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Demon Hunter

macrumors 68020
Mar 30, 2004
2,284
39
nagromme said:
Merom soon makes sense--in the Pro models and maybe iMac.

But Apple should certainly keep Yonah machines (Mini and MB) as well.

Yonah (even single-core Yonah) is already overkill power for some low-end users. So why make them pay for a pair of Merom cores?

Instead, let Yonah's price drop, and the bottom-end Mac models' price drop with it.

Hear, hear. Back to $499 for the Mac mini!
 

bluetorch18

macrumors regular
Jul 25, 2006
155
0
nagromme said:
Merom soon makes sense--in the Pro models and maybe iMac.

But Apple should certainly keep Yonah machines (Mini and MB) as well.

Yonah (even single-core Yonah) is already overkill power for some low-end users. So why make them pay for a pair of Merom cores?

Instead, let Yonah's price drop, and the bottom-end Mac models' price drop with it.

I agree, there has always been a huge gap in the iBook and PowerBook performancewise...The PowerBook had a G4 in it LONG before the iBook did, thats what justified the price difference...right now I think Apple is ripping people off on MacBook Pros, because the people that want a dedicated GPU have to dish out at least $500-700 extra, which in my opinion is rediculous, especially for a low range graphics card...I really hope Apple gets their act together and puts a GOOD graphics card in their next line of MBPs.
 

MacSA

macrumors 68000
Jun 4, 2003
1,803
5
UK
BlizzardBomb said:
Whatever you do Apple, don't leave the Mini with the Yonah Core Solo it has now.

True, that thing has GOT TO GO, that chip must sell for about 50p now we have merom/conroe etc.
 

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
MacSA said:
True, that thing has GOT TO GO, that chip must sell for about 50p now we have merom/conroe etc.
Why does Core Solo have to go? It's a great chip, in the same general performance ballpark as a mid-range single G5. And once Intel drops the price on it, it will be an even better deal.

Not every computer shopper needs dual processors. There are low-end buyers out there too (just probably not here on MacRumors :) ).
 

mrweirdo

macrumors 6502
Nov 21, 2005
370
0
man I am gona be so pissed if apple upgrades the macbook after just recently purchasing a blackbook myself. Not realy at apple but myself for buying because I could realy use the improved battery life since I allways find myself trying to find the nearest power outlet too hook up after about 3 hours of use :/
 

MacSA

macrumors 68000
Jun 4, 2003
1,803
5
UK
nagromme said:
Why does Core Solo have to go? It's a great chip, in the same general performance ballpark as a mid-range single G5. And once Intel drops the price on it, it will be an even better deal.

Not every computer shopper needs dual processors. There are low-end buyers out there too (just probably not here on MacRumors :) ).

This "most people dont need a fast chip" is nonsense, the core solo mini is just emabarrassing now, even Apple dont have ANY solo minis out on display in stores. All the reviews and tests showed hardly any improvement over the 1.5ghz G4 Mini. If they cut the price of the core solo mini £100 it might be worth it - MIGHT.
 

Mac Rules

macrumors 6502a
Jul 15, 2006
633
666
Europe
As much as I want Merom, I can't afford it now, so I guess next year when Santa Rose comes out, perhaps the Core 3 Duo?

Cheers
 

aegisdesign

macrumors 6502a
Apr 19, 2005
875
0
MacSA said:
This "most people dont need a fast chip" is nonsense, the core solo mini is just emabarrassing now, even Apple dont have ANY solo minis out on display in stores. If they cut the price of the core solo mini £100 it might be worth it - MIGHT.

Embarrassing to who ?

At that end of the market, people shop on price. If Apple can cut $100 off the price or even £100 then that's a bargain for most people that just want something to handle iLife apps, the net and a bit of word processing. Plenty fast at that as it's faster than most people's PowerBooks from not 6 months ago.
 

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
MacSA said:
This "most people dont need a fast chip" is nonsense, the core solo mini is just emabarrassing now, even Apple dont have ANY solo minis out on display in stores. All the reviews and tests showed hardly any improvement over the 1.5ghz G4 Mini. If they cut the price of the core solo mini £100 it might be worth it - MIGHT.
I didn't say "most"--I said "some"--which is the truth.

However, from the tests I have seen, single-core Yonah IS a very fast chip, faster than a G4 Mini. It depends on the task of course. But regardless, for low-end buyers, a G4 Mini was adequate power to begin with, and still is. (In fact, almost every Mac user I know has less than a 1.5Ghz G4--thanks to the long useful life of a Mac--and that includes some professionals doing graphics work.)

The point is that for SOME people, a cheaper Mac is more important than having dual processor cores. This is the model that sets the minimum entry barrier for becoming a Mac user.

So you really can't say that Core Solo is for nobody, or "embarrassing." Not many months ago, it could outrun most laptops in the world!

I'd recommend a US$499 Core Solo Mac in a hearbeat--and a lot of people (not "most") would gladly take it instead of a $599 or $699 64-bit Core 2 Duo--or even a $549 Core Duo Yonah. $500 is a magic price point in some consumers' minds, and I think Apple would do well to reach it again.

EDIT: I run my business from a machine slower than Core Solo--and I'm far from alone :)
 

nagromme

macrumors G5
May 2, 2002
12,546
1,196
MacSA said:
To Apple, who else? Which is why they never have core solo minis on displays.
They never have them on display because they are slower than the duals. So why shouldn't they show the duals? Makes sense to me.

That doesn't mean nobody buys the single-core model which is on the same price sign.

Choice of floor models does not equate to embarrassment or failure, or to a bad product that nobody wants.
 

M-Life

macrumors 6502a
Jul 15, 2006
530
1,392
Hol-Leawood
BlizzardBomb said:
Whatever you do Apple, don't leave the Mini with the Yonah Core Solo it has now.

Agreed.

I just can't stand this emachines any longer. And it is three years old at that. And it was bottom of the line when I got it. Needless to say, this thing runs slower than a depressed turtle. I can only afford the bottom mini, but I don't want core solo, atleast at the price it is now.
 

KingYaba

macrumors 68040
Aug 7, 2005
3,414
12
Up the irons
M-Life said:
Agreed.

I just can't stand this emachines any longer. And it is three years old at that. And it was bottom of the line when I got it. Needless to say, this thing runs slower than a depressed turtle. I can only afford the bottom mini, but I don't want core solo, at-least at the price it is now.

"depressed turtle" :D ah that was pretty funny. Yeah I agree. the Solo processor is wimpy and should have core-duo at that base price.
 

Multimedia

macrumors 603
Jul 27, 2001
5,212
0
Santa Cruz CA, Silicon Beach
Not A Lot Of NEWs Here • Paris Apple Expo Keynote September 12

Not much NEW to this "NEWS". Just confirms a little more of what many of us have been saying for rmonths:

September 12 Paris Apple Expo Keynote
 

atad6

macrumors regular
Jul 7, 2006
155
1
honestly, i think all of this hype is a little overrated. not that merom isn't a great chip but yonah just isn't that much different. in actual real world performance, meaning the speed you'll actually be able notice and therefore be able to "use" won't be that much faster than the current yonah chips.

also the 64 bit ability is also a bit over hyped by both the producing companies and the media. all it means is that the new chips will be able to deal with bigger chunks of data at once. in some cases this has been seen to slow down traditional 32 bit operations. sure everyone sees this as being more "future proof" but 64 bit consumer processors have been out for a while now and all these amd 64 bit processors that have been out for several years are completely obsolete by their current 32bit counterparts. 64 bit just hasn't really caught on and there are a lot of people who agree that it won't for a while for consumers. it just doesn't yield that much of a performance gain for consumer apps even when specifically programmed in 64bit and only is really valuable for needs such as processing things such as hd video content, advanced mathematical operations or sorting through large databases (which is why it's good for a workstation such as a mac pro). even though the next version of osx will be programmed in 64bit there won't most likely be any noticable difference performance wise for 99% of the applications people would use on a notebook plus the wide availablity of 64 bit apps won't probably happen for a while. for all the people waiting i'd say wait longer if you want a machine that'll scream.

the 800mhz fsb merom chips that intel will come out with next year will make yonah and merom almost obsolete in comparison and honestly the new merom chips are more marketing hype than performance when comparing them to their current yonah counterparts.

the whole 2gb memory limit is also sort of a myth since 32 bit intel chipsets have been able to address more than 2gb of memory for a while now. the wide spread availablity of an affordable 2gb memory stick for a laptop is yet to be seen considering they'll run you atleast 1600 dollars a piece now a days.

i think when the merom chips come out the people who have been waiting and waiting and cannot wait any longer should be smart and use it as a chance to take advantage of all the marketing hype and save probably more than a decent amount of money by purchasing a yonah system. i know apple users are used to waiting for significant hardware updates which the old ppc architecture had but the pc hardware world works a little differently (ie: paying a lot more overhead for the "top of the line" which doesn't usually have much or any noticable performance differences from their slightly older counterparts).

it is my honest opinion that all these people who have diligently waited should take advantage of it and save from all the marketing hype. or if they are really intent on getting a "top of the line" machine that won't go obsolete so quickly should wait until next year when apple will throw in the 800mhz fsb chip and the possiblity of blueray and 802.11n chips.
of course a lot of the people who have been waiting will probably flame me for this and try to justify otherwise since they want to be able to justify spending the extra overhead price this "top of the line" chip has, but if you look at the facts you'll see it's mostly marketing hype with a severely limited fsb. there has to be someone who agrees with me.
 

danielwsmithee

macrumors 65816
Mar 12, 2005
1,135
410
Headlesss Please!!

I will buy as soon as they offer a Core 2 Duo without a display that can drive 2 DVI monitors. My Dell at work is screaming to be replaced by my own Mac. The bastards won't buy me anything besides DELL!! At least I have two LCD displays. I'd drop $1000 of my own money to be able to run OS X at work!!

It seams like a lot of the new features in Leopard Server or targeting the enterprise work enviornment. It is too bad they don't actually have a machine that targets a typical enterprise buyer. $1000-$1500 headless desktop.
 

regre7

macrumors 6502
Apr 18, 2006
292
0
Atlanta, GA
atad6:

par·a·graph (pr-grf)
n.

1. A distinct division of written or printed matter that begins on a new, usually indented line, consists of one or more sentences, and typically deals with a single thought or topic or quotes one speaker's continuous words.
 

danielwsmithee

macrumors 65816
Mar 12, 2005
1,135
410
regre7 said:
atad6:

par·a·graph (pr-grf)
You expect him to use paragraphs when he can't capitalize the first letter in a sentence? One step at a time please. The content of his post is actually very good, it is just hard to get to through the grammar.
 
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