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Top Apple Rumors, Bricks, Low Price, NVIDIA
Posted by
CmdrTaco
on Fri Oct 10, 2008 01:12 PM
from the my-macbook-is-broken dept.
from the my-macbook-is-broken dept.
Vigile writes "With the news that Apple will be releasing new MacBook products on October 14th, speculation has begun on what exactly those new products will be. Tips of a manufacturing process involving lasers and a single 'brick' of aluminum are catching on, as is the idea of a sub-$1000 netbook-type device. More interesting might be the persistent rumors of an NVIDIA chipset adoption that would drastically increase gaming ability, allow MacBooks to improve their support for OpenCL and take advantage of the new Adobe CS4 software with GPU acceleration. Will NVIDIA's ailing chipset business get a shot in the arm next week?"
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Technology: CNET UK Credits Claim That Apple Will Release Networked TVs 110 comments
r2k writes "While the Apple rumours posted yesterday highlight some of the most commonly talked-about opinions, a writer for CNet UK sat down with Mahalo's Jason Calacanis, who told CNet he knew for a fact that Apple is developing fully networked LCD TV sets. As the writer points out, Apple dropped 'Computer' from its company name for a very good reason."
[+]
Technology: Khronos Releases OpenCL Spec 115 comments
kpesler writes "Today, the Khronos Group released the OpenCL API specification (which we discussed earlier this year). It provides an open API for executing general-purpose code kernels on GPUs — so-called GPGPU functionality. Initially bolstered by Apple, the API garnered the support of major players including NVIDIA, AMD/ATI, and Intel. Motivated by inclusion in OS X Snow Leopard, the spec was completed in record time — about half a year from the formation of the group to the ratified spec."
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Hooray for NVIDIA (Score:5, Funny)
Mac vs. PC vs. Xbox 360 vs. PS3 (Score:4, Insightful)
God knows that gaming graphics is the only reason left why I'm still hanging on to the PC platform...
Are first-person shooters and indie games the only reason left why you haven't already moved to the Xbox 360 or PS3 platform?
Parent
Re:Mac vs. PC vs. Xbox 360 vs. PS3 (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Mac vs. PC vs. Xbox 360 vs. PS3 (Score:5, Insightful)
I own a PS3 and I still prefer PCs for shooters and gaming. I just like the interface better.
Though maybe that would change if I just forced myself to play them on consoles more.
Parent
Re:Mac vs. PC vs. Xbox 360 vs. PS3 (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Whippersnappers! (Score:5, Funny)
Keyboard AND Mouse? Duke Nukem 3D? That's not old-school! Why you young pups, I remember when mouselook was just a crazy gleam in a programmer's eye. You think aiming sucks with an analog stick? Try using the freaking number pad.
And I remember REAL old-school first person shooters, the ones where we ran around the backyard pointing sticks at each other going "pew pew" and arguing over who got hit first.
I guess I should add "get off my lawn."
Parent
Re:Hooray for NVIDIA (Score:5, Insightful)
For the love of God, man, use a comma!
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Re:Hooray for NVIDIA (Score:5, Funny)
<shatner>"For, the, love, of, God, man, use, a, comma!"</shatner>
Parent
I'll buy apple... (Score:5, Funny)
...when leopard freezes over!
Re:I'll buy apple... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:I'll buy apple... (Score:5, Funny)
I'll buy apple... ...when leopard freezes over!
SNOW Leopard comes out next year. Start saving your pennies. :-)
http://www.apple.com/macosx/snowleopard/ [apple.com]
Are you trying to explain the joke? Or announcing you didn't get it? ;)
Parent
LEAK! This year's "ONE MORE THING" (Score:5, Funny)
Apple will announce that due to the financial crisis, they've been able to purcase Iceland. However, it will be rebranded as iCeland. Steve Jobs was apparently very fond of their homogeneous population.
Re:LEAK! This year's "ONE MORE THING" (Score:5, Funny)
I don't think I've ever heard Bjork described as "homogenous" before.
Parent
Or put another way (Score:5, Funny)
Apple will soon be selling pre-bricked laptops.
If they sell a laptop for $800... (Score:5, Interesting)
If they sell a laptop for $800, as rumored, then who's going to buy a Mac mini for $600+?
Of course, they could probably sell the mini for $400 and still make 40% profit. It's basically a laptop with the most expensive part of a laptop (the screen) left out.
Re:If they sell a laptop for $800... (Score:5, Insightful)
All I want for Christmas is a Mini with a Blu-ray drive. An integrated screen is a detriment to an HTPC.
-Peter
Parent
Re:If they sell a laptop for $800... (Score:4, Insightful)
I really like having a general purpose computer hooked up to my TV.
You know you can't add codecs to an AppleTV without voiding the warranty, right? And it doesn't have the horsepower to decode anything good in software anyway. Blech.
Seems way more important than the color to me. But if you're really hung up on it, buy a skin: http://www.skinit.com/devices/miscellaneous/apple_miscellaneous [skinit.com] (You can do "custom" and select all black.)
-Peter
Parent
Re:If they sell a laptop for $800... (Score:4, Informative)
There have been rumours of the mini getting cancelled for years. It might finally happen. The notebook market seems to be leaving the desktop market behind anyway.
Parent
Re:If they sell a laptop for $800... (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:If they sell a laptop for $800... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'll still buy mini's. I love the things. I've got 8, mostly still 1.25 and 1.42Ghz G4's that I've picked up off ebay. I have one hooked up to my 32" LCD TV as a media center (basically an Apple TV before there were apple TV's) and then use the others as a cheap rendering grid for Final Cut and Blender. Best part is they take up a shelf on my book case and don't drive up the powerbill that much nor heat the den as bad as the quadcore. (used to heat a bloody 1 bedroom apt with the thing.)
At work we've bought mini's to replace all the point of sale and desktop units. Worked out well since they already had monitors/touchscreens and keyboards and mice that were all USB.
Parent
FYI (Score:5, Informative)
OpenCL is NOT a typo.
See HERE [wikipedia.org]:
OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a language for programming heterogeneous data and task parallel computing across GPUs and CPUs. It was created by Apple in cooperation with others, and is based on C99.
The purpose is to recall OpenGL and OpenAL, which are open industry standards for 3D graphics and computer audio respectively, to extend the power of the GPU beyond graphics (GPGPU).
Apple has proposed OpenCL for Khronos Group where on June 16th 2008 Compute Working Group was formed for the standardization work.
OpenCL is scheduled to be introduced in Mac OS 10.6 ('Snow Leopard').According to the press release:
Snow Leopard further extends support for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL), which lets any application tap into the vast gigaflops of GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications. OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard.
Re:FYI (Score:4, Informative)
OpenCL is NOT a typo.
See HERE [wikipedia.org]
Please update the fine summary to include the above informative link.
Parent
Shot in the arm? (Score:5, Insightful)
" Will NVIDIA's ailing chipset business get a shot in the arm next week?"
They'll need it since they just got a swift kick in the a@@ [apple.com]
Re:OpenCL? (Score:4, Informative)
You can browse /., but not Wikipedia? "OpenCL [wikipedia.org] (Open Computing Language) is a language for programming heterogeneous data and task parallel computing across GPUs and CPUs. It was created by Apple in cooperation with others, and is based on C99."
Parent
Re:Ick... BLOB (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent