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Sources Say Apple Originally Planned AMD Chip For MacBook Air

Posted by timothy on from the llano's-just-a-town-in-texas dept.

Several media sources (here's PC Magazine's version), all seemingly based on an account at SemiAccurate citing (but not naming) "multiple sources," report that Apple originally planned an AMD-chip based MacBook Air, rather than the Intel-based version that emerged later ("Plan B," says the report).

4 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. In summary by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Informative

    The AMD chips had a significantly better GPU, at the cost of a slightly slower CPU (which is a good tradeoff). Apple didn't go with it because AMD couldn't guarantee the volumes that Apple needed.

    And this is essentially the story of AMD for the last decade.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  2. *** SHOCK *** by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Funny

    So Apple were trying to chose between the only two players in the performance x86 world?! They actually stopped to consider the alternative rather than just picking the default when millions of dollars were at stake?

    I'm blown away, like everyone else I thought Steve Jobs just picked names out of a hat.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. CPU & GPU performance not relevant by perpenso · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The AMD chips had a significantly better GPU, at the cost of a slightly slower CPU (which is a good tradeoff).

    In the context of something like a MacBook Air power consumption is a far greater factor than CPU or GPU performance.

    1. Re:CPU & GPU performance not relevant by allanw · · Score: 5, Informative

      Obviously power consumption is important but performance is also very important. An Atom is an extremely cheap CPU that doesn't deserve to go in a $1000 laptop, like I said. Otherwise you can take the argument to silliness by asking why Apple didn't go with ARM or something.

      I've found that Macbooks are pretty comparable in price to a Windows laptop now, at least the Airs (since we're on that topic). Nothing out there matches a Macbook Air in price, considering that the Air comes with an SSD and a Sandy Bridge CPU.