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Wait for Penryn or Montevina?

D

dunni

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 8, 2008
32
12
I am buying my first mac soon and I was waiting for the Penryn update which seems to be coming soon. I was wondering if I should buy the Penryn update or wait for Montevina which I estimate will make its premier at WWDC in June. I don't necessarily need the computer right away.

If it helps, I am a designer and work primarily in After Effects and subsequently, the rest Adobe Suite.
 
I'm in a similar situation.
I go crazy at my PC at the moment as its so terrible and I need a replacement, the iMac will be it.
I want to buy ideally between now and June, so its all a gamble as to whether they do do an update around June for Montevina or not, thats what it all comes down to.
If I get a Penryn iMac in June, I'd far rather have it now if its the same machine (now as in the speculated soon update), but wether its worth waiting depends on how likely another update in June is.
I'm in two minds as it would be very soon after another update, but yet people here seem convinced that the iMac must become based on the Montevina processors as soon as they come out (I don't know why, but assume there is some reasoning behind that). Plus the 10th anniversary in early august and an apparently book WWDC in June all suggest its possible.
I really really would want the iMac as soon as its updated if its the same one I would get in summer, but would hate to get one now only to have it updated in summer anyway.
However, unless the current one provides a significant update, which I doubt, I expect I'll wait to be on the safe side, and just live with my pathetic excuse for a PC.
 
Well if you want to wait for June and the potential re-design, then you might want to wait til November when they will probably update the new design to fix all the problems that normally come along with new Mac designs. And by November it will probably be due for a speed increase so if you can wait another month or two there will be new processors. And so forth.

I am personally waiting for Penryn updates to by... Myself, I avoid the initial release of design updates because you end up beta testing for Apple. (That's not to say new designs are bad, the problems always get quickly addressed and 99% of the time the upgrades are worthwhile... but I know I like the design and features of the current iMac, it's not worth my while to gamble with whatever they will add to the next generation.)
 
MatWith1T said:
Well if you want to wait for June and the potential re-design, then you might want to wait til November when they will probably update the new design to fix all the problems that normally come along with new Mac designs. And by November it will probably be due for a speed increase so if you can wait another month or two there will be new processors. And so forth.

I am personally waiting for Penryn updates to by... Myself, I avoid the initial release of design updates because you end up beta testing for Apple. (That's not to say new designs are bad, the problems always get quickly addressed and 99% of the time the upgrades are worthwhile... but I know I like the design and features of the current iMac, it's not worth my while to gamble with whatever they will add to the next generation.)
Click to expand...

No redesign.
 
If the iMacs get updated to Penryn shortly, as every indicator points to, I highly doubt the Montevina upgrade will come to the iMac in June. As Apple usually operates, the Macbook Pro will get the Montevina upgrades before the iMac and Macbooks.

So, if you need the machine, might as well go with the Penryn upgrade when it happens. ymwv :)
 
It seems like it almost a sure thing the iMacs get updated soon so I would wait a few weeks. Other than that you can wait forever if you want. There's always something better around the corner.
 
FatSweatyBlldog said:
If the iMacs get updated to Penryn shortly, as every indicator points to, I highly doubt the Montevina upgrade will come to the iMac in June. As Apple usually operates, the Mac Pro and Macbook Pro will get the Montevina upgrades before the iMac and Macbooks.

So, if you need the machine, might as well go with the Penryn upgrade when it happens. ymwv :)
Click to expand...

Mac Pro uses santa rosa now??? I thought they use their own thing.
 
dunni said:
I am buying my first mac soon and I was waiting for the Penryn update which seems to be coming soon. I was wondering if I should buy the Penryn update or wait for Montevina which I estimate will make its premier at WWDC in June.
Click to expand...

I actually would prefer Apple not update the iMac with the Penryn processor in the next few weeks. The speed boost is minimal compared to the benefits of the higher speed bus in Montevina and hardware support for decoding high definition video. The way I see it, an upgraded iMac now would only mean Montevina delayed till the Fall. Apple typically doesn't make processor updates only to change other hardware three months later.
 
I agree, I would rather have no Penryn update and wait for a June-ish release of Montevina. Penryn offers no significant update. It is just Intel forcing Apple to put out their chip even though a new one is coming soon.
 
I think the timeframe will force apple to update to montevina in June and no later than August no matter what in order to catch the college freshman student market.
 
montevina... is that the CPU that will use Quad-core technology, or is that something else?


penryn = 45nm right?


montevina = ???
 
luffytubby said:
montevina... is that the CPU that will use Quad-core technology, or is that something else?


penryn = 45nm right?


montevina = ???
Click to expand...

Montevina is the successor to the centrino duo processor and is based off of 45nm penryn processors and have a 1066 ghz system bus (vs 800 mhz on the just released penryn chips). It'll also apparently support DDR3 ram, better HD video decoding, wiMax support, etc. However, I don't believe any quad-core's are on the way, since it is still a mobile platform. I think Nethalem is the chipset that will make that jump, but that won't come along til december.
 
There are two different things that don't mix - processor and platform. Just to make it clear - we are talking about mobile hardware that's meant for portable computers, so the mentioned hardware is in MacBooks, MacBooks Pro and iMacs (the latter is a desktop machine but doesn't use fully-blown desktop hardware to be able to fit everything into such a small enclosure).

Currently, Apple machines are using the Santa Rosa platform and it's been that way for a couple of months. First the machines used Merom processors, now they are using Penryns. The platform and the processor can be updated independently.

The next platform update will be Montevina. Penryn processors will still be used, they will be just slightly updated (higher FSB). Other new stuff will be a slightly higher memory frequency support to match higher FSB and a small upgrade to the integrated graphics. Intel will release Montevina in the first week of June, that's the official date. After that it all depends on Apple and their decision on when to update.
 
FatSweatyBlldog said:
If the iMacs get updated to Penryn shortly, as every indicator points to, I highly doubt the Montevina upgrade will come to the iMac in June. As Apple usually operates, the Macbook Pro will get the Montevina upgrades before the iMac and Macbooks.

So, if you need the machine, might as well go with the Penryn upgrade when it happens. ymwv :)
Click to expand...

What he said^ :)
 
or they diverted supply so they could keep the iMac on merom until june and hop onto the montevina bandwagon.

Anyone know why the apple store was down last night?
 
Are you using the current machine to make a living? To pay the bills? How much will switching to a current imac improve your productivity or production? Will it result in your getting an extra hour out of a work day, or getting better results out of what you're already doing?

Once you've got a handle on that, figure out what your time is worth. Look at the current lineup, figure out what you need and do the math.

It may well be that buying a current imac will literally pay for itself by the time the new whatever chips from Intel come out. If that's the case, you're not out anything. If the new chips and design only provide marginally better peformance than the current system, at least you won't have unnecessarily suffered with your klunky PC an additional four or more months.

If the new system provides substantially increased performance using the above equation, then you can sell the then four to eight month old imac on ebay or craigslist and almost get your investment back.

I do some targeted advertising. I look at daily filings and mail out postcards. Generally, I have a four or five percent response rate. With my PC, in a day I could only get out sixty or seventy cards before either my eyes or my sanity gave out. With my last years flavor white out of the box new imac, I was able to get out a hundred and fifty easy. I've gained a whole day of productivity compared to my former pc system in just one day properly using it.
 
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