Merom notebooks arrive with later ship dates

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in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
Intel Corp. on Monday officially launched its Core 2 Duo mobile platform, spawning the introduction of several Core 2 Duo notebooks from PC manufacturers, but few, if any, are immediately available.



In a formal announcement, the world's largest chip maker said, "More than 200 Intel Centrino Duo mobile technology-based designs from PC manufacturers, resellers and integrators around the world will incorporate the new Intel Core 2 Duo processor (formerly codenamed "Merom") this year."



Notebook makers including Dell, Toshiba and Alienware immediately issued press releases touting their own Core 2 Duo notebook designs. However, most systems are not immediately available.



While Dell said customers can begin to place orders for certain of its XPS and Inspiron notebook models, checks with the company's online store reveal preliminary ship dates of September 19th for all models.



For the most part, Dell is offering default notebook configurations with a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo processors. Upgrades to 2.16GHz and 2.33GHz vary in price depending on the model from $300 to $700. The company is also offering a low-end 1.86GHz notebook.



"Customers will be able to configure the Inspiron E1505 and E1405 with Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processors later this week, and the Latitude D820, D620, and D520 beginning next week," Dell said.



Lead times for Core 2 Duo notebooks from other the manufacturers are similar. According to Alienware's Web site, its array of Area-51 Core 2 Duo notebooks won't begin shipping until September 12th. Meanwhile, Toshiba -- which introduced a single model -- is telling customers to expect delivery of its Toshiba Qosmio G35-AV660 notebook in 1 to 2 weeks.



Apple Computer, which did not make any Core 2 Duo product announcements on Monday, is still expected to be among the first PC manufacturers to deliver Core 2 Duo "Merom" based systems to customers.



People familiar with the Mac maker's plans have said that they company would be ready to begin shipments of those systems in early September, with recent rumblings (1, 2) suggesting several product announcements post Labor Day.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 29
    I'm glad AI pointed out the ship dates.



    Many mac users are whining that apple is "late" with a merom release. As far as I'm concerned, I don't really care when they announce as long as machines actually start *shipping* about the same time as the PC's.



    Apple could easily wait two weeks to announce, send out the press release, ship immediately, and still beat the PC's to market.
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  • Reply 2 of 29
    vocarovocaro Posts: 25member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider


    The company is also overing a low-end 1.86GHz notebook.



    I think you meant "offering".
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  • Reply 3 of 29
    SpamSandwichspamsandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Holy Fettuccine Alfredo!
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  • Reply 4 of 29
    palegolaspalegolas Posts: 1,362member
    I'm hoping they just don't smack the new Core 2 into the existing Mac Book Pro and start calling it a quantum leap or anything. I hope they've taken their time during this year to redesign the motherboard and optimize it all so that it won't be another frying pan hot laptop. Intel is boasting a lot about the low temperature operation, low wattage and stuff, let's hope Apple can match it with the rest of the computer.



    And also, I like the existing Mac Book Pro design but I'm still hoping for a redesigned model. There's room for improvements.
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  • Reply 5 of 29
    feynmanfeynman Posts: 1,087member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by palegolas


    I'm hoping they just don't smack the new Core 2 into the existing Mac Book Pro and start calling it a quantum leap or anything. I hope they've taken their time during this year to redesign the motherboard and optimize it all so that it won't be another frying pan hot laptop. Intel is boasting a lot about the low temperature operation, low wattage and stuff, let's hope Apple can match it with the rest of the computer.



    And also, I like the existing Mac Book Pro design but I'm still hoping for a redesigned model. There's room for improvements.



    Well the good thing about Intel is they do have a dedicated Mac team so I am sure they are working very closely with Apple to ensure these notebooks will be nothing short of amazing.
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  • Reply 6 of 29
    jamezogjamezog Posts: 163member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by palegolas


    And also, I like the existing Mac Book Pro design but I'm still hoping for a redesigned model. There's room for improvements.



    Not that I disagree (there's always room for improvement on every machine), but what suggestions do you have??
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  • Reply 7 of 29
    boogabooga Posts: 1,082member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by palegolas


    I'm hoping they just don't smack the new Core 2 into the existing Mac Book Pro and start calling it a quantum leap or anything. I hope they've taken their time during this year to redesign the motherboard and optimize it all so that it won't be another frying pan hot laptop. Intel is boasting a lot about the low temperature operation, low wattage and stuff, let's hope Apple can match it with the rest of the computer.



    And also, I like the existing Mac Book Pro design but I'm still hoping for a redesigned model. There's room for improvements.



    On the contrary, I hope that Apple doesn't delay putting these processors in a new model just because some new cases or layout isn't ready yet. Apple needs to start being more responsive, especially now that they're on a chip architecture that actually gets updated reasonably often.
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  • Reply 8 of 29
    jcgjcg Posts: 777member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by minderbinder


    I'm glad AI pointed out the ship dates.



    Many mac users are whining that apple is "late" with a merom release. As far as I'm concerned, I don't really care when they announce as long as machines actually start *shipping* about the same time as the PC's.



    Apple could easily wait two weeks to announce, send out the press release, ship immediately, and still beat the PC's to market.



    I don't know about that, a lot of the "late" rumblings that I have read are related more to the lack of the adoption of the Conroe in one of Mac's offerings, whether that is a iMac, Mini or Tower, which should have been shipping by mid August.
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  • Reply 9 of 29
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jamezog


    Not that I disagree (there's always room for improvement on every machine), but what suggestions do you have??



    Well, they can start with making sure the cooling and whining sounds are 100% fixed.
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  • Reply 10 of 29
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JCG


    I don't know about that, a lot of the "late" rumblings that I have read are related more to the lack of the adoption of the Conroe in one of Mac's offerings, whether that is a iMac, Mini or Tower, which should have been shipping by mid August.



    Are the conroes shipping in PC's? I thought they weren't out yet either.
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  • Reply 11 of 29
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,715member
    I would just like to mention to people who are thinking that they will be able to upgrade to Merom chips from the older Yonah models (or newer Merom models after they're out) that they will have a fairly short oppertunity to do so.



    Of course, I'm talking about the iMac and the Mini, as the Books have soldered in chips.



    But only the first generation of Merom chips is socket compatable.



    They will be going to a new platform (new socket, new chipset) mid 2007.
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  • Reply 12 of 29
    @homenow@homenow Posts: 998member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by minderbinder


    Are the conroes shipping in PC's? I thought they weren't out yet either.



    I don't know that systems using them are shipping, but they were supposed to be shipping by now. In fact when Intel anounced the Core 2 Duo they stated that the chips (Conroe) had already begun shipping to manufacturers, and that was back in July. I do know that the first week in August that Dell was estimating ship dates of around the 11th for a Conroe system.
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  • Reply 13 of 29
    bregaladbregalad Posts: 816member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by minderbinder


    Are the conroes shipping in PC's? I thought they weren't out yet either.



    I can walk into the local PC shop and buy Conroe CPUs by the dozen. The big box makers like HP and Dell are still flogging a wide variety of previous generation CPUs, but they, unlike Apple, have more than one model in each category and compete in every price range from $299 on up.



    I wonder how anyone can really figure out what they're buying in a PC when it's all so complicated. Forgetting all the other factors consider this horrendous list of currently available CPUs: Pentium 4, Pentium D, Pentium D Extreme, Pentium M, Celeron D, Celeron M, CoreDuo, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Duo Extreme, Core 2 Duo mobile, Xeon, Xeon dual core, Sempron, Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 FX, Opteron and Turion. AMD's performance factors are supposed to help but a Sempron 3400+ isn't equal to an Athlon 64 3400+ so those numbers just cause more confusion.
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  • Reply 14 of 29
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,715member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Bregalad


    I can walk into the local PC shop and buy Conroe CPUs by the dozen. The big box makers like HP and Dell are still flogging a wide variety of previous generation CPUs, but they, unlike Apple, have more than one model in each category and compete in every price range from $299 on up.



    I wonder how anyone can really figure out what they're buying in a PC when it's all so complicated. Forgetting all the other factors consider this horrendous list of currently available CPUs: Pentium 4, Pentium D, Pentium D Extreme, Pentium M, Celeron D, Celeron M, CoreDuo, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Duo Extreme, Core 2 Duo mobile, Xeon, Xeon dual core, Sempron, Athlon 64, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 FX, Opteron and Turion. AMD's performance factors are supposed to help but a Sempron 3400+ isn't equal to an Athlon 64 3400+ so those numbers just cause more confusion.



    That's quite true. It used to be here in Appleland, that we had none of this nonsense to deal with. At most, two processor families. with either two or three speeds per familly.



    At least Apple doesn't have eight machine lines for desktops, another five for portables, and I'm not sure what the number for servers is, but it's a lot.
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  • Reply 15 of 29
    macgregormacgregor Posts: 1,434member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by minderbinder


    Well, they can start with making sure the cooling and whining sounds are 100% fixed.



    Yes, and lets get those new Sony batteries in there as soon as possible!!
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  • Reply 16 of 29
    demenasdemenas Posts: 109member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross


    At least Apple doesn't have eight machine lines for desktops, another five for portables, and I'm not sure what the number for servers is, but it's a lot.



    As a consumer, you wouldn't like more choices available to you?



    Steve
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  • Reply 17 of 29
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jamezog


    Not that I disagree (there's always room for improvement on every machine), but what suggestions do you have??



    The trackpad could be more responsive

    The trackpad button doesn't have the firm "click" that the PowerBook used to have

    The upper right area of the keyboard is a little squishy

    The remote should be bluetooth and fit in the ExpressCard slot

    The single clasp, locking mechanism from the PowerBooks were better.

    The iSight should be closer to the screen.

    The screen should tilt further back(It would be nice if it could fold back 180 or 360 degrees)
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  • Reply 18 of 29
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,715member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by demenas


    As a consumer, you wouldn't like more choices available to you?



    Steve



    When Apple did have more choices, they were soundly knocked over the head about it. It was said that they had so many choices that they were confusing their customers. When Jobs came back, he duely cut the lines to the now well known 2 x 2. One Pro line for desktops and one for laptops. One consumer line for desktops and one for laptops.



    I think there is room for more. People are more sophisticated these days. One desktop line between the iMac and the Mac Pro, and perhaps one lightweight notebook line, smaller, and lighter than the MacBooks.
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  • Reply 19 of 29
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,954member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross


    When Apple did have more choices, they were soundly knocked over the head about it. It was said that they had so many choices that they were confusing their customers. When Jobs came back, he duely cut the lines to the now well known 2 x 2. One Pro line for desktops and one for laptops. One consumer line for desktops and one for laptops.



    I think there is room for more. People are more sophisticated these days. One desktop line between the iMac and the Mac Pro, and perhaps one lightweight notebook line, smaller, and lighter than the MacBooks.



    I would suggest that was a swing from way too many to way too few. To top it off, the prices of those lines haven't changed a whole lot since then despite the rest of the industry getting significantly cheaper. The original iMac was introduced at $1299 base price and that still remains.
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  • Reply 20 of 29
    gargar Posts: 1,201member
    Since most Macs sold are notebooks I would say there should be a third productline.

    Instead of yet another desktop computer line



    A Conroe Mac Pro will do for the expansionists.
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