Nvidia, Intel vie for lead role at Apple

From CNET News.com: Nvidia is once again playing a central role in Apple's new MacBooks, curbing to some extent the immense influence of industry giant Intel.

In order to understand what Apple is--and has been--doing with its MacBook Pro design, jettison the conventional notion of an Intel-centric PC universe. Graphics oomph defines the MacBook experience. "They have affirmed the message Nvidia has been sending," said Ben Bajarin with Creative Strategies.

That message is more reliance on the GPU, or graphics processing unit and, hence, equal standing with Intel's CPU, or central processing unit. An idea that dovetails nicely with Apple's focus on providing a premium multimedia experience centered on "photos, movies, music"--as Apple describes it.

"Incremental [processing] workloads are being driven more by video and graphics and that's where Nvidia comes into play," said Ashok Kumar, an analyst at Rodman & Renshaw. Says Bajarin: "Apple is strategically writing software that is able to harness the GPU."

Indeed, the most talked-about new feature in the MacBook Pro systems announced last week is the ability to switch on the fly from the energy-efficient, less-capable Intel graphics to more powerful Nvidia graphics, a process that Apple calls automatic graphics switching. "They absolutely don't want to make any compromise relative to high-end graphics," said Van Baker, an analyst at the Gartner Group.

View: Article @ Source Site