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- I am at the moment stuck with my keyboard from my notebook, I miss the days where I could hit the keys without mis-hitting:( ohh well good info, thank you
- You missed an important application for multi-core laptops: virtualization. Many Mac users run Microsoft operating systems in virtual machines and they would benefit from more than two cores.
- It is good to see that Microsoft is venturing out into this business, helping out auto makers to solve problems regarding Electric powered cars. I'm just wondering why did GM pulled out all...
- I think Sony will win over Toshiba. In my view, Sony is more of a brand name than Toshiba in recent years.
- I'm one of those people who thought this would definitely be an iPhone killer but after seeing it in action in some videos on YouTube, the G1 is no iPhone killer. However, its successor, the G2...
The Far Side of Tech
A blog dedicated to the insight and clarification of technology of all sorts. From consumer tech, to upcoming topics such as green tech and the Singularity--no technology is taboo.Quad Core Macbook Pros, Seriously? Why Quad Core Laptops Are a Joke Today
Started by Devindra Hardawar · 10 months ago
9to5Mac is reporting that Apple may be rolling out Macbook Pros featuring quad core processors later this year–coinciding with upcoming quad core laptop chips from Intel. Let me repeat: Quad core CPUs, in laptops. Given that we’re still waiting for quad core CPUs to be
... Continue reading »
1 year ago
Trent
1 year ago
1 year ago
Unless significant changes occur to quad core chip architecture, they won't be a good addition to laptops. I'm sure it will happen eventually, just not sure if that will be this year.
11 months ago
i think that you're neglecting an important usecase for laptops - that of the portable desktop replacement. my laptop probably spends 90%+ of its time connected to the mains.
general computer users can live with a macbook. the pro is for people who need the extra welly.
11 months ago
11 months ago
10 months ago
9 months ago
#1) You don't think the fully 64bit Unix based operating system by Apple is capable of using 4 cores? The OS itself will see benefits from the extra power!
#2) This is probably going into their Pro series because people that buy the pro usually do high end graphics work or digital audio production, not to mention the price of such a system.
#3) This would be a mobile quad core chip, not a desktop chip. This means it can probably disable unused cores and throttle back speed depending on use and power state.
#4) Can you say, Solid State Harddrive, 4gb DDR2 Memory, Quad Core CPU... Oh no, we don't need all that to see performance gains, just throw it away and pick up a Powerbook G3.
9 months ago
On a daily basis I run Mac OS X with a separate Windows XP VM for my work stuff. When I go out to a customer I will generally have 3 VMs running on top of OS X:
* An Oracle database running under Linux
* WebLogic Server running under Linux
* Eclipse and other development tools running under Windows XP
Some of those virtual machines could really use more than one core as well. When I demo all of these at once I require a LOT of RAM and a LOT of processor power.
Perhaps I am a power user, but I know thousands of people within just my company that could use every ounce of that quad-core!
One note though: if you are going to put a quad-core processor in a laptop, the processor should be smart enough to only fire up the cores that it needs at the time. For example, if I am just cruising the web on OS X, I only need one or two cores at most. If I start firing up virtual machines under VMware, it should allocate a core to each VM until all four cores are in use. That would help with the battery life immensely.
9 months ago
My (aging and aged, first gen) macbookpro is my main development workhorse, and at any time it will be running a couple of different db servers, a web server or 3, development tools, mail, irc, skype, web browser, twitter, neo office, itunes etc. That situation would benefit from quad cores very well.
8 months ago
6 months ago
Adobe are slack enough to still be running OS9 era code, but even that is multithreaded! Photoshop has been multithreading on the mac since the days of daystar.
In addition, apple are moving to a technology called Grand Central, which unifies all of the threads to a scheduler, which spreads them across the available resources, including the GPU doing compute tasks via OpenCL. Grand Central will make all apps behave in a fully multithreaded manner.
The multithreading performance tax is something that belongs in the Windows field of debate. The mac is fully multithreading. My CPU meters prove it. Hit an app hard, and all the cores jump to it.
6 months ago
All of the core chips have the ability to power down cores to save some amps, or if they start getting a bit too hot. It's called dynamic throttling, and it's the shared cache that makes that possible.
Seriously, if somebody bought a quad core 17 inch desktop replacement macbook pro, what do you think they'll be found using it for? Minesweeper?
6 months ago
I can't wait for a more powerful laptop. My macbook pro is the first laptop which has been a good workhorse. It's a G5 in a bag! The mac pro has got very neglected indeed.
5 months ago
Give me more POWER !!!
Jon
5 months ago
4 months ago
apple can make a half inch battery with a 17" diameter as extra,that will give the labtop 8 hours running time (2) Heat. A miniature Liquid cooling system, that will help the heating problem.
So with the new battery now runs at 8 to 7 hours. With the Quad Core will run at 3 to 4 hours,
Add on a half inch battery at a 17" inch diameter as extra will give you 8 hours on top. So what do you think about that idea.
3 months ago
1 month ago