Macbook Yonah vs Merom, Battery Life

[peter202]

Hello all, I sure hope that very soon we will see the core duo be replaced in the macbook with the core2 duo. If this upgrade doesnt happen over the next few weeks i may just buy the current macbook with yonah.
The only thing that really bothers me is battery life. Will Merom be much more energy efficiant? How much extra battery life do you think we will see? and will the heat issues be resolved?

 

[yoda13]

I am quite sure someone will correct me if this is wrong, but some guys in a thread the other night, I could have sworn were saying that the merom was not an improvement in heat or energy efficiency. But I am not certain of that, but that is what I have heard. Someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I am going with that until someone does.

 

[HecubusPro]

It has a measureable speed increase, longer battery life, etc...
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=288

 

[hope]

I read it is only about 10% faster but uses less power and creates less heat. Those 2 things alone, without a speed increase, could greatly be used by the Apple line of notebooks.

 

[benthewraith]

I read it is only about 10% faster but uses less power and creates less heat. Those 2 things alone, without a speed increase, could greatly be used by the Apple line of notebooks.

Does it end the whine?

 

[generik]

Does it end the whine?

The whine is due to Apple's inferior manufacturing and has nothing to do with Intel's superior processors and chipsets.

 

[miles01110]

The whine is due to Apple's inferior manufacturing and has nothing to do with Intel's superior processors and chipsets.

If it is a manufacturing problem, genius, then why does a firmware update fix it? It has nothing to do with the manufacturing process.

 

[ArthurS]

-edit-

 

[erikamsterdam]

I read it is only about 10% faster but uses less power and creates less heat. Those 2 things alone, without a speed increase, could greatly be used by the Apple line of notebooks.

I also remember a thread where it was mentioned that the Yonah scales back further when on battery, so it's more efficient when run a battery.
We will just have to wait and see how it works out.

 

[miles01110]

Merom will be easier on the battery, but why would anyone be doing anything processor intensive away from AC power in the first place...

Under full load you might get an hour and a half out of the battery, max. if Merom is 10% more energy efficient, the extra time gained is pretty much negligible.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Just to clarify WHY Merom is more energy efficient:

Merom is more efficient at processing data. It can get more done per clock cycle than Yonah. About 10% more. That means it uses about 10% less CPU time to do a given task.

HOWEVER, at a given CPU usage, it uses the same amount of electrical power (Watts) as Yonah. So if you are running your Merom at 100% usage, you will get 10% more work done for the same power used.

The reason battery life will improve is because the processor can be running 10% slower to get the same tasks done. However, at idle, it draws the same amount of power as Yonah as well. So if you just let your notebook sit there doing nothing, or use it at 100%; you will get the same battery life.

If you do 'light' work, you will see a slight improvement. (Assuming all other hardware is identical.)