The nVidia-powered, laser-carved Aluminum brick?
By Ronald O Carlson
Revised MacBooks are just around the corner and the Oct 14th date that’s been bandied about for month or so now seems set in stone, but there are still plenty of details yet to comb over.
TUAW has added its voice to a chorus of blogs and media outlets, respectable and otherwise, on the details of Apple’s upcoming portable refresh.
A source tells us that nVidia is showing off new MacBooks to their employees, and word is going around that the new versions will be released as soon as October 14th.
The chip in question is believed to be nVidia’s MCP79 of which there are six variants. From what I’ve been reading, it packs great integrated graphic performance suitable for the consumer-grade MacBook and that’s just the appetizer:
In addition, MCP79 features a single-channel TMDS interface for HDMI 1.2, support for a 1066 MHz FSB, 800 MHz DDR2, 1333 MHz DDR3 memory support, 3 Gbps SATA/eSATA, nVidia DriveCache (similar to Intel Turbo Memory), an nVidia GbE controller, High Definition Audio, TPM 1.2, and up to 20 PCIe 2.0 lanes.
The front-side in the current MacBooks tops out at 800MHz and the GMA X3100 integrated graphics have been roundly criticized as being simply inadequate. Thereupon, any MCP79 variant will be a large improvement over what we’ve got.
The “brick” explained, too?
9 to 5 Mac, for its part, has popped off a missive on what exactly recent “brick” rumors are all about—a one-piece, laser and water jet-carved Aluminum enclosure for Apple’s portables:
• Carving out of Aluminum eliminates the need to bend the metal and create weak spots or microfolds and rifts
• There are no seams in the final product, so it is smooth
• Screws aren’t needed to tie the products together
• The shell is one piece of metal so it is super light, super strong and super cheap
• You can be a whole lot more creative with the design if you don’t have to machine it
A new MacBook with a single-piece Aluminum enclosure that’s as smooth as a baby’s freshly bathed and powdered bottom? Everything about it sounds believable except the cheap part. That is, a Mag-Lite hand torch, which is made from a single piece of machined Aluminum, is a lot more expensive than your garden-variety, plastic flashlight. Perhaps as part of a notebook BOM it’s relatively cheap or maybe the production process scales really well?
Whatever. It sounds über cool and 9 to 5 Mac, though they be a couple minutes short of a full shift on this one, isn’t in the habit conjuring or repeating bogus rumors…
So, are we about to be blessed with nVidia-powered, laser-carved aluminum MacBook goodness? I’m hopeful…
Plug—Also, check out The Apple ‘Brick’ is revealed… as a manufacturing process
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