RSSIntel denies new iMac has new 'Montevina' platform
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published April 30, 2008, 12:39 PM
Is it a first peek at an entirely new class of Intel CPU that Apple is offering in its latest refresh of iMacs, or is it an older class of CPU that is being overclocked at customers' requests? Intel is indicating that the iMac's new high-end CPU is neither.
The latest round of the old "telephone game" amid several online news sources yesterday resulted in two unusual interpretations of Apple's news on Monday that its top-of-the-line iMac was getting a speed boost to 3.06 GHz.
One interpretation was that Apple was getting first pick of Intel's forthcoming Centrino platform architecture, code-named "Montevina;" and some sources actually went ahead and clicked "Publish" on that story.
But as an Intel spokesperson told BetaNews, the new 3.06 GHz option -- which customers may request in place of the standard 2.83 GHz processor -- is a 45 nm Penryn-class Core 2 Duo CPU. It is not, therefore, the yet-to-be-released X9100, which will be a Core 2 Extreme at 3.06 GHz that supports the 1066 MHz front-side bus.
What was missed in all the confusion were several factors, the most obvious one being that the X9100 would require an entirely new chipset. The Montevina architecture doesn't run on the iMac's current Intel Santa Rosa chipset. It awaits an entirely new chipset, code-named "Cantiga," which is still slated for release in this quarter according to Intel's current roadmap. But for iMac buyers to have requested a swap from the standard 2.8 GHz chip to the X9100, they would have naturally had to have requested an entire motherboard swap.
In an attempt to remove the egg stains on account of that obvious omission, some blogs yesterday alleged that the 3.06 GHz chip actually is the 2.8 GHz chip, just overclocked -- set to run at a clock speed higher than the factory recommendation. That would contradict reports stating that Intel spokespeople specifically said it provided Apple with a special SKU of an existing E8xxx-series chip, one that supports the iMac's (non-swappable) G965 Express chipset.
A check of Intel's parts specifications reveals that running a 45 nm on a G965 chipset was a special feature to begin with: The 45 nm Penryn-class E8xxx series processors weren't rated for the G965 Express anyway.
So it should not therefore be any feat of rocket science for Intel to do whatever it does to its 2.83 GHz E8300 for Apple, to its 3.06 GHz E8400 instead. Still, the mess of mangled misinterpretations has become so thick that Intel is going back to the drawing board on its public interpretation of the news, and may yet have a clarification for BetaNews later today.
Meanwhile, Apple itself has gone completely silent, perhaps in hopes that saying nothing (which it already knows how to do quite well) may make the misinterpreted news just go away.
To bring a little humor to this discussion, here's a link that shows how bizarre our world has become:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24394270/
Have a nice evening:)
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Mac sucks, I prefer DELL XPS with Vista rather than iMac with crappy Leopard
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Look if you like Apple then use their products. If you like MS then use their products. If you like open source then use theirs. The point is that use the one you like but you don;t have to tear down another in the process. No one system is perfect.
Do I like Dell? No.
Do I like Apple?- I admire Jobs pr skills but don't admire the Apple fanatics or any fanatics and that includes MS or open source.
In my case I had my machine built and I do use XP but also use open source and I like both. That does not imply as seems to be the case on this site that I don't like Apple. I may not approve of some things but I can say the same thing about MS or Open Source.
Yes I have certain feelings about the business aspect of Apple and how long it will last but I will be the 1st one to say I may be wrong.
Have a nice evening:)
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Um, Apple doesn't need to say anything more because it they already said the most important things:
a) specs for the following machines
b) it runs OSX
unless it uses an crazy amount of power (or vice versa) or has some special requirement, the rest is just industry gossip and for the end user, don't care ... because a & b are answered already.
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Whether this much ado about nothing I don't know.
Whether or not it is overclocked is hard to tell on Apple computers since they don't give out many detailed specs but as a comparison, here is a dell which does give out detailed specs:
Intel® Core™2 Extreme QX6850 (8MB,3.67GHz Factory overclocked)
this will run faster than the Apple and has better dot pitch and resolution rate on it's lcd monitor. Ram is the same. Wireless connection is the same (N)
So whether or not Intel and Apple are in collusion (Which might raise anti-trust issues) or it's simply typical Apple behavior to overclock and not say this and put a new label on the chip , who knows. But the price differential is about 845 lower on the Dell.
Now I am not advocating a Dell or an Apple but just showing you whatever the cause, Apple is still overpriced.
added note-The latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors run at speeds up to 3.06GHz with advanced 45-nm process technology and 6MB of shared L2 cache." I was wrong The Dell gives you more L2 cache and it is not shared. The specs was taken from both Dell and Apple site.
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Overpriced... hard to say... more expensive... Yes. There are many, like myself, that gladly paid more for an OSX machine. I used to sing Dell from the hilltop. I had an Axim, Inspiron 8000, dimension 5100, Dell DJ, and my TV is still a 37" Dell. Thanks to Vista, I sold it all and went Mac.
For me, I have grown past games and shareware and do mainly movies and photos. Mac is perfect for me. I don't mind spending more, because back in the day I was always spending $2500 to $3500 for a new PC anyway. $1700 for an iMac seems relatively cheap to me, but hardware to hardware, yes you can get a lot more, or the same thing for less, from a Dell, HP or whatever.
The average Apple owner doesn't give a care about Ghz. The difference is negligible since most iMac-ers are stuck with the same built-in hard drive, video card, etc... For a PC tweaker, Ghz is everything. For a Mac-er, OSX and iLife are everything, and both run exceedingly well on the base level iMac hardware.
If MS can throw away the old Windows and reinvent themselves as Apple did when they went to the Unix-based OSX, then PC hardware might be more intriguing. However, by then the combination of BootCamp/Fusion/Parallels and OSX will negate the need for a PC at all.
One Mac to find them all and in the darkness bind them.
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The only problem is that Apple products are "designed in America but made in china" so that price difference is even more extreme given the slave labor approach China takes. Also, I too, don't own a Dell- use to but not anymore. I used Dell as an example only because they are good at giving specs where other companies are not.
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"
One Mac to find them all and in the darkness bind them." sounds like a line from the Night of the Living Dead..sorry couldn't resist. Enjoy your Mac:)
One final note- I don't do games or movies but do do Photography and MS OS is fine for that.
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tscarf13 said "Intel® Core™2 Extreme QX6850 (8MB,3.67GHz Factory overclocked)
this will run faster than the Apple....simply typical Apple behavior to overclock and not say this and put a new label on the chip , who knows. But the price differential is about 845 lower on the Dell."
Well - there IS NO 3.67 GHZ chip, and certainly IS NOT available at Dell for ANY price. I'd also point out that whatever claims have been made DIDN"T come from Apple, rather from the usual list of misinformed bloggers who are unfamiliar with the term "fact checking." I really wish people could discern from what Apple says and what the NET says. Misinformation does no one a great service.
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Correction Apple products are deigned in California(it should say USA but doesn't) and made in china (by 10 year old kids) like Jim Cramer would say.. BUY BUY BUY apple
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"So whether or not Intel and Apple are in collusion (Which might raise anti-trust issues) ... But the price differential is about 845 lower on the Dell.
Now I am not advocating a Dell or an Apple but just showing you whatever the cause, Apple is still overpriced."
More emotional nonsense!
Anti-trust? ROFLMAO!
If Apple Didn't make a sweetheart deal with Intel regarding sourcing in return for bringing their account over to Apple, shareholders should sue Apple!
And overpriced? Yeah, check out the price of your comparable Dell with a 24" MONITOR and see how much cheaper than $1799 it is!
Oh...it includes a monitor?
You don't have a clue. Instead you just run on repeating the same old tired 15 year old mantra.
Gee, and you forgot to mention that the Macs are 'incompatible' with MS based PCs because they went with an obscure convention called TCP/IP in '93 instead of using MS' NetBIOS! But then MS finally dumped their proprietary NetBios in ~2004...and went with...uh, let me think... LOL!
...Just an oversight I guess...
Apple is very competitive for equivalent 'pre-built'(non owner built) machines - and the MacPro with DUAL QUAD-CORE XEONS for $2799 is an absolute steal! Where is your less expensive equivalent pre-built competition for that?
At least have an inkling of a clue before making such baseless asinine comments.
If you aren't building your own machine, Apple has many very competitively priced and elegantly designed machines.
This issue is much ado about nothing...
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You miss some very important words in Dell's description- Factory overclocked.
Also, the info on the Apple chip comes directly by cut and paste from Apple's site.
Now as to all the other stuff. Who Knows. My own feeling is that Intel would run not the risk of slicing it's own throat to give Apple a better chip than other Manufactures. From a business standpoint that would be suicide. But also look at the L2 cache difference.
Have a nice evening:)
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I stand corrected but the point still is valid:)
Have a nice evening:)
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"MacPro with DUAL QUAD-CORE XEONS for $2799 is an absolute steal" I defy you to find that information on the Apple site. if you prove that macbook pro has that than I will say I'm sorry but you are the 15 yr old in this and since I don't advocate one OS over another , you show your true colors on what you prefer. That's ok but it just makes you not see the forest from the trees.
Finally, I think you are the one in this case that should be careful about baseless asinine comments.
Apple fanboys come off sounding like 15 year olds while adults try to see all sides. If you want to use a Mac...great good for you but that doesn't mean that other system might work just as well.
And yes, Anti-trust laws would apply if Intel did in fact enter into some sort of agreement like this.
Finally look at the specs.
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And Apple is slowly edging towards opening their system. something that MS has always done. sheeesh and they can't even make a decent Office suite. Oh and they can't even make their own IM. They have to use others say like Messenger.
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"...and they can't even make a decent Office suite"
iWork does more than the vast majority of people ever would need. Plus it is way cheaper than the bloated M$ Office.
"Oh and they can't even make their own IM. They have to use others say like Messenger."
iChat seems pretty cool to me.
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While I agree iWork is quite good at what it does, it is NOT a office suite and cant be compaired with ms office.
Curious as to why you think office is bloated now? I would say it is pretty much on par with all other office suites both free and non-free.
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"rather from the usual list of misinformed bloggers who are unfamiliar with the term "fact checking." "
Same misunformed bloggers who try to have a quick stab at someone and fail on the reading and fact checking front themselves?
Nice one
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Why is it you folks always have to s**t on mac? Even if what you say is full of b******t!!! Apple also has a great assembly plant in Korck Ireland. Has been assembling here for years. All stuff made in China is under high supervision on working conditions. Ever since the Nike affair.
Have you ever taken a close look inside your on PC?
How much of that stuff is made in china?
Do you know in what conditions it was made? Are they also under close supervision??
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Anything that MS makes is bloated according to pit.
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How is it: "...NOT an office suite..."? What is it missing or lacking?
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I am not sure the word "bloated" can be applied to everything M$ makes. Take a keyboard or a mouse for example.
You FAIL on many levels.
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I'm sure this has something to do with your wacko claim that Macs are way overpriced, but what it is no one can ascertain.
Instead of substantiating your nonsensical claim we are off on another tangent.
Nice rebuttal.
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Apple fanboy?
So now simply being aware of Apple and the actual facts instead of groundless claims like your "Macs are more expensive" makes one a fanboy.
If you make more asinine claims about ANY platform I will counter them if I am aware of facts that contradict your seemingly endless emotionally based nonsense.
Nope! Anti-trust laws would not! If Apple and Intel wish to enter into an exclusivity contract, or some form of priority agreement based upon volume or any other criterion they certainly can,! Intel is not a monopoly, and the x86 platform is not a monopoly. I guess in your world view the govt should have pursued Apple's exclusive agreement with IBM for the PowerPC chip as well - in their 'monopoly'! While your emotional rant is fascinating, the factuality is not... Neither is it correct.
And regarding your point about the MacPro dual quad-core XEON platform...yeah - look at the specs! and your point? If you comb your hair better, perhaps no one will notice.
What would be nice is if you simply stated correct and factual claims - them you can offer whatever emotion rant you like - but we don't need more nonsensical claims unsupported by reality.
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Office users?
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Ok fox..setting aside trading insults for one moment, let's look at this whole thing.
Fact: you siad- "Apple is very competitive for equivalent 'pre-built'(non owner built) machines - and the MacPro with DUAL QUAD-CORE XEONS for $2799 is an absolute steal! Where is your less expensive equivalent pre-built competition for that?" and I said if you can prove that there is a Macbook Pro out there with a dual Quad-core Xeons for 2799.00 by posting an actual statemnt taken directly from an apple site, I would say I am sorry.
Fact: I used Dell as an example not because I like them but because they tend to give more info on specs than other companies and
Fact: I said-
"Intel® Core™2 Extreme QX6850 (8MB,3.67GHz Factory overclocked)
this will run faster than the Apple and has better dot pitch and resolution rate on it's lcd monitor. Ram is the same. Wireless connection is the same (N)" the key phrase is "factory overclocked" which is common at both the consumer and factory end.
Fact2 cache- Apple's new machine has L2 cache of 6mg of shared while the dell has an L2 cache of 8 mg unshared. that makes a difference.
Fact: You started off on the tangent not me by mentioning other factors than this chip.
Fact:And this may surprise a lot of you but anti-trusr laws like the Ricco Laws have been expanded over the years and don't specifically restrict themselves to monopolies.
Fact: I said that I though, at the end of the day the story was hogwash because Intel is not about to slice it's financial throat by giving a chip to a company that has a somewhat small share of the market and piss off the rest of the manufactures.
So, again, if you can post a link or direct quote from an apple site that proves me wrong, I will say again that I will come on here and say I'm sorry.
Have a nice evening:) and to everyone I once again say use whatever system you want, it is your choice. Not mine or For or Pit or PC. Choose the one that you feel at ease with and just because others might disagree, so what:)
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As preinterpost mentions, officer users. People that use it for 'office reasons'.
It's still serious limited not to mention there are non MS alternatives on osx that are far better.
Take it you have not read the many reviews when it was released telling people not to compair it to 'office suites' because it simply could not.
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I do find this hysterical.
Mactards seem to have a rebuttel with no facts or spects and fellow mactards pat them on the back for good arguments.
While someone states facts and specs, but gets slammed for being "emotional".
And you wonder why most laugh at mac users?
Sorry, its already proven fact that Apple has the highest markup of any PC vendor. YES THAT MEANS ITS MORE EXPENSIVE FOR THE SAME SPECS!!
And that means same HD, MEMORY, CHIP, VIDEO CARD, THE WHOLE COMPARISON!
Apple loves to go silent and let idiots misquote and start rumors, because they get free idiot propaganda by doing nothing. The only time Apple speaks up is when anyone says anything remotely bad about them or truthful. And if you don't watch it, they will send their lawyers after you. Apple kind of reminds me of the Church of Scientology actually.
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who the fck cares?
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maybe the people working in slave-like conditions in china care.
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Should dish out some more H1Bs I reckon...
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I plugged my 2.4Ghz imac into a 240V plug in and it runs twice as fast. Apple has not given a press release on my own stupidity yet... I guess they are busy...
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Another media panic regarding its own speculation regarding the speculation in reference to the speculation based on their previous speculation....hardly news!
Does it really matter?
I suspect Apple will use whatever CPU is available and will upgrade the processor as available - as has been their previous history where CPU upgrades have been routinely incorporated as the components become widely available.
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Steve Job has invited Intel to private hush hush meetings at his house to go over what to do next??? So why does Intel make special deals for a company that holds 5-8% of the market?
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Intel makes special deals for a company that holds 5-8% of the market because that's 5-8% of the market they didn't have before (when Motarola made Apple's chips). It's all about business and making more profit.
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Steve Jobs (not Job) was friends with Andy Grove and others at Intel for years (30?), so he can invite them to his house for dinner and parties any time he likes without having secret meetings.
As had been done in the past, a few processors can be used that test a bit faster than average, but since there are so few, only a smaller volume company like Apple can make use of them.
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"Meanwhile, Apple itself has gone completely silent, perhaps in hopes that saying nothing (which it already knows how to do quite well) may make the misinterpreted news just go away."
Why should Apple say anything? They released a 3.06 GHz iMac. They did not say it was a "Montevina" or allude to it being some new Intel architecture.
This is all a bunch of blogs and news sites publishing incorrect information.
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just like your "facts"
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i am not following you. Care to explain?
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I would think he is referring to your gleaming reputation here
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I so care what a bunch of M$ employees, M$ fanboi's, and trolls think of me.
Not my problem they don't like the facts i do post backed up by reliable sources. Facts are facts.
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the facts i do post backed up by reliable sources
*laughs*
Not following you...care to explain?
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And we could careless what an Apple or Nintendo employee thinks.
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i post links to reputable sources when applicable, unlike all your senseless troll posts. The best being where you said you and __Hollywood post factual statements.
I have proven you wrong on so many occasions i can not even remember the number.
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I doubt very seriously any 'serious' apple or nintendo supporter would stand behind the s*** you have said here.
I consider myself a nintendo fan, I only have a DS and Wii and i manage to distance myself from you.
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"I have proven you wrong on so many occasions i can not even remember the number."
That's just it, you have not even come close. In your head maybe but in reality....
All you have managed to prove to people with your so called reputable sources is that you are blindly devoted to all things apple and it seriously clouds your ability to think rationally.
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Thanks for the laughs, I just read about 2 or 3 mactards trying to claim they state "facts" but have none.
Thanks, laughter is always healthy!
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