Apple may introduce a quad-core MacBook Pro this year, as Intel has confirmed plans to ship Core 2 Duo-based quad-core processors later in the year.
Intel has developed these processors for use in high-performance laptops, which it sees as portable replacements for powerful desktop systems.
We know Apple won't comment on future products or speculation, but the new processors are expected to appear in the third quarter. The processor is manufactured using the 45-nanometer process. It's likely the chips will feature on-board support for WiFi and WiMAX.
The new processors demand significantly more power than those used in current Apple laptops. This suggests Apple may delay the launch of the new products until battery life has been optimised.
Comments
Sweeeeeettttttt
Oh, I can't wait. Hope it won't to much of a strain on the battery.
so are you saying that apple
so are you saying that apple will introduce these when they become available or when battery life supports them?
He's Saying...
"This suggests Apple may delay the launch of the new products until battery life has been optimised. "
Quad Cores on MacBook Pros?
It'll be amazing! but knowing Apple this will probably be an upgrade for 2009 when Blu Ray for the Mac is finally established and battery life will support the processor. Also they have been very slow on the Macbook Pro development. Lets just hope this new upgrade will take place around October!
Forget battery life!
Apple, forget about battery life! If people want good battery life, they can order a machine without power options. But please give us bluray and quad cores! I don't care about battery life - I'm a power user and mostly use my machine plugged in. And therefore, I don't care how much power BR or your quad cores suck down. If I need to, I'll buy an extra battery!
Nitpickery
They're not Core 2 Duo-based, they're Core 2-based in marketing-speak and they're really Penryn-based to be descriptive. Also, the chips themsevles don't support WiFi or WiMAX but the new Montevina chipset is supposedly going to support those things in spec. It'll be up to Apple to decide what gets into their design. Intel is also beefing up the integrated graphics in Montevina (supposedly hardware H.264 decoding, DisplayPort and HDMI) as well as introducing DDR3 which operates at lower voltage than DDR2. The new chipset does not require a new chip, so lack of a quad does not preclude the chipset upgrade.
I doubt we'll see a Core 2 Extreme QX9300 in a Macbook Pro. If they bring a more power friendly quad into the mobile space between now and then, perhaps, but 45W TDP is a pretty significant increase from the current 35W. My guess is that a fall update would include Montevina and Blu-Ray and no significant change in CPU. I'd expect that the next significant processor change for MBPs will be Nehalem in '09 where we'll almost certainly see a native quad-core in a friendlier power envelope.
Available apps?
I use NNA VectorWorks (CAD program) and it can't fully address dual core chips now - seems like this is a real issue with software developers and that it is the real bottleneck in using multiple core chips.
No? Or yes?
Multi Cores
Honestly, I see the multi core environment to be more friendly to the developer market as well as any power users that really multi-task.
I use my macbook w/ core duo as a workstation for windows software development. When you develop in a virtualized environment and your testing system is another virtualized system on top of OS X, any extra cores you can get will be helpful.
I have found that this macbook will start to lag on the VM's (through vmware fusion) after I open the third one. If that's the case, I could do alot more with a quad core enironment. That's why I'm waiting till '09 personally.
I agree
I totally agree with Nitpickery's comment about the Quad Core Macbook Pros, most likely they will appear in 2009 with Nehalem (by the way that's a cool name! LOL)
This actually sounds ideal
This actually sounds ideal for the iMac.
...and I was just about to
...and I was just about to order the just mildly updated mbPRO - däng! should I wait?
You want to wait to 2009?
You can wait if you want, but we are talking about Feb 2009 at the earliest.
yeah, this won't hit the
yeah, this won't hit the portables till the 32 nm process.
Further Stickling
I doubt that seriously. 32nm won't hit Nehalem till 2010. The new architecture is rumored to be significantly more power friendly than even Penryn, containing several efficiency improvements including better low power states and reduced thermal leakage. They're also bringing back Hyper Threading, so we could see four hardware threads in a dual-core design. While the HTT we know and love doesn't perform equivalently to additional cores, the power savings of the reduced core count combined with the overall architectural performance improvement could make dual-core with HTT a friendly option in the mobile space for the short list of apps that can even take proper advantage of four-way capability. This also means that if they ARE able to shoehorn a native quad-core into the ~35W TDP power tier, we could see eight hardware threads.
Just to be clear, I'm not aware of any specific word on whether HTT will be on the mobile die or not, most of the current Nehalem hubub is centering on the top-end desktop chips which should be the first out of the gate on the new architecture, but the possibilities are interesting to mull.
> the short list of apps
> the short list of apps that can even take proper
> advantage of four-way capability
The OS itself can take advantage of four-way capability. Many users could benefit from this. For example, users could simultaneously run Mail, Safari, iTunes, and the OS, one on each core. This is a contrived example (none of those apps is really all that CPU-hungry) but illustrates the possibilities. For developers, the advantages are even more clear, since there are more CPUs to run the various processes in a typical web stack (MySQL, JBoss/Tomcat, Apache, Java compiler, Firefox, Mail, etc, for example) -- the more cores the better.
Contrived indeed.
As you said, your examples are contrived, so they don't prove the point. Why would I accept the increased power requirements for two extra cores that I don't use? Thunderbird, Firefox, iTunes, Psi and Terminal all running at the same time barely taxes my G4 Powerbook. I'd wager that your web development stack example peaks near a 2 load average when you're refreshing vigorously, probably barely exceeds 1 most of the time. I think you have a disconnect between "active processes" and "running programs". Running four apps simultaneously does not require four CPU cores to be efficient unless each of them is using the entirety of a core. That's sort of the point of operating systems in general, to arbitrate and schedule CPU time since most all programs only need CPU time in small slices. You're right that Mac OS has the ability to schedule processes onto 4+ processors, but that doesn't make 4+ processors either necessary or optimal.
My point was that the sort of applications that can actually see performance benefit from a four-way smp (Final Cut, Compressor, Maya, etc) are few in number. "The more cores the better" is just silly. How about the right tool for the right job. If you want to support a continual load average of 4 or higher, you probably shouldn't be running it on a portable.
hot lap
The must-have accessory for this laptop: a water-cooled lap!
Dont wait, this is a long
Dont wait, this is a long way off for apple. For others, yes, it may be seen this year. A google search and you will find its already been done. Quad core apples in 2008, I highly doubt it. In fact, how is this even news?
There really shouldnt be a market of turning intel news/rumors into Apple news/rumors.
I would love a quad core
I would love a quad core laptop, even if it was ticker and hotter than the current MB Pro.
But that maybe 2009 or 2010 before it happens. These chips are likely to show in an iMac instead.
WARNING!!! MBP are fire hazard!
The current C2D 2.6 isn't hot enough? I'm afraid to even touch the metal strip above the keyboard when my MBP gets cooking.
Ok well the CPU upgrade is great and all, but what I'd also like to get is a multi-card reader built-in. It's been a standard feature in all Windows laptops since last year.
this is great news and the
this is great news and the upgread many mbp users have been waiting for. what are the chances of this appearing before september 09?? any at all?
I'd love to get one for uni....use alot of high powered 3d rendering programs and this would be ideal for me along with the portability.
Well, whenever we do see a
Well, whenever we do see a quad-core MBP (sometime within the next decade according to the various experts here), I hope it turns up in a fancy new coat. I'm bored of the current look...
Quad-core will be great for
Quad-core will be great for my aniamtion renderings. A friend of mine recently aquired a dual-quad-core Mac Pro. Test rending for my machine (17" MacBook Pro, Core 2 Duo 2.33ghz, 2gb ram) 1 hr 35 minutes! Time on his beast of a machine...16 minutes!!!
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