Charleston store enroute; Radeon HD 2600 fix; Atom roadmap

[AppleInsider]

Apple is taking the first steps to introduce its first store in South Carolina with job postings and retail negotiations. Also, the company has posted a firmware fix for Mac Pro workstations using ATI's Radeon HD 2600 XT video card, and a portion of Intel's Atom roadmap has leaked.

Listings, talks point to Charleston Apple store

Apple is pursuing its first store in South Carolina at the heart of one of its most important cities.

According to investigations by Charleston's Post and Courier, the Mac maker has spoken to the owner of 301 King Street asking about a potential lease for the downtown property but has not committed to any deals.

The location was previously split between a nightclub and a thrift store and will likely undergo Apple's usual storefront alteration, replacing the normal facing with glass and metal.

Despite having yet to formalize any deal, Apple has pledged itself to developing the store through its jobs page: several listings for Mac Specialists, Geniuses, and other employees for a "Charleston - King St" store have surfaced on the company site.

ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT Firmware Update

Apple on Monday night issued its ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT Firmware Update (792KB).

The fix is said to improve the reliability of Mac Pro towers using one or more of the video cards. and requires both Mac OS X 10.5.2 as well as the accompanying Leopard Graphics Update before it can be installed.

Owners of Apple's high-end aluminum iMacs, which also use Radeon HD 2600 XT chipsets, are not affected by the upgrade.

Intel Atom roadmap leads to dual-core systems

If a new leaked roadmap is to be believed, the second wave of Intel's Atom technology will include the first ultra-low power, dual-core processor from the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company.

An entry for an Atom 300-series processor suggests it will run at 1.87GHz with dual cores versus the 1.6GHz, single-core Atom 230, which remains the only officially announced chip from the Atom family. A single-core Atom 200-series model is also listed at the higher clock speed.

The roadmap doesn't mention a release period or power use for either of the new Atoms, which may consume more energy alongside the added performance.

Apple is expected to use Atom in multiple products this year and was previously codenamed Silverthorne.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[Zandros]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Apple is expected to use Atom in multiple products this year and was previously codenamed Silverthorne.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

Isn't the dual core Atom processor codenamed Diamondville?

/Adrian

[wizard69]

Any way you look at it the potential for insanely great hardware, in the near future, is very hot indeed.

ATOM does two things in my mind.

1.
It puts the Intel instruction set onto hand held devices. This may or may not be a good thing.

2.
It gives a lot of incentive to ARM and its supporters to invest in even lower power technologies. Like it or not Intel can't win in the low power sphere with process shrinks, but ARM can keep the gap large enough to keep users from jumping ship.

In any event even the Intel instruction set is of limited value, ATOM's big selling point will be its 64 bit capability. This puts the chip into a unique category where low power devices can be developed and supported over a long life time. That is if you put Mobile OS on them you can expect it to be a valuable OS and applications platform for the foreseeable future.

[aplnub]

Is it me or would a low power chip like that do fine in my MacBook and give me a lot of extra battery time? 11" ultraportable low power cpu and next gen intel ssd hdd for 15 hour battery life.

[NarutoSasuke]

Originally Posted by aplnub

Is it me or would a low power chip like that do fine in my MacBook and give me a lot of extra battery time? 11" ultraportable low power cpu and next gen intel ssd hdd for 15 hour battery life.

It would, but the performance would suffer. These are supposed to perform like the Pentium M, which was even before the original Core Duo came out. Very unlikely Apple would do that. However, these are for Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and Ultra Mobile Personal Computers (UMPCs) so this would fit perfectly in a Mac-like tablet device.

This is even too much for the iPhone, the power consumption would kill it (well it would be worse than now).

[Marktrek]

It seems like Apple is changing their attitude of saturating markets to making sure that they are not missing markets. The first store in Louisiana, Jackson MS planned and now Charleston, SC. And they are looking in Wyoming. Wyoming? The claim of 90% of the nation being within 40 miles of a store may soon come true. Along with the foreign stores the other policy seems to be "get as much traffic as possible." There already is a store on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City, the third store on the Las Vegas strip is coming, while in both cities there is no store in the normal residential areas. And in a few months there will be a store in Waikiki. Again this is not for residents as the locals have to pass stores in normal shopping centers to get to this store where even validated parking is not free. But if it gets new worldwide Apple users, it is a great location. If you are interested in construction photos of the new store go to: web.mac.com/marktrek/Apple/Royal_Hawaiian_Shopping_Center.html

[netdog]

My Mac Pro is a whole lot quieter since the ATI firmware update.

[Shogun]

Originally Posted by NarutoSasuke

This is even too much for the iPhone, the power consumption would kill it (well it would be worse than now).

Only if the battery technologies remain stagnant.

[diskimage]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Owners of Apple's high-end aluminum iMacs, which also use Radeon HD 2600 XT chipsets, are not affected by the upgrade.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

When did Apple release an iMac with the Radeon HD 2600 XT chipset in it?
I thought they used the Radeon HD 2400 XT and Radeon HD 2600 PRO.

[iPoster]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Listings, talks point to Charleston Apple store

Apple is pursuing its first store in South Carolina at the heart of one of its most important cities.

According to investigations by Charleston's Post and Courier, the Mac maker has spoken to the owner of 301 King Street asking about a potential lease for the downtown property but has not committed to any deals.

Oh sure Apple, I lived in Charleston for 4 years, but you wait until I move out of the state to finally open an Apple store!!