Takuro Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 A lot of hype has spread over the Mac community regarding what some think will be ground zero for the unveiling of a new sub-notebook line of Apple computers - MacWorld Expo '08. However, assessments of current computer components available in the market today suggest that building a sub-notebook powerful enough to meet Apple's demands is currently impossible. Likely not to settle for Celeron chips, similar to what Asus's mini-notebooks utilize, Apple may decide to hold out until more powerful chips come out in the first half of this year. After all, the Asus EeePC's 900 MHz processor falls just slight of OS X Leopard's minimum suggested requirement of 867 MHz. Enter the Silverthorne processor - a member of the Menlow family of CPUs based on the new 45 nanometer specification. With it's x86 architecture, low power consumption, and formidable speed, it may be the prime choice for Apple's rumored line of sub-notebook computers. Due to the fact that it is not yet in the market, Apple may choose to make a general announcement at MacWorld similar to the unveiling of the iPhone, leaving certain details for future Stevenotes and promising availability during the Summer or Spring. There's also a small chance that Apple may opt to use the Moorestown platform, which will include still smaller 32 nanometer CPUs. However, with an expected release of early 2009, it isn't likely. There's no doubt that 2008 will be touted as the year of the powerful sub-notebook. With new technologies at their disposal, Apple and many other companies may roll out new models that rival many competing full-scale notebooks. It's going to be an interesting year, and being a harbinger of innovation, we can only hope Apple will jump on the track. Thanks to REVENGE for some technical corrections within this article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
articquad Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Very interesting. I'd bet it'll be out mid-year, also. But with all of the other alleged releases, who's to complain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroz Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 A lot of hype has spread over the Mac community regarding what some think will be ground zero for the unveiling of a new sub-notebook line I think there are a few things lacking, first, c'mon Apple, wheres the decent GPU? What are yo afraid of? The PROS using the cheap for their productions? C'mon, we make up very little of the market share now. Give us a decent GPU. Second, the Flash Drive needs to be larger, you will have many filing it up way too soon. The next of course, is the CPU, if they go Penryn (which in theory is so small and successful with the "die shrink and SOI", that they could place 8 cores on it. I personally would give up 2 hours to have more cores any day. Unless of course, they release a DECENT GPU (at least one game) and decent power at a sub price point/points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special-K Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 There's also a small chance that Apple may opt to use the Moorestown platform, which will include still smaller 32 nanometer CPUs. However, with an expected release of early 2009, it isn't likely. That's MacWorld '09. I think they'll put in the Silverthorne first and then change it to Moorestown. Kinda like they put in Core Duo then up'd it to Core 2 Duo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwestpha Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 I doubt this is true. The first generation or two of these processors are more like the Pentium 1 with core2 enhancements. I doubt most applications or OS X are designed for in order operations, and it sounds like these chips will have poor to no hardware out of order instruction execution support (that is these processors need to be fed instructions in the order in which it is to execute them or else it counts as a cache hit and must rely on the OS to help it). I cant see Apple going this route until 3 generations of this ultra mobile architecture down the road for anything. This cpu is still different from normal X86 architecture. Apple will have to probably recompile the whole OS just for these processors, and you will have bugs and errors as the OS tries to emulate or take care of what had to be stripped out of the silicon. Apple can simply use a slower stepping in the range of 1 to 1.5 ghz of core 2 processors binned as ULV or LV. Remember the EeePC is designed to be cheap and Apple isn't anywhere near as confined as Asus was with that laptop. Intel can make them, Apple can afford them. I don't see this as a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scj312 Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 The 867MHz G4 minimum spec of Leopard is about equivalent to a 1.7GHz P4, so the EeePC's processor doesn't really cut it for speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REVENGE Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 I'm sorry, but isn't Silverthorne the processor, and Menlow the platform? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macgirl Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 I do not want to wait six months Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Takuro Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 I'm sorry, but isn't Silverthorne the processor, and Menlow the platform? Correct. Menlow is the chipset type, and Silverthorne refers to an actual CPU of its platform. Correction noted. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chick Posted January 8, 2008 Share Posted January 8, 2008 Apple could use the ULV Core2Duos for the MacBook nano Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts