Swad Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 You know that desire of many teenage boys to get a little MG or old Fiesta and drop a huge Ferrari engine inside? That's a lot like this. MacRumors lets us know about a rumor (hey, that's a surprise) going around about the ability to use the up-coming Merom processor in the current Intel Mac Minis. We're not sure how practical this is, especially since some of the other Mini components (like the graphics) are really the parts that make it a low end machine. Nevertheless... bragging rights count for a lot, and this kind of upgrade would certainly deserve them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alor Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 even the iMac is socketable... this is interesting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randomblame Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 yes the upgrade should be more than possible as merom uses the same socket and is completely compatable with existing i945 platforms. Intel designed it that way to ease the transition as notebooks have to be essentially redesigned every year when a new cpu comes out. Theres a 3 month period where no one wants to buy because a new cpu is out but it's not in any notebooks yet. The only thing sad is that the macbook pro's core duo is soldered in so if you really want to upgrade your mbp it'll take something like that company that upgrades first gen xbox's with tualatins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackice Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Intel announced this at the IDF. Its not a rumour Basically, there will be two types of Merom: -> Type I Type I will use the Core Duo socket, and be swap-able with the current Yonah chips. Literally plug n' play. It will have better performance, higher clock speeds, EM64T, and be more power efficient. These chips will be released Q4 2006. -> Type II Type II is the type that is going to be released Q1 2007, with Intel's "Santa Rosa" mobile platform. They'll have a faster FSB than the Type I Merom chips, and just do more of the same - (singificantly) increase performance, increase power efficiency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colonel Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 Makes me want a Mini even more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kernalzero Posted April 13, 2006 Share Posted April 13, 2006 I wonder if this is something apple considered when they made the transfer from the powerpc chips to intel chips or if it was overlooked. Will apple lose some $$$ because people don't have to get a new system they can now just buy a new chip from intel? if they system can be upgraded for a couple hundred $$$ don't you think people are more likely to hold off on buying a new mac and just rather buying a better processor, selling the old on ebay and upgrading the DDR2? When will the new chips be installed and shipped in the MBP? I'm gonna hold off until that happens, whenever I buy a new first version of electronics they tend to be alittle buggy.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AirmanPika Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Well I dunno if its gonna steal that many customers away. The idea of tearing apart an imac will probably scare most people off (a mac mini is way easier to open up and upgrade compared to the imac). That and the cost of the cpus...initially anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netdog Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 They sure haven't made it easy to upgrade the chip in my iMac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogabean Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 I wonder if this is something apple considered when they made the transfer from the powerpc chips to intel chips or if it was overlooked. Will apple lose some $$$ because people don't have to get a new system they can now just buy a new chip from intel? if they system can be upgraded for a couple hundred $$$ don't you think people are more likely to hold off on buying a new mac and just rather buying a better processor, selling the old on ebay and upgrading the DDR2? When will the new chips be installed and shipped in the MBP? I'm gonna hold off until that happens, whenever I buy a new first version of electronics they tend to be alittle buggy.. I doubt Apple will lose any money. A lot of Macs have been CPU upgradeable over the years whether with Apple parts of third party. My G3 B&W was originally stocked with a 400MHz CPU. Upgraded to 450, then overclocked to 500, but I could have upgraded to a 1GHz G3 through a third party. I don't see it hurting Apple in the least one way or the other. Fact is *most* won't even consider trying an upgrade on their Mac. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minko Posted April 14, 2006 Share Posted April 14, 2006 Yea, I think thats the piont! If you open up your mac, you'll lose your warranty. But I have to say that I really like this fact, and I think that next month, when the yonah is getting cheaper, I will buy a mac mini and upgrade the cpu. Can't wait.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatoncat Posted April 19, 2006 Share Posted April 19, 2006 Yea, I think thats the piont! If you open up your mac, you'll lose your warranty. But I have to say that I really like this fact, and I think that next month, when the yonah is getting cheaper, I will buy a mac mini and upgrade the cpu. Can't wait.. Not quite. If you can put the CPU back, and you don't mess with any jumpers, the warranty is fine. You simply have to get the thing back to the original state in once piece without breaking anything. CPU swaps that involved changing jumpers on the motherboard do void the warranty. I doubt Apple could void the warranty in this case. That said, I am very suspect that the final Merom will not work in a production mini. Both based on Intel's wish to sell more motherboards, and Apple's EFI-controlled iron curtain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts