If you ’re the sort of someone who keeps one eye continually trained for the thin hint of a Mac product announcement , it ’s probably sentence to start your Updated Apple Laptops vigil . The fellowship has n’t made any noise about upgrading its laptop computer line , but its chipping supplier just did — on Wednesday , Intel unveiled an upgraded Centrino notebook computer platform that promise better processing capabilities , improved power management , and faster wireless connectivity , to name just a few of the claims . And it ’s a safer stakes than any stake you could have made during last weekend ’s Kentucky Derby that these newfangled processors that are part of the updated platform will obtain their fashion into an Apple product before long .
Of course , you might not get that opinion walking around the Old Federal Reserve Building in San Francisco where Intel hosted Wednesday ’s press event . There were plenty of Windows portable on paw — new notebooks from Dell and Lenovo and HP were on display for reporters to toy with — and deal of talk about how well the unexampled C.P.U. will manage Microsoft ’s Vista operating scheme . So how did we walk away from such a Windows - centric event with Macs on our minds ? It was more than just the mass of Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman — TV’sMythBustersand frequent Mac users on the show — and their promotional appearance on behalf of Intel ( ending with a somewhat awkward hand - off to Intel ’s Mooly Eden , VP and world-wide manager of the Mobile Platforms Group ) . Rather , our bowel feeling is due to the fact that sometimes , the past is prologue .
Last July , we descend upon Intel ’s Santa Clara headquarters as the company unveiled its Core 2 duet processor . Apple was a no - show at that upshot , too , and yet , just a few months after , both the MacBook Pro and MacBook lines migrate to the Core 2 duet . It ’s likely that a similar rise will happen with the unexampled - and - improved processors Intel announced Wednesday .
Besides , Apple has about 891,000 reason to keep push for improvements to its laptop computer line . That ’s how many portables the party sold during its financial second quarter this year when Apple turned a $ 770 million profit . Sales of laptop computer in oecumenical and the MacBook in particular are helping drive that stellar financial public presentation , as we ’ve noted before , so it only take a leak sense for Apple to keep on introduce .
So what can Mac user expect when — excuse us , if — these so - called Santa Rosa chip wind up in some variety of Apple laptop in the coming months ? You wo n’t see a major startle in raw processing speed . Intel ’s new processors — which Eden referred to as “ Core 2 couple on steroids”—range in fastness from 1.8GHz to 2.4GHz ; by way of comparison , the MacBook Pro currently tops out at 2.33GHz while the fastest MacBook runs at 2GHz . What you will see , however , is a faster frontside double-decker — the chip have an 800MHz frontside bus , equate to the 667MHz version you ’ll encounter in the Core 2 Duo splintering presently power Mac portables . A quicker frontside bus moves data point more cursorily between the CPU and the chipset ( in this case , the Mobile Intel GM965 Express chipset ) , which contains the memory management and connects to primary memory through the memory busbar ( often running at the same speed as the frontside bus)—that ’s where the performance gain is likely to come from . But keep in mind that most of Eden ’s benchmarks and demos evince big melioration compared to the original Centrino scheme from 2003 — much less so when compared to the last Centrino system . How much of a carrying out dispute Macs users will see from the Core 2 Duo processors in today ’s MacBooks and MacBook Pro ’s may be less striking . And the 802.11n wireless ingredient to the Centrino platform is something Apple already has in position . unspoiled powerfulness efficiency , however , should render to good shelling liveliness in many situations .
Another feature in the new program is an optional capability called Turbo Memory . Intel says the feature of speech ameliorate reactivity and multitasking capabilities by using ( presently ) 512 MB or 1 GB nonvolatile flash memory stash to trim down hard drive hit ; that will get applications launch faster and reduce battery expenditure , among other benefits . Only a fistful of PC makers are include Turbo Memory in their initial releases with the unexampled chip , and it ’s indecipherable to us anyhow if the technology will be incorporate in any potential Mac offering — although it ’s a passably secure stakes that we ’ll never see a Mac market as “ Centrino - power . ”
For a less theoretic look at what these alteration might mean for laptop computer carrying out , our colleagues at PC Worldran some tests on the Santa Rosa laptop political program . As for testing Mac performance , we ’ll just have to wait until laptop ground on these chips get in in our Lab — once Apple gets around to announcing such laptops , of course .
