Downsides to Nehalem?

So most of the discussion I've heard about Nehalem has been pretty positive. But looking at the actual specifications as they are now, I'm actually pretty skeptical that this will be the great increase it's made out to be:

* The top processor speed yet announced is 3.2 GHz, which is no faster than faster than the QX9770 currently available. I know megahertz isn't all there is to it, but it's the exact same megahertzage? Really? Maybe they'll have faster ones later, but right now, not so impressive.
*The mobile power consumption will increase above Napa/Santa Rosa levels. The mainstream will be 45 Watts, Extreme 55 Watts, and power optimized 35 Watts. That's a big jump from the 35 mainstream, 45 Extreme of Napa/Santa Rosa, and even more from Montevina, where much of the mainstream is now 25 Watts. And it's not like it's all from more cores, either - the dual core is at 35/45 and quad at 45/55 whereas right now dual is 25/35/45 and quad is 45 (when it's released). So I'm not so convinced Nehalem will be a friend to laptop users.
*256 KB L2 cache per core. There's a lot of L3 as well, but I think my Northwood Pentium 4 had more L2 than this. It could well be faster anyways, but I do recall L2 being significantly faster than L3.

I could be wrong of course, but to me Sandy Bridge is looking like much more of a step up over Nehalem/Westmere than Nehalem over Santa Rosa or Montevina right now.

 

No comment, still working on Montevina. But yes No big leaps. But I would ask what big leaps do you need? What complaints?

 

First of all, never ever expect unbeliavebly shocking leaps in between consecutive processor generations. (i.e. jumping to 10 GHz or to 256MB L2 cache in one night)

Even if they were capable of it, they would divide this among multiple generations to make the most profit out of it. Why is there a need to jump to 10GHz instead of to 5GHz from the manufacturer's point of view?

 

ramgen good points but call it a platform. For me it makes people think I am smarter than I am?

 

The power usage goes up due to combined cpu/gpu on one chip. And it will have power saving features, so it will be a friend to laptop users.

 

Quad cores when released where not as fast as dual cores, but the could run 4 threads. Nehalem while not as fast as Quad core, can run 4 threads on a dual core and 8 threads on a quad core. To top it off, as others said the gpu will be integrated. That means you should be able to shut off the discrete gpu and run in igp mode. That alone will help battery life. I still get almost 2 hours on my laptop with a 45 w processor with a 8800m gtx. If I was able to completely shut it off, just think how much longer my battery would last. I think even a 55w cpu will be fine.

 

I need a quantum computer 1 Tera Hertz. I wanna play real time Bug's Life and Cars.

 

i read in maximumpc that there is some problem between intel and nvidia, and that nvidia has a license to build a motherboard compatible with nehalem, the gpu and cpu might not work together.

i don't know it was something like that, i would have to read it again.

 

would be cool if larabee blows nvidia