The Logical Reason Why I Am Patiently Waiting For Merom (a Motivation To Those Who Ar

[donster28]

Oh my, this is just my second post, ever, in this great forum, and surprise, surprise it's another Merom Macbook/Macbook Pro rant...but wait, don't go yet...

Been reading lots of posts regarding this greatly debated issue and I can't help but point out what I think is the underlying reason why most of us are not taking the plunge to purchase a new Apple lappy (at least, consider this as my own reason why I'm holding off).

Of course, I am not going to suggest waiting if you really, really need a laptop right now...so let me get this off my system...just go out and grab a Macbook or two...now!!!...ok, that feels better.

For the rest of us, we shall wait a little longer for our beloved Core 2 Duos. And here's why:

WE ARE NOT JUST TALKING A CPU SPEED BUMP HERE-WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A MAJOR ARCHITECTURE CHANGE FROM 32-BIT TO 64-BIT:
Yes, I could have just gone out to my local Apple Store a month ago and got myself a shiny new Macbook, but I can't help but wonder that when Leopard is released at the beginning of next year, my lappy will not be fully taking advantage of the new operating system (when I say fully, I mean fully, not compatibility). For sure, I can still run Leopard when it's released, but it bothers me to think that I will be compromising a bit. Yes, quad cores are in the horizon but these are still 64-bit, not 128, and a 128-bit operating system is not even in the woodworks yet (or at least that's what I know). Yes, other faster 64-bit Intel chip are slated to appear within the next few months, but they're still 64-bit chips!

I want to have a laptop that will at least last me for a year and be able to take full advantage of the 64-bit capability of Leopard, be it features of the operating system itself or other programs that will take advantage of the added capabilities. And I believe a Merom based Macbook will get it's job done without compromise. Just check out the facts in Wikipedia or from other sites about Core Duo vs. Core 2 Duo...the differences are slight but they're worth noting.

The wait is a pain, but it will be worth it. Hold off a little bit more if you can. For those who have Macbooks and Macbook Pros right now, don't fret, you still have a great system nontheless. Just re-evaluate your options if your laptops don't run the way they should in the near future.

I currently have a Core Duo iMac at home and it runs like a charm. I also have an Athlon 64 PC. But I never, ever had an Apple laptop. Don't you think I deserve to wait for the next best thing? You too...

Thank you all for you time.

 

[chosenwolf]

Computer chips and components are changing all the time and rapidly. Before you know it, your core 2 duo macbook pro will be replaced by something better and then it also will become old technology. It's just the way the technological world works. There is always room for advancement. Sooner or later, the manafacturer will bump the specs of it's notebook/desktop line for new consumers and perhaps a new market while you will be left in the dark.

Also, during the months that you have waited or are waiting for your C2D notebook, I have been using my Macbook Pro to get a lot of work done =

That would be your opportunity cost, if you understand Economics =)

 

[donster28]

Computer chips and components are changing all the time and rapidly. Before you know it, your core 2 duo macbook pro will be replaced by something better and then it also will become old technology. It's just the way the technological world works. There is always room for advancement.

However, during the months that you have waited or are waiting for your C2D notebook, I have been using my Macbook Pro to get a lot of work done =)

I totally agree with you and I don't discount the fact that components change rapidly. But do you think there will soon be a 64-bit vs 128-bit issue? Yes, there will be, it's a foregone conclussion but it won't be happening anytime soon, or at least not until Apple decides to upgrade OSX to 128-bit.

If had the chance back then, I would have purchased a macbook too, but I opted to get an iMac. And yes it did the job for me and it still is. I only want the next best thing for my next purchase.

 

[bearbo]

i think you are mistaken, and misinformed about exactly how much merom would have affect on you in the next 1 yr, or 3.

sure merom is 64bit, and can "fully" take advantage of leopard, however, 32bit yonah can also fully take advantage of leopard, you will not only not experience any difference, there IS no difference at this point... not just compatible, yonah can use as much as leopard as merom..

only when santa rosa comes aroud can merom be full taken advantage of, before that, you dont get full advantage of merom.

and if you are gonna argue those 64bit applications... how many do you know now? by the time 50% of what you use are natively 64bit, merom is gonna be 2 yr old

it is proven that merom is not significantly better than yonah, it is no different from yonah for average computer user, you aren't getting anything more, zeelch..

from 32 to 64 is a major change, from PPC to intel is a major change, but from yonah to merom (and only from yonah to merom) is not...

most people are waiting for changes such as easily accessible hdd, and other stuff on that aspect

 

[donster28]

only when santa rosa comes aroud can merom be full taken advantage of, before that, you dont get full advantage of merom.

I guess I shouldn't have excluded Santa Rosa from the equation. If it's the next best thing for me, and if Apple decide to upgrade to Santa Rosa instead, so be it. All I'm saying is that, I want to have the next best, more capable laptop that Apple can offer to me with their Macbook line.

 

[e²Studios]

I guess I shouldn't have excluded Santa Rosa from the equation. If it's the next best thing for me, and if Apple decide to upgrade to Santa Rosa instead, so be it. All I'm saying is that, I want to have the next best, more capable laptop that Apple can offer to me with their Macbook line.

So essentially you are whining about the same thing all the other merom children are whining about in the other threads that are on the same subject matter polluting these boards?

GREAT!

now go away...

 

[ksz]

The Core 2 micro-architecture sports other advancements such as a true 128-bit vector unit, another integer unit (for a total of 4 as I recall), and "macro op fusion." On paper, the combination of 64-bit processing, an additional integer unit, and macro op fusion should lead to a 15-20% performance boost. While some benchmarks show 15% improvement, the average improvement over a number of benchmarks is a more modest 5-10%. However, it's possible that the improved vector unit could speed up applications like Photoshop CS3 (when it comes out) to a more significant degree.

 

[bearbo]

I guess I shouldn't have excluded Santa Rosa from the equation. If it's the next best thing for me, and if Apple decide to upgrade to Santa Rosa instead, so be it. All I'm saying is that, I want to have the next best, more capable laptop that Apple can offer to me with their Macbook line.

why are you starting a new thread on the most discussed/disgusted topic currently?

 

[lmalave]

I'm sorry - you're not being logical. Your time horizon is that you want your new laptop to be good for at least a year, and yet you're willing to wait *months* for a CPU upgrade? I'm sorry, that makes no sense.

I have a Core Duo MacBook, and it did not even cross my mind that I would see a perceptible UI performance difference running Leopard if only my MacBook had a Core 2 Duo. That's pure speculation and I believe that will be proven to be completely false. The UI on my MacBook is quite snappy and expect it will remain so with a Leopard upgrade. I seriously doubt I would notice any difference with a Core 2 Duo. I also expect that I'll be happy with my laptop for at least 2 or 3 more years.

And if I'm driven to upgrade, it certainly *won't* be for a new CPU!!! More likely, features like 802.11n, a new version of Bluetooth, integrated Wi-Max connectivity, or something along those lines. CPU speed is vastly overrated in my opinion. At work I use an IBM ThinkPad with something like a 1.2 GHz Pentium M, and I've never once wished I had a faster CPU. If the computer is fast enough for all my needs - why would CPU matter to me?

 

[smartalic34]

I have a feeling my current Core Duo MBP will last me all 4 years of college... granted, it might be a tad outdated by then, but my family has a 4 year old 800 MHz eMac thats still chugging along just fine... yes, it's because I'm not doing anything processor intensive, etc, but to those who don't need the power, Core Duo will definitely be adequate for years to come

 

[Warbrain]

I have a feeling my current Core Duo MBP will last me all 4 years of college... granted, it might be a tad outdated by then, but my family has a 4 year old 800 MHz eMac thats still chugging along just fine... yes, it's because I'm not doing anything processor intensive, etc, but to those who don't need the power, Core Duo will definitely be adequate for years to come

Exactly. I needed a computer for college two years ago and bought an iBook G4 that is still capable of doing what I need and will do just fine until I can upgrade to a computer that I can afford. There's no need to constantly wait for the best computer available, buy it now. You're going to go out of date at some point sooner than later...

 

[Stacc]

The windows world has had 64 bit processors for years now and there haven't been significant performance boosts due to the 64 bits. A year ago or so, Microsoft released a 64 bit version of windows and not many performance increases were seen. The ones that were seen were not much faster(maybe ~1%). Now I know that os x is not windows, but I imagine similar things will happen on os x.

The change from core duo to core duo 2 is not a major architectural change. It is merely a revision to the core duo(yonah) chip that comes with a faster bus speed and slightly faster clock speeds. If the new chip has any performance increase it will be for those reasons and some tweaking of the internals of the chip. There are many reviews around the web comparing the performance of these 2 chips.

I can understand waiting for apple to introduce a new laptop, but basing this decision on needing 64 bits doesn't make any sense.

 

[Eidorian]

http://guides.macrumors.com/Merom

 

[Garden Knowm]

The NEW MAC BOOK PROS are going to be unbelieveable....

AN AMAZING machine that will be easily distinguishable from other APPPLE LAP TOPS!!! It is not just the mermaid we are waiting for..

More GB potential, faster processor (dual processor ?) a completly new beast.. we have not been waiting 110+ days for nothing...

I have HIGH HOPES and $3500 to spend as soon as APPLE lifts the curtain!!

iloveyou

 

[Garden Knowm]

If the computer is fast enough for all my needs - why would CPU matter to me?

The same reason we wish to evolve spirtualy.
The same reason that one or even six girlfirends is not enough..
The same reason we try to beat our fastest time around the track..
cause we LOVE LIFE and our MACS..

: )

 

[IlluminatedSage]

The NEW MAC BOOK PROS are going to be unbelieveable....

AN AMAZING machine that will be easily distinguishable from other APPPLE LAP TOPS!!! It is not just the mermaid we are waiting for..

More GB potential, faster processor (dual processor ?) a completly new beast.. we have not been waiting 110+ days for nothing...

I have HIGH HOPES and $3500 to spend as soon as APPLE lifts the curtain!!

iloveyou

Oh my g-d switch to decaf!

I can only hope the new models are in a new body, with new better gpu and more.

but to be honest, if you are holding out for true 64 bit power. you need to wait a little bit longer. While the CPU core 2 duo is 64 bit. The other chips that go with it on the laptop are not. unless we are being told otherwise when it comes out. so there will be a nice performance update. but not crazy. just like 10% give or take depending on the use.

Doesnt mean anything to me, cause i will still buy one, of course hopefully it will be a killer unit. woudlnt mind it with blu-ray drive option with full HD playback. hey had to ask

 

[donster28]

It's great to know that a lot of you are not all that concerned about the Merom switch. Is it because, you already have a Macbook or a Macbook Pro? I can totally understand. I know that this has been debated here so many times and that I shouldn't be posting a new thread on this but I felt that I should voice out my opinion.

To me this is still a significant switch and no one can change my mind on that. Apple is wise and they might not tell you everything, including how certain features in a 64-bit chip might be taken advantage of in Leopard. All they can say is, yes, Leopard is backwards compatible and some of you are satisfied with that. (Again I might be wrong on this but nevertheless, it's nice to be prepared for it).

The title of my thread was cut-off and it should have read 'Motivation for those who are waiting'. I am waiting and a lot of you are too. To put it simply, I will not be forking out $1500.00 of my hard earned money for a computer that will be one-uped by another in a few weeks. I'm not a computer engineer but a consumer. To me the more features the better and knowing Apple, they might throw in a few extra perks here and there when the updated lappys do come.

Good things come to those who wait and I can attest to that in many ways. If my need changes within the next few days and I will be in need of a Macbook immediately, believe me, I'll go out and purchase one. As of this time, I think I can still wait for a few more weeks (besides, I'm already way passed the hunger pains I felt in August).

 

[atszyman]

I will not be forking out $1500.00 of my hard earned money for a computer that will be one-uped by another in a few weeks

If this is your motivation you would never buy a computer. By the time Apple releases Merom notebooks, Intel could be a couple weeks from the next big chip. For all you know IBM could come out the next day with a PPC chip that can be used by Apple that blows every other processor out of the water. Technology one-ups itself at an alarming rate. If you are always concerned about the next one-upping you'll never buy anything. I could buy a 6.0 Megapixel digital camera today for $400 and tomorrow get an 8 Megapixel for the same price. It's just the way technology works.

That being said if you don't need the computer now, go ahead and wait until you need it so you can get the best at that time. When you buy you need to be able to say to yourself that you will be happy even if something better gets released the day after you get your new toy.

 

[djkny]

The same reason we wish to evolve spirtualy.
The same reason that one or even six girlfirends is not enough..
The same reason we try to beat our fastest time around the track..
cause we LOVE LIFE and our MACS..

: )

The same reason why we insist on feeding our obsessive-compulsive disorders - yet glibly deny them -- for the sake of yet another prosaic post.

 

[bearbo]

The NEW MAC BOOK PROS are going to be unbelieveable....

AN AMAZING machine that will be easily distinguishable from other APPPLE LAP TOPS!!! It is not just the mermaid we are waiting for..

More GB potential, faster processor (dual processor ?) a completly new beast.. we have not been waiting 110+ days for nothing...

I have HIGH HOPES and $3500 to spend as soon as APPLE lifts the curtain!!

iloveyou

i seriously hope you are just kidding...

about the whole post, and about mermaid...

more GB potential? more GB in what... memory? harddrive? your oven?
... and more

unbelievable

but I felt that I should voice out my opinion.

you could have voiced your opinion in one of those massive produced, already existed, beated to death threads

The title of my thread was cut-off and it should have read 'Motivation for those who are waiting'. I am waiting and a lot of you are too. To put it simply, I will not be forking out $1500.00 of my hard earned money for a computer that will be one-uped by another in a few weeks. I'm not a computer engineer but a consumer. To me the more features the better and knowing Apple, they might throw in a few extra perks here and there when the updated lappys do come.

nothing will come out in a few weeks, relax. and provided you are a consumer, mind i say, average consumer? you will not have ANY gain from merom than yonah... maybe your ego, but that's it... leopard will be as fast on merom as it is on yonah... it's not just backward compatible with 32bit, it's fully compatible with 32bit.

when imac became c2d, what extra feature was there, aside from a 24"? you dont know apple.

 

[miles01110]

What a stupid post.

The main advantage to 64-bit architecture is the ability to address >4 GB of memory. If you need more than 4 GB of memory in your Macbook or Macbook Pro, then you have the wrong computer to begin with.

 

[Radioman]

I am pretty happy with my G4 PB to be honest, though it's a bit slow on some apps. I am indeed going to buy an MBP, I have been waiting for a rev, but rahter than increased speed (welcome though it would be) I am looking for other upgrades such as increased HDD size. I am sure when merom appears in MBP it won't just be a processor change if I know Apple... Untill then I'll carry on happily with my 10 month old technology

 

[tedster]

Waiting to switch

I have been a lifelong windows users. I have been a software developer on the windows platform. My organization uses all windows machines. But... I am making the switch. I am sick of windows issues and I hope I won't be disappointed.

I am influenced some by my iPod - which I love. My only complaint was that I purchased it about six weeks before the Video iPods came out. So.... I felt I got stuck a bit - not Apple's fault, of course. I didn't know about sites like macrumors which were tracking the life cycles of Apple products.

So...

I am waiting because I don't want that feeling that I just bought the last generation. This is something new to me - in the windows world there are so many choices and options that I never felt this way before.

 

[xJulianx]

The main advantage to 64-bit architecture is the ability to address >4 GB of memory. If you need more than 4 GB of memory in your Macbook or Macbook Pro, then you have the wrong computer to begin with.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[meepm00pmeep]

there isn't much significance on having a 64-bit cpu if you're not going to be using it fully anyhow, sure Leopard is 64-bit but it won't be amazingly different from 32-bit, and most software won't be made in 64-bit for a couple years anyhow...