Intel goes gaga for Imac chipsShipping unannounced processors on the not-so-slyBy Wily Ferret: Tuesday, 29 April 2008, 6:59 AMAPPLE HAS UPDATED its popular line of Imacs with some very interesting technology indeed.Usually the most interesting thing about Apple's desktop refreshes is a quick tally of who is in and who is out on the graphics front. For both DAAMIT and Graphzilla, getting their chips into the all-in-one machines is a nice trophy sale, not to mention a good bit of branding.(For the record, ATI is the big winner this time around, with three of the four models sporting 2400 or 2600 cards. Only the top end 24" Imac has an Nvidia card, the 8800 GS).But the no, the most interesting thing this time around is the processor spec. The top end Imac, which has a 24" screen, has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor clocked at 3.06GHz. 3.06GHz? That doesn't sound like any currently-available Intel chip to us.In fact, a quick look at the tech specs sheet rather makes it look like Apple is shipping a Montevina platform in its 24-inch model, with an Extreme X9100 processor, not due out in any other capacity until June.Intel told the fine folks at Tom's Hardware that this really wasn't the X9100, just a tweaked up Penryn. Even if that is the case, Chipzilla is really running the risk of cheesing off a serious chunk of the PC building industry by offering exclusive high-end processors to the fruity folks. Isn't it all about the volume?
