Question about Macbook and Santa Rosa/Penryn?

Hello,

I will be getting a Macbook when Leopard comes preinstalled on it, which should be by the end of October, but I have a question about the "refresh".

Is Santa Rosa worth waiting for? Or Penryn? I don't understand the differences, and will the Macbook be getting Penryn in 08 or Santa Rosa? Can I upgrade to Santa Rosa? How about to Penryn???

Thanks in advance!

 

Well, Santa Rosa is a processing platform, which replaced Napa. Penryn is a new line of processors using 45 nanometer.

Santa Rosa is already released; the MBP uses this processing platform. The MacBook is still using the older Napa platform. Penryn will be released in early 2008.

So if there is a MacBook update this month or November, it won't be Penryn, as Penryn isn't out yet; it will most likely feature Santa Rosa though. If the MacBook isn't updated by then, then expect it to be updated in early 2008, with Penryn's release.

All of these are relatively minor improvements; sure, they're better than the previous processors and processing platforms, but in general tasks you won't notice a substantial difference.

What I would be waiting for is not really Santa Rosa or Penryn, but the possible MacBook redesign with that update.

 

santa rosa has been out since around may of this year - and in macbooks since probably june

penryn will indeed be faster, but won't be out until probably Q2 of 2008, meaning april or may, etc.

you probably won't notice much of a difference reg computer usage, etc. you will not be able to upgrade to penyrn though because of different sockets, but like i said the t7500 2.2ghz or the t7700 2.4ghz will be much more than you need

 

I think you mean the MacBook Pro has had Santa Rosa since June, as the MacBook is still using Napa.

And I believe Penryn is being released in early 2008...

 

yah used to everyone getting macbook pros and not the macbooks

 

Alright well I don't mind waiting for Santa Rosa, because I would like the better graphics that come with it (Is that correct? Doesn't it use like an X950 or something now?) to play some games offered by Apple.

But can Santa Rosa be replaced by Penryn when it comes out? Or does it have to be in the laptop before you buy it?

 

Santa Rosa is a Plateform which will not be upgradeable
Penryn is a CPU that is used on the Santa Rosa Plateform and will be upgradeable
When the Santa Rosa Plateform comes out it will likely use the intel X3100 GPU as it seems to be the norm for intergated graphics with the P965 chipsets

 

Santa Rosa features:
FSB increase to 800 MHz(up from 667MHz)
GMA X3100
is not upgradible
Peryn will initaily use this platform(will be upgraded to Maontevina in Q2 2008 & Nehalem will use this platform(monevina)

Most laptop CPUs are not upgradible.
it just depends...

 

Santa Rosa/Merom CPUs should be upgradeable to Santa Rosa/Penryn, but a few caveats:
- MBP CPUs are soldered onto the motherboard last I heard, so no upgrading it on the MBP.
- Macbook is currently Napa/Merom, and we don't really know if Apple will move it to Santa Rosa/Merom before implementing SR/Penryn.
- PCs may need a BIOS update to handle an upgrade from Merom to Penryn; I don't know if that means Macs would need an EFI update.

I should add that usually not too many people upgrade their laptop CPUs in practice, since you'll spend a lot of money on something offering a modest performance gain. Also on most laptops it's usually not as easy an upgrade to perform as upgrading the RAM or hard drive.

 

if its Napa it uses a standard intel socket M
if its Santa Rosa is uses a standard intel socket P
the sockets are soldered to the board though.......

 

Well, you're confusing yourself again . Santa Rosa and Penryn are not the same thing...Penryn doesn't replace Santa Rosa, it compliments it (Santa Rosa is a processing platform, Penryn is the processor).

And no, you won't be able to upgrade the CPU.

 

can you elaborate ?
my understanding was that socket P is slated for 5 cpu families and the P695 chipset good for at least three of them

 

Well, first of all, there is a lot of chance for you to break something, and opening up your Mac for anything but upgrading RAM (and changing hard drive as well, for the MacBook) voids your warranty.

 

Ok so if I buy a macbook that has Santa Rosa (if it gets it), I can upgrade it with Penryn?

 

No, you most likely will not be able to. Even if you can, its going to be a lot of trouble for you, as first, opening up the MacBook like that will void your warranty, and secondly, if you need to send the MacBook in for repairs or anything, then you will need to take out everything and stuff.

So I wouldn't recommend it, even if possible.

 

Ok but santa rosa is enough of an "upgrade" to buy the Macbook right? Penryn isn't too exciting.

 

Well, as I said before, none of the updates nowadays are really so significant that you would notice a substantial change in everyday tasks.

Santa Rosa's main advantage is a 800 MHz Front Side Bus, and X3100 graphics. The X3100 graphics will really help the MacBook in graphics, so that's good.

Technology is always improving, there's no way to keep up. My advice is always, buy it when you need it. If you keep waiting for the latest technology, you'll never get anything, as right when a product is announced, its replacement is already in development.

 

i guess from a computer consumers view i get what your saying
but being a hardware guy as long as you rub the new CPU on the cat before installing warrenty is no issue

 

Isn't the MB cpu soldered in as well? I thought everything except for the Mac Pro desktop had a soldered in processor, making cpu upgrades impossible.

 

Ya it is BUT that board is pruddy darn small and not that hard to replace
I live most of my life in the PC relm thus I forget things sometimes.....