Mhackintosh blog

Apple will unveil new MacBook Pro lineup with Core i3 and Core i5 mobile cpu. Maybe Core i7 mobile CPU if we are lucky, but it will be an built-to-order option on MacBook Pro 15″ and 17″ if it ever appears on a MacBook.

On the GPU side, as nVidia seems to be unable to launch new GPU since 2007 and G80, GeForce 8800, for the gamer or fot he mobility market, just trying to hide evolutions of this old chip with marketing rebranding, and Apple choose ATI GPU for the iMac, it seems nVidia wont be the next generation MacBook Pro choice.

Obviously, the new Radeon HD 5830 Mobility seems to be the best GPU for MacBook Pro, with 24W TDP, compatible with actual design and cooling fan, it offers up to 800 Gflops raw processing power for OpenCL and 3D, and 25.6GB/s memory bandwidth, it might be a great choice for OpenCL but a bad one for 3D.

Effectively 3D performance will be just a little better than last-generation 8600M GT or actual 9600M GT (nVidia rebranded the 8600M GT to hide it’s inability to create new chips) with same 25Gb/s memory bandwidth, but will shine on the raw processing side for OpenCL software, such as video encoding, photo processing, antivirus, compression, encryption, raid management… In OpenCL the Radeon HD 5830 Mobility could deliver up to 6.5X the raw processing power of actual MacBook Pro GPU while keeping same TDP.

Radeon HD 5750 Mobility might be a better choice for OpenCL and games, with “only” 500 Giglaflops of raw processing power because of it’s memory bandwith of 51 GB/s, that will help for both games and applications. This will be my GPU of choice, even if the name seems to imply that it is less performing than the 5830!

I suspect there will be two choice, as in the iMac lineup, with probably the HD 5650 Mobility as entry-level GPU, with same raw processing power but only 25.6GB/s GDDR3 memory.

My guess will be Apple offered Radeon HD 5650 Mobility with 512MB DDR3 or GDDR3 on all MacBook Pro and HD 5830 with 1GB GDDR3 on 17″ or built-to-order configuration. But alas we won’t see the really interesting HD 5770 on MacBook Pro.

PS: with same TDP, nVidia offers the GT 240M, that is marginally faster than the 8600M GT and the n-th evolution of GeForce 8xxx G80 chip, with only 25GB/s memory bandwidth (same as GeForce 8600M GT), and 178 Gflops, so Radeon HD 5770 offers 2.5X memory bandwidth and 3X raw processing power, nVidia is totally out of the mobility market!

I like this piece of crap, it reminds me old clamshell iBook design!

It is not a little dated???

Airport Express was on my mind a little Aiport Extrem lacking Ethernet switch, and a low-cost uninteresting Wifi router. How could I be so stupid?

I needed to connect a PC (ahhh PC!) using Ethernet, but needed a long Ethernet cable running on my appartment. Totally ugly and totally stupid to have a computer without wifi even if it’s a desktop!

On the other hand, I would like to play my iTunes library on my audiophile setup. Quad pre-amplifier and amplifier, kef speakers, Nad LP with a Grado cell, and an Arcam CD player.

I bought an Aiport Express to extend my wifi network, with an ethernet cable running to the PC, and an audio cable to my Quad Pre-amplifier. two problems solved at-once! So cool!

I began hearing music with my MacBook Pro 17″ on the couch, then I installed “Remote” on my iPhone. “Remote” is a so simple name that I thought I would be able to pause, go next tunes, things like that. “Remote” is not that kind of application.

“Remote” is a way for your iPhone or iPod Touch to connect to your iTunes running on your Mac (or even PC for masochists), and use it with the same interface as “iPod” application offers on both, so you have a full fledged music player with full access to the library including cover vew, and even the ability to choose the speaker you use at any time, your computer, any Airport Express (you could have many on your home for multi-room setup!), and even many at-once

It’s totally incredible, having access to 120GB of music from my iPhone as if it was inside it, deciding where I want to hear it.

Airport Express + iTunes + iPhone/iPod Touch : the more you add the more they interact and add value to your setup!

Next move will be to add an Airport Express to my Home Cinema setup, to hear music) and one in the bedroom. Incredible value