Is the new Intel Processor worth waiting for?

I was planning to get a new laptop since the one I have is on the verge of dying.

But when I was looking, comparing and etc going through the process of choosing and buying a laptop, a friend informed me that the new processors from Intel - Sandy Bridge ? i think is coming out at like January or something.

Just wondering, is it worth waiting for? and how much better would it be or worse?

Thanks!

 

If you don't desperately need one, then it's worth to wait. But don't fall into the technological-waiting spiral. You will need to make the decision at some point.

I would wait for Intel Sandy Bridge and ATI 6 series.

 

Its going to be better than basically everything out there right now. The new upgrades IMO are worth the wait.

 

will the prices be more expensive than the laptops now?

 

It is too early to say, but from the currently available information, they actually appear to be slightly cheaper.

 

No one has mentioned something else that is very important. USB 3.0 adoption appears to be slow, hopefully by then it will be more standard.

 

If you can wait, then wait. Whether or not you will see a benefit depends completely on what you do with your notebook.

 

Unless you've got a need to run CPU intensive applications frequently, which would make you unusual, the better CPU will make little difference.

 

You may see a drop in prices on old models though.

 

hehe dont mean to be mean ! but from past experience, intel processors dont drop in price even if a new one comes out

 

Koro, from past experiences they absolutely do... when the 980X came out the 975 went down quite a lot.

Also, I personally wouldn't bother waiting. There's ALWAYS new technology just around the corner... and you likely won't be able to notice much difference between SB and current i5/7's.

 

Except that SB is less than two months away and the new CPUs should run cooler and consume less power. Waiting two months isn't really "playing the technology waiting game."

Personally, I say wait if you can, but if you see a really great deal before then, jump on it. This is assuming that you're looking at dual-core CPUs, though. If you're in the market for a quad, you should, without a doubt, wait for SB no matter what deals pop up.

 

I agree... wait if you can... but really if you want your computer you should just buy it. You won't notice much difference if anyway.

And why should he wait for a quad? Because of the IGP in quads? I suppose that's a fair reason.

 

really speaking, you shouldn't wait... it seems Sandy Bridge mobile CPU's might use same chipset as 5 series so sockets should be the same i think... it seems hp advertised a sandy bridge quad with a PM55 chipset in Dv7t according to engadget... if its true , might as well buy now.. no point waiting...

 

USB 3.0 > Sandy Bridge

 

It's not only the IGP. The current quads are power hungry and hot because they're based both on an older process (45nm rather than 32nm) and an older iteration of the current architecture (Nehalem rather than Westmere). This forces them to run at fairly low clock speeds which makes them effectively equal to their dual-core Arrandale cousins. They make absolutely no sense unless you're sure you need to run a heavily multi-threaded application.

Sandy Bridge changes all that. It equalizes both the process and the architecture between quads and dual-cores and not only that, but the power consumption is almost certainly going to be lower (look at the desktop quad-cores: a substantial fraction of them are 65W or less and that's including the IGP).

Regarding waiting vs. buying: there must be balance. On the one hand, it is true that if you're waiting for the next great thing, you can wait forever. But on the other hand, you don't want to buy a product that you do not desperately need on the day before a substantially better replacement (at the same price or lower) is released. How long you should wait depends on how much you need the machine. If your old laptop is dead, you're probably better off buying one now. If you just feel that your current notebook is getting long in the tooth, definitely wait until January.

 

Althernai hit the nail on the head. That's exactly what I meant. The current "mobile" i7 quads are really just low-voltage versions of desktop i7s, imo, and don't really belong in notebooks the same way SB quads will.

 

Why do we assume Q1 2011 is 1/1/2011, it could be 3/31/2011 and even then anounced/released to manufacturers on 3/31/2011 may mean we see hardware 6/30/2011 or even later on the market.................

 

I believe it was stated that January is when they'll be sold... but I really don't know at all. I personally think 2 months is quite a while to wait.

 

67% improved memory bandwidth
20% improved clockspeed
Ability to exceed TDP for short periods of intense CPU activity
Double the PCI-E bandwidth for the external GPU's
1600 speed memory support
USB 3 support (probably)

Maybe these things are worth it to you, maybe not. But those are the improvements, for you decide on.

 

To put this in perspective:

My 'base' desktop workstations were each worth in the $2K range - not including the 4x VRaptors and keyboard, mouse, monitors and Win7x64 Ultimate licenses for each system.

That was 2+ years ago.

Today, an $800 'base' system offers ~20% better performance - almost worth buying now!

However, the performance difference of 2+ years will be on tap again for a mere few months wait over what is currently available (and comparable).

That's why this new platform is so important to wait for. In a few months, today's systems will be as 'old tech' as my 2 year old systems are now.

 

We don't assume January 1st. That would just be dumb. However, we know for a fact that the official announcement is coming at CES on January 5th, that samples were first sent to OEMs quite some time ago, and that the final chips are in mass production and are being sent to OEMs as we speak. All of these facts and past Intel releases tell us that we'll see the first SB laptops before the end of January.

 

High demand laptops like the XPS laptops typically took over a month to obtain in the past few releases, if you preorder as soon as it came out, you could probably get it by the end of the first month though.

 

cmiiw but i read somewhere that intel plans to launch the mobile and desktop versions of sb almost at the same time.

 

Also consider what type of notebook you're looking for. If you prefer a business-class, I suspect you're more likely to end up waiting until Q2 next year. And, of course, like all new releases, you're likely due for "teething" issues. Not as much of a problem for those of us here who like to tinker, but possibly much more annoying for your run of the mill consumer.

 

Yeah, that's more or less a given at this point. The truth is that Intel probably could have released SB by this point, but held off due to OEMs wanting to use the holiday season to clear out inventory.

 

Im basically looking for a 17-18.4 inch laptop (main 18.4) as a desktop replacement to watch movies, play games photo edit and video edit and stuff
By the looks of it, it DOES seem like a good idea to wait

thanks for all the input

 

Oh, then yeah, you should wait. A good quad core will be a big help in those areas. You're making the right decision for your needs.

Bear in mind, however, that you might have to wait a little longer for large gaming laptops. 18.4" is going to be hard to find, and it might take until February or March to get them. On the bright side, those new ones should come with new AMD Radeon HD 6950M or 6970M GPUs.

 

The question is how long can you wait. The more you wait, the better components will be. After SB there is IB, etc.

 

We've been through this. IB won't be coming for another year, and since I'm sure he doesn't want to wait that long, it's irrelevant. The only reason this question was even asked was because SB is coming out within the period he's willing to wait. I know what point you're trying to get at, that it's best not to worry about what's coming because there's always something coming, but SB is being announced in just over a month, making it worth considering. Ivy Bridge will release in October at the earliest, so it's probably off the radar.

 

I think waiting is dumb. Is a QX9300 much worse than an i7-940XM? Barely. And there are desktop processors that came out 4 years ago that are almost on par with, and ones that came out 3.5 years ago that blow the i7-940XM out of the water.

 

lol comparing desktop processors to laptop isn't fair game. Compare apples and apples

And my current i7 system spanks pretty much any laptop out there..

 

Your completly right, but things look more coming early than later, most desktop websites already got mobo samples, so probably is the same in laptops in terms of having already the tech out, and just waiting for the NDA to be lifted. I would think that most are gona rush it, its a huge seller to have new tech inside, im guessing that most big manufacturers might have some version by ends of january or begining of february.

 

I did. I said the QX9300 is barely any worse than the i7 940XM!

And your laptop doesn't "pretty much" beat any laptop, it does, by a long shot.

I'm just saying processors don't get outdated as quickly as many act like.

 

I didn't mean towards the QX9300, I was saying your comparison of desktop processors isn't a fair comparison.

Of course my laptop doesn't beat any laptop out there, I said my desktop.

You are also paying more for new architecture, and new features. And I'm sure the newer i7s at least have better battery life than the older Core 2 Extreme mobile processors.

 

Sorry, I meant to say desktop and not laptop.

 

Ah okay I thought I was going blind and read it wrong

And don't some of the 5 grand Sager desktop replacements have desktop Core i7's inside? Then would definitely be on par with my i7 rig just mobile and graphics take a little hit

 

We are not assuming anything anymore -- we know. Intel has announced that these will be launched at CES so they're being released on January 5th. Furthermore, we know that the processors are already out there and not only that, but also there are already laptops designed around them. Googling for the 2630QM turns up an HP Pavilion, Lenovo Y560, Acer Aspire, ASUS N53 and probably more. There's going to be quite a few Sandy Bridge laptops on sale in January.

 

I say at this point wait for SB, if only for the improved battery life and performance boost + AVX. If you find it "meh", you'll still be able to get discounts for the older stuff as previously stated. It's a win/win.

Actually it takes quite an impressive spanking be it in heavily or lightly multithreaded tasks part due to the much more flexible approach of the recent architectures (turbo boost does wonders on mobile CPUs). Although again, performance boost isn't the most appealing feature of SB, while still nothing to be frown at.

 

Correct! and I saw those SB laptops also, I hope they and others also come with at least 1 USB 3.0 port (2 would be better, not even thinking 3 at this point) and Radeon 6000 Graphics


I hope the vendors don't ask them to hold off on them for a few months to clear any Arrandale inventory

 

Ok, you're right about light use. I forgot about that. But when utilizing 3 or 4 cores, even turbo-boosted, the 940XM is still running at a lower frequency, and Nehalem isn't that much powerful over Core 2 clock for clock, so I wouldn't really call that an impressive spanking.

 

What?!?! The Asus N53 is going to have a SB refresh? I'm glad I didn't pull the trigger on the current i5 dual-core version last week. The only downside factor to me on them was the processor (and a glossy screen, which I can *look past*). Sweet. I'm waiting.

 

Yes absolutely no point in buying a new laptop now if you can hold on a month or two