Apple’s upgrades spoiled by Intel roadmap

Back in the olden days—say, last year—there was little sound knowledge on which to base predictions of forthcoming Apple speedbumps and product revisions. With Apple the only computer vendor using processors from IBM and Motorola, it could more or less keep news of processor developments under wraps.

But the times, they are a’changin’. Now that Apple’s using Intel chips—the same processors in use by pretty much all major PC vendors—there’s little surprise about what chips will end up in certain product lines. Take this Core 2 Duo upgrade to the MacBook Pros—it’s not just a matter of it being pretty obvious that the Core 2 Duos would end up in the MacBook Pro, it’s a matter of when that happens. The Core 2 Duos were first announced back in May, and by August 28th, they were shipping in laptops from many a major PC maker: Fujitsu, Dell, Acer, Sony, Toshiba, HP, and Samsung. Tech site Gizmodo complains that Apple has taken “two months just to swap out a processor,” including the conveniently wacky and less-than-useful chart shown above. Upon asking Apple what took so long, the company told them: “Our last updates were less than six months ago.”

Now, the new MBPs feature more than just upgraded processors: they also have new DVD burners, FireWire 800 ports, and a few more improvements under the hood. Still, Core 2 Duo is practically old hat on the PC side of things, having been released two months ago. In an industry where obsolescence is often measured in weeks or even days, that can be a lifetime.

The bottom line? Apple’s individuality has made it accustomed to being able to set its own timeline for speedbumps and upgrades. Six months may be fairly short lag time between model revisions for Apple, but now they’re “one of the boys,” it’s harder to call it apples and oranges. Most of all, to a company that so values secrecy and surprise, Intel’s processor roadmap is the equivalent of a good spoiler.