A terse entry from the sometimes reliable Digitimes might spell bad news for MacBook owners waiting for an imminent hardware refresh: Intel is having a hard time meeting demand for their latest Core i3, i5 and i7 processors, the most likely CPU candidates for the next iteration of Cupertino’s laptop line.
It all comes down to Acer. Apparently, the Windows laptop maker was so optimistic about consumer demand for Intel’s latest processors that they made an abnormally large order, slurping up practically every batch spit out of the assembly line. This has caused Intel to prioritize delivery of the remaining chips to major clients.
The question is: is Apple still considered a major client for Intel? Intel and Apple simply aren’t as close as they were two years ago, mostly due to Apple’s GPU partnership with NVIDIA: now, with Apple getting into chip development of its own, Intel may well see the writing on the wall… Apple’s an up-and-coming competitor.
Even if Intel isn’t reticent to supply Apple with the chips, though, it’s possible Apple doesn’t want them as they are currently designed. Rumor has it that Apple wants custom designed Intel Core iX processors for the forthcoming Macbook hardware refresh… to accommodate their partnership with NVIDIA.
Either way, MacBook owners are long overdue for an update. It would be nice if Apple would just hint at when we might see one.
