General-Purpose Graphics Processing Unit is what the abbreviation GPGPU stands for. It first got some attention with the launch of ATI’s R600 GPU and to follow up, NVIDIA launched the CUDA architecture, which is compatible with the GeForce 8 series of GPUs. The basic idea of GPGPU simply is to use the GPU for other things than just rendering graphics. Thanks to their highly parallel designs, they are very good at these kinds of calculations and can handle high workloads. Both ATI and NVIDIA have realized this and developed technology allowing the GPUs to perform new and exciting tasks.
Information has now been posted that suggests that NVIDIA is working on the first GPGPU for Macs. It’s not entirely clear what a Mac-compatible GPGPU is, but since many of Apple’s workstations are used for digital audio and video editing these are two of the hottest tasks for NVIDIA to target. It doesn’t say when a Mac-compatible GPGPU would arrive, NVIDIA is suppose to work at full capacity.
Back in June 2007, NVIDIA launched the Tesla graphics card, which was the first hybrid graphics card, designed for both graphics and advanced GPGPU-related tasks. The GPGPU market will most likely continue to grow over the coming years, and there is no doubt that you can achieve quite a lot through the extreme force that are today’s graphics cards.
“In science applications, calculations have seen speed boosts from a 45 times to as much as 415 times in processing MRI scans for hospitals. Increases such as this can mean the difference between using a single system and a whole computer cluster to do the same work, the company says.”
Straight out of Cupertino’s mouth, the MacBook Air is officially shipping. ‘Course, we’d already heard a few reports from early adopters that they had received shipment notifications, but now we can all rest assured they weren’t just dreaming. Brace yourselves, MBA pre-orderers, your wee machine should be on its way soon, but it seems as though folks placing their orders as late as today will still face a “2 to 3 week” lead time.
Apple and Greenpeace haven’t exactly been the best of buds. However, MacWorld seems to have changed all that, at least for Greenpeace. In a statement issued on their US website, Greenpeace says the following:
“The MacBook Air is a strong entry in the race to build a green PC. As a mercury and arsenic free laptop it exceeds European Standards (RoHS directive exemptions) and raises the bar for the rest of the industry.”
Sure, the Greenies still had their nits to pick with the use of PVC and BFRs. Nevertheless, they did give a nod of approval in noting their reduced usage. Had Greenpeace’s statement not been laced with condescending phrases like, “It’s a big step for Steve,” the whole week might have ended with some herb being passed around the Kumbaya circle — ‘ere ‘ippie, gimme a ‘ug.
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/18/huh-greenpeace-calls-the-macbook-air-a-winner/
Can’t wait for that MacBook Air to arrive in two to three weeks? (Please let it be two.) Some folks over in Tokyo got a chance to unbox the thing from its official box, and slide it into a couple envelopes for dramatic effect. Looks like classic Apple packaging, and classic Apple hype. Two tastes that taste great together.
More images here
AFTER SEEING ALL the hype last week about the Macbook Air, I am left in complete awe at how stupid the mac fanbois, the general public, and sadly almost all of the IT press is. Some get it, and I think Anand was the only one to put 2 + 2 together, Apple did diddly squat here, Intel did, but it gets no credit.
Lets go back to square one, Apple does not engineer a damn thing, it designs. For the longest time, it has taken very reliable reference designs and wrapped them in stylish plastic that magically lowers the reliability by orders of magnitude. People only see the plastic, fanbois are far too dumb to question anything, and people wonder why they break down so often. Silly Mac addicts, real computers are for those with triple digit IQs, regardless of the temperature.
If you have been paying the least bit of attention to Intel over say the past two years, you will have noticed that one of the drums they have been beating is packaging technology. This has nothing to do with semiconductors, just the little bits of green fiberglass you stick them to and, equally important, how you stick them. It is not glamorous, it is not sexy, and it sure as heck isn’t Slot 2.
So Intel innovated, or at least refined like mad, and the result is the Macbook Air. Apple did jack all to make this a reality, and Jobs gets all the credit while snubbing his fans like always. Let me repeat that, Apple didn’t do anything here but design a shell, Intel did. Apple get the credit, Intel gets, well, I am not sure what.
This realisation will probably make the true fanbois go crying into their closet of dead Ipods, but it is true. The only thing Apple added other than the design ethic is a warranty three days short of adequate. Let’s see if the failure rate with these uber-expensive toys is any lower than the last three or four new things big fruit introduced. I will bet it isn’t.
In the end, the saddest thing about the Apple dog and pony fawnfest is that the first decent product to come from that part of California in a long time, the revamped Apple TV, is being overlooked and forgotten.
As you will see soon enough, the technology is not exclusive to Apple, and everyone and their brother will have similarly thin models out in short order. Lenovo has one imminent, Sony will make something as stylish, and by the end of the year, every Taiwanese ODM will be there too. If you find this interesting, thank Intel, not Apple.
Source: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/21/macbook-air-apple-innovation
Yeah, pretty much sexy. Every element is super sharp, the hidden ports are a thing of beauty, and the backlit keyboard is certainly a nice touch. It’s almost silly how light it is, and multitouch is smooth as butter. With the dimensions and curves Apple is playing with, we can almost forgive the lack of removable battery — almost.
Want more pedantic details on the MacBook Air? You got ‘em.
* The micro-DVI out is single-link only, meaning it can drive a 24-inch monitor, not a 30-inch. There’s no DisplayLink converter / adapter yet.
* Remote Disk comes on the install DVD — ironically, Apple expects you to carry around a DVD to install so you can access someone else’s DVD drive. Righty-o.
* It uses MagSafe, but the new connector is angled 90-degrees to stay out of the way. You can use a regular MacBook / Pro adapter, assuming you don’t mind the side being propped up a little (or hanging off the edge of a table). You can also use the MBA’s 45w adapter on other machines — the plug should still fit, but the adapter may not have enough juice to charge AND power a running machine.
* The MacBook Air superdrive needs special hardware in the MBA to work — Apple wouldn’t tell us if any other devices will be able to use the thing, but we imagine the ~500mA USB outputs won’t be enough.
* The 64GB SSD option is +$1000 — but you probably already knew that if you hit Apple’s site.
* The speaker is mono only (not stereo), so your audio output will suffer a bit. The audio comes out of the keyboard holes in the right side, and it sounds a little funny.
* The port array folds down, it’s not a door over ports that don’t move. It feels extremely sturdy.
* Duh, the only audio input will have to be via USB or the built-in mic.
* The machine comes packaged with micro-DVI to DVI and micro-DVI to VGA adapters, but you have to snag the S-Video and composite adapters separately. Read the rest of this entry »
