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iMac Conroe

exabytes18 said:
Exactly.

Merom : G4 :: Conroe : G5
Click to expand...

No, more like: (And properly compared,)

Merom : Conroe :: G5 with slower bus in the iMac G5 : G5 with faster bus in the higher-end Power Mac G5.

Or:

Yonah : G4 :: Conroe/Merom/Woodcrest : G5 (Yonah is the 'Core Duo' and 'Core Solo' in all the current Macs except the Mac Pro)

Merom and Conroe are the exact same chip. Both have the exact same core architecture, both are available in 2 MB and 4 MB L2 cache versions. The ONLY differences are:

  1. Merom comes in a Socket-479 package, Conroe comes in an LGA-775 package.
  2. Merom has a 667 MHz front side bus, Conroe has a 1066 MHz front side bus.
  3. Merom tops out at 2.33 GHz, Conroe tops out at 2.93 GHz (On the $999 'Core 2 Extreme X6800', vs. $530 for the 2.66 GHz 'Core 2 Duo E6700'.)

In fact, they are both architecturally identical to the Xeon 5100 series chip (Woodcrest) in the new Mac Pro, as well. (The Xeon is in an LGA-771 package ,on a 1333 MHz front side bus, tops out at 3.0 GHz, and can be used in dual-socket systems.)
 
Important thing to note, Apple will need to invest in a new LB for the iMac if it *does* stay with mobile chips once Santa Rosa chipsets come out- totally new socket. They may be fine just going to Conroe now.

I would not mind seeing a bit more RAM capacity either...
 
ehurtley said:
...
Click to expand...

How dare I consider a Conroe in the same league as a G5. Shame on me. Unfortunately, this was a non-technical discussion regarding the iMac and I don't care about high clocked G5s and Xeons intended for workstations and servers.

I like how everything is the same (but different). I think it's time to put some xeons or maybe some itanium2s in macbooks. ;)
 
ehurtley said:
No, more like: (And properly compared,)

Merom : Conroe :: G5 with slower bus in the iMac G5 : G5 with faster bus in the higher-end Power Mac G5.

Or:

Yonah : G4 :: Conroe/Merom/Woodcrest : G5 (Yonah is the 'Core Duo' and 'Core Solo' in all the current Macs except the Mac Pro)

Merom and Conroe are the exact same chip. Both have the exact same core architecture, both are available in 2 MB and 4 MB L2 cache versions. The ONLY differences are:

  1. Merom comes in a Socket-479 package, Conroe comes in an LGA-775 package.
  2. Merom has a 667 MHz front side bus, Conroe has a 1066 MHz front side bus.
  3. Merom tops out at 2.33 GHz, Conroe tops out at 2.93 GHz (On the $999 'Core 2 Extreme X6800', vs. $530 for the 2.66 GHz 'Core 2 Duo E6700'.)

In fact, they are both architecturally identical to the Xeon 5100 series chip (Woodcrest) in the new Mac Pro, as well. (The Xeon is in an LGA-771 package ,on a 1333 MHz front side bus, tops out at 3.0 GHz, and can be used in dual-socket systems.)
Click to expand...

Exactly people treat Merom, Conroe and Woodcrest like they are completely different beasts when quite in fact they are the same except for pin count, fsb and clockspeed (as limited by Intel) and in the case of the Xeon, multisocket capacity.

Thats why I'm so :confused: when people swear to god iMac won't have Conroe because its too hot blah blah, they have even compared Conroe to G5, Conroe is TONS better than G5, in pure performance and performance-per-watt ratio, in fact, Merom and even Yonah are better than G5 on a performance-per-watt ratio, quite honestly, G5 sucked and Apple being stuck with G4 for portables was terrible, I have a PowerBook G4 thats similar to the best pre-intel Apple laptop and its SLOWER than my rig from 2001.

Thank god for the Intel switch.
 
exabytes18 said:
For all practical purposes.

I wasn't trying to be technical. :eek:
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Ah, I see. Well, you're received several replies now including my own to help enlighten you on the technical side of things, so hopefully that helps. ;) :)
 
The iMac is due for a redesign pretty soon anyways, so I'm hoping go for a casing that gives them good thermal control with minimum noise (eg, not sandwhich all the parts on top of one another).

I just wish they would make it a headless system instead of an AIO. Won't happen, I know, but would be nice. What I'd like to see is the return of the G4 design... take the mini, upgrade the CPU speed and put a discreet GPU in it, throw the whole thing into the base and connect a 20" LCD to it on an arm. Put it in black and call it good.

Make a Conroe based headless Mac Pro mini in a Cube case and call me when you're ready. Four desktop and two laptop lines seem about right, although I'd like a smaller 12-13", lower priced MBP, like the good ole' days!
 
mrgreen4242 said:
The iMac is due for a redesign pretty soon anyways, so I'm hoping go for a casing that gives them good thermal control with minimum noise (eg, not sandwhich all the parts on top of one another).

I just wish they would make it a headless system instead of an AIO. Won't happen, I know, but would be nice. What I'd like to see is the return of the G4 design... take the mini, upgrade the CPU speed and put a discreet GPU in it, throw the whole thing into the base and connect a 20" LCD to it on an arm. Put it in black and call it good.

Make a Conroe based headless Mac Pro mini in a Cube case and call me when you're ready. Four desktop and two laptop lines seem about right, although I'd like a smaller 12-13", lower priced MBP, like the good ole' days!
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have a G4 iMac and prefer the design of it over the G5 iMac's design. I'd love to see a headless option as well, but I doubt it will happen - people will argue that Apple already has 2 headless solutions, the Mac Pro and the Mac mini. For me though, as I've stated before, the mini isn't powerful enough, and the Mac Pro is overkill for my needs. The iMac meets my needs, but I'm not the biggest fan of the AIO either. When I eventually upgrade my system, it would be nice to be able to reuse my display, not throw it away with my machine. (Hmm, what was that about Apple being low on Greenpeace's environmentally-friendly list? ;) )

So a Conroe mini-tower would be great. Max it out at 4 RAM slots (not 8 slots like the Pro), give me 2 HDD bays (not 4 like the Pro) which are easily accessible for replacing/upgrading, even just one optical drive bay is fine (not 2 like the Pro), give me dedicated graphics, only 1 GigE port (not like 2 in the Pro) and don't force me to buy a quad-core Xeon system (single Conroe is fine). I can buy my own display, or use an existing one, and the price would be lower than that of a Mac Pro. I'd buy one in a heartbeat. :cool:
 
Okay

Is there a huge difference with the current imac chip and the conroe or the merom? I'm guessing there is...if not...i'd consider purchasing now....
 
ridergroov said:
Is there a huge difference with the current imac chip and the conroe or the merom? I'm guessing there is...if not...i'd consider purchasing now....
Click to expand...

Biggest difference:
Merom and Conroe are 64 bit. Leopard is aiming to take advantage of 64 bit.
Next level:
Next Gen microarchitecture. Core 2 chips use the Intel Core microarchitecture Intel Core Duo/Core Solo chips use the Pentium M microarchitecture
Result: Core 2 is more efficient per clock and more power efficient overall.
After that:
higher clock speeds
larger L2 Cache
faster FSB (Conroe)
Merom priced same at release as Core Duo was Conroe even cheaper.
 
exabytes18 said:
I like how everything is the same (but different). I think it's time to put some xeons or maybe some itanium2s in macbooks.
Click to expand...

Well, the Xeon 5148 LV uses only 40W, and the 'laptop' line of Core 2 Duo T7000s is specced for up to 49W... (Although I believe that all of the current Core 2 Duo mobile chips are 35W parts.)

But the 20W per module for FB-DIMM memory would be the big deal-breaker. Hopefully Intel will have a DDR2-using chipset that the low voltage Xeons can use, otherwise you'll end up with the memory consuming significantly more power than the processor.

And as for an Itanium 2? Well, the lowest-power Itanium 2 uses only 75W, where the Mobile Pentium 4 uses 70W, so not too much of an increase. (The Mobile Pentium 4 was the choice 'big and heavy', desktop-replacement processor before Core Duo.)

(Yes, I know your post was in jest.)
 
My thoughts:

The new iMac will come out Sept 12.
It will be Merom.
It will be available in black (who isn't expecting this, seriously?)
(black may or may not carry an extra cost. based on Apple's current iMac lineup (17 vs 20) I'd say it would not)

It may have a (optional?) glossy screen

That is all.
 
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