“Late last week, Intel made news at an analyst meeting in which CEO Paul Otellini revealed an accelerated rollout schedule for products based on Intel’s next-generation microarchitecture. According to reports by the Inquirer, DigiTimes, and others, the server part, Woodcrest, will be the first of the new lineup to hit the streets this coming June, followed by Conroe (the desktop part) in July and Merom (the mobile part) in August,” Hannibal reports for Ars Technica.
“So those of us who’ve been waiting for the Merom-based MacBook now have a more specific timeframe to work with. It looks like we’ll see them officially unveiled at the August WWDC. As for the PowerMac replacements (Mac Pros? MacMacs?), the launch date may depend on whether Apple chooses Woodcrest or Conroe for the brains of their pro line. I’m leaning towards the idea that Apple will use a lower-clocked (and hence lower-priced) Woodcrest and introduce the PowerMac replacements in June, but this would put the PowerMac on shelves well in advance of the August WWDC at which it was formerly rumored to debut. A Conroe-based iMac might also make it out before WWDC,” Hannibal reports. “As you may recall, WWDC was pushed back to August from its normal June date, presumably to coincide with Intel’s Q3 rollout of Woodcrest, Conroe, and Merom. But Intel just keeps bumping up the intro dates for these parts in response to a number of factors (competitive pressure from AMD, profit shortfalls, internal restructuring), a fact that probably drives Apple nuts. Imagine the wrath of Steve if he really did delay WWDC from June to August in order to make it coincide with what was at the time an already accelerated Woodcrest rollout, only to have Intel move the Woodcrest launch date even further ahead into June! Such are the woes of being a relatively small fish in the very large pond of the x86-based PC market.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Too Hot!” for the heads up.]
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Getting chip updates too soon. After Motorola’s incompetence and IBM’s indifference, I think Steve will be happy with Intel’s aggressive battle with AMD.
Big Al:
Agree with you 165%.
This all sounds wonderful … what does it mean?
Current MacIntels are using “core duo” chips. Where does this fit with “Woodcrest”, “Conroe” and “Merom”?
Are these all “core duo” chip types?
Will these replace “core duo” chips?
I see a lot of bullshit being thrown around.
DLMeyer:
Woodcrest, Conroe, and Merom are also Core Duo chips, albeit 64 bit and a slightly modified architecture. It’s been reported that these chips will offer a 20 – 40% performance increase at the same power consumption as the current Core Duo chips.
Can anyone please discribe the advantage that the Merom MacBook will have over the existing Macbook?
mmm, it’s faster.
Encouraging news. But I’m more interested in Leopard. Anyone know where I can download free screenshots from the web?
“I see a lot of bullshit being thrown around.”
Maybe, but not nearly as much as they do here:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/OKBEAchip.html
If they’d get the damn MacBooks out already I’d be happy.
Takes half the time to fry an egg.
Yeah I can’t see Jobs being pissed that Intel are releasing their chips earlier than expected.
It will also allow the supply of chips and machines to build up if Apple want to wait till the WWDC for annoucing the products.
I would imagine that Apple will want to get the ibook out earlier than August though because for the education sales. Ideally they would want those out in June so that supply can ramp up through July.
Bugger. I just bought a G5 imac second hand because i knew i couldn’t afford a new intel one. looks like if i’d waited a couple of months I could have had an outdated core duo for the same price.
Curses, curses, curses.
Big Al:
“Motorola’s incompetence and IBM’s indifference”
Perfect take.
MW: “earlier” as in, “the earlier the better.”
Steve could still announce XServes and MacPros at WWDC and have them shipping “now” rather than the typical 2-6 weeks. He could also announce MacBooks as shipping “now” with very low power Yonahs and a bump to MacBook Pros to be shipping in September with Meroms.
Also, what did Otellini mean by “shipping” in June/July/August? Getting past the “sampling” stage and to limited quanities on 30 June, 31 July and 31 August? Will the full production rates get actually achieved in August/September/October?
Remember Yonah was “shipping” in December 2005 but did not really hit full production until February 2006 and MacBook Pro did not ship in full quantities until almost March even though Yonah started “shipping” more than two months earlier.
“Woodcrest, Conroe, and Merom are also Core Duo chips, albeit 64 bit and a slightly modified architecture. “
Actually the new chips are basec on an entirely new microarchitecture called Core. The current Core Duo brand is only a marketing label and has no relation the current architecture in the Core Duo chips which are basically two Yonah cores and are derived from the Pentium M architecture.Please don’t post misinformation, it confuses people.
*based
This is what would make sense: The entire “Pro” line will transition to 64-bit, leaving the new Macbook/iBook replacement and the Mac mini (and possibly the iMac) running 32-bit Core Duo chips for a while longer. It would allow for lower price points for the consumer line and it would also make a clear distinction between the professional and consumer lines.
I think that those should keep the PowerMac name. They should be powerfull.
August WWDC for launching the MacBooks is a little problematic for catching the back-to-school sales. Assuming they announce it then, the MacBooks might only be shipping by, what, September?
gzero and DLMeyer,
These new chips will be dual core, but they technically belong to a new family of processors – the “Core” family. Don’t ask me why the current Core Duo and Core Solo chips are called that if they aren’t even part of the Core family, but they are. An Intel spokesman was recently asked this exact same question and his reply was, “marketing”.
WWDC will be more about the SOFTWARE this year than the HARDWARE. it’s date was moved because of Leopard vs. Vista issues. Not because there’s some great secret in upcoming intel chips…
Doesn’t Apple’s Core Duo=PC Centrino Duo?
so basically theres a possibilty that macbooks wont ship until the macbook pro gains access to the newline of chips from intel. with the macbook taking over the coreduo line from the mac book pro.
when youre waiting to buy a macbook its a little frustrating.
Core Trio sounds o.k. but will Intel go with Core Quartet? Sounds a bit awkward. And just imagine what the Core Sextet will be able to do.
Oh yeah, I’m sure Steve Jobs and Apple just hate having their chips served up earlier than promised and in quantity.
What a terrible burden for them!
No doubt they’re pining for the good old days under Moto and IBM. Now there’s some companies you can rely on to be fashionably late, assuming they didn’t get lost or they bothered turning up at all.
MW = future
The future is looking bright!
Apple introduces Leopard on Macs with faster, cooler chips August 2006. Windows users gloat over their “killer patch” released by Microsoft.
What would you prefer?
It could be a lot worse… We could be sitting here, waiting for Vista.
Yeah, given the alternative, I believe Steve will be thrilled.
I think I had Otellini with lobster sauce and a nice Chardonnay the other night. (no fava beans)
Yes Apple will have such an advantage getting these chips the same time as everybody else.
Intel currently counts about 100 Merom designs on the way.
> After Motorola’s incompetence and IBM’s indifference,
Welcome to a world where processor speed does increase every few months not every year or so.
I love how Mac people can be suprised by what they see as “rapid” development, and an “advantage” that Apple will get from the faster processor (a lot of talk about that when the Core Duo machines first came out). Like they thought Windows users wouldn’t also have access to a wide variety of equally fast machines.
There’s no processor speed advantage that lasts more than days now you’re in the Intel space, only disadvantages if you don’t ship faster machines about the same time the rest of the world ships faster machines.
It’ll be interesting to see how Apple handles the pace in this faster moving environment.