10 & Santa Rosa timeline

I'm just trying to get a feel for the market a bit here...

Context: I'm looking at eventually getting a 14"-15.4" laptop (but not yet, which is why I haven't filled out the form). When I say laptops, that's the size I am referring to, since I don't know what other name to give them (not ultra-portables, not desktop replacements...).

1. When do you guys expect to see Santa Rosa/Centrino Pro appearing in laptops?
2. Will we be seeing Quad Core processors in laptops any time in the near future? (If so, roughly when?)
3. When do you guys expect to see higher end (8800, 8600) nvidia GPUs in laptops?
4. How do ATI's new GPUs stack up against nVidias GPUs? Should I be aiming for those instead new?

Thanks for your time.

 

[1] the schedule release date is sometimes is MAY. i'm guessing we'll see laptop popping up with the new chipset in late MAY with intel's closest partner (usually DELL) and others will soon follow in early JUNE in the earliest and late JULY at the latest.

[2] Quad Core will not be available in 14"-15" laptop anytime soon. if i remember correctly we've already seeing HUGE desktop replacement class 17" quad core laptop concepts from clevo.

[3] the Qosmio concepts is already planned to be released with 8600GT. so i'm guessing the next time they refresh their laptop line-up (when they launch new version with santa rosa platform)

[4] it will be quite a while till we see mobile graphics card from ATI, i think that it is not worth the wait. but it is up to you, if you're a fan of ATI or has any other reason then its your choice. performance difference should depends on when ATI launch their new graphic card, as by the time ATI launch their new graphic card, their might be a new Nvdia card, so the wait never ends.

good luck!

 

wobble987 answered the questions very well. However, if I may add a little to some of the questions. Quad cores are not available in notebooks just yet, because of the excessive heat output and the power consumption. The next Intel plans to release a "multi-core" procesor on the mobile market by the beginning of 2008. The processor is codenamed Gilo, and should be quad core, and will be built on a 65 nm process. Penryn, another mobile procesor by intel, which will be released late on 2007, or early 2008, will be dual core, but it will be built on a 45 nm process, which should mean lower power comsumption and less heat.

DX10 cards by nVidia for the mobile market have been announced, and they should be accompanying Santa Rosa at launch. However, the cards that will be released are the Go 8600 and Go 8400. There will no high power Go 8800 just yet, as nVidia is still owrking on it. Even then, it will only be implemente on large 17" notebooks.

Since ATI's DX10 cards aren't out on the mobile market, a comparison can't really be made yet. The desktop version looks very good on paper, and certainly does have the potential to outperform nVidia by quite a bit, but we will have to see when they are released what happens.

 

Isn't Penryn = Centrino Pro?
And isn't Centrino Pro coming out...like...the day after tomorrow?

Or am I sadly confused and misguided...?

 

Nope, Centrino Pro is Santa Rosa and Penryn is to come out 08 I beleive?

 

Some 15.4" notebooks will be using Go 86/84, but not alot are known right now

Penryn will be the processor in the Montevina platform that is supposed to be released in late '07

Centrino Pro is Santa Rosa and it'll come out sometime in May :s hopefully early May xD

 

Santa Rosa is purportedly being released May 8th. This means that within a few weeks of the release date, major notebook manufacturers like Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo, HP, Asus, etc. will all have Santa Rosa in their laptops. Don't expect Apple to have Santa Rosa in their laptops until at least the end of the summer, they've always been slow on the uptake.

You'll probably see quad cores by next year's launch of the 45nm Penryn notebook chips, on the Montevina platform. Montevina will replace the 65nm Santa Rosa platform.

Some notebooks will/are expected to support desktop quad core processors. The Asus C90 and the new offerings from Clevo (D900) are expected at one point in time to be able to accomodate the Core 2 Duo QX6700, Q6600, or other quad core offerings. However, no notebook specific processor will be released for a while.

Nvidia is releasing the desktop 8600GTS, 8600GT, and 8500GT tomorrow (April 17th). Nvidia has promised that notebook DX10 cards will be available with the Santa Rosa launch. They're working on the Go 8600, Go 8400, and Go 8300. The Go 8600 will be available on the release of Santa Rosa, but don't expect widespread availability until the middle of the summer. Only a select number of notebooks will carry the Go 8600. Check out Asus laptops - they'll usually have an excellent selection of notebooks using new graphics cards.

As for the Go 8800, Nvidia is having heat problems. Don't expect to even see one released until the end of the summer.

ATI has not even released a DX10 card. Nvidia is beating them on the timeframe war. For now, you're stuck with Nvidia. The Go 8600 will be comparable to any card that ATI has (it'll be the same power as the X1800 or X1900 in notebooks), plus it'll be DX10 compatible. Pretty good combo, huh?

 

yes quad core to go along montevina in 1st half 2008. its gonna be exciting not sure if i opt for one though. oh, i'm more excited, not by the quad core itself, but the cooling solution intel have cooking up its sleeve if it were to be able to put a quad core on a laptop... hmmm.... huge 17" gaming laptop i presume..

 

Penryn, for notebooks anyway, will not be quad core. It is merely a die shrink of Merom, but it will have some advancements, like a larger cache size and some new power management options. The main thing with the processor is that it will use a slight change in the way its transistors work, and it will incorporate a High-K insulator, something different used at the moment. ntel says this will reduce leakage, which means less power consumption.

Quad core will most likely be included on Intel mobile processors, when the Gilo core gets to market. Gilo is expected to be multi-core, which means it should be quad core. It will be built on a 65 nm process, and its expected to release some time late in 2007 or in early 2008.

 

What advantages will the Dell Latitude D630 have with the Santa Rosa/Centrino Pro processor over the Dell Latitude D620 without the new processor?

 

There will be little difference in non-processor dependant applications. However, performance should increase in processor dependant programs, because a Merom (from Santa Rosa) will be a little faster, because of its larger FSB. There may be a slight battery runtime increase, bt that would depend on a specific notebook's specification and also the tasks performed on it in that time.

Santa Rosa also will bring Intel up to date with draft .n wireless support. So, it should be compatible with draft .n routers. The main benefits will be seen in all Santa Rosa notbooks, but the main improvements have been made to the chipset.

 

Will Santa Rosa be offered in gaming rigs like Clevo anytime soon?

 

The Clevo M570RU is one that should come soon after Santa Rosa comes out. But maybe with a GF Go79XX first and later with a Go 8X00.