calpella Q3.09, new t-series?

Do you guys think there will be calpella t-series before the end of this year? intel says they are targeting the $1200 notebook market. That's a little high for a base configuration, especially because business model usually doesn't have dvd-rw or high-res screen

 

Supposedly Intel is holding off on their q3/second half 2009 launch due to manufacture pressure (e.g. dell, lenovo ect). But then again you never know what will actually happen.

 

uh, there is new news today that intel will release calpella for +1200 notebooks in Q3, check digitimes, and nbr news

 

Just because Intel says the target is $1,200 doesn't mean the base price will be $1,200. $1,200 will likely be the nicely-configured starting price.

I would expect a new T-series probably early Q4.

 

If you are lucky, you will be able to get the new generation by Oct/Nov earliest. Usually companies are slow in rolling out new models, while they might announce it earlier and you can preorder/order it, the past few updates in platforms, it has taken a while to get the product in your hand (hopefully without faults, ie. early XPS 1330).

 

I remember when Montevina was released in July 08, it wasn't until Sept-Oct that there was good selection in notebooks with the new chips. So that's what month's I'm predicting.
I really hope the new IGP bridges the gap between x4500 and 9400m, and the T40x has ati 4570 and the T50x has the 4650, same ballpark batt life. That would be my dream thinkpad.

 

The digitimes article was confusing... is calpella not slated for 13" notebooks (like X301 sort)? Is there a different successor for the ultra low voltage end?

 

My bet is the ULV Calpella will be released later than the rest--sometime early next year when 32 nm chips come out.

 

is this calpella supposed to be a huge upgrade to current montevina? My almost 2 year old Asus with Santa rosa has similar performance levels to newer t400 with montevina. Is the biggest advantage the support for Nehalem based processors?

 

Montevina was mostly advertised for its lower power consumption using 45nm technology, therefore lower heat and longer battery life. Evidently, it was successful seeing how T400 gets up to 5+ hrs of battery life with 6-cell battery, although with advantage of LED backlit screen, while T61 gets 3-4 hours of battery life with 6-cell.

Calpella will not use Front Side Bus. I don't know how it's gonna benefit the chip's performance, but it's one of the big things that Calpella is bringing about including mobile quad-core processors and 32nm Arrandale processors.

 

Calpella won't be a big upgrade to most people. The only people who will really benefit are those that do encoding or calculations on the go and will take advantage of the 4 cores. Initially the low clocked quads will be around the same performance as current quads but will also be relatively expensive. IMO gamers and casual users should still stick with the faster clocked dual cores. Maybe when prices come down and quad core is mainstream, will it be worth while to upgrade.

 

aren't the first mobile nehalem quads to come out going to be higher in power consumption? Looks like the first models will be 45 and 55W, with lower powered dual core nahalems coming out a bit later.

CPU seems like less of a bottleneck when it comes to laptop performance. My 2 year old Asus G1S with T7500 (2.2ghz) is very similar to T400 with P8700 (2.53ghz) when it comes to CPU performance. The huge difference is power consumption.

 

Current quad are already expensive. Although Id love to have a quad for multitasking and background processes I just dont see lenovo making a quad core t400 until at least next year. Now a t500+ I can see but a 14in I just dont see it in the card imho.

 

I doubt there will be a 14" quad-core laptop from Lenovo any time soon. There just isn't much market for it. 14" laptops are targeted towards business users that need a balanced laptop that is mobile and has good battery life, for checking email, word processing, and doing other office tasks. A quad core just isn't needed. A quad core in a 15" W-series laptop may be introduced, but I still kind of doubt it - a quad core is more meant for 17" workstation powerhouses.

 

Pricing is the similar to current quads. There is a $350 model now for the lowest end model, which would be in line with the minimum $1200 spec model.

 

For the moment, i have T8300 Castilga.

Is worth to wait Calpella or go for Montevina??