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Monday, 29 January 2007

Intel and IBM both announce chip breakthrough

In similar but separate announcements over the weekend, both Intel and IBM announced what some are calling the biggest breakthrough in computer chip design since the 1960s.

As chips get ever smaller, down past the current 65nm level, the problem is that the silicon dioxide used to insulate and control the flow of electrons to the transistors has to be made so thin it leads to increased energy leakage and unnecessary heat generation, thus making the chips much less efficient.

Now both Intel and IBM are planning to use a new material they're calling 'high-k' which is metallic rather than based on silicon. It offers better insulation and less leakage and so enables the chip manufacturers to keep shrinking transistors and fitting more onto each chip.

This all translates to me and you into smaller, faster, more efficient and cooler, next generation 45nm chips which will ensure that Moore's law of doubling the number of transistors on a chip every 24 months continues for the next few years at least.

Intel will begin production of their new 'Penryn' chip based on the new 45nm process later this year and IBM will follow in 2008.

Wednesday, 8 November 2006

MacBook goes Core 2

Hot on the heels of the MacBook Pro update last week, Apple today announced a revised MacBook notebook range sporting Core 2 processors ranging from 1.83 - 2.0 GHz.

The 2.0GHz models now also feature double the memory at 1GB, bigger hard drives, 6x dual-layer-burning SuperDrives and 4MB L2 cache as standard. Otherwise the specs remain the same.

There's still a price premium for the top of the range black model and all you get for that is a larger 120GB hard drive (80GB on the 2.0GHz white version), it is only £20 more than the white model with the same hard drive though.

But with prices starting at £749 for the lower end 1.83GHz model and only £999 for the top end blackie, they still represent excellent bang for your buck.

See more over at Apple.

Tuesday, 24 October 2006

Apple introduce Core 2 MacBook Pros

Apple have today announced updates to their flagship MacBook Pro notebooks, now shipping with Intel Core 2 Duo processors in 2.16 or 2.33GHz variants. Apple claim the new machines offer up to 39% better performance than their predecessors.

All of the new MacBook Pro models also now come with double the memory, bigger hard drives, a FireWire 800 port and a dual-layer SuperDrive as standard.

Prices range from £1,349.01 - £1,899.00 in standard configurations. Go see for yourself.

Wednesday, 6 September 2006

Core 2 iMacs and new 24" model

Woh, where did this one come from? Here we all were, expecting the September 12th 'Showtime' event next week to give us the rumoured new iMacs, movie stores, new nanos, iPhones and anything else every Mac fan-boy could dream up and what do they do? They only go and release the iMacs a week early and it's not even an 'update Tuesday'!

They're now all Core 2 'Merom' processors, lower price points on the 17" and 20" models and the absolutely stunning new 24" version. Apple claim the new Core 2 duo chips are up to 50% faster than their predecessors, which if true is pretty damn impressive.

Here are the full specs for the 24"er:

24-inch widescreen LCD display;
2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 3GB;
8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
PCI Express-based NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
built-in iSight video camera;
built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
the infrared Apple Remote, Mighty Mouse and Apple Keyboard.

See all the details over at the Apple website.

Now, if they couldn't fit this into next week's announcements, what the hell have they got up their sleeves for that event?

Wednesday, 9 August 2006

WWDC: The aftermath

A day after the event it's time to look at the announcements in the cold light of day. There has been a lot written about it, some of which I think is strange, some of it great.

First of all, let's just recap what this conference is called - Worldwide Developers Conference. Note the word 'developers'.

A few people have said to me and I've read all over the place that they were a bit disappointed blah blah. Why? We pretty much knew what was coming, it was always going to be a preview of Leopard and almost a guaranteed announcement that the Intel transition was over, with the introduction of the new Mac Pro and Xserves - and that's exactly what happened.

It's not a consumer show, that's Paris expo next month. So, yes it would have been lovely to have had a new iPod nano, an iPhone, a media centre Mac etc. etc. but the fact that they weren't announced isn't disappointing, it's realistic. If Apple released these amazing products at every show, they'd run out of them pretty quickly.

We still did get some amazing products though. The Mac Pros are awesome machines, really. Incredibly powerful, the likes of which haven't really been available to the everyday consumer before (OK maybe not everyday consumer, you will need the deficit of a small country to be able to get a highly specced one - I got it up to £11,ooo maxing everything out with dual 30" displays!!).

And Leopard. I was genuinely impressed by Time Machine particularly and also Spaces and the other features mentioned. Steve did say that these were just the things they were showing now, it's not the complete new feature list, it's just a sample. There's more to come people!

So when I read articles like this one over at Stuff magazine, it makes me wonder why they bother. Time Machine and Spaces are impressive and innovative. I mean, what more do they want? The hanging gardens of Babylon? Heards of wildebeest sweeping majestically across the desktop perhaps?

People expect too much. Of course, Apple are partly to blame for this with the hype that's generated with their 'special' events but people also blow it out of proportion.

I'm pleased with what we saw and excited about what we didn't see. At least some people agree with me. There's much more to come from Leopard over the next 6 months and for the consumer gadget freaks, I'm sure that Paris expo in September will usher in the new iPods and whatever else they have up their sleeves. Personally, I can't wait for an 8GB nano.

Far more worryingly, people are talking about the possibility that Steve Jobs is ill or maybe losing his touch. I'd say that's way more reason for investors to get jittery. I'm reserving judgement on this one but watch this space...

Updated: typos.

Monday, 7 August 2006

Apple intros quad 64-bit Mac Pro, Xserve

Apple has announed the Mac Pro (pictured left) with two dual-core Intel Xeon "Woodcrest" processors at up to 3GHz. That's a total of four cores for a supremely powerful 64-bit workstation, supposedly twice as fast as it's G5 predecessor.

The system accommodates up to 2TB of storage, 16GB of RAM, two SuperDrives (that can be used simultaneously) and up to four GeForce 7300 GT graphics cards or optionally ATI Radeon X1900 XT and NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 cards are available.

Wow. You're going to have to be doing some serious stuff with one of these to even touch the sides.

The new Xserves come similarly equipped with two dual-core Xeon processors at up 3GHz, for that happy quad-core feeling. With up to 2.25TB storage, two eight-lane PCI Express slots, dual onboard Gigabit Ethernet, a combo drive and a claimed 5x performance boost over the Xserve G5 that all fits in a 1U rackmount, this is a killer server.

What more can you say, I think the specs speak for themselves, these are some seriously powerful, industry-leading computers. We'll see in due course when people start doing some benchmarks.

Check out the Apple site for the full details:

Mac Pro
Xserve

Thursday, 3 August 2006

Apple WWDC rumour roundup

OK, so it's that time of year again. Apple rumours abound with the prospect of the Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) and a Steve Jobs keynote speech on the 7th August only a few days away.

The rumour mill has been pumping them out as you would expect, so below is a summary of the main threads.

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

OK so this isn't really a rumour, we know there's going to be a showing of the next version of the Apple operating system but what we don't know is what the update will include. Virtualisation? Enhanced finder, spotlight, iChat and safari? New iCal? More on the details over at AppleInsider.
Mac Pro and Xserve?

The last remaining PowerPC offerings from Apple are due to be launched with new Intel processors. But which ones? Xenon for the Xserves and Core 2 Duo for the Mac Pros?
Macbook Pro and iMac updated with Core 2 Duo?

With the launch of the new Intel Core 2 Duo chips only a week ago, it seems likely that Apple will go for an update to the higher end computers currently running the Intel Core Duo chips. But will they announce it at WWDC or later, maybe at Paris expo?
New cinema displays?

We're into the less likely bracket here as far as I'm concerned but it is possible that with new Mac Pros, we'd also get new cinema displays. Built in iSight and IR ports for Apple remotes?
iPhone? iChat mobile?

OK, now we're talking. The long-rumoured, highly anticipated, so-called "iPhone" has seen a lot of attention lately on the rumour mill. Apple have even eluded to the fact that they're making one. We just don't know when they'll announce it. With WWDC traditionally focussing more on Macs, maybe this is a little too soon but you never know!
iPod updates?

Neither the nanos or full-sized iPods have been updated since they were introduced last year. It's surely only a matter of time before the nano at least gets bumped up to 8GB. I must admit, I've been holding off buying a nano and sticking with my 4g iPod until they release one with higher capacity. As for the 30 and 60GB iPods, we may see a slight capacity bump but the rumours go that the highly anticipated "real" video iPod, possibly with touch screen, has been delayed until later in the year or maybe even early next year.

I think iPods may come at the more consumer orientated Paris expo in September rather than here but frankly, a baboon's guess is as good as mine.

No doubt Apple will surprise us all and announce something no-one expected. That's the beauty of it, you never know what they've got up their sleeve (can anyone say iTablet?). I can't wait!

Add your comments below and let us know what you think Apple is going to say and do next week!

Thursday, 27 July 2006

Intel Core 2 Duo launched

Good news for us. Bad news for AMD.

It only seems like yesterday that the existing Intel Core chips were launched but now PC and Mac users alike will soon be enjoying the advantages of Core 2 in their computers.

Essentially the new chips offer greater performance for the same power usage as their predecessors and from the looks of early benchmarks trounce anything from AMD.

Exciting times, particularly for Mac users who aren't used to new chips coming along every few months! How long before we see updates to the Macbook Pro with these chips...? Mmmmm.

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