Category Archives: Apple Hardware

By Staff | Published: February 11, 2009

Will my GPU be fully supported by Snow Leopard’s OpenCL?

According to reliable sources, if you own an Intel Mac other than the Mini or an original Macbook — either of which shipped with Intel’s GMA950 integrated GPU — then you are already good to go for support of the full range of OpenCL acceleration features.

If you have a Mac with the Intel GMA950, then you will get most of the benefits of OpenCL though the performance level of those functions will be significantly lessened due to the lack of dedicated graphics RAM and absence of support for many programmable GPU features that exist in other chips/cards going back to the ATi X1000 series.

To get that full support, GPUs as “old” as the ATi X1600, X1800 and X1900 (the latter of which was available for PowerMac G5s with PCI Express slots, based on the PowerPC 970MP dual-core processor while the former shipped in early Intel iMacs and its X1600M cousins in Macbook Pros) will do the job….but certain nVIDIA cards from the GeForce 7000 series, which shipped in iMacs and PowerMacs during the G5 era, most likely will not. Read more

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By Staff | Published: February 4, 2009

Will new iDevice features (Flash, multitasking) premiere first on Pro devices?

Recently, Rumors was among the first to report on references to an “iPhone 2,1” in last week’s v2.2.1 iDevice OS firmware release, and suggest that this was almost certainly the forthcoming iPhone Pro. Now, along with emerging suggestions of a corresponding high-end iPod Touch, the grapevine is abuzz with rumors about background tasking, Adobe Flash and other features which may be tied to the powerful new “Pro” iDevice hardware.

These are fast-emerging & -developing rumors which we are monitoring around the clock with the help of our sources and the grapevine at large….so keep a close eye on this site for ongoing posts which will add detail and analysis to these early reports.

That said, in the wake of the exciting early iPhone “2.1” Pro rumors we have been able to talk to our oldest, most reliable sources who have shared with us significant new information. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 30, 2009

iDevice OS 2.2.1 points to “iPhone 2,1” product

According to numerous readers and grapevine-lurkers who’ve looked under the hood of the new 2.2.1 iPhone OS firmware, it contains multiple references to a new iPhone — version “2,1” in the terminology used by Apple in all its operating system/firmware variants — better known to some as the “iPhone Pro.”

Given how soon a new iPhone would have to be introduced for it to make any sense at all to include references & support code inside as minor and early-in-year of a release as 2.2.1….we don’t think that this is a replacement for the 3G model. Rather, it is a complementary model intended to broaden the range of options that iPhone adopters have when they decide to purchase one.

Since the 8GB 3G is already as low as $199, we think that this “iPhone 2.1” (not to be confused with the “2.5G” 1.0 or “3G” 2.0) will instead be a high-end model similar to the iPhone Pro we’ve reported on previously, with some or all of these enhanced features:

*Major overhaul/upgrade of the ARM based system mainboard which handles almost everything but the functions dedicated to the “iPod” and “Phone-Modem” chips which are unto themselves nearly complete system boards….those chips will most likely remain unchanged, but the ARM based mainboard will most likely be upgraded to something similar to, or faster than, the ARM Cortex A8 used in the Palm Pre. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 30, 2009

Upcoming new iMacs to go quad-core; what else will be new?

In recent weeks, the grapevine has moved from speculating about new iMacs based on quad-core “Nehalem” Intel Core i7 processors to having near-total confidence in the broad strokes of the rumor, merely seeking confirmation of the details. Well, some of the finer details are still embargoed….but we have been able to confirm once & for all that the new iMacs will indeed have four-core Nehalem processors with the associated improved motherboards.

At this point our sources have asked us to withhold precise benchmark numbers (we don’t like reporting third party numbers anyway unless they’re ballpark; it stakes our reputation on too many variables that are out of our hands — even with well-established sources)…but we should be able to report those in the near future once team members are able to put their hands directly on a prototype — and there can be little doubt that these new iMacs will be amazing, incredibly fast performers. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 28, 2009

Impressive new details of next-gen Mac Pro emerge

As we reported previously, the forthcoming 2009 Mac Pro lineup will be based around powerful new technology from Intel code-named Nehalem; better known through great public anticipation in the lead-up to its release as “Core i7.”

We reported on a mid-stream prototype, placed inside an existing-generation “cheesegrater” tower enclosure, in that article which was built on early desktop Nehalem reference board chips including a pair of quad-core, 2.93GHz Core i7 desktop CPUs.

Since then, we’ve had the opportunity to look under the hood of far more recent prototypes and a much clearer picture of the final Mac Pro has begun to emerge.

One of the first questions readers asked after the initial article was posted was whether the Nehalem Mac Pro will employ those standard desktop CPUs which currently tap out just below 3GHz and have been on the market for a few weeks now….or if it will sport Xeon-class i7 chips that offer higher clock rates, more cores, and numerous other advantages over their standard desktop cousins. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 26, 2009

The Mac’s 25th Anniversary — Founder’s Column, Part 1

25 years ago this past weekend, an upstart development team within Apple Computer brought to market a cheaper, faster, better alternative to Steve Jobs’ pet project the “Lisa” (named after his daughter).

Though Jobs’ own feelings about the Macintosh were mixed, he undertook a famous event to introduce it to the world with a unique, historic advertisement (“1984”) and a demonstration that blew away the crowd: the very first Mac 128K seen in public spoke to the crowd that day, using a first-of-its-kind speech synthesizer technology developed specifically for that first Mac — a technology that has been a unique strength of the Mac platform ever since.

This weekend, even as the moment of the announcement event’s anniversary passed us by, the Rumors team was watching an amazing film called Welcome to Mac. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 19, 2009

Apple Web store(s) offline; rumblings of announcements build

As of Sunday morning Eastern time, reader and source reports have been coming in at a blistering pace as the online Apple Store reportedly went offline for most of the night. It came back later Sunday morning, and remained online throughout the remainder of the weekend.

Although the timing suggests it could be routine, the sheer volume of source reports and other reasons to suspect new hardware product announcements — almost certainly one or more new Macs — combined with the similarity between current speculation and long-standing rumors about new Mac Minis, price cuts, and/or a new Mac Pro….give us reason to suspect that such announcements could be imminent; if not in the next couple of days, then quite possibly before the week is out. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 16, 2009

Australian Apple store briefly shows newer cheaper Mini and iMac

Readers may have to judge this one for themselves, but according to this screenshot sent in by a Mac OS Rumors reader:

New mini and updated iMac?

Click for larger version

Apple briefly lowered the price of both models and set the “new” badge on both items in the store, then reverted them back to their current status and price. The price of the Mini in the picture is $649 Australian dollars, which in a rough estimate is comparable to $430 U.S dollars. If this is an unintentional mistake on Apples part but reflects future plans, it would be significantly cheaper than the current Mini which starts at $599 U.S dollars. The iMac similarly has a much lower price of $1,199 Australian dollars, comparable to around $800 U.S dollars. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 9, 2009

Conflicted over the lack of an Apple netbook while Sony announces one?

As we watch with a certain degree of envy the announcement at CES 2009 that Sony is introducing a new 8-inch display based “netbook” Vaio ‘lifestyle PC,’ many in the community are experiencing a duality of appreciation and frustration at Apple’s apparent disinterest in this space. But it may be with good reason.

Already, the iPhone and the Macbook Air nicely bracket the netbook product space.

Between the two, one really doesn’t have much need for such a device…..but nonetheless, when one looks over the specs of the new Vaio Lifestyle PC and its elegant little industrial design, it’s hard not to feel a little bit envious that Apple didn’t do it first.

Specs like these: 1.33GHz x86 processor, 1600×768 (!!!) pixel 8-inch 16:9 widescreen display, built-in micro webcam, two USB 2.0 ports, combined display/network breakout port, audio I/O ports, SD and Memory Stick slots, and a built-in 60GB hard drive or 128GB SSD drive. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 9, 2009

Next for Apple: Mac Pros and Xserves based on Intel Core i7

For quite a while now, the eyes of the Mac community’s high-end segment have been on Intel’s latest processor technology called Core i7.

Previously code-named Nehalem, a project which we have followed since its infancy and in fact back before Apple even confirmed the long-standing rumor of the Intel transition, Core i7 integrates key advantages of leading processor designs across the industry and solidifies gains made by Intel since the original “Core” chips (“Yonah”) first shipped, marking a firm break from previous x86 processors out of Intel that didn’t keep up with competitor AMD, nor leading third-party RISC platforms such as PowerPC, ARM, MIPS and SPARC.

Learning from its mistakes and the successes of those platforms, Nehalem is a triumph of the multi-core engineering era. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 6, 2009

Apples Home Server

What would a theoretical multi-drive Apple home server look like? Perhaps like a taller Mac Mini? Or a Time Capsule with drive bays like a Windows Home server or Drobo? Or a smaller more limited Xserve format? That would be cool, but not something Apple is likely to do. If they did make a multi-drive device, it would probably use built-in drives and not actual removable drive bays like other devices, if for no other reason than because it complicates things, and problems could arise when home users go to add drives to the thing. If anything they would build a device with multiple drives pre-installed and not easily removable but serviceable by Apple stores or by your friendly local geek. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 5, 2009

Mac Mini: Rumors and expectations

With its last update coming more than a year ago, the Mac community is running wild with tales of the Minis imminent death, and still others are coming up with complex scenarios in which the Mini is radically changed to fit some specific need.


First some reality, it is almost certain that Apple will introduce an updated, Nvidia MCP79 based Mini in the near future, if not at Macworld 2009 then soon after. As Apple Insider and others have noted, strings have been found in specific files in a recent build of OS X that indicate a newer Mini is in the works, the current Minis model identifier is Macmini2,1, the plist indicates that a Macmini3,1 is coming.

Lending more credibility to Apples commitment to the Mini is a phone call a fan of the machine received after firing off an email to Mac hardware engineering chief Bob Mansfield, saying to just be patient. Read more

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By Staff | Published: November 21, 2008

The end of a true classic?! 23in Cinema HD Display discontinued

Apple has marked the 23-inch Cinema HD display as “discontinued” on its Store web site, leaving only a modest stock of refurbished units at $749 USD to run out before the new 24-inch LED “dock” display ships.

New displays are currently limited to the 20- and 30-inch panels, and although Apple has several impressive new LED based display products in the pipeline, none are expected to be announced until at least Macworld San Francisco in January….

…..most likely, most models won’t ship in volume or catch up with initial until at least mid-February.

Diversifying from purely desktop-computer & laptop-docking displays, the new high-end LED displays in 16:10 and 16:9 versions adhering to 720P and 1080P HDTV resolutions with sizes in excess of 42 inches(!) will be announced in at least three phases during the winter and the last of the new LED displays is expected to ship before the first day of Spring — for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, at least. Read more

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By Staff | Published: November 18, 2008

Next generation iPhone(s) to be dynamically clocked?

Currently, the hardware within your iPhone 3G or brand new iPod Touch isn’t terribly different from that contained in the very first hand-held iDevices…..

An ARM11-class processor clocked at about 400MHz (412MHz since the 1.1 update on the first generation devices) but rated at 667MHz.

128 megabytes of SDRAM.

A unique graphics acceleration chip which performs quite admirably at rendering OpenGL ES with the hand-held iDevices’ fixed resolution of 480×360, and has managed to make those handhelds the kings of the proverbial portable gaming performance hill.

Embarrassing Sony’s PSP and Nintendo’s DS quite utterly.

Soon, those strengths with all take a step forward and the entry level will retain all of the existing ones while the high end extends them to unreal new heights. Read more

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By Staff | Published: November 18, 2008

First we drill down, start small….

….but fear not, the big picture and the big surprises, capital new shovelfuls of the hottest dirt that has sat under embargo or deliberate neglect over the past two months (that itself being one of the “big picture” things we’ll be getting to in the next week or so as we spin up this site’s engines properly) will be coming to you soon enough.

For now, read on to the full article for our first shotgun-blast of details and tidbits that found themselves at the top of our lists as we emerge from the proverbial Bat Cave with our old friends the Bothans and the old-school sources collectively known as the “Drunken Infinite Loop Dwellers Anonymous” (D.I.L.D.A.)…..you ain’t seen nothin’ yet and here’s a (small) taste of what’s to come. Read more

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