'Bulk' of first wave of Intel's next-gen Ivy Bridge chips bound for desktops

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  • Reply 41 of 62
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Marvin wrote: »
    <p>  </p><div class="quote-container"> <span>Quote:</span> <div class="quote-block"> Originally Posted by <strong>Tallest Skil</strong> <a href="/t/149313/bulk-of-first-wave-of-intels-next-gen-ivy-bridge-chips-bound-for-desktops#post_2098822"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" /></a><br /> <br /> <p> I don't think they should drop the Mac Pro, and I don't think that dropping the "Pro" name from the MacBook family will (should) in any way reflect on the "un-pro-ness" of the machines. The 15" and 17" will still have dedicated graphics, and the 17" will still have legacy ExpressCard/34 (unless they drop that, too…). They'll still be pro machines, and with faster CPUs to boot.</p> <p>  </p> <p> It's not as though Apple's going to just drop dedicated graphics across the whole line for the sake of making a range of four sizes of veritable MacBook Air… </p> <p>  </p> <p> … r-right?</p> <p>  </p> </div></div><p>  </p><p> ExpressCard is history, it's PCI like Thunderbolt except 1/4 the speed so no need to include it. I also think with the introduction of USB 3, it puts an end to FW800 and ethernet but a GigE USB 3 adaptor can be included.</p><p>  </p>
    I really hope they don't kill Ethernet. It is extremely valuable to some of us and frankly most USB based adapters just suck royally. Of all of the potential possibilities out there this though bothers me the most.

    On the other hand it is time for USB 3 and FireWire is a joke that causes no laughs anymore.

    <p> I think Apple will go the route of SSD cards in these and they need to hit the same price points in the worst case, while managing to ship 256GB minimum overall storage.
    256GB should be the minimum for anything called a Pro. But some sort of option is need to go beyond that amount of Storage. As far as I'm concerned that can be another SDD bay or two or a hard drive bay. The idea is to accommodate the need that many have for bulk storage.

    We're pretty close to $1/GB so the SSD will be around $250-300. The dedicated GPU is probably $200-300 and the optical $100. They could go with 128GB boot drives with big HDDs to maintain the dedicated GPU but it will be interesting to see which way they go. The HD4000 is not far off the 6490M they used to use but is about 1/3 of the current 6750M so probably not a good idea to downgrade it in an $1800 laptop.</p>

    I'm not convinced that a descrete GPU is needed in the base model. It really comes down to real world performance of Intels new chip. I can't see them ignoring a high end solution though. Most likely this will be an AMD solution, mainly because they seem to be able to ship chips in volume.

    Open thing people need to grasp is that dropping the optical gives Apple a lot of Room to refactor designs in these machines. This could result in cleaner board layouts and enhanced functionality. Most importantly though it enables the tapering of the case ala' the AIRs which can lead to slight better ergonomics. What seems to confuse people on these forums is that adopting a design concept from the AIRs does not turn the MBPs into AIRs. The big performance delta will still be there.
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  • Reply 42 of 62
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    not1lost wrote: »
    <p>  </p><div class="quote-container"> <span>Quote:</span> <div class="quote-block"> Originally Posted by <strong>not1lost</strong> <a href="/t/149313/bulk-of-first-wave-of-intels-next-gen-ivy-bridge-chips-bound-for-desktops#post_2098443"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" /></a><br /> <br /> I have been watching and waiting for the new iMac now for about three months. It will be my first Mac I am a heavy computer user (Not video rendering or scientific stuff) just work on it every day running some pretty hungry software building websites and research. I am sosooo tired of waiting I am on the edge of my seat about to hit the "buy it" key on a<br /> iMac 27"<br /> 3.4GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7<br /> 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB<br /> 1TB Serial ATA Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive<br /> AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB GDDR5<br /> $2,899.00<br /> <br /> I'll add more memory myself...<br /> <br /> another thought, and question is do you think the new upgrade will have a price hike as well?<br /> Just needing a little input here to help me make my mind up...<img alt="" border="0" class="inlineimg" src="/images/smilies/1confused.gif" title="Huh?" /><br /> <br /> Well,,,, really I was trying to make my mind up too about which mac but always leaning toward the iMac - Now I've made my mind up on it...<br /> And I would add, I dont want to wait another month or two for a new Mac - Unless... It's a WHOLE LOT better than this one...<br /> <br /> I dont know if the upgrade will make that much difference in what I do. Dont know if I would even notice it.... besides Ive read some rumors that the new design will be "thinner" Not that Id work mine enough to get it hot but if you already have heat issues and you make it thinner... that doesnt sound good to me...</div></div><p> I'm getting very nervous... I'm afraid If I dont do  something pretty soon my wife will take my Mac Money and buy a new living room suit or something... HEEELLLLPPPP!!!! :-(</p>

    Help yourself, you are simply married not a slave. Grow a pair, open a separate bank account and have direct deposit put a few bucks in there every pay period. The wife doesn't have to know and infact shouldn't know.

    Further if the wife is so damn fixed on a new sofa put her to work. If she is already working days get her a "night" job to pull in a little extra. This is a new decade there is no reason to have a wife sitting around the house getting fat when she should be working.
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  • Reply 43 of 62
    not1lostnot1lost Posts: 136member


    Thanks! and as far as the memory I was just going to add that myself.... Apple waaaay over charges for it.... I can max it out for a third of what Apple would charge.. Just "one more thing" and it is a stupid question I know but you guys know way more about this stuff than I do.... what do you think would be the longest wait I would have for the announcement considering everything so far - generally? image

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  • Reply 44 of 62
    not1lostnot1lost Posts: 136member


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post





    Help yourself, you are simply married not a slave. Grow a pair, open a separate bank account and have direct deposit put a few bucks in there every pay period. The wife doesn't have to know and infact shouldn't know.

    Further if the wife is so damn fixed on a new sofa put her to work. If she is already working days get her a "night" job to pull in a little extra. This is a new decade there is no reason to have a wife sitting around the house getting fat when she should be working.


     


    I take it you would wait..... but then the truth is she has a very high degree in her field (cant say what she is) and she puts way more in the bank than I do.... she probably wont go buy  anything... but I get nervous with all this wishy washy stuff - just sayin...

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  • Reply 45 of 62
    mr. kmr. k Posts: 115member


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by not1lost View Post


    Thanks! and as far as the memory I was just going to add that myself.... Apple waaaay over charges for it.... I can max it out for a third of what Apple would charge.. Just "one more thing" and it is a stupid question I know but you guys know way more about this stuff than I do.... what do you think would be the longest wait I would have for the announcement considering everything so far - generally? image



     


    My guess is that the updates will be here by April 24th at the earliest. Longest? Who knows.

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  • Reply 46 of 62


    Attached are the second and third charts from that March 27 CPU-World article, with projections for the second phase, early June Ivy Bridge release -- mostly lower TDP and mobile chips.  And the anticipated projections for the Ivy Bridge i-3 dual core series third phase release, currently presumed to be third quarter of 2012.


     


    2012-04-20_Ivy Bridge chart 2 specs presumed as of 3-27 b.png


     


    2012-04-20_Ivy Bridge chart 3 specs presumed as of 3-27.png

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  • Reply 47 of 62


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ignigena View Post


    is there any chance that we would see any of these chips in a mac mini?, if so, when will apple launch them?


     


    Im considering purchasing a mac mini, being my first mac, but I dont know if waiting is a good option.



     




    Factors to consider:


    (a) last Mac mini release was July 2011. And typically they get refreshed about once a year. Sometimes more sometimes less.


    (b) the July Mini low end used Core i5-2415M chip, at 2.3 GHz with 35W TDP. 


     


    So that corresponding new 3rd gen Ivy Bridge chip would -presumably- be the i5-3320M at 2.6 GHz and 35W.   (Though, it sometimes seems Apple gets special not-off-the-shelf chips runs from Intel.) 


    And this series of chips is projected to be released in early June.


     


    That would fit pretty well with a potential refresh to the Mac mini line in June or July timeframe.


     


    So my suggestion would be :


    If you gotta have a Mac mini now, go for it. It will have a second gen Sandy Bridge i5 chip which is no slouch. (or even an i7 if you spring extra $$ for high-end BTO upgrade).


    (compare to my own Mac mini late-2009 which has a Core2Duo dual core at 2.26 GHz. ... sniff...)


     


    But if you can wait, then we are guessing there will be a refreshed Mac mini using the Ivy Bridge around mid year (end 2nd quarter or early third).


     


    One further FYI, some early sample testing results show that the Ivy Bridge chips have about 5-15 % CPU improvement and 10-25% GPU (on-chip graphics) improvement over their corresponding Sandy Bridge chip.


     


    So this all may help you to decide on a 'now' or 'later'.


     


    Again the caveat: this is based on leaks of data from Intel, industry analysis and testing, historical trends and best-guess. So no guarantees, but looks reasonable based on what is publicly known so far.

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  • Reply 48 of 62
    not1lostnot1lost Posts: 136member
    mr. k wrote: »
    <p> My guess is that the updates will be here by April 24th at the earliest. Longest? Who knows.</p>

    Well.... I guess I can wait till after the 25th ... Thanks
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  • Reply 49 of 62


    The current top end iMac is decent value for it.


     


    The new model will have better cpu (evolutionary speed) better gpu (who knows what Apple will put in...)...but the new iMacs will have the added benefit of putting the previous line into sale prices to clear stock.


     


    A really good deal on a previous 'top end' iMac is how I got my current iMac.


     


    I certainly wouldn't turn my nose up at the current top end.


     


    It's been known to blow fan and get 'fry an egg' hot on the top left side under duress.  So maybe Ivy bridge running cooler may help in this regard.


     


    I'm looking forward to new desktop Macs arriving.


     


    Lemon Bon Bon.

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  • Reply 50 of 62


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post





    Help yourself, you are simply married not a slave. Grow a pair, open a separate bank account and have direct deposit put a few bucks in there every pay period. The wife doesn't have to know and infact shouldn't know.

    Further if the wife is so damn fixed on a new sofa put her to work. If she is already working days get her a "night" job to pull in a little extra. This is a new decade there is no reason to have a wife sitting around the house getting fat when she should be working.


     


    Well said the Wizard.  Top post.  Too many men seem to think they have to get their toys, their life rubber stamped by the Wife.


     


    Sell the wife on eBay (see if you can get anything for her sofa bound ass) and put the money to some ram for your iMac.


     


    Life is too short.


     


    Get your iMac, be happy.


     


    Lemon Bon Bon.

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  • Reply 51 of 62


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Bruce Young View Post





    Of course, till chips and data "officially" show, this is all speculation, but charts and articles I have seen show that 77W TDP is still the plan for their first release of the desktop family chips, and with mobile series (projected June release) at lower TDP ranges.

    277

    Again, speculation, but some articles I have seen suggest that references to TDP of 95W for Ivy Bridge may be to define an upper limit to the power range for the whole Ivy Bridge family, and not necessarily be the wattage of the initial chips themselves. And also so that it matches the upper limit of the second gen i-series Sandy Bridge which were 95W - possibly to encourage a wider range of acceptability for mobos (both Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge using the same LGA1155 socket).

    Regarding the anticipated early June release of additional Ivy Bridge including the wider mobile family, I think this is what has been planned, as per numerous leaks and tech web info. So I would not guess it being related to power over-consumption.

    But hey, we are just making our best guess based on published and leaked info "as it develops" ... so time will tell ... image


     


    That 3.5 gig turbo-ing up to 3.9 looks juicy.  8 threads.  $332?  Pretty cheap.  Maybe Apple can give the iMac line a price cut in the UK.


     


    Lemon Bon Bon.

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  • Reply 52 of 62
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    That 3.5 gig turbo-ing up to 3.9 looks juicy.  8 threads.  $332?  Pretty cheap.  Maybe Apple can give the iMac line a price cut in the UK.</p><p>  </p><p> Lemon Bon Bon.</p>

    Yes very nice indeed. The vastly enhanced GPU in Ivy Bridge will also make lower end Macs a much better deal. The only other advantage is higher clock rates for the CPU at a given power level, but these are not huge increases for most users.

    The interesting thing here is that clock rates increases are no longer thought of as a gigahertz race. We are basically running 1GHz faster than in the pre Sandy Bridge days. This with often 4 cores and 8 threads. It is barely even noted anymore in the press, which I take as an indication that Intel is no longer trying to manipulate the markets in that way.

    As to lower prices, I think Apples goal here is new capability. That would mean better screens and an SSD in all iMacs. That 3.5GHz chip, or even a slower one for that matter, plus an SSD boot/app drive would make the iMac one hell of an update for many users. I see reworking the value equation before lowering the price significantly.
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  • Reply 53 of 62


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post





    Yes very nice indeed. The vastly enhanced GPU in Ivy Bridge will also make lower end Macs a much better deal. The only other advantage is higher clock rates for the CPU at a given power level, but these are not huge increases for most users.

    The interesting thing here is that clock rates increases are no longer thought of as a gigahertz race. We are basically running 1GHz faster than in the pre Sandy Bridge days. This with often 4 cores and 8 threads. It is barely even noted anymore in the press, which I take as an indication that Intel is no longer trying to manipulate the markets in that way.

    As to lower prices, I think Apples goal here is new capability. That would mean better screens and an SSD in all iMacs. That 3.5GHz chip, or even a slower one for that matter, plus an SSD boot/app drive would make the iMac one hell of an update for many users. I see reworking the value equation before lowering the price significantly.


     


    Aye.  The cpus in the main are fast enough these days for mainstream consumers.


     


    ...and the 'clock race' is consigned to the history books despite the 1 gig faster and 4 core / 8 threads in recent times.  Good point.  The i7 was 2.blob gighz not so long back...and it's plenty faster now but the press are a bit 'whoop de doo.'  (Mind you, having said that, I'd note the leap if I went from my Core 2 Duo to an i7, obviously...)  


     


    Like you say, what we will really notice is system transforming SSD which gives iMacs a more dynamic outlook and I think the creeping improvement in GPU (integ' or discrete...) is turning the iMac into a very capable machine.  The days of it being a 'ok' gum drop are over.


     


    With SSD and even better graphics and that lovely 27 inch screen it's an excellent value proposition.


     


    Lemon Bon Bon.

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  • Reply 54 of 62
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    <p>  </p><div class="quote-container"> <span>Quote:</span> <div class="quote-block"> Originally Posted by <strong>wizard69</strong> <a href="/t/149313/bulk-of-first-wave-of-intels-next-gen-ivy-bridge-chips-bound-for-desktops/40#post_2099116"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" /></a><br /> <br /> <br /> Yes very nice indeed. The vastly enhanced GPU in Ivy Bridge will also make lower end Macs a much better deal. The only other advantage is higher clock rates for the CPU at a given power level, but these are not huge increases for most users.<br /> The interesting thing here is that clock rates increases are no longer thought of as a gigahertz race. We are basically running 1GHz faster than in the pre Sandy Bridge days. This with often 4 cores and 8 threads. It is barely even noted anymore in the press, which I take as an indication that Intel is no longer trying to manipulate the markets in that way.<br /> As to lower prices, I think Apples goal here is new capability. That would mean better screens and an SSD in all iMacs. That 3.5GHz chip, or even a slower one for that matter, plus an SSD boot/app drive would make the iMac one hell of an update for many users. I see reworking the value equation before lowering the price significantly.</div></div><p>  </p><p> Aye.  The cpus in the main are fast enough these days for mainstream consumers.</p>
    Well we could debate that. I guess it depends upon what you mean by mainstream consumers. I know of one lady in her sixties that complains that her iMac is too slow, it is a matter of personal tastes and tolerance more than anything.

    That being said don't be surprised to see post Mountain Lion OS's using up a lot of computer power. I can see Siri like AI being built into Mac OS for one.
    <p>  </p><p> ...and the 'clock race' is consigned to the history books despite the 1 gig faster and 4 core / 8 threads in recent times.  Good point.  The i7 was 2.blob gighz not so long back...and it's plenty faster now but the press are a bit 'whoop de doo.'  (Mind you, having said that, I'd note the leap if I went from my Core 2 Duo to an i7, obviously...)  </p>
    As would I with my 2008 MBP. Notably this machine really bogs down for me at times. This is really a problem because more than half the time it is perfectly fine, but when over tasked it can become a real whore of a machine.

    <p>  </p><p> Like you say, what we will really notice is system transforming SSD which gives iMacs a more dynamic outlook and I think the creeping improvement in GPU (integ' or discrete...) is turning the iMac into a very capable machine.  The days of it being a 'ok' gum drop are over.</p>
    This should lead to a significant transformation of the iMac. Not only would an SSD be much faster, it would run much cooler. My only hope here is that Apple would do it smart and implement a PCI Express card that could serve them well for at least another 5 years as a storage standard.

    It is frustrating to be in the market when it is pretty obvious that we are in a transition from SATA to something better.
    <p>  </p><p> With SSD and even better graphics and that lovely 27 inch screen it's an excellent value proposition.</p><p>  </p><p> Lemon Bon Bon.</p>

    Well if you can get past the all in one nature of he machine, then yeah it is nothing to sneeze at anymore. Given the right option though I'd never buy an iMac. More so I'm really beginning to resent Apples take it or leave it attitude here.
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  • Reply 55 of 62
    not1lostnot1lost Posts: 136member
    You guys are great! :D
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  • Reply 56 of 62
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    not1lost wrote: »
    You guys are great! :D
    Not really!

    I mean really all one has to do here is keep track of Intels release schedule. With even a modest understanding of computers you can then place probabilities on what will get updated and when. Combine that with WWDC in June and you can fix the most likely updates to within a month and a half.

    There is no rocket science here.
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  • Reply 57 of 62
    dhagan4755dhagan4755 Posts: 2,152member


    Back during the PowerPC days it was always a crap shoot trying to figure out when Apple was going to come out with new stuff.  Freescale, IBM, or Motorola seemed to always over promise & under deliver.  Or maybe A.I. would over promise ;)  But since the switch to Intel processors, it's pretty easy.  It's kind of predictable.  And this has made it a little less exciting to some extent!

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  • Reply 58 of 62


    New shape and new processors thats what most people looking for the new updates .  


     


    Since there is no leak  design so can we actually depend on the mill rumors  ? 

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  • Reply 59 of 62
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Zeusisme View Post

    New shape and new processors thats what most people looking for the new updates .  


     


    Since there is no leak  design so can we actually depend on the mill rumors  ? 



     


    Because there isn't going to be a new design. The iMac will, at most, drop the optical drive (LONG TIME COMING). The Mac Mini will remain the same. The Mac Pro will (hopefully) get a radical redesign or just be discontinued. Getting an update with no redesign is the same as discontinuation in my book.


     


    The MacBook Air will stay the same physically, but the Pro should get more Air-like. I want both to drop their descriptors.

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  • Reply 60 of 62
    mactacmactac Posts: 321member


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Mr. K View Post


     


     


    My guess is that the updates will be here by April 24th at the earliest. Longest? Who knows.



     




    Happens to be my birthday. Come on Apple!

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