Intel Continues Confusing Naming ;)

Mikuro

Mikuro

Crotchety UI Nitpicker
Intel has officially released their Woodcrest chip, a bit sooner than was previously expected. Now it's called Xeon 5100. It's based on the Core architecture, not the old architecture of the Xeon. But it is the successor to the Xeon — that is to say, it support multi-processing. It's also Intel's first 64-bit Core chip. (Edit 2: After looking into it a bit more, I'm not 100% sure that Woodcrest is 64-bit. I'm getting different info from different places.)

What does this mean? It means that Intel now has a suitable chip out to replace the G5 in Apple's pro line.

Links:
http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/06/26/woodcrest/index.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_Microarchitecture
 
Well, I think the 5100 is one specific (the current highend) Woodcrest chip. Although I haven't heard of other numbers. Woodcrest _is_ 64bit AFAIK.
 
"It's based on the Core architecture, not the old architecture of the Xeon."

Then why put Xeon in the name? Talk about confusing.

Anyway, it's good to see that something is out. Hopefully we see a strong update of Power Macs in the near future.
 
I don't think Pro Macs will be out a lot sooner than universal pro apps, like the Adobe Creative Suite… but that's just me! :D What do I know? :)
 
I think it'll be used in the XServe and not the PowerMac since it's more of a server chip anyways.

"Intel expects this server family to be the fastest-ramping product in the company’s history, and has set pricing for the Intel® Xeon® processor 5100 family from $209 to $851 in 1,000-unit quantities, depending on features."

But at that price it's possible they could have it in the PowerMac if the Core 2 Duo isn't fast enough.
 
I've always seen the PowerMac to be rather in the workstation market. Well... If you look at what the machines are aimed at (highend video processing, desktop publishing etc.), I'd say it's not too far-fetched to see Apple using Xeon there. Heck: They're even using the "pro" (and dual-core) mobile chip in the "cheap" MacBook. When I look around in stores here, the PC competitors are still using old Celerons or Pentium-Ms. And many "core" processor notebooks use the single-core version as well. I'm glad Apple aims higher.
 
I think the main distinction between "desktop" and "server" processors as far as Intel is concerned is that servers need multiprocessing while "desktops" don't. Apple will certainly want dual processors (i.e., quad core) like they currently have with the G5. So I'd expect Woodcrest ("Xeox 5100") to make it into the high-end G5 tower, with the other models possibly using Conroes instead.

Intel's next two chips, Conroe (desktop) and Merom (portable), both due in August, do not support mulltiprocessing AFAIK. Conroe is the successor to the Pentium 4 (which does not support multiprocessing), and Woodcrest is the successor to the Xeon (which does). Merom is the successor to the current Core Solo/Duo.

I've been used to two-chip lineups in the Mac world for many years, so this is a bit confusing!
 
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