Apple Places Order for 100 Million 8Gb Flash Chips
Let’s not jump to any conclusions. Maybe they just want to redecorate the Cupertino campus, and they thought covering the walls in 8Gb (gigabit, not byte) flash chips would be original and visually appealing.
Actually, that’s probably the last possible reason Apple recently placed a massive order for 100 million 8Gb chips from their suppliers, most of which will come from Samsung, according to DigiTimes, the source of the report. Yes, that is a lot of chips, and apparently the whole industry will feel the strain as the NAND flash supply will be pretty tight up until the end of May, thanks to fairly large orders by Sony and Nokia, in addition to Apple.
In case you didn’t guess, Apple is most likely going to be using the new chips for the new iPhone that’s been all but confirmed as due this June in time for WWDC ‘09. The tiny chips can be combined by Apple into larger configurations of 16GB and 32GB sizes, which is what most are expecting from the new iPhone models. For those still skeptical about the new iPhone’s imminent launch, the same thing happened last year around this time before the release of the iPhone 3G, except that time the order was only half the size. Which doesn’t mean Apple is planning on producing double the launch units, but that those units will almost definitely have double the storage capacity.
Would it be too much to ask for a leapfrog of the 32GB capacity and go straight to the 64? Probably, but I’m going to anyway. Though as it is, I don’t use the 16GB I already have. But there’s a difference being needing something and wanting to be able to do something, if the mood strikes me.
New MacBook Pro benchmarked within Boot Camp
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Gaming, Hardware, Software, Odds and ends, Apple
Finally, someone with more money that I have (I want a new MacBook Pro, but haven’t yet convinced myself to shell out the dough to replace my old yet trusty G4 12″ Powerbook) has put the new MBP and those shiny graphics chips to the test, and drummed up some real benchmarking numbers in Boot Camp. It turns out to be PC World, strangely enough. And the verdict? Well, it’s not quite so great.
The good news is that the MacBook Pro is faster than ever, and graphics have significantly improved. And trust us, any improvement over the old chips is a step in the right direction.
The bad news is that in a practical situation (like playing the Crysis demo, which is actually about a year old at this point), a MacBook Pro in Boot Camp at the highest settings isn’t actually playable, and the 15 fps you might squeeze out of it on a good day still can’t compare to the 50 fps you can get out of even average video cards in a Windows PC. If the graphics are turned down, it’s a different story — we’ve seen a new MBP run games well in Boot Camp already, so it’ll play, but Apple still has a ways to go to be competitive with brand new games.
But let’s keep this all in perspective — it’s very good news when you compare the new MacBook Pros to the old ones. Apple is at least realizing that 3D performance needs an upgrade in their units. Maybe next time around they can bring some software updates into the mix as well, and we can start to see some real competition in high-end performance.
TUAWNew MacBook Pro benchmarked within Boot Camp originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Make your own Mac NetBook
If you’re loving the form factor of the latest NetBooks but are dying for one that runs OS X, you can either wait for Apple to release one (will they?) or hack your own.
Two different enterprising hackers have posted how-tos on hacking your own Mac NetBook. The first one uses an EeePC, and these hacking instructions to run OS X for $550, including hardware. The second one was performed on the UK version of the MSI Wind.
Both hacks work well but have some functionality missing, unfortunately. In the case of the EeePC, everything works except for sound–there’s no audio out. As for the MSI Wind, integrated WiFi, headphone, mic and hibernate seem to have issues, but since it’s the hacker’s machine, one would expect these to be resolved in short order.
If you’ve got around $600 to spare and are dying for a Mac NetBook, give these hacks a try.
I’m tempted to give the MSI Wind hack a try. I was very impressed with the feel and build of the Wind so it would be a fun one to have OS X running on. For me, though, I already have a MacBook so cost justifying the MSI Wind will be a tough one.
