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The Apple Core

Jason D. O'Grady & David Morgenstern
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Core processors constrained, holding up new MacBooks

By | March 22, 2010, 9:05am PDT

Summary: Apple is still hawking MacBook’s with the outdated Intel Core 2 Duo processor while PC manufacturers are offering faster notebooks with Intel’s new Core i5/i7/i9 processors. When will Apple catch up?

If you’re in the market for a new Apple notebook you may be frustrated by Cupertino’s lack of a new MacBook Pro. Apple is still hawking MacBook’s with the outdated Intel Core 2 Duo processor while PC manufacturers are already offering notebooks with Intel’s new Core i3/i5/i7 processors.

MacBook Pros were last updated on June 8, 2009, 287 days ago. This compares to an average lifecycle of around 200 days. Translation: MacBook Pros are way overdue for an update.

One reason for the delay is constrained inventory of the new Intel chips. DigiTimes (via PowerPage) reports that Intel’s latest Core-series notebook chips are currently facing tight supply thanks to a hefty order from Acer, which “optimistic about the upcoming demand” for its related portables.

The brief report, which doesn’t specifically name Apple, claims that Intel is giving priority to major clients, which should include the Mac maker, leaving second-tier and smaller notebook makers in the waiting line.

One suggestion for Apple: please put a little more space between the cramped USB ports on the MacBook Pro. It’s impossible to plug in a 3G card (or anything larger than a cable) when one USB port is in use. And while I’m at it, how about an extra USB port on the other side? Ok, that’s probably asking too much.

Is Apple dedicating too many resources to the iPhone/iPad? Is is forsaking it’s computer business in the process?

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Topics

USB Port, Apple MacBook, Apple Inc., Intel Corp., Apple MacBook Pro, Notebooks, Processors, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Semiconductors, Components, Jason D. O'Grady

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
  • Google Adsense
  • Tekserve

    • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

Talkback Most Recent of 23 Talkback(s)

  • You probably meant to say....
    ....i3/i5/i7

    unless Intel release i9's when I wasn't looking!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    alsw
    22nd Mar 2010

  • ZDNet Blogger

    Doh!
    Typo fixed. I let my optimistic thinking for a Core i9 processor get the best of me!
    - Jason
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Jason D. O'Grady
    22nd Mar 2010
  • Con - trained ...
    ... not talking about your local MAC genius are you?

    Just another typo - probably using a DELL mini hackintosh keyboard would be my guess wink

    For those of us who want a MAC PRO workstation but can't afford it ... how about a hacking tutorial converting a DELL workstation to run OSX? XEON 5600 refresh across the entire DELL range early April I believe.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    johnfenjackson@...
    22nd Mar 2010
  • RE: You probably meant to say...
    Naw...at the rate things are going an i9 will probably be released and inside Acers before we see new Macbook Pros!! wink
    ZDNet Gravatar
    robertjm123
    22nd Mar 2010
  • Apple knows how to market!
    One thing about Apple, they DO know how to
    market products that are 2 or 3 generations
    obsolete as "next generation" kit! At a "premium" price, no less!
    Wonder if Dell, HP, Acer et al wish they could
    do similar?
    {;-)
    ZDNet Gravatar
    wizard57m@...
    22nd Mar 2010
  • @wizard57m
    Really? 2 or 3 generations obsolete?

    I must have been hiding somewhere because I completely missed the 2 to 3 generations of CPUs between the Core2Duo and the i3/i5/i7 series.

    Can you give me the links to their info so that I can read up on them?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Axsimulate
    22nd Mar 2010
  • ...had my i7..
    ...for over a year now. Why is Apple so SLOW?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Feldwebel Wolfenstool
    22nd Mar 2010
  • You must work at Intel ...
    ... since the *mobile* i7 was only released on Sept 23, 2009. That's 1 day
    short of exactly 6 months ago for the mathematically challenged.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    frankenstone
    22nd Mar 2010
  • @Feldwebel Wolfenstool
    The OP clearly claimed that Apple was 2 to 3 generations behind, and you apparently agree with him. So again I ask, what processors has Intel released between the Core2Duo/Xeon Nehalem/Bloomfield and the i3/i5/i7?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Axsimulate
    23rd Mar 2010
  • Of course Apple is emphasizing iPhone/iPad/iTunes.
    The margins on their PC products aren't nearly as exciting and there's more opportunity to milk customers through lock-in. If you were in Apple's shoes with their priorities what would you emphasize, hardware that has a high probability of having Windows installed, or hardware where the platform is controlled top to bottom?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Lester Young
    22nd Mar 2010
  • Rubbish
    iPhone is selling in huge volumes, Apple would be crazy to not give it
    some effort.

    iPad is the new big thing - Apple has to do the release of it properly.

    iTunes gets about the effort it deserves - which quite frankly is not
    that much from the Hardware R&D teams.

    You really think the Mac hardware teams have stopped working and
    run down to the iPad department to lend a hand?

    I keep hearing people on these blogs whinging about how Mac users
    are locked in, now claiming that Mac users aren't and that's why Apple
    is ignoring them, again, you clearly have no clue.

    Installing Windows on a Mac does not result very often in more than
    dual-boot or paralllel boot. (such as I am doing)

    Windows is still crap - and although some software is Windows only,
    and sometimes I run windows for the very few programs that need it,
    I would be just plain stupid to stop using OS X in favour of Windows.

    And yes, I have worked extensively in both, and do support for both,
    so I am familiar with both, WIndows is Crap, it is annoying, it wastes
    my time and the time of everyone I know that uses it. It wastes
    processing power, it wastes money.

    So you go on believing that Mac users will switch to Windows and
    Apple will stop trying to sell Macs if it lets you feel better about your
    world. It is a delusion though.

    So far we have people claiming they have had PCs with chips before
    they were released, claims of lack of sales, and claims of lock-in, do
    you think somebody out there wants to stop Apple from succeeding?

    Misinformation is great isn't it!

    1984 lives.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    richardw66
    22nd Mar 2010
  • Apple has to get rid of all that old stuff first...
    ..for Intel and AMD-ATI. That's why they're usually a generation and a half behind.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Feldwebel Wolfenstool
    22nd Mar 2010
  • Supply and Demand.
    I guess there's more supply then there is demand for the MacBooks?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    John Zern
    22nd Mar 2010
  • Supply and demand - Meeting demand and need
    I guess there's more supply then there is demand for the MacBooks?


    Guess again.

    Apple largely builds just in time, and to order.

    And if you were right, and demand was low, a product refresh would
    be a way to fix it.

    Apple has previously experienced what happens when you release a
    product and the chipmaker does not supply in sufficient volume

    Your new product is not shipped to customers who have ordered, and
    lots of unhappy waiting customers who are keen to get their new
    computer.

    Revenue drops, goodwill drops, Wintel supporting press has field day,
    as usual, blog posters such as those here twist facts to suit
    themselves. Nobody wins.

    So Apple will now hold off until they can guarantee some kind of
    continuity of supply.

    Apple will also hold off on releasing a new design if there is some
    issue with the hardware, or with software compatibility, they do not
    rush a new design to market just to ride a Hype wave either. Apple
    product updates when there is a clear benefit to the user base by
    switching, and no bumps in the road for the users that they are aware
    of.

    Meanwhile PC manufacturers will rush any new chip to market, hope
    the hype will result in sales, regardless of the effect on the user.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    richardw66
    22nd Mar 2010
  • @Feldwebel Wolfenstool
    In a post above you agree with someone who claimed Apple was 2 to 3 generations behind. Now you make the claim they are a generation and a half behind. I'm not sure how one could be 1/2 of a generation behind, but I digress. The Intel Core2Duo/Xeon Nehalem are current shipping CPU's. The i3/i5/i7 are however, made to replace the Core2Duo line.
    If you do your research correctly, you will find that the first i7 was built from the microarchitecture code named, you guessed it, Nehalem! That's right the Xeon 55xx/35xx is made from the Nehalem microarchitecture and is the server version and the i7, made from the same microarchitecture, is the consumer version called Bloomfield.
    But wait! There's more! Apple currently sells computers with Nehalem processors in them and has been since about Nov 2008-Jan 2009.

    http://www.apple.com/macpro/specs.html

    And they had them before anybody else.

    http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/30/intels-xeon-3500-5500-series-officially-unveiled-for-servers-a/

    Bonus info!
    http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MB953LL/A?mco=MTM3NDc2NjA

    What do you know, a Mac with a i5 or i7 CPU!

    You were saying something about being generation and a half behind?
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Axsimulate
    23rd Mar 2010
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