Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Macbook Pro
Is the MacBook Pro about to receive a quad-core speed bump?
With all the news circulating around about updated Apple hardware, you might be asking yourself "What about the MacBook Pro?" Apple certaintly hasn't forgotten about its high-end notebook computer, and details are starting to slip out that the MacBook Pro might be receiving a speed boost sooner than anyone might have predicted.
Applesfera is reporting that some information about unreleased MacBook Pro models has been found in support files of the latest developer build of Mac OS X 10.6.2. In addition, there's been some talk on 9to5Mac that Apple Store geniuses are starting to work with the new Core i5 and i7 Quad-Core processors that may make their way into the notebooks.
While nothing is definite, it's looking like the release of OS X 10.6.2 and the refresh of the MacBook Pro might come in tandem, and sooner than we think.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
sylvaticus said 11:35AM on 10-26-2009
i still don't have enough money saved to get one, but this is what i've been waiting for and why i didn't try to buy the first unibody MBPs: a quad-core. fingers crossed they'll come and fingers and toes crossed that i'll have saved enough to buy one!
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stewxQQ said 11:37AM on 10-26-2009
Argh you can never keep up with having a new Apple product for long.
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Pat Hartl said 10:32PM on 10-26-2009
Yeah tell me about it, just got my MBP 13" 2 months ago. Hopefully they only update the 15" and 17" otherwise I might just cry.
iLikeMyiPhone said 11:39AM on 10-26-2009
Yeah sure, sometime next year though given that they just revamped the current MBPs. Will be down few more hundreds of dollars next year when they are released. Tired of selling Macbooks with a free iPhone every year!
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Chase said 12:14PM on 10-26-2009
I will be first on the list of people buying one of these new machines. I am don't have an outdated machine yet. But, just need something new...
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Alexander Stone said 12:16PM on 10-26-2009
What's cool about Apple products is you can usually resell them for a little under what you paid for them.
I recently sold my Mac mini, that I paid $600 for, for $500. No extras. Not even the mouse & keyboard. People want Macs and if you keep yours in tip-top condition and maybe bump the RAM, you can easily offload it to a college student or someone looking to get a Mac that doesn't want to pay full price.
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Maxwell Ash said 1:02PM on 10-26-2009
I bought a refurbished Mac Mini G4 4 years ago for £270. I sold it this year for £250. (I did include some extras; a keyboard, mouse and a wifi adaptor, but they only cost about £50 together), so all in all I lost £70 on a 4 year old computer.
Doug said 12:19PM on 10-26-2009
If the i5 and i7 are coming to MBPs, it's going to have to come in a dedicated mobile variant. A 90W processor would kill battery life if something isn't done about its power usage.
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Fozzy Bear said 12:54PM on 10-26-2009
This change wouldn't be too drastic -- the i5/i7 has chipset (memory controller, QPI, PCIe) on die so they're saving space by removing the need for the nVidia chipset.
Even though it's 90W, That's 90W for the entire die -- including QPI, memory controller, and PCIe (formerly the Northbridge) as well as the processor cores. When you recalculate the watts for the C2D and the Northbridge -- the gap narrows considerably. I know the desktop C2Ds were 65W + about 25W for the north bridge = 90W. Not sure about the MBP mobile architecture.
They can also downclock it and fiddle enough with the Turbo settings to keep the watts low enough to not wreck battery life but still see marked performance gains.
I would know, I've just done this with a desktop Core 2 Duo moving to an i7 860 -- both at spec and heavily OC'd.
While they're at it, they ought to get the 9400 and 9600 working together, too.
solarpos said 12:26PM on 10-26-2009
When the education deal for a =n iPod Touch with a new MBP came out I ebayed my original 1.83 MBP for $980. Not bad when I received a new MBP for 1149. Throw in an iPod Touch and it cost me 169 for both. Try that with a windows machine.
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Mattazuma said 12:40PM on 10-26-2009
The nvidia chipset Apple is using for the MBP won't work with the core i5/i7. I don't see them changing chipsets back to Intel as part of a running change.
Maybe they are going to the mobile core 2 quad chips, which would work with the nvidia chipset.
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Fozzy Bear said 12:55PM on 10-26-2009
They just remove the 9400 chipset. The i5/i7 has chipset on die. All that is left is the southbridge chip which could easily be accommodated by Intel -- I doubt nvidia has a serious performance advantage in the wide-open world of SATA transfer.
jay said 12:58PM on 10-26-2009
Boss, is it right time to buy iphone? Or is new iphone4 coming soon like in Jan' 2010?
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Joseph said 1:21PM on 10-26-2009
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#iPhone
Matt Jones said 2:11PM on 10-26-2009
The Lynnfield i5 is probably a little power-hungry for what Apple's planning; I'd be a lot more likely to believe an Arrandale + external GPU solution. It would still cut the chip count by 1 (NB/MC/graphics on-CPU) and offer a lot better power usage.
Astute readers will note that Arrandale isn't out yet - but that doesn't preclude Apple getting it early (similar to the Nehalem Xeons).
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KP said 2:36PM on 10-26-2009
I'm going to be saving over the next six months to be able to upgrade to a new MBP in the next 6-12 months. This sounds like a nice change, but in the "real world" of today's (or the near future's) computing, how useful is a quad core over a dual core, really? It seems like even a dual core is still not taken advantage of by some of the software that's out there.
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MikeWard1701 said 5:47PM on 10-26-2009
Dang, I just bought a 2.53 MBP 13 :|
Seriously wodering what, if anything, is gonna happen with the 13" MBPs and what to do.
Are we likely to see any change to the 13s?
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Cy Starkman said 7:05PM on 10-26-2009
Mike,
Curious as to why you got the 2.53 13" MBP anyway. Especially if you just got it. The new white macbook is nipping at the heels and is heaps cheaper.
Sure 8gig option, SD, FW and hard case, but the base 13" mbp does all that as well if they are things you want. The CPU is totally whatever.
Having looked at the current models the only two worth buying are the WhiteMB and the 15" MBP with dedicated GPU. Or the 13" MBP base model if you need the hard case due to usage.
Some people might argue the FW but I reckon without the 2nd audio port that is on the 15" those 13" are questionable FW or not.
The 17" is irrelevant unless a person REALLY needs the Express Card slot and I mean REALLY needs it, not just thinks they need it for some alleged purpose. I reckon if someone was wanting to buy one through me, unless they could show me the Express Card module they wanted with it I would refuse to be part of it. A SATA slot for example is a good reason.
As for Quad Core, I would not be expecting them in the 13", probably the 17" since there is all that wasted space just to support the screen which could be used for heat management and there needs to be a compelling reason to get the 17"
Pete said 7:19PM on 10-26-2009
Silly folks...that is the macbook touch! :D :D :D
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jb510 said 2:40AM on 10-27-2009
MacBook Pro price drops = MacBook Pro 6,1
Probably a new video card... maybe a new CPU. The real question is will it come in January or before the holidays.
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