Santa Rosa Questions/Comments
Hey there everyone,
I've decided that I'm probably going to buy a new laptop when Santa Rosa comes out. I've had my current one for just over 4 years; it's a rather large desktop replacement laptop that I'm hoping to replace with something more portable.
What I'm curious about however, is how much of an improvement Santa Rosa will be over what's already out there.
As far as I can tell, the improvements are as follows:
800 MHz Front Side Bus Speed - Ok, I know that currently the Core 2 Duo processors are at 667 MHz, so the new one is faster, great. I have, however, been told in the past that optimal performance is obtained when the FSB matches the RAM speed. Most RAM for laptops nowadays is still at 533 or 667 MHz. So are new laptops likely to incorporate 800 MHz RAM? If not, will the 800 MHz FSB therefore be a bad thing without faster RAM?
GMA x3000 - Upgraded Integrated Graphics! Wahoo! I have a discrete graphics chip in my current laptop, and if possible I'd like to have one in my new laptop, but I realize that the ultraportables often don't have the option. Yes, I do play online games occasionally, but I also do some photoshop work as well as run various chemistry programs on the road that work better with discrete graphics. Since this x3000 is supposed to be better, how much better? What exactly is the difference in the old, the new, and discrete? I would like to know if I'll be able to do those things adequately with the x3000, otherwise I'll need to get a laptop with discrete graphics. I'm afraid I don't understand much about the graphics situation except that discrete graphics cards have their own memory and therefore they don't have to pester the computer for its RAM, so quoting things at me about shading and other technical terms I am unfamiliar with (which someone tried yesterday when I asked) isn't likely to help.
Flash Memory (Robson) - I think I get this bit. It's basically having some flash memory available to save some things on instead of having to use the Hard Drive right? Using the hard drive uses battery power. Using flash would allow for faster access to anything you have stored there, including the OS. Sounds like a good plan. Any ideas on how much storage space will be available here?
965 Chipset (Crestline) - I'm not clear on what a chipset is, sorry to say. I'm not sure if this is the same one used for the Core 2 Duo processors or not, or what, if any, improvement it will add to the table.
I think, maybe, there is something about improving wireless capabilities as well. That's not too big of a deal for me though, since I've never had problems connecting wirelessly with my older laptop. I figure that something newer and hopefully better will also get the job done.
So! Thanks very much in advance for any help that any of you can offer. I'd really appreciate getting some information on these things, and I doubt that I'm the only one who is interested.
Cheers,
CT
I've decided that I'm probably going to buy a new laptop when Santa Rosa comes out. I've had my current one for just over 4 years; it's a rather large desktop replacement laptop that I'm hoping to replace with something more portable.
What I'm curious about however, is how much of an improvement Santa Rosa will be over what's already out there.
As far as I can tell, the improvements are as follows:
800 MHz Front Side Bus Speed - Ok, I know that currently the Core 2 Duo processors are at 667 MHz, so the new one is faster, great. I have, however, been told in the past that optimal performance is obtained when the FSB matches the RAM speed. Most RAM for laptops nowadays is still at 533 or 667 MHz. So are new laptops likely to incorporate 800 MHz RAM? If not, will the 800 MHz FSB therefore be a bad thing without faster RAM?
GMA x3000 - Upgraded Integrated Graphics! Wahoo! I have a discrete graphics chip in my current laptop, and if possible I'd like to have one in my new laptop, but I realize that the ultraportables often don't have the option. Yes, I do play online games occasionally, but I also do some photoshop work as well as run various chemistry programs on the road that work better with discrete graphics. Since this x3000 is supposed to be better, how much better? What exactly is the difference in the old, the new, and discrete? I would like to know if I'll be able to do those things adequately with the x3000, otherwise I'll need to get a laptop with discrete graphics. I'm afraid I don't understand much about the graphics situation except that discrete graphics cards have their own memory and therefore they don't have to pester the computer for its RAM, so quoting things at me about shading and other technical terms I am unfamiliar with (which someone tried yesterday when I asked) isn't likely to help.
Flash Memory (Robson) - I think I get this bit. It's basically having some flash memory available to save some things on instead of having to use the Hard Drive right? Using the hard drive uses battery power. Using flash would allow for faster access to anything you have stored there, including the OS. Sounds like a good plan. Any ideas on how much storage space will be available here?
965 Chipset (Crestline) - I'm not clear on what a chipset is, sorry to say. I'm not sure if this is the same one used for the Core 2 Duo processors or not, or what, if any, improvement it will add to the table.
I think, maybe, there is something about improving wireless capabilities as well. That's not too big of a deal for me though, since I've never had problems connecting wirelessly with my older laptop. I figure that something newer and hopefully better will also get the job done.
So! Thanks very much in advance for any help that any of you can offer. I'd really appreciate getting some information on these things, and I doubt that I'm the only one who is interested.
Cheers,
CT
Comments
Do you think 800 MHz RAM will be offered with laptops that use Santa Rosa?
If not, will the 800 MHz FSB of Santa Rosa not produce as good of a performance as a FSB that matches the RAM speed?
How exactly is x3000 better than the current integrated graphics, and how close is it to being as good as a discrete card?
Will I be able to run graphics intensive programs adequately with the x3000? Or must I buy a discrete card to get them to work? (Note that I only need them to work decently; I have a desktop for when I need them to work really well).
Thanks.
Ok, so, I realize that no one has really answered my questions yet. I'm thinking that maybe they got lost in all my chatter above, so I'll try to ask more clearly. Sorries!
Do you think 800 MHz RAM will be offered with laptops that use Santa Rosa?
800mhz SO-DIMMs are rare and expensive. Maybe, but doubtful.
If not, will the 800 MHz FSB of Santa Rosa not produce as good of a performance as a FSB that matches the RAM speed?
The desktops and workstations are running 667mhz ram with 1066 and 1333mhz buses, it'll be more than fine. Like I said, the faster memory is really expensive.
[/quote]How exactly is x3000 better than the current integrated graphics, and how close is it to being as good as a discrete card?[.quote]
More hardware bells and whistles. It's equal to a low end integrated CPU. Don't expect to be playing Prey on it.[/quote]
Will I be able to run graphics intensive programs adequately with the x3000? Or must I buy a discrete card to get them to work? (Note that I only need them to work decently; I have a desktop for when I need them to work really well).
Thanks.
Depends on what you use and what you call decent.
800mhz SO-DIMMs are rare and expensive. Maybe, but doubtful.
The desktops and workstations are running 667mhz ram with 1066 and 1333mhz buses, it'll be more than fine. Like I said, the faster memory is really expensive.
How exactly is x3000 better than the current integrated graphics, and how close is it to being as good as a discrete card?
More hardware bells and whistles. It's equal to a low end integrated CPU. Don't expect to be playing Prey on it.
Depends on what you use and what you call decent.
Thanks very much for the info mate, I appreciate the response.
800 MHz Front Side Bus Speed - Ok, I know that currently the Core 2 Duo processors are at 667 MHz, so the new one is faster, great. I have, however, been told in the past that optimal performance is obtained when the FSB matches the RAM speed. Most RAM for laptops nowadays is still at 533 or 667 MHz. So are new laptops likely to incorporate 800 MHz RAM? If not, will the 800 MHz FSB therefore be a bad thing without faster RAM?
Macs use double-data-rate interleaved memory, which when used in pairs offer twice the bandwidth as a single DIMM. So DDR2 400 would be all it takes. However Apple may choose to use DDR2 800 which would eliminate the need for pairing and would not require interleaving. That could result in better performance.
The P965 has the higher FSB speeds, but weaker clock timings, making the speed gain almost negligable.
If you want a new laptop, don't wait for Santa Rosa, because it really doesn't matter much at all. Wait for the new drives or faster processors, or better battery life or something.
Ok, so, I realize that no one has really answered my questions yet. I'm thinking that maybe they got lost in all my chatter above, so I'll try to ask more clearly. Sorries!
Do you think 800 MHz RAM will be offered with laptops that use Santa Rosa?
If not, will the 800 MHz FSB of Santa Rosa not produce as good of a performance as a FSB that matches the RAM speed?
How exactly is x3000 better than the current integrated graphics, and how close is it to being as good as a discrete card?
Will I be able to run graphics intensive programs adequately with the x3000? Or must I buy a discrete card to get them to work? (Note that I only need them to work decently; I have a desktop for when I need them to work really well).
Thanks.
Frankly I wouldn't buy a laptop right now that isn't Centrino Pro (Crestline) based unless it was on someone elses dime or I had to have a laptop immediately.
The X3000 is vastly superior to GMA950.
Transform and Lighting is now hardware accelerated.
Pixel Shader Model 3 is supported (versus 2 of the GMA950)
Shader instructions have improved by a factor of 5
Vertex Shaders are all hardware accelerated now.
Anisotropic filtering has improved.
16 and 32-bit Floating Point rendering
384MB of dynamic memory up from 224MB.
DirextX10 and OpenGL 2.0 support (rumored not official yet I believe)
MPEG
h.264 acceleration
Better scaling of video
The X3000 won't be as fast as a dedicated card but it'll remove a lot of the stink of integrated graphics
Robson tech sounds nice but it also sounds expensive. I like the battery savings and instant on features. We'll see if the support for Robson is optional. I believe it will be.
I'm expecting to see to LED based LCD from Apple. The contrast should be MUCH better than today's model and more battery efficient.
Macbook Pro users won't need to worry about X3000 they'll have integrated chips. Macbook owners will likely get standard LCD screens, no Robson option and X3000 which is fine with me at today's Macbook pricing. The power of the GPU comes now only from it's ability to parallel processes but the programmability of the processor. Advancements in Shader technology make a large difference in what you can accomplish visually.
I might be a bit more on the up and up with computer technology than most, but I know I'm far from a true expert.
Cheers