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Why doesn't Apple get Intel's best chips anymore?

What happened to Intel and Apple?  Intel CEO Paul Otellini used to pop up at Apple presentations with his clean room suit and pal around with Steve Jobs like they were best buds. Apple was always the first one to get new Intel chips, often before they were even announced officially.  Heck, Intel even built a special low-power processor for the first MacBook Air that no PC vendor could ever get their hands on.  That was then, this is now.

Today, HP unveiled a glorified netbook with a Core i7 Processor.  It has a 12-inch screen and weighs 3 pounds.  Somehow they got a Core i7 in there but Apple is unable to release a Core i7 MacBook Pro.  Intel’s Core iX lineup is on mainstream PC laptops but not on even the highest end $2500 Apple MacBook Pros. 

And for workstations?  You can make a faster Mac Pro by buying an off-the-shelf Intel processor that Apple doesn’t offer even in the $10,000 configuration

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