July 26th, 2006
Merom MacBooks for the holidays
It’s pretty easy to deduce that Merom, Intel’s successor to the Yonah (a.k.a. Core Duo) chip, will find its way into a speed-bumped MacBook Pro. The question is when.
Intel will be announcing the Core 2 Duo chips at a press event tomorrow (Thursday) at company headquarters in Santa Clara, CA according to a spokesman. Although the event will focus on the desktop Core 2 Duo chip (Conroe) the notebook version (Merom) is expected to debut as well, with the caveat that it won’t be available until August.
Although I originally reported that Merom may appear in the MacBook Pro as early as August, sources close to the project have their doubts.
MacBook Pro’s are selling like hot cakes and Apple has been so busy fixing the problems with the original printed circuit board (PCB) that I doubt that they will be ready to insert a new chip that soon.
A source familiar with the company’s plans told me that Merom will require PCB change in the MacBook Pro. Although Merom is believed to be pin-compatible with the Yonah chip, it may require that a new socket be installed on the logic board. The new socket requires a realignment of certain parts because the socket takes up a few more microns of space.
So it’s not just a matter of simply soldering Merom onto the MacBook Pro’s logic board, the whole board has to be redesigned. We’re more likely to see the Merom MacBook Pro chip change around the holiday season than we are in August.
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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| 07/26/06
