The key advantage of Montevina is the increased front-side bus speed which is now 1066MHz as well as the inclusion of the latest 45nm Penryn processors.

The MacBook Air also benefited from technology improvements, Intel has confirmed that the MacBook Air now uses a standard 45nm Penryn processor.

But new Intel processors did make a debut in the refresh of the MacBook Air. Instead of the Small-Form-Factor (SFF) 65-nanometer Merom chips, Apple has gone with with the more advanced 45-nanometer Penryn SSF processor. Penryn chips typically boast either 3MB or 6MB of cache memory versus the 2MB or 4MB that the older mobile procesors offer. (Cache memory speeds performance.)

The MacBook Air has previously been criticised for overheating issues which caused the Air to slow itself down.

(via Electronista)

Last year Apple asked Intel to supply a small, thin processor for use in a very thin notebook.

“That was the first time they actually worked together on a custom project,” says Tim Bajarin, president of the Creative Strategies consulting firm. “Before that, everything was pretty much off the shelf. As a result, the relationship grew even further.”

Initially Intel said they couldn’t help but remembered that they had shelved a project a few years before.

Years earlier, researchers had dreamed up a similar chip in a tiny package, but the idea had been put on the back burner after PC makers gave it a ho-hum reception. The concept just had to be dusted off. “We had that small chip package pretty much sitting on the shelf,” Rattner recalls. Within a year, Intel had updated it to meet Apple’s needs and delivered it in volume.

Apple used the processor in the MacBook Air announced at Macworld 2008, Intel’s chief technology officer Justin Rattner says that Intel is working with Apple on more projects that are “equally aggressive”.

“There were two minor issues we found during final testing – one with our integrated graphic chipsets, which we have found a workaround for but need to re-screen our parts, and second around our wireless Wi-Fi chip, which was a paperwork and certification mistake we made,” said Bill Kircos, a spokesman for Intel.

“Both of these led us to establishing a launch date for our mobile processors and discrete chipsets of the week of July 14th, and taking a couple of weeks to get the right readiness and volume for the rest of our components,” Kircos added. “We’re looking at early August for that.”

As a result of the delays Apple is unlikely to begin volume shipments of Montevina based notebooks until much later in the back-to-school buying season.

According to previous reports both the MacBook and MacBook Pro are expected to receive updated looks, the MacBook adopting an aluminium enclosure and the MacBook Pro taking some design hints from the MacBook Air.

The Core 2 Extreme QX9300 will carry a $1038 price per 1000 units.

The 45-nanometer design will sport a core frequency of 2.53GHz, support for up to a 1066MHz front-side bus, and include 12MB of Level 2 cache. But with demand for high-end notebook systems reportedly below average, “Intel expects the quad-core notebook CPUs will not become standard in the performance/mainstream notebook market until the second half of 2009.”

The hefty power usage and price of the chip makes it seem an unlikely candidate for Apple notebooks.

The new drives are expected to be 2.5-inch drives as well as 1.8-inch, the latter being compatible with the MacBook Air.

Intel’s NAND chief Troy Winslow also told News.com that the new Intel drives will boast transfer rates far superior to any existing offers.

With new competition, drive speeds will jump. Currently, the fastest SSDs from companies like Samsung approach 100MB/second for reading data. “What I can tell you is ours is much better than that,” Winslow said. Hard drives typically read data at about half this speed

The chief also added that the entire product line will include SATAII interfaces, delivering up to 3Gbps.

Finally the price of SSDs is expected to drop considerably over the next few years. It costs upwards of $1000 to use an SSD in a notebook these days but by 2010 this price could be reduced to just $200.

“Price declines are historically 40 percent per year,” said Winslow. “And in 2009, a 50 percent reduction, then again in 2010.

Finally Winslow highlighted the increasing role SSDs are playing in the server market due to the ability to accelerate performance more than sixfold when compared to even the highest performing traditional hard drives.

Winslow said that Intel recently did a video-on-demand demonstration where it streamed 4,000 videos simultaneously. Just to do the streaming (not to store the video), it took 62 15,000 RPM (very high-performance) hard drives, he said. “We were able to replace those 62 hard drives with 10 SATA (SSD) technology drives,” he said.

The recently released MacBook and MacBook Pro models were updated to use Penryn; Intel’s latest processor belonging to the Santa Rosa mobile platform. The speed boost is being widely criticised as nothing special. According to Mac Rumors Apple was forced into updates due to Intel wishing to push forward with production of newer processors.

According to our sources, Apple was forced by Intel into upgrading the MacBooks at this time. Intel is aggressively phasing out the older generation 65nm Merom chips over the coming months. As a result, Apple needed to upgrade the MacBooks in the interim to maintain a proper supply.

Intel is planning to replace the Santa Rosa platform with Montevina (Centrino 2) in June of this year, with the introduction of a new platform will see the introduction of new Penryn processors.

DailyTech reports that the second-generation Penryn processors will boast a 1066MHz front-side bus and clock in as high as 2.8GHz.

It also comes as no surprise that all of Intel’s Centrino partners have indicated that they will announce notebook models based on the latest platform at the time of release.

DigiTimes also reported along the same lines on Monday, explaining that Intel is planning to very quickly phase out its Santa Rosa platform next quarter and push partners into adoption of Montevina.

Intel’s timetable seems to indicate that the company intends to drop shipments of Santa Rosa from 60% in the first quarter to just 35% in the second. The current processors are also expected to be 100% phased out before the years end.

Intel expects that around 18% of notebook shipments will be Montevina-based after the platform launch next quarter. Growing to 50% by the third quarter and 90% by the fourth.

The sources who reported to AppleInsider that Apple would adopt ‘Menlow’ also noted that Apple was specifically interested in Intel’s upcoming 45-nanometer ‘Silverthorne’ processor, reportedly agreeing to use it in multiple products in 2008.

‘Silverthorne’ is a particularly good processor for mobile uses due to its small power usage, which can be anywhere between half a watt and 2 watts. The ‘Menlow’ platform also incorporates technologies such as 3G, WiFi and WiMAX.

‘Silverthorne’ is expected to be delivered in the first half of 2008.

Intel shows off iPhone-like device running future Moorestown processor

AppleInsider sources are unable to pinpoint which Apple products will take advantage of the new Intel processor but two fairly apparent products would be the 3G iPhone and long-rumoured ultra-portable Mac.

AppleInsider also briefly reports on ‘Moorestown’ an Intel mobile platform that is expected to be the successor to ‘Menlow’ with an estimated release date of 2009/2010.

During the Fall Intel Developers Forum, Intel executives showed off an unnamed ‘Moorestown’ processor, describing it as the ‘chip the iPhone would have wanted.’

During the processor demonstration Intel executives flaunted a device which was an apparent tribute to Apple’s iPhone saying that the Moorestown-based device could run constantly for 24 hours between charges.

The new Mac Pro will feature Intel’s currently unreleased processor known as Penryn, it will represent the first upgrade to the Mac Pro since its inception in August 2006. The update will also push the Mac Pro to the forefront of computing as the Penryn-family of processors is based on Intel’s 45nm manufacturing process.

AppleInsider believes that the new Mac Pro will top out with an 8-Core model using two 3.2GHz “Harpertown” processors. The new Quad-core processors feature a 1600Mhz front-side bus as well as 12MB of L2 cache.

The rumour site believes that the lower-end Mac Pro models could recieve the dual-core Penryn processor know as “Wolfdale”.

Penryn processors code-named ‘Harpertown’ are the successor to the processor currently used in the Mac Pro, the chips are based on Intel’s 45nm manufacturing die and feature a massive 1600MHz front side bus.

The rumour is reminiscent of one earlier this year in which Intel stated that it was supplying Apple will exclusive allotments of ‘Clovertown’ the Penryn predecessor. The 3GHz Quad-Core processors were featured in the Mac Pro several months ahead of other manufacturers.

Penryn is slated for release on November 11th of this year, but Apple will most likely have access prior to this release.

Bill Kircos commented for Intel; “We are indeed shipping a 3.0GHz Xeon version [and] expect to see faster gigahertz speeds for our high-end Extreme PCs very soon, too. For now, the product is in limited production and Apple has chosen to adopt it. We will introduce another 3.0GHz Xeon SKU later on as well.”

The processor is currently exclusive to Apple.

Clovertown - Xeon 5000 Series

Clovertown which is aimed for the server market is set to be released later this year and the line-up looks as follows:

• X5355 | 2.66GHz | 1.33GHz FSB | 8MB L2 Cache | $1172
• E5345 | 2.33GHz | 1.33GHz FSB | 8MB L2 Cache | $851
• E5320 | 1.86GHz | 1.06GHz FSB | 8MB L2 Cache | $690
• E5310 | 1.60GHz | 1.06GHz FSB | 8MB L2 Cache | $455

All prices for batches of 1000 units

Kentsfield - Xeon 3000 Series

According to Intel roadmaps the launch of Clovertown will be preceded by Kentsfield the desktop market equivalent.

The family consists of four processors one of which was recently announced as the Core 2 Quadro.

• QX6700 | 2.66GHz | 1.06GHz FSB | 2×4MB L2 Cache
• Q6600 | 2.4GHz | 1.06GHz FSB | 2×4MB L2 Cache |
• X3220 | 2.4GHz | 1.06GHz FSB | 8MB L2 Cache | $851
• X3210 | 2.13GHz | 1.06GHz | 8MB L2 Cache | $690

All prices for batches of 1000 units

Kentsfield appears to be set for release in Early 2007.

[Update - 26/9/2006 19.30 BST] Intel has made some last minute changes to it’s roadmap, processors that were set to be called Core 2 Quadro have been renamed to the Core 2 Quad.

The processor which is internally dubbed “Kentsfield” and will be commonly known as the Core 2 Quadro Q6600 will debut with a clock speed of 2.4GHz.

It should be noted that the server version of Kentsfield is called Clovertown and should also ship early next year.

Tulsa is the next generation on from Woodcrest which is used in Apple’s current Mac Pro systems. Tulsa is also known as the Xeon 7100 series and is Dual-Core much like Woodcrest.

Tulsa boasts lower power consumption at 95 watt options that can reduce associated energy costs. Intel says the Dual-Core Intel Xeon 7100 processor series offers up to twice (2x) the performance and nearly three times (3x) better performance per watt over previous Intel Xeon MP processors–in part because of its large 16MB Level-3 cache.

It is unknown whether Apple has any plans for the high-end Xeon processor.

According to some reports Intel quietly pushed some first shipments of its Core 2 Duo Desktop chip (Conroe) last month, ahead of the official July 27 release date.

“The mobile PC version of the Intel Core 2 Duo processor is also shipping now, one month ahead of schedule,” Intel wrote in a set of presentation slides.

The first two processors are dubbed Kentsfield and Clovertown which are effectively twin-die Core 2 Duo’s. Kentsfield is aimed for the Desktop market, such as the upcoming Mac Pro and Clovertown is aimed at the server market, such as the yet to be released Intel based Xserve.

AppleInsider is reporting that developers are feverishly working on the inclusion of internet phone calls to Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard”.

Sources familiar with recent builds say that VoIP dialling is a new feature of iChat 4.0.

It is unknown whether Apple will capitalise on this growing market or whether they’ll partner with an existing solutions provider such as Skype or Google Talk.

Intel Launches 2.33GHz Core Duo

Today Intel quietly began shipping a moderately upgraded version of its Core Duo processor.

The Core Duo T2700 is priced at $637 and tops the previous high end chip, the 2.16GHz Core Duo T2600.

The current 15 and 17-inch MacBook Pro notebooks use the previous high end Core Duo processor, sources have contacted World of Apple with information about a discrete boost in MacBook Pro top speeds with no price change.

Intel has also quietly begun shipping the Ultra Low Voltage Core Duo this week.

The new chips will deliver 135-percent performance increase with up to 40-percent decreases in power consumption, the new “Woodcrest” processors are the first to take advantage of Core micro-architecture, a design said to include technologies to improve performance.

Intel will initially ship the Xeon 5100 series at speeds of up to 3.0GHz, the company said, which will pack a faster 1333MHz front side bus and 4 megabytes of shared L2 cache.

“Simply put, the Core microarchitecture is a technical marvel that is driving a new era of power efficiency without compromising on what can only be described as eye-popping dual-core 64-bit performance,” said Pat Gelsinger.

The top-of-the-line 3.0GHz Xeon 5100 will ship with a thermal design point (TDP) of 80 watts with all others models rated at 65W. In the third quarter, Intel plans an even lower voltage version at 2.33 GHz with a TDP of just 40 watts.

Intel says it plans to unveil a 3.2GHz version of Woodcrest later this year.

“Forget what you thought you knew about hybrid technology. Intel now delivers the best of both worlds: high performance and energy efficiency without compromise,” reads an invitation sent out to the press and industry analysts.

Although its not confirmed that Intel will introduce the Woodcrest processor but TG Daily believes that the new chip will be released on June 26.

Details of the upcoming processor have also reached light of day, Woodcrest Core will come in six variations ranging from 1.6GHZ to 3GHz, all will include 4MB of L2 cache.

Prices are expected to range from $209 for the entry level Xeon 5110 (1.6GHZ) all the way up to $841 for the high end Xeon 5160 (3GHz).

Benchmarks of the new processors are beginning to reach the Internet, they were produced within an Intel controlled environment but should be a fair indication of final performance, it should be noted that none of the benchmarks have been performed on Macs.

The Register has written up an article, they were genuinely impressed writing;

“It’s too early to comment on shipping product, but early tests suggest Conroe will fly…”

The Register writes that it was unable to do any testing on “Merom” the Core 2 Duo for mobile machines but says that we should expect 25 percent increased performance over “Yonah” with the same power efficiency. They also write slightly about the “Kentsfield” the quad-core processor from Intel.

Bit-tech has also taken a look at the Core 2 Duo, comparing it with the Intel Pentium EE 965.

In Bit-techs closing notes they wrote;

“Core 2 Duo is clearly a very capable processor, but there are some areas where it could be faster. It’s not often that we’re spoiled by something that completely blows us out of the water, but this could be it - if anything, it leaves us wanting more. However, we have some worries about its multi-tasking performance, which doesn’t appear to be quite as good as the chip that Conroe will be replacing later this year.”

Intel have just announced plans to build a 1.2GHz Dual Core, 65nm processor with a 533MHz FSB, 2MB of cache and feature just 9W of TDP envelope. The processor will retail under the name Intel Core Duo U2500.

Two of the processors will be aimed at the mainstream market and will be numbered 6300 and 6400 running at 1.88GHz and 2.13GHz respectively. Both chips will feature 2MB of cache and be priced at $183 and $224.

The next two processors will be aimed at the higher end market, the Core 2 processors will be numbered 6600 and 6700, carry 4MB of cache and clock in at 2.39GHz and 2.67GHz respectively. These two chips will be priced at $316 and $530.

The final processor in the line-up is the Core 2 Extreme (6800), the processor will have 4MB of cache and clock in at 2.93GHz but will carry and price tag of $999.

All the processors use 65 watts of power except the Core 2 Extreme which will consume 80 watts.

It is hoped that the new cable with replace the ageing VGA, UDI promises to bring the power and functionality of HDMI to high end PCs, although UDI is unable to carry sound it is compatible with both HDMI and DVI.

Unfortunately the standard is becoming very much focused on DRM, due to UDI including HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection).

Read more on HDCP

“The Intel Core microarchitecture is a milestone in enabling scalable performance and energy efficiency,” said Rattner. “Later this year it will fuel new dual–core processors and quad–core processors in 2007 that we expect to deliver industry leading performance and capabilities per watt. People will see systems that can be faster, smaller and quieter with longer battery life and lower electric bills.”

Several advances mark the new microarchitecture:

• Intel Wide Dynamic Execution –– Delivers more instructions per clock cycle, improving execution and energy efficiency. Every execution core is wider, allowing each core to complete up to four full instructions simultaneously using an efficient 14–stage pipeline.
• Intel Intelligent Power Capability –– Includes features that further reduce power consumption by intelligently powering on individual logic subsystems only when required.
• Intel Advanced Smart Cache –– This includes a shared L2 cache to reduce power by minimizing memory traffic and increase performance by allowing one core to utilize the entire cache when the other core is idle.
• Intel Smart Memory Access –– Yet another feature that improves system performance by hiding memory latency and thus optimizing the use of data bandwidth out to the memory subsystem.
• Intel Advanced Digital Media Boost –– Now all 128–bit SSE, SSE2 and SSE3 instructions execute within only one cycle. This effectively doubles the execution speed for these instructions which are used widely in multimedia and graphics applications.

Hopefully this shows that development for Apple’s server lineup may be in full swing.