Apple and Nvidia having fisticuffs??

allosunshine

allosunshine

allosunshine

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Just found this article on from stuff magazine online:

It appears an almighty row has broken out between Apple and NVIDIA, with Jobs's team telling the graphics giants where to go and to take their GeForce chipsets with them.

SemiAccurate has broken the story, with sources close to negotiations between the two saying NVIDIA was being "arrogant". Heated discussions began when NVIDIA's graphics failed in a large number of MacBook Pros.

NVIDIA had previously said high failure rates on some of their processors, first acknowledged in July 2008, would not affect Mac computers. However, it seems that was a tad wide of the mark. In a terse statement, Apple said they had, "determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected." They are offering free repairs to any Macbook Pro affected in the next three years, regardless of warranty.

Steve Jobs proudly revealed NVIDIA's presence in the unibody MacBooks last year when he unveiled the new line at a dedicated keynote. Now it seems Apple will be switching to Intel's offerings, having told NVIDIA to take a hike "for three or four years."

A new deal will need to be struck quickly. The new Apple OS, Snow Leopard, proudly boasts OpenCL tech which will use the graphics chipset to boost speeds across your Mac.
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LINK
 
Are Intel actually doing anything worthwhile on the graphics chipset front? It seems it would take something seriously big to go wrong in the Apple/nVidia partnership, given that Snow Leopard will be better off on machines with powerful graphics.
 
Apple should have used AMD to start with, with their GPU and CPU.

Intel only get off their lazy arses when they are being beaten by the competition.
 
See its strange when you consider Apple's shift through the years. Some see it as a good thing because they are not tied down to any one manufacture.

If Intel comes out with the next big thing, and it works with a mac to make it better then Apple will go with it. With the same being for Nvidia at the moment!

Also, Apple has always given time for ATI too, still introducing their GFX in various forms.

It would be silly for Apple to side with any one of the above.
 
nVidia are, by their company culture, seen as being arrogant they are lead by one person as such the culture mirrors that personality (sound familiar). It was only a matter of time...

When two strong characters 'negotiate' it gets loud..

However if nVidia thinks it's can simply push Apple to taking it's product or put Apple in the position of missing a PR ship date - if I was MD of Apple I would out plans to immediately end the partnership. Basically it sounds like Apple have already made moves away from nVidia so nVidia are just attempting to screw Apple for as much as they can until the replacement is finalised.
I've been in this situation with a vendor before..

I think nVidia are banking on Windows 7 sales pushing up demand and providing GPGPU via Microsoft's technology... given nVidia's approach to drivers.. I think nobody in their right mind will trust nVidia (or ATI) drivers with their GPGPU calculation..
 
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Well it wouldn't be the first time Steve gave a graphics company the proverbial elbow.

Unless Intel can get anything on the table to match the current performance seen in the nVidia cards, I can't see things changing.
 
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