How much faster will Merom run? Is it even worth waiting?

[BurtonCCC]

I've been reading around and apparently the Merom processor will still only offer speeds in the low 2GHz range. I, knowing nothing about processors, thought Merom would allow a MacBook Pro to run above 2.5GHz, so I was waiting until that came out to buy my MBP. If I bought a MacBook Pro, it'd be in August and if no Merom had been put into the MBP yet, I'd be buying a 2.16GHz, 2GB, 120GB HD, 17" machine.

My question is, and sorry if this has already been covered, but how much faster would a Merom MacBook Pro be and would it be worth waiting for?

Daniel.

 

[mmmcheese]

https://forums.macrumors.com/search/

The question is, do you need a machine now? If you do, then buy what suits your needs. If you don't, then it doesn't matter if you buy now or buy later.

 

[majorp]

https://forums.macrumors.com/search/

did anyone else click that link expecting to see an answer lol

 

[dmw007]

I've been reading around and apparently the Merom processor will still only offer speeds in the low 2GHz range. I, knowing nothing about processors, thought Merom would allow a MacBook Pro to run above 2.5GHz, so I was waiting until that came out to buy my MBP. If I bought a MacBook Pro, it'd be in August and if no Merom had been put into the MBP yet, I'd be buying a 2.16GHz, 2GB, 120GB HD, 17" machine.

My question is, and sorry if this has already been covered, but how much faster would a Merom MacBook Pro be and would it be worth waiting for?

Daniel.

From what I have read, Merom is supposed to be be ~20% faster than Yonah (Core Duo) at the same clock speed and consume less energy/produce less heat.

 

[wahgnube]

I was personally waiting for Merom too, but after reading up as much as I could about the architecture, have decided not to wait anymore. I am referring to both technical documents as well as marketing-speak filled news.

All recent news, straight from Intel, indicate that initial Merom releases will not offer more than 20% of a performance boost (and that too, on paper. You know how the "FIVE TIMES THE PERFORMANCE!!11!!" ads themselves lie). The performance jump will be more apparent on their desktop and server line.

Merom will be cooler and faster, but not so much that you need to hold out for it for 4--6 more months if you need a machine now. I need a machine now, and will go in for a powerful Macbook Pro.

Here are many related articles if you're curious; but you probably won't be since you said you weren't aware about processors.

 

[BurtonCCC]

Yeah, I'd actually like to read as much as I can.

And to whoever's freaking out, I did use the search feature before posting this thread. I haven't seen a question exactly like this though. Sorry for wasting your time, but unless reading this thread caused you to forget you left the gas on in the kitchen and made your house blow up, I don't care.

Daniel.

 

[BornAgainMac]

The 5 times performance was very accurate with encoding. I had something that use to take 24 hours take only 4 hours. But my Powerbook was running at 1.5 Ghz instead of 1.67 if that makes huge difference. The CPU was a bottleneck. I used a 5400 rpm drive for both machines and both had 2 GBs of memory. Perhaps with 512 MB, you won't see as big of a difference between the PB and MBP.

I doubt it is worth waiting another 8 months for another 20%+ boost. I bet the speed will probably be more than 20% overall since the clock speed will increase too. If it is 4x faster than I'll upgrade again. What the heck.

 

[dmw007]

Sorry for wasting your time, but unless reading this thread caused you to forget you left the gas on in the kitchen and made your house blow up, I don't care.

Wait, do I smell something burning....?


If you did search and still had a question, then I don't see the big deal. Always feel free to ask for help/advice BurtonCCC.

 

[BurtonCCC]

The 5 times performance was very accurate with encoding. I had something that use to take 24 hours take only 4 hours. But my Powerbook was running at 1.5 Ghz instead of 1.67 if that makes huge difference. The CPU was a bottleneck. I used a 5400 rpm drive for both machines and both had 2 GBs of memory. Perhaps with 512 MB, you won't see as big of a difference between the PB and MBP.

I doubt it is worth waiting another 8 months for another 20%+ boost. I bet the speed will probably be more than 20% overall since the clock speed will increase too. If it is 4x faster than I'll upgrade again. What the heck.

Yeah, I usually think when they say a 1GHz computer is now fives times faster, it should be 5GHz. This was very deceiving on Apple's part.

Daniel.

 

[dmw007]

I doubt it is worth waiting another 8 months for another 20%+ boost. I bet the speed will probably be more than 20% overall since the clock speed will increase too. If it is 4x faster than I'll upgrade again. What the heck.

Plus, Apple will probably include a better GPU and perhaps allow the MBP to handle 4GB of RAM.

 

[dmw007]

Yeah, I usually think when they say a 1GHz computer is now fives times faster, it should be 5GHz. This was very deceiving on Apple's part.

Daniel.

I would not say that it was "very" deceiving on Apple's part. The MBP is a lot faster than the PowerBook G4 on many tasks, it can even keep pace with similarly clocked Power Mac G5s. Sure, it is not always 5x faster, but sometimes it is close to being so. And, the intel based Macs will only get faster as more software is made universal and those programs (including Mac OS) that are already universal get further tweaked for intel processors.

 

[wahgnube]

Plus, Apple will probably include a better GPU and perhaps allow the MBP to handle 4GB of RAM.

Yes, of course if you wait long enough bigger and better options will present themselves. Waiting for it will always seem like the right thing to do.

But eventually, you just have to buy a computer when you need a computer, and be happy with it.

 

[BurtonCCC]

I would not say that it was "very" deceiving on Apple's part.

Actually, I'm going to agree with you completely. I just saw the "5X FASTER!" icon and got excited, haha.

Daniel.

 

[milo]

Yeah, I usually think when they say a 1GHz computer is now fives times faster, it should be 5GHz. This was very deceiving on Apple's part.

They're talking about actual speed of performing tasks, not comparing clock speeds (which mean very little anyway). In certain apps I've absolutely seen a 5x speedup, there's no exaggeration that it's possible as a best case situation.

On a laptop, might be worth waiting since it will use a little less power. Or maybe if you need more ram (which is taking a gamble that they will add more ram slots) On a desktop machine like an imac or mini, I don't see it much different from waiting for the chip to get bumped to the next clock speed.