Following the introduction of new MacBook Pro models yesterday, and to reply to many questions sent to us by readers, we will summarize below what are the components of Santa-Rosa platform and what was used and excluded by Apple. Santa Rosa is the new evolution of the Intel Mobile Centrino Duo architecture; it started with Napa, updated to Napa Refresh to finally lead to Santa Rosa. This new evolution features: - Chipset i965: This chipset allows the FSB to move from 667MHz to 800MHz, speeding up data exchange between the CPU and the other components. The DDR2 memory frequency remains set at 667MHz. It also features a new integrated graphical unit, known as GMA X3100, not used by Apple neither in the MacBook Pro nor in the recent MacBook update (still using Napa Refresh platform). Apple opted for the powerful mobile GPU the GeForce 8600M GT (see our today's news about it). The new chipset brings also support for SATAII, but this will not change anything as the SATAI is far to be saturated. - Core 2 Duo CPU: The Core 2 Duo CPUs powering the new MacBook Pro are slightly different from the models found in previous revision of MB Pro or in current MB. They have a different multiplying factor, 3.0 for the T7700 clocked at 2.4GHz instead of 3.5 for the T7600 clocked at 2.33GHZ. The lower is this factor, the better are the performance/watt. - If the overall power consumption remains the same, those new CPUs features an interesting auto-overclocking function. If you use a mono-threaded application, as most of the current application, on Core will slow down while the other one will be dynamically overclocked by 200MHz. So, your Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz will work in some conditions as a Core 2 Solo 2.6GHz. - pre-drafted Wi-Fi 802.11 : Apple will have once more be a precursor, as the previous revision was already supporting 802.11n. Here Apple does not use the Intel Wi-Fi component 4965AGN, and keeps using a daughter Airport PCI-express card. - Gigabit Ethernet: Here again, it will not change much, as we have already been integrated in Apple Pro notebook models since years. The new controller automatically switch to 100 Mbits/s mode when the MB Pro is running on battery. - Robson or Turbo Memory: Apple seems to have totally ignored this feature of the Santa Rosa platform, supposed to boost some repetitive tasks, some HD access requests, as well as booting time, by the use of a flash memory module directly connected to the logic board. In summary, Apple used only the most important features available in the Santa Rosa platform (chipset and CPU). By not integrating Turbo Memory, the new MacBook Pro models can not be certified Santa Rosa Centrino Duo, and will not exhibit the corresponding sticker on their case; but for sure Apple is not looking for it. So we will not benefit from the improvement linked to the use of Turbo Memory, but tests performed on PC notebooks have shown that below 512MB this technology does not really improve performance [translation by Linathael]

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