CPU

Nine 'CPU' stories March 2012 - August 2015

Report: Apple squeezing Samsung and TSMC for last-minute price cuts on A9 chips

Jeremy Horwitz Aug 12 2015 - 7:38 am PT

A new report suggests that Apple is playing A9 chip makers Samsung and TSMC against one another in the lead up to the launch of new iPhones, attempting to extract last-minute price reductions for its next-generation processors. According to the report from Digitimes, which has a mixed track record regarding upcoming Apple products, Apple is requesting lower prices from both companies. Though TSMC is “inclined to refuse,” Samsung has agreed to discount the chips, offering Apple “almost-free backend services” in an effort to “grab the majority of A9 chip orders.”

The report suggests that Apple is leveraging the novelty of the FinFET chip manufacturing process to extract concessions from TSMC, which has relatively few FinFET chip orders from other customers. A claimed reduction in Apple’s demand from 30,000 wafers per month to under 20,000 wafers would leave TSMC to make up a significant difference between Apple’s original order and the Taiwanese company’s FinFET production capacity. The impact on Apple’s upcoming A9X, which was believed to be handled by TSMC, is unclear…

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How-To: Decode Apple’s Tech Specs pages before buying a new Mac (Part 1)

Jeremy Horwitz Mar 25 2015 - 11:13 am PT

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Buying a Mac is designed to be easy. Apple has a handful of different models, each generally available in good, better, and best configurations. You’re supposed to start with the specific Mac model that fits your needs, pick a configuration that has the price and features you want, and walk away happy with your purchase. (Better yet, do your research online and save money after ordering from Amazon, or use the product guides off to the bottom right of this page.)

One thing Apple tends to downplay are tech specs — important numbers and acronyms that nonetheless confuse many people. Look carefully on Apple’s web site and you’ll find that there’s a Tech Specs page for every Mac Apple sells; they’re the keys to making an informed Mac purchase that will be right for your current and future needs. My latest How-To is here to walk you through each of Apple’s specs with clear explanations, so you can understand what you’re about to buy. This Part 1 discusses the “big 5” Mac specs you need to know about, and Part 2 tackles the rest…

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Teardown of new Mac Pro reveals upgradeable CPU

Jordan Kahn Dec 27 2013 - 12:43 pm PT

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Following the launch of Apple’s new Mac Pro earlier this month and some early deliveries arriving for customers, Other World Computing today posted a quick teardown of the machine (via MacRumors). We’ll have to wait for a full, in-depth teardown to find out specifics, but several images posted by OWC do reveal what appears to be socketed CPUs. In theory that means owners should be able to perform a DIY upgrade of the Intel Xeon E5 processors shipping with the new base configurations.
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Fasten your seatbelts, Mac Pro CPU cracks 30,000 in updated Geekbench tests

Ben Lovejoy Aug 15 2013 - 4:15 am PT

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pro

There was much disappointment back in June when the new Mac Pro‘s CPU – the 12-core Xeon E5-2697 – delivered a surprisingly low Geekbench score of 23,901. It had been widely expected to break 30,000.

Some cautioned then that the score, based on a 32-bit build of Geekbench running on an early pre-release version of the CPU with a beta version of Mavericks, might not tell the whole story, and new tests by Tom’s Hardware on V2 of the chip appear to confirm this …
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Apple reportedly partners into chip fab to bring processor manufacturing in-house

Jordan Kahn Jul 12 2013 - 9:15 am PT

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According to a report today from SemiAccurate, a semi-accurate site that has been hit and miss on Apple rumors in the past, Apple has just bought into a chip fab plant, backing up recent rumors that the company could be moving to build its own CPUs.

Apple has just done something that SemiAccurate has been expecting for months and entered the fab industry. No we are not joking, Apple just bought into a fab, and not in a trivial way either.

The full report remains behind a paywall, so it’s unclear if the site mentions a specific company that Apple has bought into. The tags for the report, however, do list “UMC”, a hint that the company in question could be Taiwan-based chipmaker United Microelectronics Corporation…

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Haswell preview suggests similar gains to Ivy Bridge over Sandy Bridge

Ben Lovejoy Mar 20 2013 - 6:21 am PT

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A detailed performance test of a prototype Core i7 Haswell chip by tom’s Hardware suggests that it will offer a 7 percent to 13 percent performance gain over equivalent Ivy Bridge CPUs—a similar gain to that experienced with the move from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge.

The integrated HD 4600 GPU experiences an impressive speed boost of almost 30 percent, but the website noted that this still won’t allow for comfortable gaming on HD monitors, so gamers will need discrete graphics chips.

While performance gains reached up to 75 percent in the case of some specific tasks, the gains for typical desktop applications are relatively modest.

MacBook Pro with Retina display: Problems in every dimension

Jordan Kahn Mar 20 2013 - 5:57 am PT

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MacBook-Problems-In-Every-Dimension

When Apple unveiled its first Retina MacBook Pro with the 15.4-inch model in June, it came with an all-new, slimmed down design, all-flash architecture, and its flagship Retina display with over 5 million pixels. Apple has built its reputation on quality, craftsmanship, and customer/user experience, but that hasn’t been the case with its latest lineup of MacBooks. What many consumers don’t know is that buying a new Retina MacBook means taking your chances with possibly receiving a unit that is subject to display defects, battery, graphics, and fan-related issues among other major stability problems. These widespread issues have received limited coverage in the press and many consumers claim Apple is failing to sufficiently address the problems by not informing consumers and employees.

Leading the reports of problems is one that causes burn-in or ghosting on the device’s display. The result is a support thread with over 364,769 views and, most recently, a class-action lawsuit in California that alleged Apple is failing to inform consumers of the issue. Users experiencing the problem eventually realized the source of the issue was with LG, one of Apple’s display suppliers for the new Retina MacBooks. Unfortunately, models with Samsung displays aren’t totally free from a myriad of other significant issues.

Apple described the image-retention problems on this user’s display as normal after two visits. The display was eventually replaced with a Samsung but continues to experience other display related problems.

Problems at the Apple Store

Finally, after 4 LG screened rMBPs I give up!

The problems are severe enough that it’s affecting the buying experience for consumers, driving customers to opt for other devices, and forced me personally to stop recommending the machine. Not only is Apple not addressing the issues publicly, Apple retail employees and 9to5Mac readers confirmed Apple is failing to properly inform retail and repair staff of the problems…
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Here’s a Mac Pro concept gallery while we patiently wait for Apple to update the real ones

Jordan Kahn Jan 22 2013 - 7:26 am PT

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This is what happens when designers have to look down at the same box they had almost a decade ago.

We showed you a detailed modular Mac Pro design concept in September posted by designer Peter Zigich. Today, Zigich is back with another future Mac Pro concept that imagined Apple ditching Intel for a custom Apple-designed ARM CPU, “A10”. We’re not sure Apple is ready to take the jump to ARM in the first major refresh of its Mac Pro line since 2010, but the prospect of a smaller, possibly Mac mini-like design for a new Mac Pro is definitely intriguing. The PCI slots are probably not necessary thanks to Thunderbolt, and Zigich doesn’t rule Intel out entirely. While these specs are maybe not completely realistic for an upcoming Mac Pro refresh, it certainly gets us thinking about what Apple might have planned for its aging Mac Pro design. More images available on Zigich’s website here.

MacBook Air, MacBook Pro refreshes expected June 2013 with same designs, new processors (9to5mac.com)
Apple slashes price on Thunderbolt cable, releases additional shorter model (9to5mac.com)
Apple reportedly moving Mac mini production to US with Foxconn (9to5mac.com)

The next Macs will likely have one of these Intel Ivy Bridge processors, due in a month

Jordan Kahn Mar 28 2012 - 9:52 am PT

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Ivy Bridge CPUs launching by April 29

We have heard reports in recent months that the launch of Intel’s Ivy Bridge processor lineup, which will likely find its way into next-generation Apple products, has been delayed. While an April/May launch was expected for some of the lineup initially, Intel confirmed in February that the launch would likely be pushed to June. Today, a report from CPU World that cited various sources claimed the Ivy Bridge CPUs, including both desktop and mobile chips, will launch between April 22 and April 28.

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