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27 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Eh, different chip maker, same situation (kinda).
Apple has always been on the shallow end when it came to processor performance. Seems to have been an uphill battle for them for as long as I can remember.
Motorola couldn't deliver the G4 400 MHz on time years ago, so Apple had to release a G3 class machine with a bum rigged G4. Next Moto they had 'errata' and couldn't pump G4s out in higher clock speeds for about six to nine months. Apple was left wanting more.
Switch gears to IBM and the G5. Big jump for Apple, but still lacking in raw clock. Bus speeds were the only real gain over wintel stuff. IBM gives Steve-O the idea they will scale from 2.0 GHz to 3 GHz in one year. Steve-O then mentions it in the keynote. One year later, foot in mouth. Two years later, goodbye IBM.
Now we have Intel. The author is right, Apple is not large enough in volume to push any chip maker to speedup a whole new class of processor. If it's not ready, it's not ready. I can't imagine why anyone would want to rush a microprocessor to market. To do so, IMHO could mean deploying chips with possible 'errata' issues (read Moto G4).
I think Steve-O should downplay the class of processor and get ANYTHING Intel in one of his beautiful enclosures ASAP. The longer he delays, the more sales he will lose due to holdouts not wanting PowerPC products. Me included.
So to sum up...
1) producing good, solid, stable chips takes time-- especially when using an entirely new process (65nm)
2) chip fabs are a numbers/yield game, which means volume rules costs
3) Apple has been pretty unsuccessful in bullying any chip manufacturer to date (read lack of any real volume). Dell probably DOES have the volume. Apple can get more weight by switching iPod to an Intel processor, but not much i think - edogyip, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2What's with all the Inquirer stories on here? Go to the grocery store and buy a magazine worth reading. No digg.
- DrMerle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'd like to see Apple ship machines with Intel, AMD, and IBM/Motorola processors.
For right now though, the point is that they are going to want to release the absolute bottom of the product line machines first though, so that means Mac Mini's and maybe iBook's. So why couldn't then just slap the fastest mobile processor Intel has right now into them and ship them? Then hopefully the newer chips would be ready for the Powerbook and iMac lines soon after, then follow up with the chips for what I'm assuming will be called the G6 by mid 2007 like they say they are planning? - Seaton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Driver: "Welcome aboard the Intel Production Line Bus, please take your seat!"
Passenger: "I just bought a ticket for this bus, can I sit up front with you?"
Driver: "No sir, I'm sorry, you will have to step behind the yellow line and take a seat."
Passenger: "But, I was told by your dispatch officer that I could ride up front with you, that way I could jump off easier."
Driver: "I'm sorry sir, I didn't get the memo on that. Please step back and take a seat."
Passenger: "Well, when I bought my ticket, everyone was shocked, because I usually don't ride the bus like everyone else. I like to think different. I advertised to the whole world that I had bought my ticket and would be riding the bus like everyone else."
Driver: "That's a nice story, sir, now please take your seat."
Passenger: "Can I ask one of these passengers in the front row to move because I want to sit there?"
Driver: "No sir, you cannot. They were sitting here before you. I do believe there is a vacant seat in the back row."
Passenger: "I don't want to sit back there. These other passengers are below me, I should have a place to sit, up front, by myself!"
Driver: "I'm sorry sir, your ticket did not guarantee a seat on this bus. This bus is almost at capacity, you are lucky you even got on."
Passenger: "I still think you should move the other passengers around so I can have a prominent place to sit."
Driver: "The other passengers have already ridden this bus 95 times this year. You might ride once. They pay my salary...and who are you again?!?" - hypnotoad1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Yes but that is not what the article is about. It about Apple demanding something early. READ THE ARTICLE BEFORE COMMENTING.
Apple is big, but not nearly big enough to bully Intel, unless it has to do with iTunes DRM. So just what can Apple do? It could attempt to put pressure on Intel to give it the necessary chips early. - Sixcolors, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Dude, they should've gone with AMD. =P Steve Jobs could always bust into Intel's offices and start bitching at people. That would be cool.
- Thebigman1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0They want them soon because their own chips are falling behind in what they were once so well known for:Editing. They also generate more heat than Apple can afford to have. Swift when has Apple used top tier products?
- grantj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Intel could sell the chips to Apple early for 20x the cost that Dell would normally pay, right?
- neocitron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0if this doesn't go well, Apple is either completely screwed or they might have to go back to PPC OR they might have to make their own processor.
- zonk3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i wish this didn't need to be stated again...
the reason why apple went with intel is because intel can supply a lower wattage laptop cpu than amd. amd makes great desktop and server chips but they require a lot of juice and run hotter than intel chips. amd isn't stupid, they are working on this.
for now intel is the only reasonable choice for apple's laptop line. remember how hot some of those g4 powerbooks were running (there were reports of folks getting 'hotlaps'). it would be interesting to see apple eventually use some amd chips in their desktops and xserves. there is however also the possibility that the intel based apple's might use some sort of extra chip to lockout osx-on-beige-box folks... - Swift2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is one of the thinnest stories I've read in years. Apple has said they'll start with the low end. An Intel Mac mini isn't going to use the newest chips. Probably the iBook isn't, if they go that way first. The high end processors come on line whenever the newer chips do. The transition won't be complete until 2006, remember?
This story looks like it was dreamed up and pulled out of somebody's butt who has a Jobs hate on him. And really, what kind of hopeless moron is a Dell "fan"? : ) - iaskedTGT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Ha, Ha, I love the last line "why should we give you preferential treatment again?".
- meshgiath, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0rofl. That's it. friggin rofl @ Apple. But if they did send Jobs in, a couple of thrown chairs and veins-popping-outta-foreheads oughta make things interesting.
- anagami, on 07/02/2008, -0/+0"Dell Rules. Apple waits in line. Priceless when the elitist don't get in the front of the line. What will it matter anyway. The OSX hacks will be out there and probably run better on the $349 Dell."รง
yeah right.
your comment is so insightfull. - dementia, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0as long as it's out by september, in time for me to buy one for college
- Acill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Well I am a MAc user and I was and still am pissed by the Intel thing. It serves Apple right though. Do the think that Intel will actually work with them and do what Apple wants? No I think not, Apple is just another small volume user in Intels mass market of pawns now. Welcome to the slave trade Apple, to bad your not on the masters side.
- silentauthority, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0AMD is so much cooler. When comparing dells and macs though... have to look at more than just the hardware. I would buy a dell... (If I hadn't promised myself to build my own computer) but their graphics suck... integrated graphics that eat up RAM are not a happy thing.
- Seaton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Seaton... brotha man, get a life! WOW!"
Oh, come on, I thought my comments were insightful and funny. Some people just don't have a sense of humor! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I dugg it... I hope this story is wrong and I hope Apple gets the chips and jumps off PPC quicker and starts changing the world... AGAIN!!!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Seaton... brotha man, get a life! WOW!
- roosteronacid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"probably with a big fanfare and many black turtlenecks"
HAHA! :D - jakv5, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Your source is the INQUIRER!!!???!!!
- Nice2Cats, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Assuming the article is true, let's put this into perspective: We'er talking about one quarter here. This makes it a "nice to have", not a showstopper -- and anybody who actually uses his computer for serious work will never, ever, buy the first generation of any machine anyway.
I can understand that Apple might try this and that Intel would say no. But in the big picture, this is not a problem that I can see. - goat2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0and you can buy an apple already for 20x the cost of a dell
- rebrad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Dell Rules. Apple waits in line. Priceless when the elitist don't get in the front of the line. What will it matter anyway. The OSX hacks will be out there and probably run better on the $349 Dell.
- Snee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0http://digg.com/links/To_digg.com_staff_all_fellow_diggers,_please_read_2
- duck_oil, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Apple announced this themselves at WWDC.
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/jun/06intel.html
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