Intel Observation
Is it just me, or does Intel upgrade their processors every three to four months? This is something I have noticed for a long time.
The real question is, will Apple be able to make beautiful looking machines to continue to support these upgrades? And if they do adopt each new processor upgrade, at what point do Apple update their designs?
Just thinking out loud here.
The real question is, will Apple be able to make beautiful looking machines to continue to support these upgrades? And if they do adopt each new processor upgrade, at what point do Apple update their designs?
Just thinking out loud here.
Comments
Is it just me, or does Intel upgrade their processors every three to four months? This is something I have noticed for a long time.
The real question is, will Apple be able to make beautiful looking machines to continue to support these upgrades? And if they do adopt each new processor upgrade, at what point do Apple update their designs?
Just thinking out loud here.
Intel usually updates its desktop CPUs every six months or so. The updates usually consist of a higher clock speed at the top of the line with the remaining parts dropping their price. For instance, Intel is reported to be ready to release the quad-core Kentsfield CPU in October. That probably means that while the Core 2 Duo X6800 might continue to be produced and sold at the current prices, a new Core 2 Duo E6800 might be introduced as part of their "mainstream" line and occupy the same spot as the current E6700. The X6800 will still have an advantage because the multiplier is unlocked.
Here's an preview on the quad-core Kentsfield by THG:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/09/...n_the_rampage/
Intel usually updates its desktop CPUs every six months or so. The updates usually consist of a higher clock speed at the top of the line with the remaining parts dropping their price. For instance, Intel is reported to be ready to release the quad-core Kentsfield CPU in October. That probably means that while the Core 2 Duo X6800 might continue to be produced and sold at the current prices, a new Core 2 Duo E6800 might be introduced as part of their "mainstream" line and occupy the same spot as the current E6700. The X6800 will still have an advantage because the multiplier is unlocked.
Here's an preview on the quad-core Kentsfield by THG:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/09/...n_the_rampage/
Kentsfield looks really impressive, however will it ever make it into a Mac?
You think we ll get Kentsfield in October or will we have to wait 3-4 months ?
Isn't Kentsfield shipping November at the very earliest? Doesn't matter anyway, because Apple doesn't have anywhere to put it.
Seemingly intel quad cores are on the horizon, i know new imacs have just been released, but with apples upgrading track record, how long would it take for them to be introduced do you think? because i would much rather wait a while and get a quad than a couple months and buy the new duals.
Kentsfield can be used in either a low-end version of a Mac Pro or a brand new design. It will consume twice as much power as Conroe. Apple would have to adopt socket LGA 775 for either Conroe or Kentsfield. Merom, currently inside the iMacs, uses a different socket. Apple has until now bypassed the standard Intel desktop socket.
Seemingly intel quad cores are on the horizon, i know new imacs have just been released, but with apples upgrading track record, how long would it take for them to be introduced do you think? because i would much rather wait a while and get a quad than a couple months and buy the new duals.
And that's part of my point. Will Apple use the new chips (new chips in general) as they become available to stay competitive?
What do the looks of a computer have to do with the processor it's running?
New chips brings new problems for cooling the chips so innovate product design is hard to do.
New chips brings new problems for cooling the chips so innovate product design is hard to do.
That's not what Feynman would say.
Innovative design is always hard to do... that's why it's innovative.
Power consumption will stay the same unless the entire industry jumps to liquid cooling.
Processors that emit much more than 70 watts will not be accepted by the market that uses air-cooling... as was clearly demontrated with the high end pentium 8XX series and 9XX series.
The quadcore will not penetrate the market until the production process jumps to 45nm size and single-core power managment is enabled. Until then it will exist as a nich processor for applications that require the most power at any cost! Not something that Apple or any other consumer and prosumer computer maker wants to adopt.
I don't see why Apple would be any slower adopting new hardware than any other PC company that uses the same OEM.
Kentsfield (quad 2.6GHz) is slower than the existing Mac Pro (quad 3.0GHz), and not that much cheaper. What's the point?
They're going to be quite a bit cheaper aren't they? If priced like current core 2 extreme Kentsfield will come in at $1000. One dual core woodcrest(3 ghz) is $800, to get to 4 cores it would be $1600.
They're going to be quite a bit cheaper aren't they? If priced like current core 2 extreme Kentsfield will come in at $1000. One dual core woodcrest(3 ghz) is $800, to get to 4 cores it would be $1600.
I just checked and you are right; the 2.6GHz Woodcrest is $700, so getting two for $1,000 is quite a deal.
Four out of five Mac models use notebook chips. Any new Intel notebook chip will have to be low enough in power to fit into something like what Apple is making, so it's not going to affect the looks of 80% of Apple's current model line. They might revise the boards more often than they did in parts of the PPC era, but Apple sells enough computers such that the per-computer cost of a redesign remains very low and may be lower than in the PPC era due to much-increased sales if the current trend continues.
The Mac Pro enclosure is large enough to handle anything else that Intel might release so there's no difficulty there.
So, no, I don't think it changes the looks of anything. It might offer Apple more fine-grained opportunities to change case designs though.