Why Apple will shift to an NVIDIA chipset

It is widely rumored that Apple will shift to an NVIDIA chipset with its next MacBook and MacBook Pro refresh. What advantages does making this switch offer to Apple?

The rumor is (and given what I've seen, this rumor has a high probability of being true), Apple will ditch the current Intel chipset that lives in the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines and make a switch to NVIDIA. Specifically, the MCP79 chipset.

So, what advantages does the NVIDIA chipset offer of the Intel's chipset? There are in fact several key improvements:

• Fewer components The MCP79 incorporates the northbridge and southbridge onto a single chip. Fewer chips, smaller motherboard, a little less power consumption.
• On-board GPU Not only does the MCP79 combine the northbridge and southbridge onto a single chip, it also incorporates a GeForce 9300/9400 GPU.
• HybridSLI This will give MacBook Pro users the opportunity to switch between the integrated GeForce 9300/9400 and the discrete GeForce 9600 depending on whether they want power-saving or power.
• Performance boost The MCP79 also allows Apple to boost the FSB to 1,066MHz, make use of DDR2 and DDR3, and includes support for PCI-Express 2,0 and HDMI.

I guess the timing could have been a little better though, given that dodgy NVIDIA GPUs have just given Apple a black eye.

Oh, and here's a tease of what the aluminum shell might look like.