Intel's processor and chipset codenames have long been a source of confusion, and the adoption of NVIDIA's chipset in the newest MacBooks and MacBook Pros won't help matters.
One of the updates that had been long anticipated for the late 2008 MacBook and MacBook Pro updates has been the adoption of Intel's Montevina platform. This topic got lost with all the recent rumors of hardware redesigns and the adoption of NVIDIA's chipsets.
Despite Apple's migration to NVIDIA chipsets, Apple has still adopted the key advantages of the Montevina platform. This primarily includes a 1066MHz front side bus and the latest Penryn processors. How much of a difference (if any) the higher bus speeds have will have to wait for side-by-side benchmark testing, though the graphics performance of the new NVIDIA GPUs should give the new notebooks a clear graphical advantage.
This likely doesn't change anything for future planning as Apple will certainly adopt Intel's upcoming Nehalem processors over time. Nehalem is expected to offer a dramatic performance boost over existing processors. These next-generation Intel processors will be first launched for servers in Q4 2008, and come to desktop and mobile platforms in 2009.
Meanwhile, Intel confirms that Apple has quietly replaced the processors in the MacBook Air with the latest 45nm Penryn processors.
But new Intel processors did make a debut in the refresh of the MacBook Air. Instead of the Small-Form-Factor (SFF) 65-nanometer Merom chips, Apple has gone with with the more advanced 45-nanometer Penryn SSF processor. Penryn chips typically boast either 3MB or 6MB of cache memory versus the 2MB or 4MB that the older mobile procesors offer. (Cache memory speeds performance.)
The MacBook Air's processors now carry 6MB of cache memory (up from 3MB) and use a more power-efficient design. Apple had previously been using a custom 65-nm Merom chip. Any power savings from the new processors, however, may be offset by the adoption of the NVIDIA graphics card as Apple has not advertised any benefits to the change.
We've seen a lot of teasers about the Beats Studio Buds over the past month since they first showed up in Apple's beta software updates, and today they're finally official. The Beats Studio Buds are available to order today in red, white, and black ahead of a June 24 ship date, and they're priced at $149.99.
The Studio Buds are the first Beats-branded earbuds to truly compete with AirPods...
Apple is enhancing AirTags security to prevent stalking using the Bluetooth devices, Apple told CNET today. Apple is already sending out over-the-air updates to AirTags that will shorten the amount of time before an unknown AirTag alerts you if it is in your possession.
At the current time, AirTags play a sound after three days of being away from their owner. After the update, AirTags will...
Apple this week released iOS 12.4, the newest version of iOS 12 available for iPhones and iPads. One of the new features in iOS 12.4 is an updated data migration option that uses device to device transfers rather than relying on iCloud.
Apple didn't provide much information on the new data migration feature, so we thought we'd check it out in our latest YouTube video.
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Wednesday February 3, 2021 3:09 pm PST by Juli Clover
YouTube is planning to stop supporting its YouTube app on the third-generation Apple TV models, where YouTube has long been available as a channel option.
A 9to5Mac reader received a message about the upcoming app discontinuation, which is set to take place in March.Starting early March, the YouTube app will no longer be available on Apple TV (3rd generation). You can still watch YouTube on...
T-Mobile has issued a statement with further details about a cyberattack that the company confirmed earlier this week, confirming that the data breach included the personal information of almost 50 million current, former, and prospective customers.
Late last week, T-Mobile confirmed that a forum post that purported to offer data from more than 100 million people was the result of a company...
Tuesday April 20, 2021 12:11 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple's long-awaited AirTag was finally unveiled today, and as expected, the small circle-shaped accessories can be attached to items like wallets, keys, and more to allow them to be tracked in the Find My app.
As was rumored ahead of release, each AirTag is equipped with a U1 chip, and on devices that also have U1 chips, there's a Precision Finding feature.
U1 Ultra Wideband chips are...
Apple will release a new version of the MacBook Air around the middle of 2022, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today in note to investors seen by MacRumors.
The upcoming MacBook Air will feature a 13.3-inch mini-LED display, which would make it the second Mac to gain mini-LED technology after the 2021 MacBook Pro, which is rumored to include a mini-LED display and is expected to launch later ...
Apple today announced that the original film "Finch," starring Tom Hanks in its titular role, will premiere on Apple TV+ on Friday, November 5 and shared a first-look image from the film.
The first look at "Finch," shared by Apple. The film, which is anticipated to be an awards season contender, revolves around a man, a robot (played by "Get Out" actor Caleb Landry Jones), and a dog that form ...
Another class-action complaint has been lodged against Apple, which claims that the company was aware of a MacBook Pro design flaw that caused some devices to have backlight display issues (via Apple Insider).
The so-called "flexgate" problem was present in some MacBook Pro models manufactured between 2016 and 2017. The problem appears as dark patches along the bottom of the MacBook Pro's...
Wednesday November 11, 2020 4:43 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple introduced the first MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini with M1 Apple Silicon chips yesterday, and as of today, the first benchmark of the new chip appears to be showing up on the Geekbench site.
The M1 chip, which belongs to a MacBook Air with 8GB RAM, features a single-core score of 1687 and a multi-core score of 7433. According to the benchmark, the M1 has a 3.2GHz base...
