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

[ironjaw]

I don't even care about the 64bit architecture. All I care about is that my iBook 12" G4 800Mhz is still alive and working well albeit a bit slow in some apps.

My next upgrade will be when Apple release leoperd then I'll buy a new Mac.

As already reiterated, I could be tempted for future options such as larger HD capacities, features like 802.11n, a new version of Bluetooth, integrated Wi-Max connectivity, Beem-me-up Scotty interface, Anti-aging vision enhancers, Accelerated Porn Downloads, Time Travel capsules, Get-Laid-Everyday Modules.

 

[donster28]

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.

I guess I'm not alone on this after all.

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

Read.. http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6032965.html.

 

[meepm00pmeep]

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 granted, it might be a tad outdated by then, but my family has a 4 year old 800 MHz eMac thats still chugging along just fine...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

my sentiments EXACTLY, that's why i didn't wait for Rev.2 MBP and got my MBP a couple weeks ago... i looked at what i needed. I don't need 64-bit. and it will be years before it becomes the standard architeture.

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

my sentiments EXACTLY, that's why i didn't wait for Rev.2 MBP and got my MBP a couple weeks ago... i looked at what i needed. I don't need 64-bit. and it will be years before it becomes the standard architeture.

You make a good point. Think of it this way as well, santa rosa is due out in the second quarter of next year. Ok great. But thats when intel releases them. How long until you can actually buy a laptop from apple with santa rosa installed? My guess is the end of 2007 or early 2008. My speculation is based on apples history. How long ago did intel release merom chips? Its been months and we still havnt seen them in apples laptops. Anyone care to join in?

 

[ksz]

I think a lot of the responses here are mostly reactionary. The OP says:

"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."

The OP can wait as can I. I have a G4 PowerBook that was purchased in October 2003 so I can continue to use it for a while longer. Adobe's applications are still not Universal, and this is keeping me from justifying an upgrade. I use the Mac version of Photoshop CS, which I know will perform half as well even on the best Intel Mac.

I would really really like to have a faster Macintosh, but I do not need one right now. Yonah was a short-term chip that has been replaced by the Core 2 microarchitecture. This is the principal Intel architecture at this time and it is more than just 64-bit as I mentioned in my previous post in this thread.

The OP's mistake is in justifying the wait for Merom purely on the basis of 64-bit computing, which I agree is a complete non-event for laptops. Merom (like all Core 2 processors) also has:

1. True 128-bit vector processing. I expect the new Photoshop to take advantage of this.

2. Four integer units for greater parallelism.

3. Macro Op fusion for a little extra boost for common combinations of assembly instructions.

For a person who has the option to wait for two or three months, it seems Merom is the more logical choice (even if they don't use Adobe apps). The latest and greatest will generally be the more logical choice, so I think the OP is simply one of many who are holding out for one more revision because that revision is imminent. After all, the chip is already out so why buy yesterday's processor (if you can wait, of course)?

 

[meepm00pmeep]

You make a good point. Think of it this way as well, santa rosa is due out in the second quarter of next year. Ok great. But thats when intel releases them. How long until you can actually buy a laptop from apple with santa rosa installed? My guess is the end of 2007 or early 2008. My speculation is based on apples history. How long ago did intel release merom chips? Its been months and we still havnt seen them in apples laptops. Anyone care to join in?

yup, and if anyone is eagerly waiting for C2D, why not wait it out even longer since we all know Santa Rosa is coming... people really need to sit down and really think about their NEEDS opposed to their WANT of newer tech. I bet 99% of the people waiting for C2D don't even need or will utilize 64-bit or whatever it will come with... but yet, they impatiently wait for it... it's silly, i think.

 

[MacManTexas56]

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

1gb ram standard. new faster chip....maybe a $200 price drop on the 20inch and a $100 price drop on the 17inch? Heck even an imac priced at below $1000 too. Updates may not be big to some people but to other's it is. I see what the OP is saying...why should he spend $2,000 now when potentially that same MBP could be dropped in price with better features in the next upgrade that is definitely coming soon........

 

[e²Studios]

1gb ram standard. new faster chip....maybe a $200 price drop on the 20inch and a $100 price drop on the 17inch? Heck even an imac priced at below $1000 too. Updates may not be big to some people but to other's it is. I see what the OP is saying...why should he spend $2,000 now when potentially that same MBP could be dropped in price with better features in the next upgrade that is definitely coming soon........

Yea cause there was such a huge pricedrop between the last PB G4 models and the current models right?

You're right its definitely coming soon, but everything is coming soon, including a home supercomuter and teleporters.. Maybe you should hold out for the 8 core MBP's i mean logically that makes much more sesnse

Not sure where all these people are getting their numbers, its amazing the crap people think up/ASSume when they are waiting for a product that chances are the current model would do just fine for them. I guess they need more ego boosts, to each their own.

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

Yea cause there was such a huge pricedrop between the last PB G4 models and the current models right?

You're right its definitely coming soon, but everything is coming soon, including a home supercomuter and teleporters.. Maybe you should hold out for the 8 core MBP's i mean logically that makes much more sesnse

Not sure where all these people are getting their numbers, its amazing the crap people think up/ASSume when they are waiting for a product that chances are the current model would do just fine for them. I guess they need more ego boosts, to each their own.

There are plenty of facts here. If you want sources i think i can speak for the others when i say we will gladly supply them.

 

[ksz]

Not sure where all these people are getting their numbers, its amazing the crap people think up/ASSume when they are waiting for a product that chances are the current model would do just fine for them. I guess they need more ego boosts, to each their own.

Sorry but I simply don't understand thoughtless posts like these. Do you have a MBP? Did you wait until that model came out? Why did you wait? Today, the Merom chip is already on the market; there is no if-and-or-but about this. The chip is already here and it's in the new iMac and Mac mini. Would you buy today's iMac with the Merom chip over yesterday's iMac with the Yonah even if the older iMac was a bit cheaper? The Yonah iMac will do everything for you so why bother with the higher price of the Merom iMac?

Similarly, the Merom MacBook/Pro should be released soon, perhaps with 2 months. Those of us who can wait are going to wait.

 

[donster28]

It's easy to say that I might be insane to wait for the next Macbook revision (whether with a cpu change to Merom or other changes). I myself will probably have supported a handful of people here who posted against my thoughts to wait...only if I already purchased a Macbook.

Just days ago, Lenovo jumped in the Core2Duo bandwagon. They used to be the only company (along with Apple) that have not embraced Merom but with this move, I feel more and more discouraged to buy the current Macbooks. Yes you can say again that the Merom chip is not all that different but why are all these other computer companies upgrade to it otherwise? Do they just want to be 'ego trendy' just like what other people say, or are they aware of facts about the advantage of Merom now (not 3 months from now).

I also don't it get when people start bashing and claiming that this is a redundant topic and it shouldn't have been opened again. From the looks of this thread, this has opened up more insites on the issue that otherwise wouldn't have been discussed.

 

[MacManTexas56]

Yea cause there was such a huge pricedrop between the last PB G4 models and the current models right?

You're right its definitely coming soon, but everything is coming soon, including a home supercomuter and teleporters.. Maybe you should hold out for the 8 core MBP's i mean logically that makes much more sesnse

Not sure where all these people are getting their numbers, its amazing the crap people think up/ASSume when they are waiting for a product that chances are the current model would do just fine for them. I guess they need more ego boosts, to each their own.

did i say for certain that it would bring a HUGE price drop?.....i simply stated facts about what happened when the iMac went C2D. the iMac is on rev B right now so maybe rev B in a MBP or MB will bring somewhat of a price drop. Every other company has merom in their notebooks you KNOW apple is about to jump on the wagon too....so if you don't NEED the notebook right this minute why not wait until they realease MEROM then buy and you will be set. It's a matter of knowing that merom will be released in those so why buy when updates are coming if you don't need it right this minute. It's like buying a 2006 model car when 2007 model coming out in a month will have better features and be cheaper....why pay all that money when you know it's bound to happen soon. no need for you to be a jerk about it. The facts are there and you simply ignored them.

 

[FFTT]

There's nothing wrong at all with waiting for a Rev "B" machine IF.... you can afford
to hold out that long.

Personally, I think many users are overspending right now going for an MBP
as a desktop replacement when a well equipped MacBook 2.0 would cover most people's portable needs.

A MacBook will hold the average user long enough for us to see a significant improvement to the architechture.

ALL of these notesbooks are transitional machines no matter who builds them.

We won't see any major change to performance or heat issues until the 45 nm
processors are released and then we can only hope that ATI and NVidia follow
suite by reducing the size, power requirements and heat in their next generation
of mobile GPU's

I would buy very conservatively making sure your needs are covered for at least
2 years and then look at your alternatives.

 

[CaptainCaveMann]

There's nothing wrong at all with waiting for a Rev "B" machine IF.... you can afford
to hold out that long.

Personally, I think many users are overspending right now going for an MBP
as a desktop replacement when a well equipped MacBook 2.0 would cover most people's portable needs.

A MacBook will hold the average user long enough for us to see a significant improvement to the architechture.

ALL of these notesbooks are transitional machines no matter who builds them.

We won't see any major change to performance or heat issues until the 45 nm
processors are released and then we can only hope that ATI and NVidia follow
suite by reducing the size, power requirements and heat in their next generation
of mobile GPU's

I would buy very conservatively making sure your needs are covered for at least
2 years and then look at your alternatives.

I think its important to note that apple is on rev. d as far as the mbp logic board goes. Also the processor has been updated at least once so far. So saying were waiting for revision b doesnt make much sense to me. If you can explain to me why the next mbp is technically rev. b, please do.

Source: http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/04/04/macbook.pro.issues.solved/

 

[stefan15]

You cannot run 64-bit programs on a 32-bit machine.
You CAN run 32-bit programs on a 64-bit machine (there is no way Leopard won't have backwards compaitibility; ie comparable to WOW64)

So, you are futureproofing yourself considerably by waiting for 64-bit. Since eventually, many years down the road, there won't be any 32-bit software being written.

 

[Apple Corps]

ksz - did I misread your post "the Merom chip is already on the market; there is no if-and-or-but about this. The chip is already here and it's in the new iMac and Mac mini" ?

When did Apple put the Merom in the mini?

 

[ksz]

ksz - did I misread your post "the Merom chip is already on the market; there is no if-and-or-but about this. The chip is already here and it's in the new iMac and Mac mini" ?

You didn't misread...I made a mistake. Thanks for correcting me.

 

[YS2003]

Is there a possibility Apple will make its own platform (with 800Mhz frontside bus) for its Core2Duo equipped MBP/MB, instead of going along with Intel's? If that is the case, Apple's next updates on MBP/MB do not wait for Intel's release of Santa Rosa platform.

 

[ksz]

^^^ This is certainly possible for Apple, but unlikely for the foreseeable future. Apple can provide inputs to Intel, but because Apple is advertising the ability to run Windows on Intel Macs, they would want to avoid the use of proprietary components for which they would need to develop and maintain Windows drivers. Apple can also benefit from Intel's economies of scale that come with huge volumes subsidized by the entire PC market. As long as Intel (or nVidia or anyone else) continues to develop chipsets that remain at the leading edge of technology and meet Apple's wishes, there would be no reason to develop proprietary platforms. Apple can always build innovations on top of the base hardware.

 

[donster28]

Core2Duo Macbook pros out today! Hmmm...now I'm torn: should I get a Macbook Pro or keep waiting for a Macbook?

 

[Shadow]

You don't need to wait any more!

 

[donster28]

You don't need to wait any more!

I think ur right...with higher HD capacity, 1GB ram, how can I pass this up? I am heading to an Apple Store tomorrow night and will grab one of these suckers. I hope they won't have a ton of people waiting in line hehehe...

 

[lmalave]

Sorry but I simply don't understand thoughtless posts like these. Do you have a MBP? Did you wait until that model came out? Why did you wait? Today, the Merom chip is already on the market; there is no if-and-or-but about this. The chip is already here and it's in the new iMac and Mac mini. Would you buy today's iMac with the Merom chip over yesterday's iMac with the Yonah even if the older iMac was a bit cheaper?

Two points:

You CANNOT compare the PPC/Intel switch to a CPU bump, even if it a change to 64 bits. The PPC/Intel switch had IMMEDIATE ramifications in terms of software compatibility, etc. Whereas 64-bit software isn't really a factor now and won't be for the foreseeable future. So, for example, I definitely would not have purchased an iBook knowing that Intel MacBooks were coming soon. But when the MacBooks came out, I bought one immediately, and my purchase decision would not have been delayed because of some future expected 64-bit chip.

As to your second question: **YES**, I *would* buy a cheaper Core Duo MacBook even if a Core 2 Duo model was already available. In fact, I'm hoping even after Apple upgrades the MacBooks to Core 2 Duo, they will keep a Core Duo base model for $999. That's the model I would buy, and that's the model I would recommend to all my friends (who are casual/home users like me).

 

[ksz]

Two points:

You CANNOT compare the PPC/Intel switch to a CPU bump, even if it a change to 64 bits. The PPC/Intel switch had IMMEDIATE ramifications in terms of software compatibility, etc. Whereas 64-bit software isn't really a factor now and won't be for the foreseeable future. So, for example, I definitely would not have purchased an iBook knowing that Intel MacBooks were coming soon. But when the MacBooks came out, I bought one immediately, and my purchase decision would not have been delayed because of some future expected 64-bit chip.

Maybe so, but not absolutely true. Even prior to the switch to Intel Macs people on this board were arguing that if you need a computer now, buy it now...Intel or no Intel. All the software you want to run was native on the PPC platform and Universal Binaries would ensure that PPC-native software would continue to be produced for years to come. Further, people cautioned buyers from purchasing the first-generation Intel Macs.

As to your second question: **YES**, I *would* buy a cheaper Core Duo MacBook even if a Core 2 Duo model was already available. In fact, I'm hoping even after Apple upgrades the MacBooks to Core 2 Duo, they will keep a Core Duo base model for $999. That's the model I would buy, and that's the model I would recommend to all my friends (who are casual/home users like me).

For some this is a perfectly good choice to make, but not for others. Given a choice between today's C2D iMac and yesterday's Yonah iMac, I would buy today's C2D iMac without hesitation even if it meant $200 or $300 more. Different strokes.


Anyway, I'm glad I waited. I was expecting an update in 2-3 months given rumors about shortages of the C2D from Intel. Apple claims the new MBPs are up to 39% faster. I take that with a big grain of salt, but if the benchmarks show even 20% improvement, that's really not bad. More than just 64-bits, I'd say.