What if Apple used AMD CPUs with the Macbook Air?

SemiAccurate reports that Apple was allegedly working with AMD to use their Fusion Llano chips for the latest iteration of the Macbook Air. It’s an interesting allegation that merits some discussion. But, what if?

First, when the Macbook Air came out with a Core 2 Duo and NVidia Ion combo in 2010, instead of the first-generation Intel Core i3/i5 series, it was an indication that Apple wanted more GPU power that it was willing to sacrifice some CPU cycles for it.

When the mid-2011 variants of the Macbook Air came out, it ran on the IntelSandy Bridge platform running Core i5 and Core i7 chips.

However, that means Apple had to use the IGP (integrated graphics processor) that came with it (Intel HD Graphics 3000) which is still generally slow.

Turning to an AMD chip might mean getting the GPU juice that Apple needed the Mac. The likely candidate could be the AMD Llano and possibly the A8-3500M running at 1.5GHz quad-core CPU with a Radeon HD 6620G. Now that’s a pretty powerful chip.

The problem though is that chip has a TDP of 35watts and that could problem for battery life. It would have been interesting to see how that would have come out.

In recent months though, Intel has been pushing for “ultrabooks” with Asus, Acer and Lenovo among the first to come out with their own competitors to the Macbook Air. The Asus Zenbook is the closest in terms of design and specifications.

Intel Capital also put up an Ultrabook Fund with a seed money of $300 million to help boost adoption of ultrabooks in the market. I told the folks from Intel Philippines that they should put that money to making SSD more affordable, if not as cheap as HDD.

I’m not sure about the timing of this ultrabook but it could be Intel’s way of telling Apple that if they pick AMD for the next Macbook Air, Intel will heavily support competitors either to undercut the price of the MBA and/or offer better hardware. That remains to be seen though.

Question for us regular folks is — will you be getting a Mac if it had an AMD chip in it?

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

21 Comments

supras says:

12 years ago

2009 joined the Obama family dog ??”wave of Portuguese Water Dog (Bo) to become a model.
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Jazz says:

13 years ago

AMD has caught up somewhat with Intel on the CPU power-consumption front, but they’re still way behind in performance. I own an E-350 ultraportable and its CPU performance is very much acceptable, but I can’t help thinking that at the same power levels an Intel chip would have been far smoother. The graphics performance, on the other hand, seems almost overpowered for an ultraportable. Apple probably recognized that CPU performance is still much more important than graphics, so Intel was the right choice for the 2011 MBAs are.
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botsok says:

13 years ago

if apple would do that… (i really hope so)
definitely the 40k lappy they have would only be priced at 20k+ for sure!
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jcruze057 says:

13 years ago

If AMD will make MBA cheaper yet more powerful because their chip is quad core then the consumers will surely be the winner and I will be the first person to buy the new MBA
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supSup says:

13 years ago

Whatever they use, Apple will still overprice for their “exclusivity”. I pity the mactards really.
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Arvin says:

13 years ago

If you add the cost of owning a WinTel notebook
– decently specced 13″ notebook PC = 35k
– OS = 10k
– SSD = 15k

It would almost equal a 13′ MacBook Air already…

The real + to owning a Mac is the goodwill and excellent build quality you can be sure of. Resale value is also great.
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jonaflormicfren says:

13 years ago

I like AMD CPU’s because they’re affordable and has excellent service compared to other. If they will be used in Mac Book air, we may expect cheaper price.
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Paul says:

13 years ago

> The problem though is that chip has a TDP of
> 35watts and that could problem for battery life.
> It would have been interesting to see how that
> would have come out.

AMD has low powered versions of Llano for Apple, just like how Intel has low powered versions of Sandy Bridge. It might reach 18 watts or lower like the Zacate variant but with more performance.
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bratt says:

13 years ago

35wats? hahaha, cge compared mo ang intel ksma ang chipset(grapics) cno ang matipid per watts at value ng pera mo, N maraming magagawa s lopy. qng gusto mo ng long lasting Batery go to ARM processor D:
sani G says:

13 years ago

Agree :D https://spn.sr/pnk

mutt0mbu says:

13 years ago

YES!
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Benchmark says:

13 years ago

i HOPE they do, atleast we consumers have choice on the brand and the processor we prefer :)
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dan says:

13 years ago

this won’t happend as ivy bridge is in the horizon, Llano is a superb chip w/ superior GPU, they should focus on R&D with NVIDIA or AMD to have atleast GTX 460 or HD5770 performance. when that happends I’ll definetly get one as soon as I could sustainably afford it
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jade says:

13 years ago

it would be more cheaper if they will be using AMD processors.
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Noir says:

13 years ago

I am waiting for AMD notbooks become ultrabook form factors.

They already have 11.6 inches 13.3 will be awesome
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nameless says:

13 years ago

^ That definitely won’t happen :D
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Operation Super says:

13 years ago

Macs would be cheaper if they put AMD instead, right?
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Louie says:

13 years ago

I read an article that apple is pressuring intel to improve on the cpu power consumption or they will be forced to go ARM CPUs reason for Intel pushing for the adoption of OEM to develop the MC air like laptop since windows will now supports ARM cpus too. If apple decides to use Amd there will be a drastic decrease of cost or it will remain the same but with the increase of the SSD storage resulting to a better performance with higher storage. While the OEMs windows based OS will remain in combining 20-30gig of SSD for OS and hdd for the storage of applications which is comparable i think but of course not as good as Full SSD.
vince says:

13 years ago

agree.
macsh says:

13 years ago

Nah. Knowing Apple, they’ll still charge hefty sum whether its AMD or Intel. :)

manaka_junpei says:

13 years ago

they cut off their prices compared to Intel based Macbook Air’s, but unfortunately, overclocking is not option.
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