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This http://www.digitimes.com/displays/a20060818A6025.h tml article better explains how and when plasma is getting pushed up the consumer chain.

The Real Fabulous Article, instead of the submitters lame-ass ad page.

It seems unlikely that the Macbook and Mini will keep Cores while the Pros get Core 2s, since Intel is going to be phasing out the Core in favour of the Core 2 relatively quickly.

Do you have a reference? I heard that the Yonahs were here to stay as the 'low end' or 'consumer' option.

• Merom to top 50% of Intel notebook processors in 1Q 2007

• Intel's latest plan will reduce production of its Yonah processors in the fourth quarter, and by the end of the 2006, Yonah processors will only account for 30% of Intel's notebook processor shipments, down from the current 50%, the sources revealed. By the end of the first half of 2007, Yonah processors will total less than 10%, the sources added.
• Intel's initial shipment goal for Merom after its launch is 15% of its notebook processor shipments, and the proportion will increase to 30% in the fourth quarter, the sources said.
• Intel also plans to launch Core-based Celeron M processors with 945GM and 945PM chipsets in the fourth quarter of 2006, the sources noted. That means, Intel will be offering 64-bit dual-core architecture for notebooks across all market segments from the high end to the low end, the sources noted.

1. Dell (18.3%)
2. HP (16.3%)
3. Toshiba (11.5%)
4. Acer (10.9%)
5. Lenovo (9.6%)
6. Others (33.4%)

I've got some bad news for you. AMD's K8L is seriously delayed. It looks like the K8L won't be out until 2008.

The 65nm chips in 2007 are going to be the underpowered and unimpressive AM2 versions of the Athlon 64 X2 lineup. Unless AMD has something up their sleeves (always a possibility) they aren't going to catch up with Intel for a while.

http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20060622PR211.html ?www.reghardware.co.uk

Has a decent table of expected cuts. Still the 939 is end of life, I'd wait it out and go with an socket AM2 3800+ (65w) vrs the ~$20 socket 939 3800+ (With VT) (89w) or heck a Conroe.

Oh no! Apple should be worried about two guys! Two guys have switched. What ever will Apple do about two guys? Someone at the New York Times better crack the scoop on the two guys. I suspect Apple's strategy to deal with two guys involves drying their tears on the cash from the higher-than-expected sales of the MacBook.

That is so nice of you to include the yet unfounded charge of "sweatshops for iPods".
Apple and Foxconn have denied the charge and Foxconn threatened lawsuit.

Foxconn sternly denies iPod sweatshop claims
The British newspaper, The Mail on Sunday, last week claimed that iPods were being made in Chinese factories by employees working in "slave" conditions. The paper alleged that one factory at Longhua -- a town just outside the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen -- employed 200,000 workers, each of whom had to work 15 hours a day for a monthly pay of US$50. The paper said the workers lived in rooms which housed 100 people each.

However, Ding pointed out that Foxconn has a workforce of only about 160,000 employees worldwide, excluding ones with its handset-making arm Foxconn International Holdings (FIH).

He maintained that Foxconn, as an international company, abides by the employment law in China, which stipulates that the minimum wage for a worker in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone is 810 yuan (US$101) a month, and 700 yuan outside the special economic zone, Ding added.

The company also has been actively making improvements to workers' living conditions, providing safe and well-equipped dormitories complete with free laundry service, sports facilities, libraries, and other facilities, the spokesman said.

He said Foxconn has been named by the local Shenzhen government as a role model among Taiwan-based investors in the southern Chinese city.

To you Apple-haters, Apple is always guilty before proven innocent, isn't it?

In fact, Apple's new MacBook Pro marks the first time one of their machines has been assembled in China..

HD DVD can do dual-layer very easily for 30 GB, while Blu-ray still hasn't gotten dual-layer out of the lab, meaning that mass market titles will be single layer 25 GB.

This is not true.
It's funny Amir said the same thing and later got shot down...

http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20060104PR208.ht ml
Black Hawk Down and The Bridge on the River Kwai will also be available on 50GB dual-layer Blu-ray discs this summer.

Besides Matsushita already uses H.264 for Blu-ray and demonstrated it at CES in the last month.

OK, so they're asserting that the rumours are baseless and they'll get lots of PS3s out this year. No suprises there, of course they'd say that. But this bit:

Sony does not regard Xbox as a competitor. Rather, the company may even consider working with Microsoft to develop games together, Yasuda noted.

Are they really that confident that they don't even consider Xbox to be a competitor? Well, good luck with that.

FYI Apple machines are assembled by Taiwanese companies Asustek and Quanta Computing. The hardware is assembled to spec and badged "Apple" as it comes off the shelf. The MacIntels are nearly identical to some offerings from Asus directly (which sell many times more laptops under their brand BTW).

In this way, Apple is as much a "hardware company" as Kentucky Fried Chicken is a poultry farmer.

More here and here.

Until the Mac OS X 10.3.4 version of OS X that shipped with their Intel Developer Kit, you would be right about that.

To be clear, nobody at Apple is terribly worried about someone taking a copy of OS X and putting it on another Apple computer. They never really have been. What they're concerned with is someone taking a copy of OS X and putting it on a Dell.

I imagine their negotiations with Intel are a big reason that Yonah isn't being called Pentium-Y etc.

Actually, the Yonah is called Core Duo T2300, T2400, T2500 and T2600. Core Solo chips will also be available, later, and will be Core Solo with a (1) after the number- not exactly "G5"-style marketing names, really. Your speculation is interesting but conflicts with what I've seen elsewhere- the Intel shift is more related to well-publicized problems they've had getting the Pentium line to scale well ( er, Itanium ) and their shift to non-clock-speed numbers to rate performance.

If they *are* making significant product design decisions based on the fear of OS X getting onto some Dell somewhere, then they're fools.

I wouldn't argue with that... but it does appear that's what they're doing. I'm guessing they're still remembering how Mac clone makers nearly ate their lunch. Otherwise, why *not* replace the Mac mini and and iBook with cheaper, low-end Intel chipsets? Mom wouldn't bother to pirate OS X and stick it on a $600 Dell, but she *would* like to buy a $600 Mac mini. She can't afford the $1300 iMac, though, and already has a monitor... you're saying Apple is ignoring her just because she doesn't want to spend more? It's easy enough to slap together a Pentium-M mini-PC you'd think they'd do it... unless there's something that's not supported by the older chipset which is really important to Apple. Like, keeping someone from buying a computer that's $300 or so cheaper than a Mac and installing OS X on it, mostly... just my guess, but I think that's it... I'm just not easily convinced that selling Apple-branded Pentium-M ( or cheaper ) systems cheap in the "mini, iBook and eMac" segment is something that Apple wouldn't like to do... they'd love to entice switchers to try out OS X on those 'starter' boxes, *except* that doing so would mean released a non-DRM'd OS X. You say they don't care if we steal OS X to run it on non-Apple hardware, but the DRM in the developer OS on the developer Intel boxes suggests otherwise.

Apple has fought hard to regain some educational market and low-end footing. It's not that they don't want it... it's that they have to focus on more profitable segments first, and they don't have a chip to put in those low-end machines right now, because the Pentium-M supports chipsets they don't want to run on. My guess as to why they don't want to run on them could be wrong, but like I've said many times... Apple has shown an inclination to put Trusted Computing-based DRM in their Intel OS.

AMD are gaining ground, just not as fast as one would expect from the difference in product quality.
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20051025PR210.html
In terms of mass manufacture, AMD's second fab in Dresden should become available in 2006. That will help with the available numbers.

If it doesn't have to be a Mac, then a Pentium M mini-clone is already available from VoodooPC for about $900 w/o shipping (Pentium M 740, Intel 915GM chipset). Much cheaper options will be coming soon from AOpen, which supplies that case/motherboard to VoodooPC.

Intel's sales will again beat AMD's by several fold. Apparently you haven't read AMD beats Intel in September US retail desktop sales What were you saying again? By what math is 46% of the market considered beating 52% of the market "by several fold"???

Charles Chou, San Francisco; Jessie Shen, DigiTimes.com [Thursday 25 August 2005]

According to unspecified Taiwan-based PC makers, Intel is currently working with software developers to design middleware application software for the Linux operating system (OS) for its Viiv (rhymes with five) consumer PC platform to reduce the cost and selling price of the PCs.

Viiv-based PCs will initially be based on the Microsoft Window Media Center OS, which should drive up the costs, as a special OS authorization is needed. Currently, quotes for Media Center PCs are more than US$1,200, compared to US$400-500 for average PCs, the makers explained.

If you can point me to a PC manufacturer that makes well designed and high quality products like Apple does than I'd be very much obliged.

• 945GZ: GMA 950 graphics w/o PCI Express x16 slot. Replaces 910GL and 915GL. Samples being delivered to motherboard makers in late July. Volume shipments in 4Q05 or 1Q06.
• 945PL: Low-end version of 945P. Replaces 915PL. Samples delivering July or August. Volume shipments in September 2005.

From the CNET News.com article:

The move, expected to take place by the end of August, could delay shipments of low-end PCs from various manufacturers for a couple of months.

Sources close to the chipmaking giant's dealings confirmed reports that Intel would shutter production of its 910GL, 915GL and 915PL chipsets.

It looks like this and is made by the company that already make the PB's and iBooks.

I jest, of course it doesn't have the monstrous OSX on it, well yet..

With all the debate surrounding whether Dell/Lenovo/HP will provide the Intel range of Apple's, we should not forget the Apple portable range is already made by Taiwanese manufacturers, Asustek and Quanta Computing http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20050114A7040.html.

Perhaps these snaps http://store.agearnotebooks.com/asuss5nphoto.html can be considered 'sketches' of what's to come..

http://i4u.com/article3233.html

http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article.asp?date Publish=2005/04/21&pages=A8&seq=42

Asustek make the Apple iBook range, Quanta computing the G5 Powerbooks...

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20050114A7040.html

One cannot talk about 'PC' brands anymore, as Apple is essentially comprised of these components. Asustek's designs are themselves comparable to the PB; however being carbon fibre they do outdo the PB where robustness is concerned:

http://store.agearnotebooks.com/asusv6vphotos.html

That is not true, unless you compare single-core 1xx serie with dual-core 8xx. Check the prices here:

Entry level dual-core Opterons to be priced same as high-end single-core parts

For example, if you compare best CPU's from 1xx series, dual-core Opteron 175 costs 57% more than single-core Opteron 152 ($999 vs. $637)

This is FUD. The 865 is not "low end" no matter what the article says. It's the chip that's capable of 8 way SMP, as opposed to the 2 and 1 way. Those are cheaper.

Here is the source article for the price leak from DigiTimes. The prices for the 1 and 2 level chips are much less:

165 chip: $637
265 chip: $851

Don't believe the FUD.

.. IBM has a vested interest in encouraging interest among Linux developers for their PPC architecture.

If there's anything to the rumours, we'll be seeing Linux PPC desktops/laptops sometime soon. Wonder if they'll use their Thinkpad offshore, or the Taiwanese company already making the Mac Mini's, FoxConn http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20050114A7040.html

On topic I'd be interested to know if Apple has any exclusionary rights over the market for PPC desktop machines. I'd sure buy a PPC laptop if it came without the sugared fruit..

you know what they say about taiwanese manufacturing ;)

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20050114A7040.html

then again Quanta Computing that make the Apple laptops are apparently working on the shitty quality issue - echo $Titanium_My_Arse.

i was considering buying a G4 lappie and putting Debian on it, as several friends have done this with great reports. however i found this better looking machine at near half the price, a robust design (carbon fibre case), incredibly fast, light and low temperature. apparently it's also won several design awards (whatever that means):

http://store.agearnotebooks.com/asusm6nphotos.html

solipsistic fandom aside, the Apple titanium machines are fairly crappy anyway, several friends have paint chipped off, dented lids and they are absurdly hot. the iBooks however seem to be well made laptops.

having bought it i was surprised to find, Asus make many of the Apple machines anyway ;)

http://www.spymac.com/forums/showthread.php?thread id=148682

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20050114A7040.html

As lighthearted as your comment is... that's the scary part of all this. I imagine it terrifies the large communcations and networking firms.

The catch-22 that so many vendors are facing is to not participate in such a huge market (bad idea) or be forced to partner with a company in China to produce the product locally for China [because WAPI won't be licensed to foreign firms] (also a bad idea). It's worse than a prisoner's dilemma, because you already KNOW that Huawei and others will provide equipment that is "legal" in China... so the ability to "win" by refusing to play (both prisoners remaining silent) is not dependent on your competitors. It is - precisely - zero. Refusing to enter the Chinese market also reduces competition and price pressure in China, allowing local firms an even better base with which to compete with firms in the US and EU.

This just stinks, in my opinion. It goes right along with China selecting the EVD standard for DVDs. It's playing a market power game... and while it's effective (and just might work in this case), it doesn't make the 'game' any less dangerous for US and EU firms.

funny, i thought this report from Digitimes (originally in the Apple.com website) were reliable sources:

http://www.spymac.com/forums/showthread.php?thread id=148682

which is from.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20050114A7040.html

BTW i'm currently looking for an unbadged iBook G5 now ;)

No word on pricing yet

This news bit had been posted on anandtech a bit ago, and seems decently reliable and realistic. 2.8ghz for $241 isn't bad at all, pricing is right between today's prices for a 3.2 and 3.4. I personally though am waiting for AMD's dual cores which will supposedly work on my current motherboard, though it looks like at first the only dual core will be an FX processor, with the insane price that goes with that.

If Digitimes is to be believed, (link from a previous post), Apple is right on the money. As for making every thing twice as big (say on a 200 ppi screen), that's an OS issue which will be implemented in Tiger.

Digitimes claims that 0.23 mm is about the lower end of the sweet spot for pixel pitch and the upper end is about 0.28 mm for the average person. The ideal pixel pitch is about 0.25 mm for most people and current OSes. 200 ppi is the limit of visual acuity for most people at average working distances. 110 ppi is the upper limit that most people like, (BTW this value is increasing with time.) Although people do gravitate to higher pixel densities when looking at a spec sheet, the industry agrees that most would probably be happier (or as happy at least) with 110ish ppi and not higher.

1600x1200 on a 15" laptop works out to 133 ppi which is far too high for most people (0.196 mm pixel pitch)
1600x1200 on a 14.1" screen works out to 142 ppi which is just insane (0.179 mm pixel pitch)
1680x1050 for a 17" screen, may still be just a little too high for most folks at 117 ppi (0.217 mm pixel pitch)

Apple's current laptop offerings tend to be between 0.24 and 0.254 mm pixel pitch (which is within the limits or the Digitime numbers of 0.23 and 0.28):

12.1: 1024x768 (106 ppi) or (0.24 mm pixel pitch)

14.1: 1152x864 (102 ppi) or (0.249 mm pixel pitch)

15.0: 1280x800 (101 ppi widescreen) or (0.251 mm pixel pitch)

15.2: 1280x854 (101 ppi widescreen) or (0.251 mm pixel pitch)

15.4: 1366x768 (102 ppi widescreen) or (0.249 mm pixel pitch)

17.0: 1400x900 (100 ppi widescreen) or (0.254 mm pixel pitch)

YMMV with what you like (young eyes, glasses, work environment, work applications {graphics, spreadsheat, text} ...)

.. and when it does come, i wonder if we can get it unbadged ;)

i wonder if you can get these iBook G5's unbadged.

or the Quanta Powerbook G5... hmm, apples or oranges.

according to this story on digitimes the shuffles are made by asustek. however, the same story says that g5 ibooks and powerbooks are coming in the second quarter, so take with a grain of salt...

Crap? Are you saying that Ipod. Apple computers and Dell laptops are crap? It may suprise you, but most of them are made in China.

Here is a list of companies of companies that manufacture stuff for Apple. For example new Ipod shuffle is made by Asus. Others are also Taiwanese companies that have a lot of production in China.

Of course, also over the half of motherboards and graphic cards are made in China.

DigiTimes reported that that both the PowerBook and iBook G5 will be released in Q2. This is rather unlikely, as Apple has historically released new "Power" models at least one full quarter before releasing corresponding "i" models (for example the PowerMac G5 was released on June 9 while the iMac G5 was not released until August 31).

Also, fifty-three minutes into Apple's conference call discussing Q1 2005 financial results last Wednesday, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Operations Tim Cook said, "let me be clear on this one, it would be the mother of all thermal challenges to do what you are suggesting," when asked about releasing a PowerBook 5G in Q2 or Q3.

If anyone could meet "the mother of all thermal challenges," it would be Apple, who has designed innovative cooling systems for the PowerMac and iMac G5, but I wouldn't get your hopes up.

That's nothing. Check this out.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20041231PR204.html

Granted, it is not available yet, but it does sound like they are readying for production.

Based on tips provided by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Taiwan, the police Friday raided an electronics company located in Tainan, southern Taiwan, and seized a total of 60,000 suspect AMD CPUs, according to the police and sources at AMD Taiwan.

The suspect AMD CPUs, including K7 and K8 models, were defective CPUs that would normally have been destroyed. However, market sources said that the CPUs might have been stolen from one of AMD's three packaging and testing plants in Asia and shipped to Taiwan for re-marking. The possible source of the defective chips could be one of AMD's packaging and testing plants in Singapore or Malaysia, or in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province (China), said the sources.

Over a million re-marked AMD CPUs have allegedly been shipped to Germany and China, the Chinese-language Liberty Times reported Saturday, adding that the value of the seized CPUs would be about NT$300 million (about US$9.46 million).

Sources at AMD Taiwan confirmed that the 60,000 seized in Taiwan are defective CPUs rejected by the company, however, the company has officially refused to comment on the seized products in Taiwan or the alleged one million shipped to Germany and China, stating that the company will release an official statement when the police investigation has concluded.

The company from which the suspect product was seized is called Hao Hwa Technology (transliterated from Chinese).
Taiwan police seize 60,000 suspect AMD CPUs
Charles Chou and outside sources, Taipei; Steve Shen, DigiTimes.com [Monday 3 January 2005]

DigiTimes reports that "Over a million re-marked AMD CPUs have allegedly been shipped to Germany and China, the Chinese-language Liberty Times reported Saturday, ..."
DigiTimes ~ Taiwan police seize 60,000 suspect AMD CPUs

http://slashdot.org/~2TecTom/journal/94553

DigiTimes reports that "Over a million re-marked AMD CPUs have allegedly been shipped to Germany and China, the Chinese-language Liberty Times reported Saturday, ..."
DigiTimes ~ Taiwan police seize 60,000 suspect AMD CPUs

http://slashdot.org/~2TecTom/journal/94553

The US$160 million doesn't seem like so much coming right on the heels of the ProMOS settlement.

First, Intel motherboards are actually made by Foxconn (Hon Hai), ASUS, FIC or some third Taiwanese company. Second, those same Taiwanese companies make not only motherboards, but complete systems for Dell, HP, or any other major player -- including Apple.

For example, see this few articles:
Foxconn re-brands PCs for integrators
Dell gets Hon Hai to make two million PCs
Hon Hai takes aim at Compaq, HP
Quanta, Hon Hai win Imac contract

If you don't trust TheInq, much better source is Digitimes, but their archives are subscribers-only.

Samsung predicts that a price for the 42" PDP will drop to $2099 in the next year and to $1000 in 2006.

The Xbox2 is actually ATI based

Opto Tech introduces 1.5-inch OLED panel for handsets

"The company said that the panel has the highest resolution among all current OLED panels"

Perhaps OLEDs will lead to 300dpi displays, or at least 160dpi. ~72 just don't cut it.

and these guys say they're going to have 2TB in the same form factor by October?

No, they don't. The DigiTimes article says that the new type of memory card will be unveiled in October, mass production will begin in early 2005, and the maximum capacity of this type of card will be 2TB - nothing about 2TB cards being available in early 2005, much less October 2004.

Think "guaranteed not to exceed 2TB", not "guaranteed to contain 2TB".

According to the second link in the article (this one), Sony is coming out with 2TB storage as well in their memory stick format.

--
Will

Actually Taiwan is getting into the media game soon, which should drive down prices. The Japanese company MKM is the only one making media right now. Read about it at digitimes.