What really is sad is that Intel didn't/doesn't just buy Nvidia so it could actually compete against AMD. With AMD making incredible APUs coming out in the next year, I suspect the vast majority of the notebook industry will switch to AMD, including Apple.
You think the majority of the Notebook industry will en mass switch to AMD in the next year? Do you have any information/hints/rumors/etc... about this at all?
AMD has held on to it's 15% market share for the last few years (mostly due to it's lower-powered, but lower-priced alternatives to Intel's CPUs). Is there any actual proof or suggestions that that 15% market share is about to explode?
What I've read says "AMD does not currently have an equivalent offering on the market as Sandy Bridge-based systems from PC manufacturers, including Apple and Lenovo, begin to proliferate, closing the window on AMD's volume growth opportunity"
Even in the 13" MBP, Apple had to keep the low resolution as to show the Intel IGP as not being completely worthless. In addition, that doesn't mean it cannot run an ACD, but it does adversely affect performance and "marketing" numbers/graphics.
Again, this is intense speculation. Do you have any info to back up your claim that Apple kept the 13" MBP Resolution lower specifically due to the Intel HD 3000? Especially since on the non-LV/ULV side, the HD 3000 has been shown to be almost as fast as the 320m?
Also, in the realm of non-fiction -- I have a 15" Arrandale MBP with a HR screen. I force it to use the Intel HD IGP almost exclusively to save battery life, and it pushes 1680x1050, and I've had it hooked up to a 27" ACD And it's not struggled at all.
And the SB IGP is better. So all this FUD about the SB IGP being unable to run the ACD or the 13" MBP needing a lower-rez due to the Intel HD 3000 is just that: complete FUD, and IMHO, nonsense.
While I too would prefer an AMD or Nvidia solution, other than in gaming benchmarks, there's nothing that the SB IGP can't do that "average" users do: surfing, 1080p video, MS Word, etc...
There were also reports of Apple meeting with AMD for CPUs for all of the low end Macs less than a year ago, so that is a big possibility. I would say that just because a Sandy Bridge update comes now with its grossly inferior IGP doesn't mean that we will be stuck with Intel's IGP in the next update beyond that. There are two very possible strategies that could pan out, and with Apple's Retina ambitions as well as its recent interest in gaming platforms like Steam, it has to determine a REAL solution which eliminates Intel's IGP from the picture... Intel needs to buy Nvidia and learn from acquisition as it certainly hasn't learned from its own R&D how to improve graphics.
You've brought up this "1/2 switch to AMD" by Apple before, and I again maintain that this seems so far-fetched. I don't know where you're getting this "big possibility" from, but when Apple gets 1st dibs (by over a month) to Intel's new processors, (the SB MBP's from February) why would they ditch Intel? Intel has repeatedly given Apple preferential treatment, from the low-end and high end (Mac Pro processors).
Yes, the Intel IGP is nowhere near an AMD (ne ATI) or Nvidia solution. I dunno if I want Intel to buy Nvidia, and create a ridiculous Duopoly in the CPU market. I'd rather have more choice/competition which benefits consumers.
I'd say it's almost more likely that Apple would merge iOS and Mac OS under an ARM-based solution for the low-end. Wouldn't 4-core ARM chips in a mobile MBA-like device be just as fast as a low-end Llano chip? And with a PowerVR graphics chip like that in the iPad, gaming would be great, no?
That being said, I don't think the ARM-based MBA is anywhere close, (as it would require another big micro-architecture switch like the PowerPC-->x86 headaches of 2006+). I really think Intel (for better or worse) is here to stay. Apple has no reason to ditch Intel - and I'd expect they'd have to switch whole-hog if they did -and that would mean a lot of loss of CPU power in the high-end, something Apple's not willing to sacrifice.
