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biggnoggin

macrumors member
Aug 2, 2010
41
0
you mean when i said this?
if this is what you're referring to, i'm just guessing that apple might underclock the GPU on the 11 inch to save power. i dunno.

So then the SAVINGS of 5w is a guess?? The point I'm making is I can show you that it only uses 16w of power and you are guessing that it is overclocked so facts over rule guess or logic.
 

FusionZero

macrumors newbie
Jul 7, 2011
15
0
Speed is all relative though, isn't it? I mean we can argue overall numbers all day, but.

Speed is not relegated simply to the processor, but also to the memory, disk, and graphics.

When you start talking about speed increases, it's important to also look at the rumored (yes that evil word) updates to the SSD that resulted in huge gains in speed for reads/writes in the system.

As for this belief that somehow a faster processor will result in a 30 minute battery life, I'm confused. I'm not sure where you get that data.
 

57004

Cancelled
Aug 18, 2005
1,022
341

I really hope they'll use those i5's or i7's but I'm really worried they'll decide on using this one for the 11":

http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=54624

It's an i3 1.33Ghz, without Turbo Boost (so no acceleration of single core apps) and no AES-NI (so more CPU usage when using FileVault).

If they go for this one (Like Samsung did with their updated series 9) I really hope there's going to be at least an i5 upgrade.
 
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42streetsdown

macrumors 6502a
Feb 12, 2011
655
3
Gallifrey, 5124
So then the SAVINGS of 5w is a guess?? The point I'm making is I can show you that it only uses 16w of power and you are guessing that it is overclocked so facts over rule guess or logic.

First, i never said overclocked i said UNDERclocked, and I was talking about Apple saving power in the current 11 inch model.

Second, no one knows the actual power consumption of the 320M, but most people assume it's power needs are similar to that of it's predecessor the 9400M. And the 9400M has a known TDP of 12 watts. My conclusion that the current 11 inch Air uses 20-22 watts (10W CPU + 10-12W GPU) is perfectly logical.

You can show us that the total TDP of the current eleven inch is 16 watts? I'd like to see a source on that.
 
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biggnoggin

macrumors member
Aug 2, 2010
41
0
First, i never said overclocked i said UNDERclocked, and I was talking about Apple saving power in the current 11 inch model.

Second, no one knows the actual power consumption of the 320M, but most people assume it's power needs are similar to that of it's predecessor the 9400M. And the 9400M has a know TDP of 12 watts. My conclusion that the current 11 inch Air uses 20-22 watts (10W CPU + 10-12W GPU) is perfectly logical.

You can show us that the total TDP of the current eleven inch is 16 watts? I'd like to see a source on that.

My mistake I did mis-read that, however TDP and if I read this correctly is for cooling not consumption. and I can't prove 16w because frankly I really don't want to sit down and try it. I'm simply pointing out that just because the i series processors have integrated GPU's doesn't mean they run cooler than the current MBA and I wouldn't be surprised if they ran hotter.
 

42streetsdown

macrumors 6502a
Feb 12, 2011
655
3
Gallifrey, 5124
My mistake I did mis-read that, however TDP and if I read this correctly is for cooling not consumption. and I can't prove 16w because frankly I really don't want to sit down and try it. I'm simply pointing out that just because the i series processors have integrated GPU's doesn't mean they run cooler than the current MBA and I wouldn't be surprised if they ran hotter.

TDP is how much power the chip is designed to use without exceeding thermal limits. It's a pretty safe bet that if the current MBA and the upcoming MBA have similar TDPs they will have similar thermal outputs.
They might run hotter at the same TDP because the CPU and GPU are right on top of each other so the thermal distribution might be different, but the the TDP of the upcoming one being lower could compensate for that.

I don't think that we'll be seeing much change in the temperature. You'll burn your lap as much with the updated versions as you do now.
 

pil0tflame

macrumors member
Apr 19, 2011
62
0
London, Ontario
TDP is how much power the chip is designed to use without exceeding thermal limits.
...

This is incorrect, though a common misunderstanding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_design_power: "The thermal design power (TDP) refers to the maximum amount of power the cooling system in a computer is required to dissipate."

IE: The typical amount of heat energy that a processor produces when running.

If the Wikipedia article isn't reliable enough for you:
http://www.cpu-world.com/Glossary/T/Thermal_Design_Power_(TDP).html
http://compreviews.about.com/od/PC-Gaming/a/What-is-TDP.htm
http://www.answers.com/topic/tdp-biochemistry
 

ebolamonkey3

macrumors regular
Apr 9, 2011
131
0
Boston
Here's what I figure, for the 11", it'll have that low voltage i3 2357m as the base model, upgradeable to the i5 2557m.

Then for the 13", it'll go from the i5 2557m upgradeable to the i7 2677m.

SSD size will probably stay the same, though I've heard rumors of the new MBA using 19nm SSDs that are faster.

I don't expect RAM amount to change, but it would be very nice if Apple included 4gb as the minimum.

Otherwise I don't expect much changes, and probably no backlit keyboard.
 

57004

Cancelled
Aug 18, 2005
1,022
341
This is incorrect, though a common misunderstanding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_design_power: "The thermal design power (TDP) refers to the maximum amount of power the cooling system in a computer is required to dissipate."

IE: The typical amount of heat energy that a processor produces when running.

Not the typical amount, the maximum amount. It even says it in your own quote :)

This means that the amount of heat may well be below that. It just determines the absolute maximum that enclosure designers should budget for in terms of cooling. Especially when a range of CPUs have the same TDP (and same design), it means that the lower-clocked CPUs are probably below their TDP because they're running the same core, only slower.

And in a CPU the amount of heat (in Watts) is the exact same as the power drain in Watts. Since the heat energy has to come from somewhere and there is no other energy emanating from the CPU (it doesn't move stuff, or emit light).
 

endhalf

macrumors regular
May 24, 2011
106
0
This guy seems like a bad troll to me. Saying C2D ULV has only 10W TDP and Core i5 has 17W TDP while not mention that with that 17W you have also GPU seems like bad joke. His attitude is just wrong... Well, another waste of time in meaningless topic.
 

da3dl3us

macrumors member
Jul 27, 2010
69
0
I'm totally new to the mac world, so is this normal for apple to not have any notice before a new revision comes out? Why aren't they publicizing this and letting people know the new one is coming out on such and such date, so stay tuned? :confused:
 

xkmxkmxlmx

macrumors 6502a
Apr 28, 2011
885
113
I'm totally new to the mac world, so is this normal for apple to not have any notice before a new revision comes out? Why aren't they publicizing this and letting people know the new one is coming out on such and such date, so stay tuned? :confused:

It is normal, yes. They usually announce the day of it being available. Although, random releases are sometimes announced a week or two before (iPad 2, for instance).

They don't announce it before because they want to get rid of all stock of the previous models as far into the cycle as possible. So they basically don't have to eat a bunch of older models. Simple, really.
 

bp1000

macrumors 65832
Jul 7, 2011
1,502
249
I like the hysteria it creates, i love their marketing strategy

I'm new to apple too and will be buying the MBA if it comes out on the 14th.

Never checked google news, twitter and the gadget sites as much as this in my life.

Also like the fact that they launch most products in all/most markets on the same day. I certainly hope the UK gets the MBA on the 14th, the same as the U.S.
 

Young Spade

macrumors 68020
Mar 31, 2011
2,156
3
Tallahassee, Florida
I'm totally new to the mac world, so is this normal for apple to not have any notice before a new revision comes out? Why aren't they publicizing this and letting people know the new one is coming out on such and such date, so stay tuned? :confused:

They're a company, they try to sell as many computers as possible. Just like with any company that knows what they're doing, you can't announce new items until a week at most before it comes out. If I know a new MBA is coming, I won't go and buy an old one. Multiply that by a few hundred thousand and you have a very large pile of unbought items because you spilled the beans too early.

They're going to try and sell as many MBAs as they can before coming out with the new ones. When they do, the number will be relatively small and they'll sell them as refurbs for cheap.
 

paolo-

macrumors 6502a
Aug 24, 2008
831
1
Yes but my point is that even if that is true then unless the CPU is the bottleneck (which not even the people arguing against my points have tried to claim) *and* it remains the bottleneck when you double its performance (ie you don't just move the bottleneck to somewhere else) then you won't see a doubling of performance of the MBA just by doubling the power of the cpu.

In actual fact the bottlenecks in modern machines are pretty much anywhere *except* the cpu.

As a machine, even if the guesses being thrown around are true, you won't see anything like a doubling of performance. I wouldn't be surprised if the difference is barely noticeable.

I don't see what the bottleneck would be then? I actually just want to know, it seems counter intuitive to me. On my 2.0 GHz C2D macbook, the bottleneck seems to be the CPU. Usually the CPU goes to 100% and I have plenty of ram left and the HDD isn't too busy either.

On the MBA, the bottleneck surely doesn't come from the HDD (other than if you spend your time moving huge files around). Unless you're playing games, it probably isn't the graphics card. Then this leaves the RAM, or the front side bus frequency. On the 11", the FSB is at 800MHz, 1066MHz for the 13". I guess that could be it, but considering the 11"'s CPU is running at 1.4GHz, it doesn't seem too bad.

My idea of the MBA is it's a snappy computer that chokes up as soon as you throw anything processor intensive at it. I guess for the average user, the "performance" they perceive has to do with how fast apps open, how many apps you can have open with the computer running okay. Obviously this has to do with the HDD, and for many users, WiFi speed probably has a lot to do with the perceived performance of a computer. But as soon as you start using something processor intensive like Photoshop, Logic, HandBrake (okay maybe not handbrake on a MBA), once the program is loaded it's the CPU that's going to give before anything.

I guess the perceived performance depends on what you do with your computer. In my case, I know the CPU is the bottleneck.
 

bp1000

macrumors 65832
Jul 7, 2011
1,502
249
I think if you constantly find yourself with the dilemma of a choked CPU at 100% you made the wrong decision when buying the MBA.

To choke a sandybridge CPU you are perhaps looking at tasks like video editing, RAW Photo processing/graphics/3d modelling for example. In which case an upgraded MBP for mobile computing or iMac would have been a much wiser purchase.

I am a fairly average user, browsing, mail, docs, skype, coding, low level graphics and very occasional burning of AVCHD to blueray. That last task does mean a more stressed CPU and slow time to process but i can live with that compromise in favour of the ultra portability, design, feel and good battery.

However, normal apps that use little or no CPU open at lightening speed anyway because of the SSD.
 

nebulos

macrumors 6502a
Aug 27, 2010
555
0
I think if you constantly find yourself with the dilemma of a choked CPU at 100% you made the wrong decision when buying the MBA.

you may have misread. previous poster has a (white/black) MB.

... by the way, i think 100% in Activity Monitor might mean half CPU power on a dual core CPU. true/false?


To choke a sandybridge CPU you are perhaps looking at tasks like video editing, RAW Photo processing/graphics/3d modelling for example.

there are many different kinds of Sandy Bridge CPUs. i don't think it necessarily takes all that to stress a ULV SB CPUs, for example, which might perform closer to moderately fast pre-core i C2Ds. (happy to be corrected!)
 

Abyssgh0st

macrumors 68000
Jan 12, 2009
1,888
9
Colorado
Honestly I don't think you know much about computers, or at least Intel processors. It is basically guaranteed that the new MBAs will have an i7, and the speculation has always been that they'll have either an i5 or i7. Just because it has an 'i7' does not mean it is equivalent to an MBP processor with a totally different chip and architecture, let alone clock speed. I encourage you to research more.
 

paolo-

macrumors 6502a
Aug 24, 2008
831
1
"With up to twice the performance of the previous generation, flash storage for instant-on responsiveness and a compact design so portable you can take it everywhere,* the MacBook Air starts at $999 (US) and is available for order today and in stores tomorrow. "

I'm just going to leave this here. ;)
 
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