Apple Upgrades MacBook Pro. 2.16Ghz now an option!

[kramerica]

I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about computers. My understanding with the IBM/Motorola chips of yesteryear were that they were more efficient on Macs, hence the lower ghz when compared ot PCs. Is that wrong? Also, didn't they go with Intel because the Motorola couldn't produce chips that wouldn't overheat in the laptops? I thought that was the main reason for starting new contractual relations with Intel and cancelling IBMs'.

True, the mac v. PC debate is tired and played out on every forum I've been to, so I apologize for adding to it.

Note, I have run Ableton on both my Sony Vaio and my Ibook G4, and for some reason or another it just works better on the Apple. Mostly because OSX doesn't crash in the middle of a gig. That happened ALOT. So aside from the speed/efficiency argument, I will stand by my assertion that OSX is a more stable OS than windows (and thus "better" in my book) though I have seen those test results where Live runs better on a PC. If your PC works great, then keep on keepin on, but I've become an apple convert over the last year, and it will take some convincing to get me back. It just works. Plus, I'm not a gamer anymore (counter-strike anyone?), so PCs are less enticing aside from their lower cost.

Question: does the OS have any effect on efficiency/speed in conjunction with the processor? or does it just have to do with stability?

[Machinesworking]

Question: does the OS have any effect on efficiency/speed in conjunction with the processor? or does it just have to do with stability?

This is the first interesting question here.

Intel execs stated on the announcement of the business agreement for chips with Apple that they would be doing things with Apple that they simply would not be doing with PC's. I don't know if that was just the trash talking of an exec that wanted to take a direct jab at Microsoft after years of feeling like they had to bend to Microsoft's agenda instead of their own, ( and example would be having to adopt their competitors 64 bit technology, and the slow introduction of SSL speed enhancements etc.), or actual real technological merging between Intel and Apple. Only time, and benchmarks between similar macbooks and PC laptops will tell.

In the mean time, Apple laptops will simply kick some serious ass! Which is great considering I'm loath to give up the admittedly few, but high quality mac only free plug ins and killer DAWs!

[LOFA]

i ordered my 1.83ghz duo MacBook last night.
woke up today to find they've updated the CPU's.

after 3 minutes of freaking out, Apple tells me that anyone who ordered the 1.67ghz will get a 1.83, and anyone who ordered the 1.83 will get a 2.0

::sigh of relief::

i also ordered the 7200rpm HD upgrade from Apple, plus a 2nd GB stick from macsales.com

this laptop is gonna OWN!

For the team!

I look foward to maybe seeing your results in Logic too. Being bogged down with school right now, I'm saving up for a first or second generation 64 bit dual core. The suspense of Live 6's dual processor support will keep me satisfied with my Dual g5 until then!

[forgie]

I look foward to maybe seeing your results in Logic too. Being bogged down with school right now, I'm saving up for a first or second generation 64 bit dual core. The suspense of Live 6's dual processor support will keep me satisfied with my Dual g5 until then!

Yeah, I'm gonna wait til the end of the year, then hopefully upgrade to a MacBook pro + Live 6 (if it actually works... here's hoping) and be kicking the proverbial shit out of my current G4 iBook... that would be like a 6-7 times performance upgrade....


And I don't want to reignite the whole mac vs pc BS, but to clarify, G4 was slightly better then Pentium3. Pentium4 was worse clock for clock, but could run faster then G4, so it was better overall. G5 was way better clock for clock then Pentium4, but could never go above 2.7Ghz, compared to, what, 3.8GHz for P4? The G5 would win in many tasks at this speed, but not at some others. The new king daddy on the block is Intel's remake of the old centrino core. It's fast, it's very god damn power efficient, and it's here to stay. It's the best thing around by a long shot, and now both mac and pc users can enjoy the fruits of their labour. Less argument, more celebration, since the next year of Intel CPUs is going to be the best range of new CPUs within the last few years. It's a good time to be a computer musician.

[eyeknow]

Now, let's all remember, apple does this all the time.......

I would expect that there will be significant cpu changes on a regular basis once the universal software compatibility is sorted out.

[Digi V]

yes it is time for celebration, celebration just like that titled painting done in Wedding Crashers.


intel chips are going to get amazingly fast and amazingly efficient.


waiting till summer or even next fall is a brilliant idea, unless you cant wait that long, like me, because my laptop is just dead.

if u have a g5 right now there is absolutely no reason to upgrade.


god those new 65nm chips will be about twice as fast as the new yet released 2.0 intel macbooks. lmao

[kramerica]

yes it is time for celebration, celebration just like that titled painting done in Wedding Crashers.


intel chips are going to get amazingly fast and amazingly efficient.


waiting till summer or even next fall is a brilliant idea, unless you cant wait that long, like me, because my laptop is just dead.

if u have a g5 right now there is absolutely no reason to upgrade.


god those new 65nm chips will be about twice as fast as the new yet released 2.0 intel macbooks. lmao

Why do you say to wait to upgrade? I feel like you'll wait forever since everything doubles in speed every 6 months. Is there something coming out I should know about?

[Digi V]

kramerica- do you need a new laptop right now? is what you have showing its teeth? cuz if the answer is yes then disregard anything i say about new technology.

you can always play the "what if" a new config is released a month from now game. if you keep doing that you'll never upgrade.

the truth is these duel core centrinos are the last of its breed i suppose. intel is moving to a new ground.

by 4th quarter we'll prob see speed bumps in the current intels - i'll say 2.3 prob.

by fall who knows maybe their new chip? supposedly 2 times faster than the current ones and less power hungry. i doubt it though, i'd say early 07.



the bottom line is if YOU NEED a computer right now, upgrade. the speed these computers are offering are already sick.


if you dont need one, wait, not everything is universal, not to metnion its never best to be early adaptors of new machines.




my 1ghz powerbook can no longer handle shit. i cant wait anylonger and therefore i'[m upgradding.

[alan*]

i ordered my 1.83ghz duo MacBook last night.
woke up today to find they've updated the CPU's.

after 3 minutes of freaking out, Apple tells me that anyone who ordered the 1.67ghz will get a 1.83, and anyone who ordered the 1.83 will get a 2.0

::sigh of relief::

i also ordered the 7200rpm HD upgrade from Apple, plus a 2nd GB stick from macsales.com

this laptop is gonna OWN!

Thanks for the macsales RAM tip Adam, nice one. Just put in my order for both ram and macbook, woohoo.

[noisetonepause]

IBM and Freescale ARE working on chips that'll beat these Centrinos on performance per watt as far as I know. It's just politics, Apple couldn't boss them around and get them to make special chips for them anymore, so they walked. I see Apple as the bad guy in all this, their way of dealing with IBM and Freescale/Motorola hasn't been acceptable AFAIK.

I still maintain that OSX on a G4 is a great computing experience and that the idea of moving to an architecture that's still backwards compatible with a 15 year old processor is not what I'd call a good move from a technical viewpoint. My idea of a supercomputer is one that is well engineered as much as well spec'd and well, this may just be that I'm a Mac user since 1990 (System 6, my first love!), but from that point of view I'd rather they'd kept with IBM/Freescale, POWER, RISC, etc.

-Paws

[robin]

I see Apple as the bad guy in all this, their way of dealing with IBM and Freescale/Motorola hasn't been acceptable AFAIK.

The flip to that is of-course IBM's (and Freescale's) inability to deliver anything that they promise in terms of low power portable chips. Even the desktop G5s at 3 GHz that IBM promised a couple of years back haven't happened.

It's six of one half a dozen of the other imo.

[Machinesworking]

The simple truth is that IBM/Motorla are just not as invested in pure speed as Intel and AMD. PPC is a great architecture for a chip, but the end product while good, isn't panning out as faster than what Intel/AMD put out. There's a quad G5, but as we speak there are quad dual core AMD motherboards being sold, and there's simply NOTHING from IBM or Motorola that compares to the Centrino line PERIOD!
I remember seeing the specs on the Centrino and really wishing that Apple would stop doing business with IBM who simply dropped the ball on them in terms of speed and never even entered the game with laptop chips! I have a hard time seeing that as Apple's fault?
I've only owned one PC, and it was given to me by a friend. I first started using macs with a mac + in 88, but I don't even question the logic of moving to Intel, it's been about 5 years since Apple has had a competitive machine speed wise, and that has been a painful five years for me considering that in that same period of time I've used more and more soft synths, and less hardware.

[Digi V]

i had no problems with the PPC besides the fact that IBM just sat on their asses with it for 5 fucking years.



the g4 was wonderful when it came out, the entire mac community was excited including steve jobs himself.


but man did we all think this would happen?



we got stuck with essentially the same damn speed and chip for so long.



if that doesn't boil your blood as a ceo then i dont know what does.



thank god they switched. IBM really cant compete with Intel or AMD


i dont think they care to either.

[AdamJay]

i also ordered the 7200rpm HD upgrade from Apple, plus a 2nd GB stick from macsales.com

this laptop is gonna OWN!

Thanks for the macsales RAM tip Adam, nice one. Just put in my order for both ram and macbook, woohoo.

i had no idea they shipped to Australia... or even Perth of all places (i always think of Perth as the end of the world, so isolated).
wow. so i take it that it was still considerably cheaper than buying locally?

[jeskola]

Oh my! A dual core 2.16Ghz Mac laptop. This is going to be one sweet machine for Live!

still not on the UK site