Apple: Updating Programs But Not Processors

| Feb 09, 2010 | 4 comments

This morning, the Apple web store was down, leaving the internet all a-Twitter.  What could it be? New MacBook Pros? New mac minis?  New AppleTV?  Nope.  Aperture 3.  I’m not slamming Aperture by any means; Apple needs to not be under Adobe’s thumb.  However, looking at what didn’t get updated in the Apple Store reveals a lot of old hardware.

At the top of the heap is the 27″ iMac – the one that appears to be defective and which Apple is not currently shipping.  It features an Intel Core i5 running at 2.66GHz.  It is the only Apple computer with an i5.  Conversely, most desktops for sale at Best Buy which it classifies as “gaming desktops” are powered by the i5′s successor, the i7.  In all, there are 9 “gaming desktops” from Best Buy with the i5 or i7.  Additionally, Best Buy has 3 “everyday” desktops with either i3 or i7 processors.

On the laptop front, the processor divide is even greater.  All Apple laptops are powered by Core2Duo chips.  Meanwhile, from J&R, you can purchase nearly 50 different models of laptop with either an i5 or i7 processor, manufactured by Sony, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, or ASUS.

This isn’t new tech as far as the computer industry is concerned.  Core i7 chips have been available for nearly a year.  Core i5 processors were release 18 months ago.  And yet only the newest and biggest iMac – the one that doesn’t work properly – has a processor that is a year and a half old.

This week is Macworld 2010.  Everyone is waiting for Apple to announce a new line of MacBook Pros – ones powered with something more advanced than a Core2Duo processor.  If a MacBook Pro refresh is announced, it will likely be an i5 powering it.  It is extremely doubtful that Apple would have an i5 in the top of the line iMac and an i7 in a MacBook Pro.  Moreover, the i5 would start from the top and move down with only the $2,500 top model running an i5.

I am in the market for a new Windows laptop at sometime midyear.  I know that after Macworld, other laptop manufacturers will announce their refreshes.  Right now, I’m eyeing a Sony VAIO running an Intel i7-720QM at 1.6 GHz.  This model runs $1,349 before tax.  The comparable MacBook Pro model would be the entry-level model powered by an Intel Core2Duo running at 2.26GHz, which with 4GB of RAM costs $1,300 before tax.

What we have is an incomprehensible disparity between the image of Apple being bleeding-edge revolutionary hardware and the reality of Apple selling laptops and desktops powered by old processors.  And this technological divide between Apple and its competitors is only getting bigger.

Editor’s note:  Check out the ASUS G Series G51J-A1 NoteBook (Intel Core i7 720QM(1.60GHz) 15.6″ 4GB Memory 640GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M on a 1080P screen) for under $1200 refurbished at Mwave.

Filed Under: Apple • Core i5 • Core i7 • Core2Duo • Intel • Technology

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Matthew Baron

About the Author

Matthew Baron fought in the Console Wars. He is the best starpilot in the galaxy and a cunning warrior. For years, he played video games on PCs, before the consoles... before the dark times. When he's not wasting time playing video games on his consoles, he's wasting time on blogs, wasting time with gadgets, and wasting time at clubs. You can contact Matthew via electronic mail at matthewbaron@mobilelocalsocial.com and follow him on the Twitters @OMG_Ponies
  • http://intensedebate.com/people/ZenInsight ZenInsight

    Check out the ASUS G Series G51J-A1 NoteBook (Intel Core i7 720QM(1.60GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 640GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M on a 1080P screen) for under $1200 refurbished at Mwave.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Matthew_Baron Matthew_Baron

    Dunno. I love my ASUS eeePC but for a full-fledged lappie, I kinda want to stick with VAIOs. My current one has given me a good two years of service.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Mark_Aaron_Murn Mark Aaron Murnahan

    With such a cult following, who needs value? Does anybody recall that cult leader, Jim Jones? Not so unlike Jones, The Cult of Mac seems to have tunnel-vision. I think a few too many people drank the Kool Aid.

    Don't get me wrong, Mac is fine, but they are simply not all they are hyped up to be. I have used Mac since the Apple II and the Apple II c back in the early 1980's. Just like any other manufacturer, they have their good sides and bad sides. Value falls under the latter category.
    My recent post Shove Your Followers, I Want Disciples!

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Matthew_Baron Matthew_Baron

    I hear you there, brother. I see no advantage to a $1400 laptop with a Core2Duo processor when a Core i5 can be had for two-thirds of that price. Not only that, but Apple is going to have to show that it is capable of making a Core i5/i7 work with ATI.

    Once you factor in a new processor and a new graphics processor, there is no way I would plonk down money for a Rev.A MacBook Pro. Apple has proven that it takes several revisions and sometimes several generations before it can make new technology work in its products. If Apple announced an i5 MacBook Pro with ATI graphics to go on sale on March 1, I wouldn't buy one for at least a year.