AMD to Bump Out Nvidia for New MacBook Pros?

It's expected that the Apple MacBook Pro line will be refreshed today in conjunction with the launch of Intel's Light Peak technology. That might not be the only new bit of kit, however, as Cnet reports that AMD may be bumping out Nvidia as the graphics part of choice in the higher-end of the Apple notebook offerings.

While ATI Radeon graphics parts are commonly used in the iMac lineup, Nvidia rules the entire MacBook line with either IGPs or discrete graphics parts. The new refresh of the MacBook Pros could potentially give Nvidia the entire boot with Intel's latest Sandy Bridge processors and AMD providing the discrete graphics.

On the 13-inch model, Apple is said to be relying solely on the integrated graphics part that Intel developed inside Sandy Bridge. For the 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros, it's believed that they'll be Radeon parts that will also feature dynamic switching between the Intel HD graphics part and the discrete GPU part depending on performance and power needs.

Hopefully we'll know all later today.