What exactly is Montevina?

Honestly? Not alot, you are looking at 5-15% at the most at the same clock speed compared to Santa Rosa with a Penryn Processor. Of course this was just hypothetical based on past reoccurances and we won't know exactly how much until the platform is officially released. This also depends on the memory performance of Montevina whether DDR3 is a better solution compared to DDR2 despite lower latency.

 

For such a data hungry CPU as the core 2 duo, increasing the FSB is actually a better way to increase performance than to just increase clock speed. e.g. say a T9500 or T7800 at 2.6ghz runs with a 800mhz bus. Now if you took a 2.6ghz with 800mhz bus compared to a 'faster' 2.8ghz with say a slower 667mhz bus, the 2.6 ghz may as well be faster.

 

It's very unclear to me what the value of the T9400 processor will be. Its only saving grace versus the P9500 is that it's a bit cheaper but I've got to imagine the difference is going to be fairly small vs. the overall cost of the laptops these processors will be featured in. Whereas the P9500 seems to consume a whole lot less power...

 

Are you meaning the TDP/watt ratings for the CPU itself or the laptop/chipset as a whole? I think the power consumption for both CPUs are the same due to the same process at 45nm but the Montevina platform will definitely consume less power and run cooler too in part due to DDR3 and its lower voltages.

 

The release of the chipset coincides with the release of the new lower power and small form factor CPUs (which also have lower TDP rating). There are also normal voltage CPUs being released such as the T9400 and T9600.

 

The P9500 has a 25-watt TDP compared to the 35-watt TDP of the T9400. The P series Montevina processors are going to be more powerful and more power efficient than the T series.

 

ok so if i get an intel core 2 duo extreme 2.8 ghz now, what would i be missing by not waiting a few months for the new processers. Are the differences going to be noticable or will it just be a difference price.

 

If you have the money to get the extreme now, you can always buy another one in a few months. Honestly, if you wait every few months something better is going to come out. It will be faster and cheaper.