New MacBook Pro: Dumped NVIDIA Is The Biggest News
The new MacBook Pro range certainly doesn't hold back when it comes to specifications, but in some respects it's what's missing from the updated notebooks that's more interesting than what made the cut. I met with Apple this morning for a hands-on briefing with the new MacBook Pro line-up – stand by for some first impressions of the maxed-out 15-inch model – and one of the most conspicuous changes is the shift to AMD Radeon HD graphics on the 15- and 17-inchers.
For NVIDIA, it's a considerable set-back after several product cycles in Apple's notebook range. It couldn't come at a worse time, either; many people have been holding off upgrading until the new Sandy Bridge processors made an appearance, a significant architecture change in Intel's silicon, and this particular cycle could be one of the biggest to-date.
Apple says the AMD graphics chipsets were picked because they offer up to three times the performance of the old models, but I'd be surprised if the NVIDIA GPU debacle back in mid-2008 wasn't at least a partial cause. Initially, NVIDIA had promised Apple that MacBook Pro units running NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT chips wouldn't be affected by a packaging defect that led to above average failure rates, but Apple's own investigations later found that not to be the case. In response, Apple extended the warranty on the potentially faulty GPUs to four years from the data of purchase.
Although neither company is likely to confirm it, I can't believe that such a failure not only in hardware but in communications hasn't left lingering doubts over NVIDIA GPUs in Apple notebooks. It's taken a cycle or two to work GeForce out of the roadmap, but with the new 2011 MacBook Pro line it's AMD's Radeon that takes pride of place in the high-end machines. I'd also expect that to be the case for the foreseeable future, with at least the next couple of product cycles using Radeon GPUs.
For users, it's certainly a step up in performance. Apple showed me a processing demo, crunching a 3D image in modo 3D on both the last-gen Core i7 system and the new model. What took over a minute before, now takes only 21 seconds; consider how many image and video edits are made during the average day, and that soon adds up to more time productive and less time waiting for the pinwheel to spin. It's a big day for Apple and a big win for AMD, but a potentially even bigger blow to NVIDIA's fortunes.