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Intel says it will work hard to get the business back

Yesterday, Apple refreshed its MacBook line of notebook computers. As was widely rumored, Apple announced a new graphics provider to replace the Intel integrated graphics that was used on the previous MacBook.

NVIDIA replaced Intel as the graphics supplier with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M sporting 256MB of RAM shared with main system memory. Steve Jobs himself says that the new NVIDIA GPUs deliver five times the graphics power that the notoriously underpowered Intel X3100 integrated graphics system in previous generation MacBooks could muster.

Despite Intel being replaced in the MacBook by NVIDIA graphics, Intel maintains that it's not out of the Apple fold altogether. CNET News quotes an Intel spokesperson saying, "Intel continues to have a strong relationship with Apple. Graphics is a competitive market and we compete for all new business. Intel's technology is integrated throughout Apple's product line but we didn't win this particular design."

Intel may have been replaced by NVIDIA for graphics, but Intel still provides the processors for MacBook systems. Apple has picked the 45nm SSF Penryn processor for the MacBook Air to replace the 65nm SFF Merom used previously. The new processors will boost performance in part by adding cache memory. The 45nm Penryn CPUs have 3MB or 6MB of cache.

Among the new systems introduced yesterday was a new aluminum clad MacBook. In addition to getting the new NVIDIA GPU, the notebook also received a storage bump to 120GB and a Mini DisplayPort connector. The old MacBook is still being offered at a price reduced to $999. Apple has also provided more details on its Brick manufacturing process.

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By pauldovi on 10/15/2008 11:47:30 AM , Rating: 5
Lenovo did this and it works like a charm. Users can switch, in real time, between the integrated X4500HD and the HD3650. Vista only though (not XP).

On these new Mac Book's you have to log out and log back in.

That is pretty lame for a "just works" Mac.




By GoodBytes on 10/15/2008 11:52:21 AM , Rating: 5
Mac OSX doesn't allow this... it is like windows XP, where the drivers are too close to the OS, meaning if one crashes your computer freezes. Vista can restart the drivers, or in the case above change video card.

http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~...


By CU on 10/15/2008 12:20:12 PM , Rating: 5
Ssshhh, don't tell apple users that Vista can do something better than OSX it will disrupt Job's Reality Distortion Field.


By anotherdude on 10/15/2008 12:50:20 PM , Rating: 3
I wish somebody had stood up at the iCult meeting yesterday and told jobs he ain't got no 18% market share. That would have raised his blood pressure. Yea, he had "US" in parenthesis and mumbled something about "retail" but it sounds like all you really saw and heard was 18%!

Mac share is 3.6%, 8.1% US, and yes it is growing but enough with the propaganda already. These guys are master manipulators and still are perceived as 'cool', what's up with that?


By bohhad on 10/15/2008 2:07:59 PM , Rating: 4
if they are liars, yes


By Pirks on 10/15/2008 2:42:04 PM , Rating: 3
All marketing departments are staffed by professional liars, in any company, hence this is rather weak argument.


By anotherdude on 10/15/2008 3:14:20 PM , Rating: 2
sorry but Apple is doing way too much of this and getting away with it way too often, why? because it is the darling of the valley-centric, cali representen tech press. And if you can't see that then you are blind!

They can do it all they want to and we can call them on it all we want to also, it's just time they got outed more often.


By othercents on 10/15/2008 5:56:45 PM , Rating: 2
Apple is not doing anymore gray area advertising than any other company. It is just that you are focused on them and can quickly point out every error. Most advertisement on TV is advertisement of omission which is why you have the small line of text at the end of the ad to let every know the truth.

Case in point is where both Verizon and AT&T Wireless can have advertising touting that they have the most coverage. Verizon has the most in the US and AT&T has the most world wide.

Other


By erikejw on 10/16/2008 8:17:07 PM , Rating: 2
"Apple has also provided more details on its Brick manufacturing process."

I don't know what the firmware to iPhone that produces iBricks have anything to do with this new McBook, maybe he means they will produce the same kind of firmware for McBooks and produce larger iBricks and make even more money ;)


By ImSpartacus on 10/15/2008 3:03:21 PM , Rating: 4
Oh for god's sake, not again pirks, please.


By djc208 on 10/16/2008 9:33:55 AM , Rating: 3
I think it's more the Lexus thing. They are no more the end-all and be-all of Autodom than Mac is to the computer industry. In fact while they are very good, they are usually benchmarked against, and often second or third to, BMW and Mercedes.

Besides the argument is moot. A Lexus has better everything than the base vehicles it is derived from. More powerful engines, upscale interior, more advanced electronics, more refined suspension, more advanced transmission, etc.

These laptops are at best like bying the base car with options, and paying sticker price.

You get the same CPUs, GPUs, HDD, and even screens that you can get elsewhere. Only difference is you get the MAC OS instead of Windows in a unique package (for a laptop), or to continue the comparison you paid extra to get a custom steering wheel and the brushed aluminum pedals with your body kit.


By djc208 on 10/17/2008 1:26:10 PM , Rating: 2
Not blind, they just don't justify the unending worship you heap upon them. Apple goes on about all these little things because otherwise people might realize they're way over-paying for a rather middle-of-the-road laptop.

Besides, how much different can it be on size and weight, it has the same components as many other laptops, there's only so many ways to package them without reducing functionality (which is usually the case with Apple).

I'm all for buying quality and performance (I own a $400 pen for goodness sake), but it has to justify it's price. Apple is making a $700 laptop with $200 worth of options and adding a $500 logo on the front.

If it makes you happy buy it, it's only money, but don't act like we're all backwards because we aren't drinking the same cool-aid.


By SavagePotato on 10/16/2008 9:37:15 AM , Rating: 2
Read: never ending rants about mac products while using it as an excuse to gush about lexus. Who one can only imagine must be his own personal god the way he talks about it.

Everyone gets your position pirks, you want to point out your genetic superiority because you use a mac while driving a lexus.

I for one suggest you use more apple products while driving your lexus, like the iphone, maybe you will accidentally get in a head on collision with a bus. One can hope.