Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New iMacs vs "real Montevina"

A

aki

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 2, 2004
688
0
Japan
...there is an older post but now that the new iMac is out i wanted to ask advice again...i have an oooold G5 imac and want to upgrade

from what i read in forums it seems like in the case of the iMac, this current penryn with faster FSB etc will not actually be very different from a laterthisyear montevina iMac...i read that many montevina pluses wont affect iMac much

i dont know about montevina well but is this true?? the only real different i can read about is that this current iMac uses more power/runs hotter......is there anything else i need to think of??

thanks for the advice!!!
 
as i understand it, the new imacs already have the same specs that are expected from the montevina. so if you're concerned about the speed/specs then the new imacs are fine for you..
 
The two benefits Montevina brings to the iMac today is the 1066MHz FSB and 800MHz memory bus, both of which are in the "Santa Rosa Special" systemboard in the new iMacs.

There is no reason to wait for Montevina's to formally ship in an iMac, IMO, unless you want a quad-core CPU, and even that might work in the "SRS" when Apple decides to make it available.
 
ok thanks this is what i thought

not same topic but, i wonder what the 8800gs 512 card really is??i thought 8800gs wasnt a 512mb....is it another special card made for apple??
 
Marketing will always manipulate the present: Right now you're hearing "The new Penryn 24inch iMacs are basically the same as Montevina are going to be".

Well, it's no coincidence that Penryn is all we have for now and that that statement helps sell new penryn iMacs.

I have no facts or bench marks but I can assure you when the Montevina iMacs do arrive, much more will be made of the difference in the two processors than Apple wants to convery for now; and perhaps more difference than consumers can know for now without side by side benching.

In other words, these little bumps and upgrades work well for the Apple/Intel relationship, and more upgrades mean more "gota have it geeks" will buy. Great for Apple, but not quite as good for consumers. I'd wait for a true Montevina if possible but yeah, it's a long wait. August at soonest, Jan 09 by latest.
 
There will always be upgrades in any 9-12 month period. I've just retired my old G5 for this latest updated iMac. If you're running an old machine this is as good a time as any to upgrade. When the new Montevina or whatever machines come out at the end of the year or early next year I won't even notice, because it will be 3 years before I look to my next upgrade.

On the other hand if I already had a 2007 alu iMac I certainly wouldn't upgrade it now or even with the next upgrade.

My strategy with iMacs is to upgrade on a 3 year cycle. If when I come to upgrade there is a new update imminent, I hang on for it. But nothing more than that. I've waited a couple of months for this update, which I think was worthwhile. I don't think waiting another 9 months for a Montevina badge makes any sense at all.
 
In other words, aki, you'll hear a lot of "They're just as good" but ask guys on this forum if they'd rather have a Montevina-immitation or an actual Montevina.

As always, it's all speculation until Montevina actually arrives in the imac.

P.S. The point I make has nothing to do if the wait is worth it or not, I'm purely speaking about the notion that "Penryn is just as good". If it is or not can only really be known once we have te Montevina iMacs
 
Personally, I don't see myself upgrading from my white 24" iMac anytime soon. This thing is plenty for me for the next two years easy.
 
Before this latest iMac update, the Montevina fanboys were not expecting the "Penryn" update to include the faster "Montevina" BUS speeds. Now that it does, it kind of deflates the sails of the Montevina ship a little. I'm sure the next update will bring worthwhile benefits, as will the update after that, and so on. But right now, this is the best iMac there is and will be for the next 9 months or so. The eventual "Montevina" update will not be a valid reason to upgrade from these current machines either.
 
The biggest difference will be TDP. The new stuff will lower it allowing for faster CPUs and/or more cores. Supposedly the current TDP is 55W which is only 10W from the desktop TDP. Apple definitely won't be able to do quad core with thermals like that (if they could they would have used the desktop parts instead of the mobile ones).

For the time being though, I wouldn't worry about it. the current iMacs are as fast as it gets (using mobile components). Really the next step should be more cores, but we will see what Apple does.
 
thanks for all the good advice!! i think i will just buy this iMac then...i cant wait so long
 
KGB said:
Marketing will always manipulate the present: Right now you're hearing "The new Penryn 24inch iMacs are basically the same as Montevina are going to be".
Click to expand...
Both Santa Rosa and Montevina chipsets will use Penryn processors.
 
since the imac uses mobile parts (processor, graphics chip, 2.5" HD, laptop memory), does it mean that i'll get less performance than a similar spec'd desktop pc?
 
kockgunner said:
since the imac uses mobile parts (processor, graphics chip, 2.5" HD, laptop memory), does it mean that i'll get less performance than a similar spec'd desktop pc?
Click to expand...
iMacs don't use 2.5" HDD and generally outperform equally spec'd PC's
 
The new iMacs use a spruced up Santa Rosa with Montevina Specs. The advantage of Montevina is that it will be capable of the future mobile quad intel is planning to release and IF (most likely at apple's pace as of now) they come to the iMacs. Otherwise, they are the same thing, the new imacs look sick for a modest update, me myself i am running the previous 2.8ghz imac, i have no complaints, i can do some intensive stuff with fans below 1500RPM, but i have heard reports that the 3.06ghz imac fans can go up to 2000RPM at just basic use.
 
bluedoggiant said:
The new iMacs use a spruced up Santa Rosa with Montevina Specs. The advantage of Montevina is that it will be capable of the future mobile quad intel is planning to release and IF (most likely at apple's pace as of now) they come to the iMacs. Otherwise, they are the same thing, the new imacs look sick for a modest update, me myself i am running the previous 2.8ghz imac, i have no complaints, i can do some intensive stuff with fans below 1500RPM, but i have heard reports that the 3.06ghz imac fans can go up to 2000RPM at just basic use.
Click to expand...

I just did a hourly render with Vue 6 using it's full dual cores.
Fans were dead silent till about 25minutes of the session. Then they kicked in to keep the system at +/- 68 degrees Celsius and were running at +/-2600 rpm for the rest 40 minutes of the session. I thought the 3.06 will go circa 80 degrees celsius while operating on full capacity for over 1 hour yet the machine never went past 69.

I think this is awesome.

During my regular work (iTunes, Safari, Mail and Photoshop) they never go above 1400rpm. If not the fact that I have smcFanControll installed I wouldn't even notice they are accelerating.
 
The 3.06 ghz 24" performance is really close to the 2.8 ghz 8 core macpro. performance obviously is not a concern. Since your thinking about a iMac you have to realize that you cant really upgrade any part of it unlike the macpro so thats something you should think about

if you haven't upgraded anything in your current power mac then an iMac should be fine.
 
D4F thanku for the information about heat!!!...i do a lot of video and render work and my g5 gets very hot and i havent had problems but i always am worrying it....so its very good to know the 3.06 is a safe to buy

...sooooooo any1 wanna buy a g5 revb imac??hehehe
 
I don't think the 3.06 GHz machine will have any real heat issues. All the threads on this heat "issue" seem to be perpetuated by 2.8 GHz owners, presumably trying to feel a bit better about not having the fastest machine anymore ;)

When there are reports of actual machines over-heating, I'll start taking notice. So far I've heard of no such thing.
 
diamond.g said:
The biggest difference will be TDP. The new stuff will lower it allowing for faster CPUs and/or more cores. Supposedly the current TDP is 55W which is only 10W from the desktop TDP. Apple definitely won't be able to do quad core with thermals like that (if they could they would have used the desktop parts instead of the mobile ones).
Click to expand...
the quad core, 45w TDP and 2.5GHz mobile intel qx9300 may enter the scene in september. I would be surprised if we do not see a variant of that in an imac in early september. a 2.6-2.7ghz qx9300 could possibly fit the same TDP as the current 3.06ghz.
 
....i ordered the 3.06 coming this weekend yaaaaaaaay...i wonder how different the change from the g5 will be

now i just need video driver for 8800gs for vista64 mmmm...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back