AMD Had a Chance to Get Llano Into Apple's Macbook Air
According to AMD employees quoted by Forbes, Apple was interested in AMD's Llano APUs, but the production issues at GlobalFoundries apparently killed a possible deal. Apparently, AMD was not able to supply samples of Llano on time. Forbes quotes one employee saying, “We had it. But the yields didn’t come in.”
However, the opinions why AMD lost the opportunity and how close it actually came to striking a deal with Apple are still unclear. AMD declined to comment on the report when we contacted them today.
Unfortunately, these opportunities do not along often. The Forbes article stated that Apple rejected a pitch that it could use Brazos processors for its Apple TV box. The scenario is reminiscent of persistent rumors in the early 2000s that Dell might be considering AMD processors for its computers to create a strategic counterweight in its processor price negotiations with Intel. Dell announced in May 2006 that it would begin offering its PCs with AMD processors, which came at a time when AMD had a technology advantage over Intel and was able to guarantee enough production volume to meet Dell's volume requirements.
Had AMD been able to make that same guarantee with Llano, there is chance that we would be seeing MacBook Airs with AMD processors today, at least if the Forbes report is to be believed.
That was an opportunity wasted and lost
That was an opportunity wasted and lost
Or the thought by the majority of the tech community that Apple uses under powered hardware for what you pay
That aside it would have been nice as I do want AMD to start becoming a bigger competitor.
amd could have been up there with the elites!
hopefully amd gets through to apple with trinity which seems to be a big improvement over llano.
if i remember right, AMD already did but don't quote me on that though
I have been using AMD cpus since the e-machine I bought in 98 had a k6-III 450 mhz cpu. Not disappointed thus far and its nearing a decade and a half
the APU's would certainly offer them an advantage, think of being able to not have to work a graphics chip onto a board, would allow apple to get a thinner computer which is the most important thing ever