Intel Announces Setback in Production of Chipsets Destined for iMac Revision

[tirerim]

There is a chance the next refresh will come with LightPeak, in which case, you bet there will be.

Maybe. Apple generally only has keynotes (really, press events; keynotes only happen at things like WWDC) for computer releases when there is a major redesign. If they're just bumping the specs and adding a couple of Light Peak ports, I doubt they'd bother. I'm personally pretty excited about Light Peak (in fact, I'm waiting until it's actually released to buy my next machine, despite limping along with my seven-year-old PowerBook and my five-year-old Power Mac), but most consumers aren't really going to care about a new bus.

 

[Speedy2]

Ohh how much better batery life? Or we don't know?

Probably not much. At least not from the CPU/integrated GPU. Those two have reached a high level of sopistication already, so that other parts of the computer, especially the display, usually have more effect on the battery life.

 

[cloakedpegasus]

HAHAHA So... my MBP won't be outdated so soon after all.... hehehe

 

[CFreymarc]

A rare setback for Intel. They are usually rock solid with their timetable. At least they are taking the time to be sure they have the design right.

Yes they are but the real story behind this is Intel's engineering outsourcing is to blame for this one. The Santa Clara design facility has been reduced in numbers for the past few years as a cost saving effort. Paying a good price for labor is one thing. When you get so cheap quality starts to suffer, that is something different all together. At times some technical managers cannot judge quality. Some of these design jobs are so mis-assigned it is the equivalent of getting drywall guys to do multi-level structural work.

In many cases, the very custom Cadence set that Intel uses to design these days (you are able to find this data on the public chip design forums) needs a lot of verification at different clock speeds. One can infer this verification step have been outsourced from public job listings made in the past few years.

Since the screw up was so big to justify a press release, you can make sure that the execs in Santa Clara are going to reexamine their outsourcing policies if they haven't already. With domestic real estate prices going down, the cost of a good domestic engineer is also going down. It is starting to balance out.

 

[ciTiger]

HAHAHA So... my MBP won't be outdated so soon after all.... hehehe

It is outdated already and so is mine...
It just isn't outperformed by another MBP

 

[apathyduck]

new MBP / iMac production won't necessarily have to be delayed

According to several sources, this bug doesn't affect the first two 6gbps SATA ports - only the last four 3gbps ports.

The MBP (and iMac) line would only be supporting two SATA devices (and possibly only one if they drop the optical drive).

Therefore, this bug should not affect production at all, even using the flawed chipset.

 

[ldellx3]

According to several sources, this bug doesn't affect the first two 6gbps SATA ports - only the last four 3gbps ports.

The MBP (and iMac) line would only be supporting two SATA devices (and possibly only one if they drop the optical drive).

Therefore, this bug should not affect production at all, even using the flawed chipset.

they had better not drop that optical drive..

 

[Anonymous Freak]

they had better not drop that optical drive..

Yeah, if it falls on a hard enough surface, it might break.

 

[ThaDoggg]

they had better not drop that optical drive..

+1...I would be very pissed if they did. I burn many dvd's and I def don't want an external optical drive.

 

[ldellx3]

+1...I would be very pissed if they did. I burn many dvd's and I def don't want an external optical drive.

I just don't think that we are ready for that..and I mean i don't play a lot of computer games but i can't live without my sims..and how about photoshop?! how would i even get those on there. Plus I like to burn dvds

 

[fblack]

Well this just bites the big one. I've been holding off buying a MBP for over a year now, as the latest offerings were underwhelming. Sandy Bridge on the other hand was looking good to me. My last laptop died over the holidays and I've been waiting for the refresh. However, I can't wait all the way till april-may time frame that's too long and educational discount will be running out. Looks like I will be paying today's prices for last year's hardware, what crappy luck...

 

[dkhanley]

http://venturebeat.com/2011/01/31/intels-billion-dollar-mistake-why-chip-flaws-are-so-hard-to-fix/

Thanks for posting.

I have been impatiently waiting for the mbp refresh for quite a while, while limping along on my current 5 year old Dell laptop.

This will be my first Mac ever, and I am super excited!

Guess I can impatiently wait a little longer

 

[altquark]

MacBook Pro refresh....

So, I've had a Macbook Pro since 2007 - (love it of course). Since I have the 17" Macbook Pro "ultimate" edition with 2.6GHz Intel Core 2 duo and 4Gb RAM - I've been waiting for a long while for a quad core replacement to appear.

However, I did upgrade my HD to a 500Gb Seagate Momentus with a kit from OWC - so I can hold off for a little while. But I really want to see Apple move ahead to compete with the higher-end offerings from their competitors.

Perhaps Apple should consider AMD offerings ?

 

[jvmxtra]

According to several sources, this bug doesn't affect the first two 6gbps SATA ports - only the last four 3gbps ports.

The MBP (and iMac) line would only be supporting two SATA devices (and possibly only one if they drop the optical drive).

Therefore, this bug should not affect production at all, even using the flawed chipset.

Can you please post some links to the source...

I am so deaparate now that I want to cling onto any possiblities of mbp being released in feb...

OR does this mean even if mbp is fine from this disaster, they will need to go through more rigorous internal testing and further delay the feb release?(if it was in fact feb release)

 

[jvmxtra]

Can you please post some links to the source...

I am so deaparate now that I want to cling onto any possiblities of mbp being released in feb...

OR does this mean even if mbp is fine from this disaster, they will need to go through more rigorous internal testing and further delay the feb release?(if it was in fact feb release)

For someone like me who has been worshiping and waiting for new mbp refresh this year, this is extremely crappy monday followed by glimpse of hope last week w/ potential mbp shortage news.

 

[jonnysods]

Dang, really looking forward to a refreshed MBP lineup early spring. Oh well, who cares.

 

[vipergts2207]

Perhaps Apple should consider AMD offerings ?

AMD's offerings are inferior to what Sandy Bridge brings to the table.

 

[SactoGuy18]

I don't think it will affect the iMac or MacBook hardware refreshes since we're still a long way from any shipping Apple products that use the Sandy Bridge chipset.

My guess right now is since Intel has revved a new version of the chipset that corrects this problem, Apple will likely ship the iMac and MacBook models that use this chipset some time in the April 2011 time frame.

 

[michaelcyee]

Yay, I got even more justification for my upcoming MBA purchase.

Anyways, this delay may cause Intel to do a more thorough bug check, so that when iMacs and MBPs will be released with Sandy Bridge, they will almost be guaranteed to be bug free. An extra month now may be worth a year later.

You're going to buy a Masters in Business Administration?

Wait, never mind. It's an acronym for MacBook Air, apparently.

 

[PeterQVenkman]

AMD's offerings are inferior to what Sandy Bridge brings to the table.

They also cost a lot less.

 

[7even]

You're going to buy a Masters in Business Administration?

Wait, never mind. It's an acronym for MacBook Air, apparently.

In effect the other MBA IS indeed an expensive non-refundable purchase..

 

[vipergts2207]

They also cost a lot less.

I'm willing to pay more for performance. I would assume most people here feel the same way since we're talking about laptops that cost $1200-$3000+. Consumers buying Apple computers aren't exactly the most budget conscious folks. If I wanted a pos laptop I'd hop on over to www.dell.com.

 

[chrmjenkins]

For those interested:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4143/the-source-of-intels-cougar-point-sata-bug

Gate punchthrough for the lose.

 

[vipergts2207]

For those interested:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4143/the-source-of-intels-cougar-point-sata-bug

Gate punchthrough for the lose.

Hope restored!

If you have a notebook system with only two SATA ports however, the scenario is a little less clear. Notebooks don’t have tons of storage bays and thus they don’t always use all of the ports a chipset offers. If a notebook design only uses ports 0 & 1 off the chipset (the unaffected ports), then the end user would never encounter an issue and the notebook may not even be recalled. In fact, if there are notebook designs currently in the pipeline that only use ports 0 & 1 they may not be delayed by today’s announcement. This is the only source of hope if you’re looking for an unaffected release schedule for your dual-core SNB notebook.

 

[Cavepainter]

Why does anybody have to get fired? Intel has been leading the industry in chip development for years without skipping a beat. Nobody deserves to lose their job after one mistake in years.

Maybe it was only one mistake.. but its nearly three quarters of a BILLION dollar mistake. Most companies don't like employees that make mistakes like that.

Except Enron.