So if no Merom today or tomorrow...

I've put off getting my MBP for almost too long now. If Merom isn't dropped in the MBP by tomorrow, I'm going to have to order it.

Now, if I get that on friday or monday, and they decide to release merom next week, can I "return it" and get the MBP w/ merom without having to pay the restock fee on returning it?

 

even if they annouce it the thing isn't going to come out in laptops tomorrow. From all the insider reviews I have read its not going to start showing up in apple machines until sometime in october at the earliest. really right now only dell computers have a full stock of core 2 duo chips in right now. I thought about waiting myself when Merom was annouced to be out sometime in august but there was no guarrantee about apples getting them and when. so i went ahead and pulled the trigger on getting one and haven't lost any sleep over it yet. plus i don't know why everyone is so estatic about getting merom just yet, when the chipset specifically designed for it won't be out until the second quarter of next year. right now intel and various computer builders only have the option of supplying merom chips to fit into the old core duo chipset. santa rosa won't be out until next year. why get a hemi engine put into a honda (its an overexaggeration but my point it made. the casing specifically made for this product, the one that will help it perform at its best, isn't even on the market yet and won't be for another six months.) If you can wait six months then by all means go ahead. however if you need something before maybe april or may of this year just get the core duo machines.

One little thing that I have kept my eye and ear out for and have not yet heard anything about, is whether there are any bugs or qwarks for the core 2 duos. it took sometime to find out about the usb 2.0 battery drain bug with the core duo (even if it was a fault of microsofts operating system). I say go with the tested product for now, and wait and see what kinks merom might have, and wait until the **** chipset for the processor is even out, before making a decision.

So really by my logic you shouldn't have a firm grip on what kind of chip merom really is until sometime july of next year (release of santa rosa and a few months wait time to see what bugs if any might exist, also allows multiple tests to be run, and lets the price settle a bit)

Now if you could wait until July then go ahead, or maybe get a cheap dell core dou to hold you over, then get a merom apple next year, or even a lower end macbook to hold things over. either way i really don't think the wait is going to be worth it. on top of such logic, another great quote I heard about the merom and conroe chips is that "who would go out and buy playstation 3 before any games are out" so you have a 64 bit processor and the only thing that you can run on it is your operating system (vista aero and leopard are 64 bit compatiable but I still have not seen or heard what benefit running then in 64 bit gives) Thats something else to wait for. Some **** software.

As you can see the waiting game could go on for months. Go ahead and pick up the core duo macbook pro and don't look back. you aren't going to regret it. the core 2 duo isn't going to be worth the wait until its chipset comes out and some software is developed. by then you will be ready to look into a new notebook.

just my two cents but i do think a few people here would agree with me

 

I'm not sure where you got you're info from, but I'm pretty sure thats dead wrong. C2D has already been shipping to manuf for a monht or so. Several sites have already stated apple has announced they're shipping c2d units this month.
The iMacs are already shipping w/ c2d (or at least should be, they've been available for order for a week and apple isnt' one to let people wait on orders).
About 64-bit, yeah, we won't see any real apps take advantage of this yet. But in a year or two... perhaps.
Teh chipset specifically designed for it? Are you talking about Santa Rose? Santa Rose is not compatable with Merom at all. Different pin configurations and different logic boards.

__edit__
now as far as merom shpping in the MB, that may not be till october or november.

 

I just read a rumor that Apple may wait until 2007 due to a chip shortage. Now that does not make a lot of sense with the iMacs, but you never know. I do not think ANY computers are going to be announced today. It is a iPod/iTunes day, not computers. Also, if they were going to release them soon, they probably would have done it with the mini's and iMacs. I think it is further than pople think. Remember that the CoreDuo is still a very good chip. You will not find yourself missing anything by not getting a Core2.

 

Yup, but I would much rather have a C2D. I'll be pissed if they release it like, right after I get it or right after my 14 days runs out.
Yeah, I don't excpet it to be announced... more of a stealth release heh

 

Hi mate I was in a similar situation to yourself.

I decided to go ahead and purchase it now as I had a deadline by 7th September for Uni.


All I can say is that I havent looked back - I dont see how an extra .22ghz or whatever can offer me tbh. I understand that core duo will be 64bit tho.

However there will always be upgrades and u can be forever waiting for the newest technology.

Its a **** good laptop and am ultimately satisfied with it. I use MacOsX (personal use) and Windows (Windows is a requirement for Uni)

Go buy it and enjoy it =)

Dave

 

I just wanted to reiterate I am not dead wrong. I would suggest doing some research. Santa Rosa will be the Core 2 Duo model chip set. Just check Intels site. The front side bus is going to go up to 800mhz front side bus. Also if you read around intels site you will see the first generation core 2 duo processors are only release in certain dell, toshiba, platforms, along with custom built models like built on asus units and such. the major manufacturers aren't going to get a full line of chips until a little bit later. Plus you have to consider the fact that there may be some needed alterations made to certain machines as core 2 duo does have a tendency to run alittle hotter and doesn't downclock to as low a voltage as the core duo's. Look up the tests on anandtech or pcmag.

macbook pros are already very thin and can get somewhat hot as is, so I am sure some rebuilding or retooling may need to be done. I am just going off the information that is out there and I was trying to help you make a decision by giving you reliable info, no quesses and conjectures. In the end it was just my thoughts on what I would do based on the research that is out there.

 

oh and its santa rosa not santa rose

 

Yeah, type o. But no, it's not compatable with merom.
At least thats whats been said in nearly every page discussing santa rose.

 

If they announce it they will be ready to ship just like the new iMac.
Also most major PC manufacturers are shipping merom with the normal build time, Dell, hp, etc.

Also the you-can-always-wait statement just doesn't always make sense.
Whenever somebody comes up and asks if it makes more sense to wait for a little bit now to get the upcoming new stuff, there must be people saying you can always wait and wait and wait.
Of course, there are always new stuff coming, and it certainly do not make sense if you are going to wait for a quad core notebook.
But then there must be a "cut-off" period during which buying then current products is not a wise decision.

While we may not see merom released today, I really don't think it is far away. My guess will be within a month at most.

 

Yup, I told myself, I'd order the MBP before the 16th (end date of ipod student special). But I'll probably bite the bullet tomorrow, regardless of Merom.
Besides, we're 6 mo. away or so from Santa Rose...

 

Merom will not be in the same socket as it is on Napa, but Santa Rosa will still use a Merom chip, just different socket. And Brotzfrog brings up a good point. Early reports show that Merom is hotter than Yonah, and Yonah was pretty hot. In the end, Merom may not be the chip we all thought it was.

 

well, I also decided to get my macbook today. I love it very much. People that are thinking to wait just have to ask this question: doest the specs of the macbook (pro) statisfy your needs? I think that even if I would have a merom macbook, that I don't really need that 64-bit side of the story. It can do all the things I want to do on the road, when I need my macbook

 

Thats exactly how one should think, even at my college I attend the IT teachers all say that you should always get what you need, don't wait for something it's just ridiculous especially in the computer industry, so if you got the money get it, and make sure it fits what you need.

64bit applications are still rare and it will be at the least 2 years before we fully start seeing it, I don't know about you guys but I think by then I'll be in the market to get the newest mac notebook.

 

I wish I could go out and buy the latest Macbook Pro but I'm planning on saving my laptop for all 4 years of college so I better future proof it.

 

thanks for backing me up there cashmonee. I don't know why some people ask for help and opinions and then shoot such help down when they themselves clearly don't have all the information. I thought thats why they were asking questions in the first place. Do some research there hollownail

just wanted to add a few links
http://www.laptoplogic.com/news/detail.php?id=1106

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2808&p=2

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2808&p=4

http://googled.wordpress.com/2006/08/26/merom-runs-hot-yonah-might-be-the-better-chip-for-notebooks/

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/?cat=55

just some stuff to chew on

 

The Intel Merom Shipments bar graph is most helpful, thanks for linking it.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2808&p=2


Considering these figures I would assume there is a 30% probability of a Merom in MB in OCT and 50% probability in NOV with a 60-65% probability by DEC. Giving the holiday shopping season it is likely that the Merom will be available before thanksgiving.

Hey I am simply looking at the figures; if the Meroms are available in abundance then Apple would have no problems releasing a Merom MB.

Seriously these figures say it all. That‘s if they are accurate.

 

I’ve read an article few months ago about Apple pushing/negotiating for large quantities of Meroms during early release. I have heard something like Intel basically saying –shut up already because manufactures like Dell sell insane amount of notebooks than Apple.

If the Merom MB does materialize then Apple does in fact have some kind of Pull, elite status which definitely wouldn’t reflect their volume of sales. But I’m just saying what ever happened with that?

Personally i'll wait until Oct 15th after which i'll just get a Yonah MB. Everyone has limitations. I definitely don't need it now but i will by then.

 

Oh I've read a few articles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_2
http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2006/07/20060721145043.shtml

Theres a few more, but looks like they're older than most of yours hehe...

So yeah, it's by all means possible that it won't come out this week, but I still don't see them waiting till october or next year. Big thing that bugs me, is that everyone is starting to ship them. Acer, Dell, HP, Alienware (well, considering their atrocious devliery times, AW doesn't count), Velocity Micro, and a few others are already shipping Merom. While they may be in shortage, I don't think they're in such short supply that Apple couldn't supply the MBP line with enough Meroms... I dunno, but if we dont' see it till october, oh well. I'm done waiting myself.

And I did mean that current Merom chips are not compatable with Santa Rose, not that all Meroms will not be ccompatable with Santa Rose. What I'd like to understand is why they didn't change the code name for the Merom that will run on Santa Rose as it is a different pin configuration.

And sorry, I didn't mean to be harsh earlier, bad day at work and frustrated as hell about waiting so long for the MBP...

 

No worries hollownail. We all have those kinds of days . I hope tomorrow goes much better. I also share your frustration with Apple not getting the parts in the same time or quanity as other suppliers. I think alot of the issue comes in be to play with the macbook pros slim design. I personally feel and now this is come conjecture on my part, that apple hasn't put in the kind of order others have to the merom processors because they aren't sure how to integrate them.

your going to have to ship some parts, and work on the cooling of the notebook to some extent I am sure, though I personally think the heat issues some have had with macbook pros is kind of out of proportion. I had an acer 8204 and now that thing was hot. My Macbook Pro is warm, but it never reaches the levels of the acer. that thing was straight from hell (and not only in temperature but also function, god I hated that thing

Another issue I think that is causing the delays in the macbook pros is the quanity of regular core duo's still in stock. the apples is at a disadvantage in that they can't go back and put new chips into there already existing stock. I am sure you know the processors are soldered into the motherboard and cant be changed out. Other companies don't have such an issue. So Apple would kind of be shooting itself in the foot if it releases new macbook pro merom laptops while still sitting on a bunch of macbook pro conroe machines. I would think they would sell off their existing stock as much as possible before leasing the new machines. this way they can limit the amount of profit loss, from the sure to be discounted conroe mbp's(at least discounted once merom is released)

plus another point to look at is the major buying season for laptops has kind of passed. usually right before kids are going back to school sales are pretty big. now that most have started there isnt going to be a mad rush to the computer store for a bit, not until the christmas season at any rate. so it would really make more sense to hold off on the new machines until then. A late September or early October release date just isn't going to make much sense, as far as sales go.

Again these are just all educated quesses on my point.

I thought about waiting myself, but the need for a school laptop and the love at first site feeling I had for the machine (hello my name is Brandon and I have a problem , made up my mind for me. I dont really do anything above and beyond regular college kid stuff. Watch movies, surf the web, download tunes, some school work , and thats really it. Having 64 bit processor or more power at my disposal really means nothing to me. The mac os and the features that the macbook pro has were the most important selling features to me. Hell if it was a pentium m in these babies I might have bought it as well. Great machines and so much more user friendly and what a screen (GO BUY THE MBP NOW, GO BUY THE MBP NOW Ha Ha I could see where it might sound like I am a mac retailer (i am not just in caes you were wondering) but I am the kind of person that obsessives over little details way too much.

So my impulsive buy of the macbook pro conroe (really it took me four conroe laptops and three months of research to make an impulsive buy , showed me that I made the right choice by not waiting, plus those school reports would have been alittle harder to do on a typewriter

 

Because it is the same exact chip except for the pin configuration. Otherwise it is te same chip, so no name change.