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MacBook won't last ..

post #1 of 19
1/12/06 at 8:31pm
Thread Starter 
looking at intel's roadmap and apple's products..

i think the macbook isnt a "new line" .. its just something too keep us waiting for the new "power/ibooks"

so the macbooks would be yonah based systems.. the (power/i)books would be merom based systems.. and we're almost sure that merom is ALOT better than yonah, so if apple "can" move all they're laptops to Merom, then they wouldnt give a damn about the yonah anymore..

thats my opinion..
not to forget that powerbooks and ibooks have a better names than "Macbooks" .. i wouldnt think that apple would lose those..

imagine ipod was renamed to be a macpod?.. that must sound silly
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post #2 of 19
1/12/06 at 9:25pm
well you may be wrong..they are talking of new macbooks pro's finishing out the powerbook line. we will probably know more, this may only be a taste, because its only in 1 size, and they may give the firewire 800 and the good superdrive thats in the PB's now. I personally dont think this is it. Prob just a taste.
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post #3 of 19
1/13/06 at 9:47am
I agree that this model won't be around long, although I suspect the name will stick. I think the plan was to introduce the "Power"Books with Merom mid-year, but Apple decided to pull one model forward to get something into the marketplace. I think we'll see a full line of Merom-based notebooks, including a substantially-revised 15-inch, later this year.

I don't want to characterize this in a negative way, because the MacBook is a nice piece of kit, but it does smell of Yikes! to me. And the Yikes! G4 only lasted two or three months before it was replaced by Sawtooth.
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post #4 of 19
1/13/06 at 7:19pm
Thread Starter 
considering that "Merom" is the processor that apple wants in their laptops rather than yonah, i think they'll try to move to merom as soon as they can..

having a yonah processor is just a tranistion stage in the *books' lives.. because all the 64bit shit ..

now do u think that a 13" widescreen Powerbook (or Macbook pro) would be realesed with a yonah version?.. or just straight ahead to merom?

not to forget that merom has a better battery life, runs cooler, gives a better chance for a small powerhouse system..

what do u think?

i still think that powerbooks r gonna jump from powerPC to Merom..
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post #5 of 19
1/13/06 at 7:49pm
how much faster, or better is the merom, than the dual core processors? Like how much of a difference will it make?
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post #6 of 19
1/13/06 at 7:54pm
Moving the Power/Mac Book line to Merom does open up an opportunity for what is currently the IBook line to go straight to Yonah when their Intel versions are released.

It would make a reasonable product differentiation matrix: iMac, iBook (MacBook?), mini getting Yonah (with the mini taking a single core version) and MacBook pro getting Merom, with whatever big iron is available reserved for the Pro towers.

But-- how far can Apple go in putting new or newish processors from Intel in these less expensive machines? I guarantee the Yonahs are costing more than the venerable G4 embedded chips, and it appears that Apple is protecting its margins somewhat even at the MBP price point by dropping some features.

How realistic is it to imagine that Apple could sell a $999 Yonah laptop? I think the answer lies in how quickly Intel discounts chips in their product cycle. Presumably, the release of Merom would have at least some downward pressure on Yonah prices, but would it be enough, soon enough, for Apple's product release schedule?
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post #7 of 19
1/13/06 at 10:53pm
yes but as far as performance and speed, how do they compare (Merom vs. DualCore)?
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post #8 of 19
1/14/06 at 7:15pm
Merom will not run cooler than Yonah . The additon of EM64T support and ability to handle 4 issues rather than the Yonah's 3 will make it faster but expected TDP for Merom has been rumored to be about 35.

Merom might only show up initially in high end laptops. It remains to be seen how Intel plans to position Merom relative to Yonah.

I wouldn't assume that we're going to have Merom quickly take over the Yonah landscape until we get a hint at pricing.

Merom is a dual core processor and it'll support 4MB of level two cache. The FPU unit should be superior as well coming from Netburst. More goodies should be in there but we'll have to wait and see what Intel announces. I'm thinking that caching will improve and other step up features. We'll see.
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post #9 of 19
1/14/06 at 10:41pm
Quote:
Originally posted by hmurchison
Merom will not run cooler than Yonah . The additon of EM64T support and ability to handle 4 issues rather than the Yonah's 3 will make it faster but expected TDP for Merom has been rumored to be about 35.

Merom might only show up initially in high end laptops. It remains to be seen how Intel plans to position Merom relative to Yonah.

I wouldn't assume that we're going to have Merom quickly take over the Yonah landscape until we get a hint at pricing.

Merom is a dual core processor and it'll support 4MB of level two cache. The FPU unit should be superior as well coming from Netburst. More goodies should be in there but we'll have to wait and see what Intel announces. I'm thinking that caching will improve and other step up features. We'll see.

Excellent info, thanks hmurchison.

Seems like I ran across something about Merom's release being a foggy due to it running hotter than Intel had anticipated?
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post #10 of 19
1/15/06 at 11:55am
I've heard it's running ahead of schedule. As in releasing by September.

Shrugs. Even with public roadmaps the chip business is still something of guesswork.
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post #11 of 19
1/15/06 at 12:05pm
Face it -- with Intel, no model is going to "last". You're going to see major and minor speedbumps and internal revisions every 3 months instead of every 9-12 months.

Also, since Intel provides complete system designs, Apple is free to revise their laptops independently of the specific chip/board used. So I think you could see see a Mermon-based Mac Book Pro for the Holiday season in 2006 -- with a cosmetic refresh @ MWSF 2007.

> How realistic is it to imagine that Apple could sell a $999 Yonah laptop?

A Yonah-based "Celeron" is coming mid-year I think. Although it won't be called a Celeron because that brandname is going the way of Pentium.
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post #12 of 19
1/15/06 at 1:16pm
Quote:
Originally posted by hmurchison
Merom will not run cooler than Yonah .

Probably. Then, Intel's claims, if true, would mean that it will be twice as fast as Yonah:

According to Intel, Merom's design places emphasis on both high performance and low power consumption. On a performance per watt basis, Intel claims Merom will outperform Yonah by a 2-1 margin.

I guess we will have to wait and see.
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post #13 of 19
1/15/06 at 2:24pm
Quote:
Originally posted by PB
Probably. Then, Intel's claims, if true, would mean that it will be twice as fast as Yonah:

According to Intel, Merom's design places emphasis on both high performance and low power consumption. On a performance per watt basis, Intel claims Merom will outperform Yonah by a 2-1 margin.

I guess we will have to wait and see.

"Performance per watt" is a phrase made up by Steve Jobs that actually means nothing significant. It's sort of like EBITDA today. It doesn't really tell you anything.

I laughed when steve was showing us a graph of "performance per watt 'units'" seriously, what do those 'units' represent?
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post #14 of 19
1/16/06 at 12:27am
Quote:
Originally posted by OBJRA10
"Performance per watt" is a phrase made up by Steve Jobs that actually means nothing significant. It's sort of like EBITDA today. It doesn't really tell you anything.

It does tell you when you do have a reference point. The question is what is that in our case.
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post #15 of 19
1/16/06 at 3:28am
Quote:
I laughed when steve was showing us a graph of "performance per watt 'units'" seriously, what do those 'units' represent?

I don't want to say that the statistics were important, but don't you think they made the case clear as to why Core Duo was a better laptop chip than the G5?
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post #16 of 19
1/16/06 at 4:01am
Quote:
Originally posted by engla
...but don't you think they made the case clear as to why Core Duo was a better laptop chip than the G5?

Only better? MUCH better. The 15" Powerbook has now TWO processors, each around the equivalent of a G5 in performance, while it could never get ONE G5.
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post #17 of 19
1/16/06 at 4:06am
Quote:
Originally posted by PB
Only better? MUCH better. The 15" Powerbook has now TWO processors, each around the equivalent of a G5 in performance, while it could never get ONE G5.

Absolutely, I'm thrilled with the new MacBook.. one of the first times I've caught myself mentally grabbing the credit card to get ready to buy one (I don't have the money though, so I was "saved")
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post #18 of 19
1/16/06 at 8:35am
Where do you all think the iMac is going?

In the next 3 months?

In the next 6?
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post #19 of 19
1/16/06 at 9:26am
Quote:
Originally posted by sammick
Where do you all think the iMac is going?

In the next 3 months?

In the next 6?

Just a small bump. The top end will likely move to 2.1Ghz and with the bottom staying the same.
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