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Intel speeds up chip releases


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El Reg is reporting that Intel’s dual core offerings are so successful that they’re bumping up production. Good news for those who can't wait for Merom!

 

According to the article,

Intel will begin producing more dual-core chips than single-core parts this quarter, the chip giant has revealed. Indeed, by the end of 2006, 90 per cent of the mobile CPUs it produces will be dual-core chips, rather more than the company previously forecast.

 

In the past, Intel has said it will go into 2007 with "over 70 per cent" of its mobile processor production taken up by dual-core offerings - primarily the current, 'Yonah' Core Duos, but also some next-generation 'Merom' parts too. But with the accelerated Merom release schedule announced last week - the chip will debut this coming August instead of some time in Q4 - Intel hopes its single-core to dual-core transition will gain a significant boost.


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Sweet! I can't wait to try out a Merom Macbook Pro. It would be interesting to see how much better the performance would be. My current iBook could use a replacment and it would be nice to get a dual core Merom Macbook Pro or Macbook.

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It will be interesting to see if the iMac core duo can be upgraded to a Merom processor and how fast it will max out at due to cooling and board restrictions.

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A good Ars Technica article on the subject and what it means for Apple...

 

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060502-6729.html

 

"So those of us who've been waiting for the Merom-based MacBook now have a more specific timeframe to work with. It looks like we'll see them officially unveiled at the August WWDC. As for the PowerMac replacements (Mac Pros? MacMacs?), the launch date may depend on whether Apple chooses Woodcrest or Conroe for the brains of their pro line. I'm leaning towards the idea that Apple will use a lower-clocked (and hence lower-priced) Woodcrest and introduce the PowerMac replacements in June, but this would put the PowerMac on shelves well in advance of the August WWDC at which it was formerly rumored to debut. A Conroe-based iMac might also make it out before WWDC.

 

I hesitate a bit to speculate on exactly what will happen here, because things are already such a mess. As you may recall, WWDC was pushed back to August from its normal June date, presumably to coincide with Intel's Q3 rollout of Woodcrest, Conroe, and Merom. But Intel just keeps bumping up the intro dates for these parts in response to a number of factors (competitive pressure from AMD, profit shortfalls, internal restructuring), a fact that probably drives Apple nuts. Imagine the wrath of Steve if he really did delay WWDC from June to August in order to make it coincide with what was at the time an already accelerated Woodcrest rollout, only to have Intel move the Woodcrest launch date even further ahead into June! Such are the woes of being a relatively small fish in the very large pond of the x86-based PC market. "

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Hmm, August eh? What else is happening in August.... Apple's WWDC or whatever it is? First public presentation showing Leopard? Jobs' 'one more thing'ing: "by the way, this whole presentation has been done on the Multi-Memron-packing-MacTower Pro." ?

 

August might be a very interesting month!

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Hmm, August eh? What else is happening in August.... Apple's WWDC or whatever it is? First public presentation showing Leopard? Jobs' 'one more thing'ing: "by the way, this whole presentation has been done on the Multi-Memron-packing-MacTower Pro." ?

 

August might be a very interesting month!

 

 

And given that BootCamp expires in Sept... I expect we'll see a seed release of 10.5 to developers, as well as a PowerMac G5 replacement. Then we'll see 10.5 GM after the 1st of the year at Macworld.

 

Those are my predictions. :poster_oops:

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