Intel’s CEO has promised that the company’s next generation “Broadwell” CPUs will arrive in PCs by the holiday season. However, it looks to be a crapshoot as to whether they’ll make it inside any of Apple’s Mac lineup by the end of the year…
Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich told Reuters this week that while Broadwell CPUs probably will not make it in time for the popular back-to-school shopping season, he could “guarantee” that they will arrive in time for the holidays. Suggesting that availability won’t be limited, he added that holiday shipping won’t come at the “last minute,” either.
Krzanich’s comments look to be an effort to dispel rumors that suggested the first Intel Broadwell chips might not arrive in shipping PCs until early 2015. The new CPUs were scheduled to arrive earlier this year, but met with delays.
The Broadwell platform is a 14-nanometer die shrink of Intel’s existing 22-nanometer Haswell architecture. Intel says its new, smaller designs will bring a 30% drop in power consumption while offering the same horsepower.
Broadwell processors could increase battery life on Apple’s current MacBook Air lineup, meaning the current rated 12 hours of battery life could increase to more than 15 hours.
However, the MacBook Air lineup was just recently refreshed, making the MacBook Pro line of laptops a more likely candidate for a late 2014 Broadwell upgrade.
It’s also possible that the expected MacBook Air with Retina Display could be a candidate for the Broadwell CPUs. The rumored ultrathin could well benefit from the extra horsepower and extended battery life provided by Intel’s Broadwell.
