macbook core 2 duo.. anynone?

flacochala · #1 October 25th, 2006, 01:11 PM

Hi guys... im all excited with the new mabook pro core 2 duo, but this is really out of my budget... does anyone knows when (if this is happening anytime soon) the macbooks will get core 2 duo???
i really want to wait because leopard will be 64 bit enabled, and i really dont want to spend a lot of money in a macbook that wont be able to fully blast leopard...
Agree??, desagree?.. leave your comments..

Lt Major Burns · #2 October 25th, 2006, 01:31 PM

64-bit isn't faster.

well, it can be,. but that's not really the point of it. 32 bit computers can only address a maximum of 4gb of RAM. even if more ram is installed, the computer will only ever be able to use 4gb of it. 4gb maximum. 16-bit systems could only use a maximum of 4mb of ram, and 64-bit systems can address anything up to 4tb (that's terabytes, 1,000gb) of ram, among other task related issues. the computer is still only as fast as the processor.

so, being as the macbooks can only have 2gb physically installed (which may work out to be 4gb in the future as ram gets cheaper, but not more, i wouldn't have thought), it's not a computer that will ever really benefit all that much from 64-bit.

i wouldn't have thought that the macbooks would get core 2 duo for a while. i would buy now.

**fryke** · #3 October 25th, 2006, 02:09 PM

I think they'll go Core 2 Duo in the coming two weeks. There's this lower-end Core 2 Duo that fits the MacBook perfectly. Also, it's traditionally time to update both the pro and the consumer notebooks now. Season begins, so to speak. So maybe it wouldn't hurt to wait one or two weeks...

ElDiabloConCaca · #4 October 25th, 2006, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lt Major Burns

well, it can be,. but that's not really the point of it. 32 bit computers can only address a maximum of 4gb of RAM. even if more ram is installed, the computer will only ever be able to use 4gb of it. 4gb maximum. 16-bit systems could only use a maximum of 4mb of ram, and 64-bit systems can address anything up to 4tb (that's terabytes, 1,000gb) of ram, among other task related issues.

One for three, there. 32-bit does equal 4GB of addressable memory space.

16-bit systems have a memory address space of [(2^16) - 1] bits (64KB -- not 4MB).

32-bit systems have a memory address space of [(2^32) - 1] bits (4GB).

64-bit systems have a memory address space of [(2^64) - 1] bits (a lot more that 4TB -- do the math -- it's in the order of exabytes).

That's not factoring in hardware and software limitations, though -- most 16-bit systems couldn't address a total of 64KB of RAM. Most 32-bit systems couldn't address 4GB of RAM. And most 64-bit systems will never use all 18.45 exabytes of addressable memory space.

Quote:

so, being as the macbooks can only have 2gb physically installed (which may work out to be 4gb in the future as ram gets cheaper, but not more, i wouldn't have thought), it's not a computer that will ever really benefit all that much from 64-bit.

The total amount of addressable memory space isn't the only benefit going to 64 bits from 32. You want your integers to range from -2 billion to +2 billion, or from -9 quintillion to +9 quintillion?

In addition to being able to physically have more RAM in the computer, the benefits extend to the size of numbers the computer can understand as well -- which is a huge boon for mathematical software packages like Matlab and Mathematica.

**fryke** · #5 October 25th, 2006, 04:24 PM

In other words, they don't _truly_ matter for most of the MacBook (non pro) target group? ... Either way: It's not only the processor alone and not only the 64bit either. I'm pretty sure that there are always some smaller improvements with newer generation hardware as well. Things that are not even announced. Like: Better or different plastics. 30 seconds more battery life. Better fan behaviour... I dunno... I just mainly think that *if* you buy a MacBook Core Duo now and they _would_ release a Core 2 Duo MacBook in a week or two, you might lose both features and money. They might give more RAM with the new MacBooks as well, you know, like they did with the MBPs...

flacochala · #6 November 1st, 2006, 09:15 AM

well for me i think it will be worth waiting for the new model... the macbook pro did got a speed bump with core 2 duo, and im hoping that the macbook will get one too. And, as fryke said, maybe will be getting some corrected plastic... (or if you are a dreamer, maybe a new graphic card). The only thing i really hope is that the new macbook hits the market before leopard... cause im thinking of buying a new mac when 10.5 unleashes.

Viro · #7 November 1st, 2006, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lt Major Burns

64-bit isn't faster.

It *IS* faster, especially when we're talking about the transition from 32 bit x86 to 64 bit x86-64. This is not news, since the Athlon 64 was released 3 years ago.

The performance doesn't come from being 64 bits, but because the original company that came up with the 64 bit instruction set, decided to update the number of registers directly accessible to programs, from 8 to 16. An excellent article that will do more justice to the x86-64 instruction set than I ever could is at arstechnica. A less technical article with some nice performance graphs can be found at Techreport.

From my own experience, applications compiled with in 64 bit with *no* additional optimizations tend to yield a 20 - 30% increase in performance. This only applies to the transition from 32 bit to 64 bit on the x86 (i.e. Intel) platform. Anything else (i.e. PowerPC, SPARC, ARM, etc) do not see such a performance benefit from the move to 64 bits mainly because they are much better instruction sets than x86 to begin with.

Ifrit · #8 November 2nd, 2006, 07:48 AM

Quote:

In other words, they don't _truly_ matter for most of the MacBook (non pro) target group? ... Either way: It's not only the processor alone and not only the 64bit either. I'm pretty sure that there are always some smaller improvements with newer generation hardware as well. Things that are not even announced. Like: Better or different plastics. 30 seconds more battery life. Better fan behaviour... I dunno... I just mainly think that *if* you buy a MacBook Core Duo now and they _would_ release a Core 2 Duo MacBook in a week or two, you might lose both features and money. They might give more RAM with the new MacBooks as well, you know, like they did with the MBPs...

How about a GPU which isn't Intel Graphics with dedicated RAM? (doesn't need to be the latest and greatest) This is the feature I am looking for and which is keeping me from buying a Macbook right now (and its most likley that this feature will never make it into the next macbook revisions, thats for sure) Ok, I guess I am saving for the macbook pro then.