Wednesday June 06, 2007

- New MacBook Pro: Santa Rosa Inside - Lionel - 16:39:38

Following the introduction of new MacBook Pro models yesterday, and to reply to many questions sent to us by readers, we will summarize below what are the components of Santa-Rosa platform and what was used and excluded by Apple.
Santa Rosa is the new evolution of the Intel Mobile Centrino Duo architecture; it started with Napa, updated to Napa Refresh to finally lead to Santa Rosa.
This new evolution features:

- Chipset i965:
This chipset allows the FSB to move from 667MHz to 800MHz, speeding up data exchange between the CPU and the other components. The DDR2 memory frequency remains set at 667MHz. It also features a new integrated graphical unit, known as GMA X3100, not used by Apple neither in the MacBook Pro nor in the recent MacBook update (still using Napa Refresh platform). Apple opted for the powerful mobile GPU the GeForce 8600M GT (see our today's news about it). The new chipset brings also support for SATAII, but this will not change anything as the SATAI is far to be saturated.

- Core 2 Duo CPU:
The Core 2 Duo CPUs powering the new MacBook Pro are slightly different from the models found in previous revision of MB Pro or in current MB. They have a different multiplying factor, 3.0 for the T7700 clocked at 2.4GHz instead of 3.5 for the T7600 clocked at 2.33GHZ. The lower is this factor, the better are the performance/watt.
- If the overall power consumption remains the same, those new CPUs features an interesting auto-overclocking function. If you use a mono-threaded application, as most of the current application, on Core will slow down while the other one will be dynamically overclocked by 200MHz. So, your Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz will work in some conditions as a Core 2 Solo 2.6GHz.

- pre-drafted Wi-Fi 802.11 :
Apple will have once more be a precursor, as the previous revision was already supporting 802.11n. Here Apple does not use the Intel Wi-Fi component 4965AGN, and keeps using a daughter Airport PCI-express card.

- Gigabit Ethernet:
Here again, it will not change much, as we have already been integrated in Apple Pro notebook models since years. The new controller automatically switch to 100 Mbits/s mode when the MB Pro is running on battery.

- Robson or Turbo Memory:
Apple seems to have totally ignored this feature of the Santa Rosa platform, supposed to boost some repetitive tasks, some HD access requests, as well as booting time, by the use of a flash memory module directly connected to the logic board.

In summary, Apple used only the most important features available in the Santa Rosa platform (chipset and CPU). By not integrating Turbo Memory, the new MacBook Pro models can not be certified Santa Rosa Centrino Duo, and will not exhibit the corresponding sticker on their case; but for sure Apple is not looking for it.
So we will not benefit from the improvement linked to the use of Turbo Memory, but tests performed on PC notebooks have shown that below 512MB this technology does not really improve performance


[translation by Linathael]

- Hitachi Released a New 2.5 - Lionel - 12:35:29

Source : http://www.hitachigst.com

With its previously released 2.5" 7K200 HD featuring 7200rpm rotation speed and 200GB storage space, Hitachi was targeting high-end notebook and/or demanding users. With its new 5K250, Hitachi offers a quarter terabyte of capacity for users on the move. Having 250GB of storage space will have an impact on rotation speed which will top at 5400 rpm. Hitachi claims that the 5K250 delivers an 8 percent overall application performance boost over its predecessor, the Travelstar 5K160. The new drive is also reported to be energy-aware, with power consumption varying from 1.8W in read/write mode and 0.55W in low power idle mode. Its operating shock resistance has also been improved by 23% over its predecessor.
The Tavelstar 5K250 will be available with different capacity ranging: 80,120,160 and 250GB, and will adapt the slim size factor compatible with all MacBook. Price and availability is currently unknown.

Last but not least, it would be nice that HD manufacturers stop this ridiculous behavior of announcing products months ahead of their availability, driving consumers mad for not knowing when an announced product will really be available. If one can understand the competition between HD manufacturers, they should deliver a roadmap together with their announcement, consumers will then be informed of the gap between the official announcement and the availability.

[translation by Linathael]

- New MacBook Pro: GeForce 8600M GT Inside - Lionel - 12:34:53

One of the most important change in the new MacBook Pro models released yesterday is the new GPU, moving away from the Radeon X1600 Mobility to the NVidia GeForce 8600M GT. This is the first time that Apple includes a NVidia graphic card in its high-end notebooks; and such a move could also be linked to the acquisition of ATI by AMD, and the improved relationship between Intel and NVidia.
From its specification, the GeForce 8600M GT seems to be a powerful mobile GPU. Its Core is clocked at 475MHz, shaders at 950MHz, while the memory frequency is set to 700MHz and features a 128-bit bus. A more powerful model is available from NVidia, the GeForce 8600M GS, but its power consumption was probably not fitting Apple's requirements.

How faster is the GeForce 8600M GT?
According to Apple, it is 57% faster than the X1600 found in MacBook Core Duo. But one should remember that in MacBook Core Duo, the GPPU was underclocked by Cupertino, and was subsequently increased by 25% in the Core 2 Duo-based MacBook Pro.
So the GeForce 8600M GT will most probably improve performance by 30% at best compared to the Radeon X1600 GPU found the prevision MacBook Pro revision.

Beside the clock speed, the most important point for a GPU is the driver, and if Apple and NVidia can not release a good one, having a faster GPU on paper will not be translated into reality. From the past history, GPU drivers have always been Apple's Achilles’ heel.

[translation by Linathael]

- Turn Heat into Electricity - Lionel - 12:33:27

Source : TGdaily

Similarly to the dream of turning lead into gold, notebook designers have dreamed of turning part of the heat released by CPU/GPU and components into electricity. The benefit would then be double, make cooling device more effective while increasing battery lifetime.
Couple of months ago, we learned that Apple was interested by such a technology for turning heat into electricity and developed by Eneco.
Scientists from the University of Utah have developed a new technology, slightly different but achieving the same goal. Instead of converting directly heat into energy, the new process turns into sound and then into electricity. They use a cylinder-shaped "resonators" to turn heat into noise, then piezoelectric devices to turn the sound into electrical current. Overall, the technology could be about 20 to 25% efficient, but could reach higher efficiency for more dedicated or demanding applications.

One should not expect to see such technology integrated into our notebook tomorrow, as one will have to reduce its size, evaluate if its manufacturing cost is worth the benefit. The scientists aim initially to use this technology to improve efficiency of solar cell from 20% to 50% within the next 2 years.

[translation by Linathael]