As MacBook release nears, new NVIDIA rumors appear

Seth Weintraub
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September 19, 2008
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With the supposed October 14th MacBook makeover event just over three weeks away, hardware detail rumors are starting to heat up.  The latest is the posting by Mac Soda of the chipset choice.  According to them*, Apple will forgo the standard Intel laptop motherboard and instead use NVIDIA's new MCP7A chipset line.  This line is noted for its high performance per Watt ratio, DDR3-1333 memory and the ability to include HDMI output.  Theoretically, it could also help with BluRay support as well.

I've covered all of my thoughts on the upcoming new MacBook series here:

New Apple MacBook Series
MacBook Pro
MacBook
MacBook Air

via Macenstein

*mykbibby also writes for 9to5mac

Comments (13)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | September 19, 2008 - 2:30pm

First... while Apple will be updating these laptops from the outside and apparently doing some other minor house cleaning on the inside it stands to reason that they will NOT contain the Intel Nehalem processor upgrade. I did a look around the internet and couldn't find a single roadmap that places these babies in a mobile system until later next year. So, it sounds like this will be a largely cosmetic upgrade (only hope for something significant seems to be somehow mixing in SSDs in some manner).

Second... why no talk about the Mac Pro? On all those roadmaps about Nehalem the server/high-end version of those chips should be coming out soon. Is this clearly going to be a "macbook-only" event and not a "mac" event? Do we place the iMac in the same category as the macbook or the mac pro given that it's a desktop that seems to use a lot of mobile parts?

To me... Nehalem is going to be the next big reason to buy. A serious performance improvement and a serious cut in heat and power consumption. Perhaps Apple will wait for Snow Leopard to come out in order to fully take advantage of the new architecture?

ps. The CAPTCHA SUCKS...

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | September 19, 2008 - 8:28pm

Because the mac pro pwns all competitors in both price and performance. The price actually was just raised $700 because competitors are way more expensive for half the performance. Even the top of the line alien ware cant get the kind of specs of the mac pro. Also create an account and you get rid of captcha.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | September 23, 2008 - 5:28am

Alienware? You're comparing apples to oranges. Alienware makes gaming computers, not workstations. Gaming computers are generally single CPU systems

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | September 19, 2008 - 3:59pm

Wishful thinking.

TPA8580 | September 19, 2008 - 5:30pm

 I highly doubt we'll see 16:9, since 16:10 is still the standard in both laptop screens and desktop monitors.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | September 19, 2008 - 6:23pm

Ummm.....haven't you been paying attention to the rumors? Apple is doing away with plastic and will be using aircraft grade aluminum for the new MacBooks. There is no way that the new MacBooks are gonna look like the G3 Powerbooks.

admin | September 19, 2008 - 6:56pm

 Look at the back of an iMac.  touch it.  That is the same plastic and look of the new MacBooks.

Bet.

TPA8580 | September 19, 2008 - 11:52pm

 The back of the iMac's are made out of plastic because the back of the 24" needs to come off easy, for fitting it with the VESA mount bracket. An Alu back plate would have made things to complicated, not to mention heavy.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | September 20, 2008 - 4:18am

It is completely beyond my how Apple can seriously consider putting nvidia chips in any of their products after the current nvidia fiasco that is starting to plague current macbook pro's

People's macbook pro's with the 8600 chip are slowly but surely dying (depending how much use they get), the problem is well known, but apple denies the problems exist.
How can customers have faith in a company like this ?

I have 5 year old PowerBooks that still run fine, yet my latest and greatest macbook pro died after only a year due to a known problem. I didn't break this laptop, it is a problem of bad manufacturing, yet apple wants me to pay over 1000 euros to get it working again with the same faulty technology.

the efi dongle is starting to look like a nice option

TPA8580 | September 20, 2008 - 9:17am

 My thoughts exactly. They should go with ATI for their graphics and make their own chipsets.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | September 20, 2008 - 10:14am

sweet I can see it now.

Hello Im a Pc and Im a mac,
PC: Did you know that I am better at games then you haha. stfu
Mac: Did you know that all macs now use the same type of graphic card that video game consoles use. Also Now we can run well known games such as guitar hero III, Battle Field 2121, Halo, Call of Duty 4, Call of Duty 3, and many other games.
PC: Well Ive got people who play games instead of having lives...
PC= piece of crap

beez1717 (not verified) | September 21, 2008 - 1:13am

god damn it! I just got a new macbook because my old macbook died on me :( once again for the 3rd time I was scrwed: first time it was on the ibook G3: got it a month before the G3 processer was discontinued! then I got the ibook G4 and when that died G4 was phased out and then when I got my old macbook I got it just before leopard came out (like less then a month) because my G4 finally quit on me. now this....... what the fuck...

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | September 21, 2008 - 9:47am

Hey Beez1717,

http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#MacBook
Check it out.