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Apple Dropping ATI?

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Several sites are pointing to a blog with speculation that AMD's recent acquisition of ATI may mean that Apple will drop ATI.

Will Intel allow Apple to continue to working with ATI on graphics after the company becomes wholly owned by rival AMD? I think that we'll probably see Intel gently "suggest" that Apple switch to another vendor for graphics technology in 2007. Once the dust settles I bet that all Macs from here on out will ship with graphics from either Intel or NVIDIA.
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This remains entirely speculative.
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2006/07/26/apple-dropping-ati/
i can understand intel saying to ATI, now a division of AMD, that you can't make intel based motherboards anymore. that makes sense.

i can't understand intel saying to apple/dell/anyone who builds computers saying "well, theres a market with two competing companies, but if you use intel platforms, you can only use this one from now".

can't see it happening.
 
This was one of my first thoughts when I saw the news about AMD and ATI. But I somehow doubt it will get that out of hand. Intel does not really have a gameplan to compete end-to-end against ATI in the graphic hardware business... Until then, ATI is too big of a vendor to the OEMs, and too critical to those who rely on Intel. I can see Intel enticing Apple very hard to make as many Intel-graphics computers as possible, but I seriously doubt they will try and stop Apple or anyone else (and especially not in the PC world, which is less tied to Intel vs. AMD) from using ATI.... That's my thought, anyway. Particularly, too, when you consider what a large percentage of upper-end Macs use ATI.
 
Heh. Whatever. If Apple drops ATI it ain't going to be because of something Intel is suggesting. Jobs doesn't work that way. If they drop them its going to be one of several reasons:

-ATI now is only offered on AMD chipsets.
-AMD jacks up the price of ATI's stuff but only offers deep discounts for those using AMD wares.
-Any discounts that ATI is giving Apple is discontinued.

Basically it boils down to AMD making changes on ATI’s arrangements with Apple. I don’t see this happening because at the end if the day there are WAY more Intel systems out there then AMD. I simply don’t see AMD not wanting to make money on all those systems. The core reason AMD purchased ATI was because of its interconnect hardware. It’s been a key item missing from AMD’s hardware. No longer.
 
They're always at the mercy of someone.. First Moto/IBM, now Intel. Oh well. Will be interesting to se if ATI themselves drops support for the Mac in 3rd party / after market gear.
 
Actually

Actually, there is some truth, but its not Intel telling Apple not to use it.

Intel yanked ATI's license for using the Intel CPU bus for chipsets. Not just for graphics, but for chipsets. This means that ATI can continue making PCIe graphics, but not northbridge chipsets with integrated graphics for Intel processors.

So, for example, a Mac Pro could still use an ATI card as it would be an expansion card, however usually when embedding graphics you go for the most cost effective method, and that is: If you can get acceptable performance from a northbridge chipset graphics adapter, go with that.

If nVidia has the nForce and Intel has IMA graphics integrated, then they both have cost advantages in the mac mini market, as well as the iMac and MacBook markets. ATI will likely only exist as an option in full blown desktops unless you have AMD processors.

What does this mean for ATI? I think its bad news, just as they finally started shipping real chipsets, just like everyone else in graphics is now starting to do, they get their license yanked as laptops become the most popular type of computer....AND as Intel dethrones AMD on power efficient processors. Overall, bad, bad idea... AMD loses their whole laptop market because NVidia is making the nForce and because Intel is slowly improving their graphics capabilities.

So.....MacPro only, maybe xserve.
 
what is the difference between ATI and NIVIDIA.....
and also it kinda sounds like a mini monopoly for intel to tell a company if you are going to use are stuff you shouldnt use this persons also
 
SiliconAddict said:
I don’t see this happening because at the end if the day there are WAY more Intel systems out there then AMD.
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Exactly. This is just speculation from "analysts" who don't seem to even understand what they're analyzing. They're still going to be making graphics cards that work in Intel based systems and I doubt Intel would go trying to force anyone into not using them. They would just be pushing people right into AMDs arms. Apple designs their own MBs anyway, they can put what they want in them.
 
Perhaps we'll get lucky

Unlikely, but one can dream:

Down the road I'd really not only like to see ATI but also AMD technology in Apple products. In Cpu-Land, Intel is more like the fat guy in the PC box and AMD the young kid doing cool things with his Mac. Behind AMD's dominance for real multiple-core architectures lies it hypertransport technology that probably will take graphics to the next level. This must be the rationale behind AMD's move.
 
Intel Allow???

Now the whole "Will Intel allow..." line of argument raises all SORTS of concerns...

If Intel had that much control over their OEMs, then Dell would have gone all-AMD a LOOOOONG time ago. It raises serious anti-competitive-practices questions (the same thing MS has gotten in trouble for.)

For example, MS did this a while ago, telling OEMs that if they sold ANY computers with an alternate OS on them, then that OEM would have to pay twice as much for each license of Windows. Or signing agreements saying that they had to pay for a license of Windows for ever computer they manufacture, even if it doesn't have Windows on it.

These practices are what got MS in such deep ***** with the US Department of Justice. If Intel even THOUGHT about pulling it, they'd be in serious carp, too. (They already have had enough warnings from the DoJ.)

Besides, Intel's own internal divisions have used competing company products in the past! Intel manufactures motherboards that use ATI's integrated-video Xpress 200 chipset, for crying out loud! When Intel makes integrated-video chipsets of their own. (Look at their Motherboard page, bottom of the 'Socket 775' section.)
 
I think apple should just use the best graphics chips they can for whatever the situation calls for. and by best i mean the MOST capable. not the most capable for the cheaper amount of money.

I want a merom macbook pro laptop, but with the Fastest and larger amt of vram possible.

give us power performance baby!!!

that and a friggin air/auto power adapter
 
But on the flip-side to all of this, doesn't this mean that we could see the use of the 7-series GPU's in MBP's and potentially the capabilitly of running two SLI cards in the new Mac Pro? Just think, 512Mb of RAM, or even 1Gb(with the right card..).

Cheers
 
I'm trying to not say anything about this one. Uh-uh. I've been wrong one time too many. I dont wanna say "ATI is awesome!" today and be asking myself why Apple didnt use Intel or NVIDIA graphics all along...
 
I have to say I would not have a problem with apple dropping ATI. I have never liked ATI compared to NVIDIA for one reason. Linux Drivers. ATI does not have the proper linux support that NVIDIA offers. Hopefully, AMD will push ATI to get their act together and develop better linux drivers. Then I would possibly think about using ATI. Just my 2cents
 
I can't see this happening either. From a legal and business standpoint it just doesn't make sense - for either Intel or AMD. First, if they tell Apple they have to tell ALL their vendors. That really would make a stink in both the legal and business sense. I doubt ATI would drop make support as that is still potential $$$ in the bank. Use that money to fund AMD chip R&D. Just a bunch of know nothings in my book.
 
The last time ATI got in hot water with Apple (and they replaced them with nVidia) was when ATI leaked one of Jobs' Keynote surprises. So unless something like that happens again, I doubt this has any effect on Apple's position.

The only thing we should worry about is whether AMD will continue to support Macs. AMD has no history with Apple and may not consider ATI's Mac business worth the time or effort. The problem isn't either Apple or Intel, the problem is that AMD is an unknown with no history with the Mac community.
 
dguisinger said:
What does this mean for ATI? I think its bad news, just as they finally started shipping real chipsets, just like everyone else in graphics is now starting to do, they get their license yanked as laptops become the most popular type of computer....AND as Intel dethrones AMD on power efficient processors. Overall, bad, bad idea... AMD loses their whole laptop market because NVidia is making the nForce and because Intel is slowly improving their graphics capabilities.

So.....MacPro only, maybe xserve.
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure that the whole laptop market is gone. I'm not an expert in Laptop architecture, but the MBPs list with "ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics processor, dual link DVI support, 128MB of GDDR3 on 2.0GHz configuration. 256MB GDDR3 on 2.16GHz configuration." To me this is a PCIe/AGP/PCI graphics card configuration that just happens to be built into the motherboard (if not, a somewhat specialized expansion slot/daughter card for laptops in general). The MacBooks already use integrated Intel graphics processors.

Every Intel Mac motherboard to-date has used an Intel chipset for the motherboard so the loss of the license for ATI is a complete non-issue for Macs since any integrated graphics to-date have been Intel based and the pro machines can support anything with PCIe/AGP/PCI drivers (depending on available slots).
 
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