Reports Say Apple is Hoarding Intel Penryn Chips

There are rumors floating around that Apple has been hoarding the 3.2GHz versions of Intel’s Penryn processors.  Is this a sign of a Mac Pro update?

Intel’s latest Xeon Quad-Core chips are due out next month, and if reports from The Inquirer are to be believed, Apple has gobbled up virtually all of the expected stock.

The chips are a mere 45 nanometers, running at 3.2GHz with a 1600MHz front side bus.  Chips with this much power are almost certain to be destined for Apple’s high end Mac Pro line.

The top end Macintosh’s haven’t had a full upgrade since August 2006, though the 8-core version was introduced in April 2007.  If these chips are destined for the line, the new models would require two of these new chips, and with a price of $1,000 each, the line might even see a price increase over it’s already sky-high prices.

The line would also need a retooling as it is configured for front side buses of 1333MHz, so who knows what other goodies might show up under the chassis of the aluminum behemoths.

At this point it is all rumor in conjecture, but that seems to be the way most stories about Apple formulate.

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