So I could get a Merom MacBook Pro in November and it will last me longer than Yonah but then in March a better one will come out?
Umm, better ones always come out. It's the computer business, better ones always come out within a few months. Buying advice is always buy when you need it. If you don't need to buy until Fall, well, I'd wait.
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And couldn't I get 802.11n wireless later because Apple has their own aiport cards and I could upgrade mine.
Yeah one could probably do that.
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And will it being 64 bit extend the life of it by a lot?
No not really. Microsoft and Apple will ship both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of their upcoming operating systems, and they do it for the next 5+ years. The primary difference between the two will be the amount of memory supported like others have said. If 32 bit, the memory limit will be about 2 GB. If 64 bit, the memory limit will be whatever the maximum amount memory that can be placed on 2 SO-DIMMs is, probably 2 GB per SO-DIMM making 4 GB.
Else-wise, not much difference. No difference on the G5 except for 64 bit integer math (and not many people are demanding that), and a small difference on Intel EM64T on the aforementioned 64 bit integer math and 8 additional registers available to the system.
What you read is about all anyone knows, and it ain't much: 14 stage pipeline, 4 issue-wide, better memory performance equating to 30% faster clock-for-clock than Yonah in a 35 W TDP package. It'll likely have better power usage than Yonah even though it has higher TDP due to better power modes: lower average power, lower idle power, lower sleep.
If I had to bet, 10% on integer, 20% on FPU, and 20% on SIMD at the same clock. If in 64-bit mode, 8 more registers are available, and there would be some non-trivial performance increase due to the additional registers alone, around 5 to 10%, maybe. If it is truly 30% faster clock-for-clock than Yonah in all aspects, then it would be an astounding architecture improvement. A 2 GHz Merom would be equivalent to a 2.66 GHz Yonah. That's just too good believe and I doubt it's going to happen. In FPU, definitely possible, a fully pipelined FMADD could just about do it, but Integer, difficult to believe.
If you can wait, wait 2 weeks for the Spring Intel Developer Forum starting March 7. We will likely know more then.
Thanks for the info. I'll wait at least until April to see what the new iBooks look like. I think we get an announcement on them next week. I'm hoping for a core duo in an iBook.
Ha! Believe me, if you buy a mac right now, 4-8 years from now it will still be running as a FANTASTIC personal computer...
Hmmm.
I don't know about fantastic. My PowerBook is 6 yrs old this year. It's still word processing fine and I use it to stream internet radio and serve iTunes, watch the odd DVD, iChat, IRC and light stuff like that.
But its age locks me out of more and more things. Garage Band, large iPhoto libraries, flash heavy web pages, any modern game, and so on. It's not that things stop working, it's just that certain newer apps/codecs etc are simply too much for the computer.
I would say that I have an adequate personal computer 6 years from when it was new.
Hmmm. I don't know about fantastic. My PowerBook is 6 yrs old this year. I would say that I have an adequate personal computer 6 years from when it was new.
Yeah, 6 years is a long time. But just imagine how many notebooks you would have had if you used Windows!
I don't know about fantastic. My PowerBook is 6 yrs old this year. It's still word processing fine and I use it to stream internet radio and serve iTunes, watch the odd DVD, iChat, IRC and light stuff like that.
But its age locks me out of more and more things. Garage Band, large iPhoto libraries, flash heavy web pages, any modern game, and so on. It's not that things stop working, it's just that certain newer apps/codecs etc are simply too much for the computer.
Well, this is a mono-processor machine. All Power Macs and Intel Macs today have at least two processors. Such systems have a much better longevity in terms of processing power.
Here's the problem with the way you're approaching this, Ukieboarder:
No matter what, something better will always be on the horizon. It is the law of the land in the tech industry. Asking these questions, while fun to speculate, is somewhat superfluous.
Just wait until you need it most [in your case, seemingly before you start school] and then get whatever is available and you feel will serve you best.
The Merom is a beast, but who knows how far Apple wants to go with the Yonah's? If memory serves be right, there is a 64-bit version of the Yonah in Intel's roadmap [or is that the Merom? I don't remember]. And I wouldn't worry about 32bit Mac machines going "obsolete" anytime soon.
Regardless, sitting and anticipating something that you have no idea when or if it will come just leads to buyers remorse. Buy what you feel comfortable buying and will suit your needs. If you're just using it for word processing, internet, email, music, pictures, etc., don't bother with a MBP in any iteration; you probably don't need the power. Get something more modest and then get yourself a new iPod or camera or some shit.
Or eat; Moses knows I have foolishly gone hungry from buying over expensive gadgets during my tenure as a university student.
Comments
Originally posted by ukieboarder
So I could get a Merom MacBook Pro in November and it will last me longer than Yonah but then in March a better one will come out?
Umm, better ones always come out. It's the computer business, better ones always come out within a few months. Buying advice is always buy when you need it. If you don't need to buy until Fall, well, I'd wait.
And couldn't I get 802.11n wireless later because Apple has their own aiport cards and I could upgrade mine.
Yeah one could probably do that.
And will it being 64 bit extend the life of it by a lot?
No not really. Microsoft and Apple will ship both 32 bit and 64 bit versions of their upcoming operating systems, and they do it for the next 5+ years. The primary difference between the two will be the amount of memory supported like others have said. If 32 bit, the memory limit will be about 2 GB. If 64 bit, the memory limit will be whatever the maximum amount memory that can be placed on 2 SO-DIMMs is, probably 2 GB per SO-DIMM making 4 GB.
Else-wise, not much difference. No difference on the G5 except for 64 bit integer math (and not many people are demanding that), and a small difference on Intel EM64T on the aforementioned 64 bit integer math and 8 additional registers available to the system.
Originally posted by THT
What you read is about all anyone knows, and it ain't much: 14 stage pipeline, 4 issue-wide, better memory performance equating to 30% faster clock-for-clock than Yonah in a 35 W TDP package. It'll likely have better power usage than Yonah even though it has higher TDP due to better power modes: lower average power, lower idle power, lower sleep.
If I had to bet, 10% on integer, 20% on FPU, and 20% on SIMD at the same clock. If in 64-bit mode, 8 more registers are available, and there would be some non-trivial performance increase due to the additional registers alone, around 5 to 10%, maybe. If it is truly 30% faster clock-for-clock than Yonah in all aspects, then it would be an astounding architecture improvement. A 2 GHz Merom would be equivalent to a 2.66 GHz Yonah. That's just too good believe and I doubt it's going to happen. In FPU, definitely possible, a fully pipelined FMADD could just about do it, but Integer, difficult to believe.
If you can wait, wait 2 weeks for the Spring Intel Developer Forum starting March 7. We will likely know more then.
Thanks for the info. I'll wait at least until April to see what the new iBooks look like. I think we get an announcement on them next week. I'm hoping for a core duo in an iBook.
Originally posted by akheron01
Ha! Believe me, if you buy a mac right now, 4-8 years from now it will still be running as a FANTASTIC personal computer...
Hmmm.
I don't know about fantastic. My PowerBook is 6 yrs old this year. It's still word processing fine and I use it to stream internet radio and serve iTunes, watch the odd DVD, iChat, IRC and light stuff like that.
But its age locks me out of more and more things. Garage Band, large iPhoto libraries, flash heavy web pages, any modern game, and so on. It's not that things stop working, it's just that certain newer apps/codecs etc are simply too much for the computer.
I would say that I have an adequate personal computer 6 years from when it was new.
Originally posted by jouster
Hmmm. I don't know about fantastic. My PowerBook is 6 yrs old this year. I would say that I have an adequate personal computer 6 years from when it was new.
Yeah, 6 years is a long time. But just imagine how many notebooks you would have had if you used Windows!
Originally posted by jouster
Hmmm.
I don't know about fantastic. My PowerBook is 6 yrs old this year. It's still word processing fine and I use it to stream internet radio and serve iTunes, watch the odd DVD, iChat, IRC and light stuff like that.
But its age locks me out of more and more things. Garage Band, large iPhoto libraries, flash heavy web pages, any modern game, and so on. It's not that things stop working, it's just that certain newer apps/codecs etc are simply too much for the computer.
Well, this is a mono-processor machine. All Power Macs and Intel Macs today have at least two processors. Such systems have a much better longevity in terms of processing power.
No matter what, something better will always be on the horizon. It is the law of the land in the tech industry. Asking these questions, while fun to speculate, is somewhat superfluous.
Just wait until you need it most [in your case, seemingly before you start school] and then get whatever is available and you feel will serve you best.
The Merom is a beast, but who knows how far Apple wants to go with the Yonah's? If memory serves be right, there is a 64-bit version of the Yonah in Intel's roadmap [or is that the Merom? I don't remember]. And I wouldn't worry about 32bit Mac machines going "obsolete" anytime soon.
Regardless, sitting and anticipating something that you have no idea when or if it will come just leads to buyers remorse. Buy what you feel comfortable buying and will suit your needs. If you're just using it for word processing, internet, email, music, pictures, etc., don't bother with a MBP in any iteration; you probably don't need the power. Get something more modest and then get yourself a new iPod or camera or some shit.
Or eat; Moses knows I have foolishly gone hungry from buying over expensive gadgets during my tenure as a university student.