Will a new Intel chip=new hardware design?

[dvader]

I thought I read somewhere here or maybe another site that having a new Intel chip architecture will mean having a new design for the laptop. Just wondering if this is true or if there's any ounce of truth in it. Part of this post was influenced by some of the members' desire to have a laptop redesign. (Although I don't think there's anything wrong with what we have now, I can't imagine how Apple would make it better.)

Anyway, by new chip architecture I don't mean moving from CD to C2D. The next big breakthrough is suppose to be the Intel chip codenamed Nehalem and eventually Gesher.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20060428162855.html

 

[psycoswimmer]

I'd sure hope that by 2010 a new Macbook design is out.

 

[mgargan1]

There's a rumor that the new Santa Rosa platform is going to come with a new design. But, it's just a rumor.

But when you think about it... apple has had the same design for their pro notebooks since 2003... they should be coming up with something soon.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Intel has committed to coming out with a new 'process' every 3 years, and a new 'architecture' every 3 years, with an overlap of 18 months.

So right now we have 'Core 2' architecture on a 65 nm process. Later this year, or early next year, we should see 45 nm process. Process improvement alone doesn't mean new hardware design. Although Intel often uses die shrinks as a good time to make minor changes to the hardware, or to introduce new support chips. Often, though, this update requires no more than a BIOS upgrade (or Firmware upgrade for EFI systems like the Macs.)

This means that we should see a new architecture (code named Nehalem - "nuh-HAY-lum", a river on the Oregon coast,) sometime around mid-to-late 2009. The new architecture doesn't REQUIRE a new core hardware design (look at Pentium 4's NetBurst architecture to the Core 2 architecture move. There are many motherboards that required only a firmware update to support Core 2.) But, again, it is often a good time to make support updates as well.

Most pressingly, we have the upcoming support chip update in the form of the "Santa Rosa" platform, which brings the 965 chipset to mobile systems, and with it, a faster front side bus, and a few more improvements.

Regardless of such changes, it doesn't mean that there will *HAVE* to be a major design change on the physical systems. Look at the iMac. You can't tell a 17" or 20" iMac G5 from an Intel iMac just by looking at it. And there were only minor changes from the 17" PowerBook G4 to the 17" MacBook Pro.