Monthly Archives: June 2011

Jun 26 2011

Macbook Air – Intel’s new ULV chipset rumoured as CPU choice

Intel Core i7 logo as of 2009

Image via Wikipedia

As rumours hot up about the next refresh to the Macbook Air range, the question on everyone’s lips is which CPU will Apple go with; will it be Intel’s new ULV chipset?  Intel recently announced the specification and price fo the new ultra low voltage (hence the ULV moniker):

  • Core i7-2677M: 2 cores, 1.8 GHz (turbo boost to 2.9 GHz), 4 MB cache, 17 watts, $317
  • Core i7-2637M: 2 cores, 1.7 GHz (turbos to 2.8 GHz), 4 MB cache, 17 watts, $289
  • Core i5-2557M: 2 cores, 1.7 GHz (turbos to 2.7 GHz), 3 MB cache, 17 watts, $250

Certainly, with the Macbook Air, the ULV chipset would seem to be the way to go. There has been talk in the past of Apple choosing AMD over Intel. Whilst ARM processors have traditionally ran circles around Intel’s designs in power consumption, dominating the small mobile device market, it’s hard to see Apple jumping ship when its just refreshed other parts of its hardware portfolio with the latest Sandy Bridge processors. Certainly, AMD’s new Fusion processors are looking pretty good themselves, with strong integrated graphics than current Sandy Bridge offerings, equivalent power consumption, and a lower price tag. Could be a close call. DailyTech even mentions the possibility of an ARM-powered Mac notebook. Another possibility is that we could see a black anodized aluminum case version.

Whichever choice Apple makes (and for now I am going with Intel’s ULV chipset), the future of the Mac notebook market certainly looks brighter than ever.

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Jun 24 2011

Facebook to release iPad app?

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...

Image via CrunchBase

A report in the New York Times citing unnamed sources, indicates the world’s largest social network is will release a free app optimized for the Apple iPad. The question many are asking is ‘why has it taken them so long?”

Users will be able to upload video and images captured on their iPad 2. Why Facebook has taken so long to produce an app for the iPad when there has been one for the iPhone for so long now is a mystery but at least its on its way, finally!

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Jun 24 2011

Mac Pro 16-cores rumoured to be immnent

Image representing Apple as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

Rumours are that the next refresh for the Mac Pro will include 16-core models. 9to5 site claims that official Apple papers reveal that there will be 4 models, ranging from a single 6-core CPU model to one with dual 8-core CPUs. As none of the current Xeon 5000-series processor family used by Apple can go to eight cores this would indicate a yet to be revealed Intel processor is in the works.

It will a year next month since the last refresh of the Mac Pro range and the rumoured updates will mean that the Mac Pro will be a powerful platform for professionals using it for video and graphics applications.

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Jun 19 2011

Mac Pro and Mac Minis due August

Profile of Mac Pro

Image via Wikipedia

Rumour is that the Mac Pro and Mac Mini range will receive an update in August, with Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt. This is according to  CNet‘s Brian Tong announced via Twitter. As previously posted, the last update to the Mac Pro was back in August last year. That refresh was to introduce the Quad-Core Intel Xeon cpu to the range.

No word as yet to what exactly the refresh will bring in terms of processor speed and other specifications. However, I would expect to see SSD as an option and the GPU to be from the AMD Radeon 6000 series. Thunderbolt is now part of the default package and with Sandy Bridge processors should see a significant boost to performance. This will be most welcomed by professional users as they have been somewhat letdown by Apple of late. Certainly, the offerings from the Windows platform have put what’s available on the Mac side to shame a little, especially in terms of value for money.

Apple can ill afford to ignore its core users and despite the massive growth in its iPhone and iPad business, buyers of Mac Pros are still an important market for Apple, especially after it killed off Xserve. Lets hope that as well as boosting the specification, Apple can compete on price as well.

As regards the Mac Mini range, it too will benefit greatly from an upgrade to Sandy Bridge, especially in light of recent announcements about OS X Server. Many will be looking forward using the Mac Mini as a great and relatively cheap server platform now that the price has come down so much.

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