HardMac’s Lionel notes that a recent Digitimes report that Intel had announced to its partners that there would be delays before next-generation Ivy-Bridge processors would be widely available. However, he says that fortunately, it now appears that information was incomplete, although Apple’s new laptops release may still be held back.
He explains that Intel apparently decided to only delay the dual core processors due to stock management issues – specifically excess unsold dual core Sandy-Bridge CPU inventory, and launching a faster, more efficient replacement before stocks sell down would cause a large chunk of their value as well as the value of the leftover stocks of all computer makers, to evaporate.
Consequently, Lionel predicts that while desktop Ivy Bridge processors should still be available in April, possibly first available in a refreshed iMac, for laptops initially only quad-core Ivy-Bridge processors will be available.
Since Apple is widely presumed to be waiting for Ivy Bridge availability for a redesigned MacBook Pro lineup, and probably a heavily-tweaked MacBook Air refresh, Lionel posits three possible ways they might proceed.
The first would be to just wait until June to renew all models in the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lines, with the announcement logically made at the World Wide Developer’s Conference. That might also be an attractive option because it’s recently rumored that an iPhone 5 launch will be pushed back to fall 2012.
Another way to go would be to use quad-core processors in all MacBook Pro models, including the 13.” That is of course assuming that there will still be a 13″ MBP, which I think is debatable.
Option three would be to launch only the 15″ and 17″ models and wait for June to ship models using dual core processors. There have been predictions that Apple might go for a phased new MacBook Pro rollout anyway, with the 15-incher appearing first, followed by the 17-inch model and then a 13-inch Pro, if the latter is not to be melded into the 13″ MacBook Air with some Pro features tacked on.
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