Bye Nvidia, You Served Us Well, But We're Booting Your A** - Sincerely, Apple Inc

SemiAccurate is reporting that Apple will soon be dropping Nvidia GPU chips from their product line. The article says that Apple will start to drop them from Nehalem Processors, meaning the Mac Pro, and then the iMac, and then the rest of the line after that.

I’ll have to assume that SemiAccurate is well, accurate, or maybe not.

If Apple really is dropping Nvidia from it’s line, then an assortment of questions come up. What will replace Nvidia? Why are they dropping Nvidia? Perhaps even this question, which a user posted on the MacRumors forums.

Is there anything better than Nvidia?

Apple is to go back to Intel GMA graphics chips and also continue to use ATI chips as well. Upon hearing that they were using GMA I had to think for just a second, aren’t GMA chips what used to come standard in crap 14 Inch laptops made by Dell, Gateway, HP, and Asus?

Yep, you bet.

Whether or not Intel’s GMA chips have graduated from being crap is the real question, and you’ve got to admit that using Intel GPUs in Apple’s product line is just showing that Apple and Intel really are friends, as they keep trying to point out, both to the Intel transition, and the fact that they have both given each other awards at keynotes and events.

But wait, didn’t Apple just implement new Nvidia GPU chips into their notebook line? Yep, In fact, a little over 6 months ago, why the sudden door opening to Nvidia?

Well, exactly a month ago, on June 1, Apple announced an extension on the warranty for MacBook Pros from early 2008 and on, specifically covering the GPU area of the models.

At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within three years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.

It probably really is Nvidia’s fault, as there are tons of Nvidia problems with Windows PCs too.

JD

My Bite Into Apple

http://mybiteintoapple.com