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Intel Experiencing Shortages of Notebook Chips?

Small White Car said:
You know, if all you MB-Pro people had all just bought one back when you needed it months ago you could have been enjoying a laptop for the last 5 or 6 months. Instead, you've been sitting around, laptopless, wondering what to do.

This is getting kind of funny now...I'm assuming you're all just posting from iPhones, getting madder and madder every day?
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You know what happens when you assume...

I've been waiting for a couple years now to get a new mbp and I'm at the point where this is the update I pretty much need to pull the trigger before my current laptop dies. I'm excited for the updates but can probably wait it out until the summer or fall if they are released then. What's a few more months in the grand scheme of things? Maybe that'll mean a more significant update than just processor upgrades.

btw, I'm posting this from a 5 year old powerbook g4.
 
Rot'nApple said:
Since Apple's iPad uses Apple's own chip from their PA Semi acquisition instead of Intel's ATOM processors, did that cause Apple to be reduced to "second-tier and smaller notebook player" status in Intel eyes? I wonder, hmmm. :rolleyes:
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Probably not, since the iPad is a new product. Apple still demands roughly the same amount of Intel processors.
 
Thunderhawks said:
Actually I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has been developing their own chip and will be throwing everybody a curve ball for the next generation of MBP's.

Thus the delay?
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I'd be amazed if they could bring out anything near what Intel can field. Even the most ardent Apple fans would think twice about paying premium for 2nd rate.
 
alent1234 said:
less than 10% of the market, what do you think? especially after last year's Mac Pro release
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Ach. But Sony is ahead of Apple?

I suspect the delay has to be more related to getting the onboard graphics to work. That, and keeping it on the down-low to pimp the iPad. Mac is just too strong a brand... and certainly they established a priority level with Intel before they went to their chips.
 
zachplaysguitar said:
Is it common for companies as big as Intel to have a low supply of their newest and most popular product? I mean, wouldt they have forseen such high demand and taken steps to avoid it?
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Yes, it is. These are new chips on the 32nm process. It takes some time to get the kinks worked out of manufacturing. I believe it costs Intel about a billion dollars to upgrade chip foundries; it's not a trivial matter.

This explains why Apple hasn't shipped new computers for a while. The vast majority of holdups concerning new computers is a shortage of silicon, not other components.

Apple decided to forgo the last generation of 45nm chips to wait for the 32nm parts, but supplies are constrained for the moment. One would hope that part availability eases up next quarter.
 
mags631 said:
Yeah, that's a great company to own. I think there would be more value in Steve stacking $6B worth of bills and lighting them on fire at the next company picnic.
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well-said, mags, well-said :D
 
zachplaysguitar said:
Is it common for companies as big as Intel to have a low supply of their newest and most popular product? I mean, wouldt they have forseen such high demand and taken steps to avoid it?
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Yes, it is normal - due to binning. Also, Intel's production will be constantly tuned and tweaked, so in a year, they'll get many more CPUs from the same amount of wafers because of reduced defat rates.
 
mags631 said:
Yeah, that's a great company to own. I think there would be more value in Steve stacking $6B worth of bills and lighting them on fire at the next company picnic.
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If AMD had Apple's market share, their numbers would instantly improve to profitability. Big picture here mags...big picture.
 
Right now - I can go and buy a Core iX laptop from Sony, HP, Dell, Acer, Asus - straight off the shelf

A 'shortage' is a pathetically weak argument in explaining the tardiness of Apple in updating their outdated, overpriced laptop lineup because somehow - it's not affecting any other player.
 
alent1234 said:
i guess no i cores for Apple. i thought apple would get them early since their computers usually come standard with faster versions of the chips which other manufacturers usually charge an upgrade price for
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Who told you that fairy tale? Don't believe everything you hear. Right now, with Apple you're paying a high price for stuff that other manufacturers don't even build into their machines anymore, cause it's too old.
 
This Century???

A lot of Mac Users I speak to are starting to get extremely frustrated with Apple. I have had $4K sitting in my account for almost 3 months waiting for these guys to get off their rear ends and release the pro with I7. I am ready to go to a cheaper, top of the line Toshiba if something doesn't click soon.
 
djellison said:
Right now - I can go and buy a Core iX laptop from Sony, HP, Dell, Acer, Asus - straight off the shelf

A 'shortage' is a pathetically weak argument in explaining the tardiness of Apple in updating their outdated, overpriced laptop lineup because somehow - it's not affecting any other player.
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my sister has had a 32nm i3 dell for a couple of weeks now.
 
djellison said:
Right now - I can go and buy a Core iX laptop from Sony, HP, Dell, Acer, Asus - straight off the shelf

A 'shortage' is a pathetically weak argument in explaining the tardiness of Apple in updating their outdated, overpriced laptop lineup because somehow - it's not affecting any other player.
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As much as I want to believe this, it was reported as an industry wide issue before it was here.
 
Thunderhawks said:
Actually I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has been developing their own chip and will be throwing everybody a curve ball for the next generation of MBP's.
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Yeah, right. You're seriously overestimating the power of almighty Apple. They very certainly do not have the resources to develop their own chip that could compete with what Intel has.
 
Thunderhawks said:
Actually I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has been developing their own chip and will be throwing everybody a curve ball for the next generation of MBP's.

Thus the delay?
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with steam coming to OS X next month, very unlikely

and this little thing called patents will make it almost impossible. Most of A4's patents are owned by ARM. between Intel, AMD, IBM and Oracle Apple will have to spend a lot of money to develop their own instruction set and CPU that doesn't use patents from anyone else
 
RaZaK said:
"anxiously" doesn't begin to describe it. I don't think there's a word in the English language strong enough to adequately convey the level anticipation. :D
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How about "furiousanxiously"? :D

Also, where's the Mac mini update? I'm hoping to see a mobile Core i5 in there, if the thermal limits allow it. I'm scared to thing which GPU it's going to have, however. I'm hoping for an ATI GPU capable of running StarCraft II and Diablo III.
 
M.Fantastique said:
Yeah, right. You're seriously overestimating the power of almighty Apple. They very certainly do not have the resources to develop their own chip that could compete with what Intel has.
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They do have the resources; they could develop their own chip; but they shouldn't. This a commodity platform and there is little need to sink resources in producing a highly specialized variant. This made better sense for mobile devices where having a great design that balances power consumption with compute power makes a huge difference to consumers and therefore translates into additional profits for Apple.
 
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