nVidia's MCP79 coming to desktop Macs
December 20th 2008
Quoting an InsanelyMac forum poster with an eye for detail, AppleInsider reports that Apple's next-gen iMac and Mac mini, which have been variously expected off and on for months, will be built around nVidia's MCP79 chipset.
The evidence presented is pretty straight forward. In an extension file that ships with Apple's latest MacBooks and MacBook Pros, some eager beaver found references to Macmini3,1 and iMac9.1. Of course, the currently shipping versions are Macmini2,1 and iMac,8.1.
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Further, as you can see from the image to the right (via MacRumors), there's also a reference to CFG_MCP79 and this is where we come to the part about nVidia's market-leading graphics solution, which can already be found in Apple's portables--full circle in one go.
With this information as a background, I'm wondering exactly which version of nVidia's world beater will end up inside the iMac. Currently, all four Apple current prosumer desktop models ship with either ATI or nVidia discrete graphics and at least 128MB of stand alone, not shared video memory.
Thereupon, it's been frequently remarked that nVidia's 9400 integrated solution, the one found in Apple's two new unibody MacBooks, provides performance that rivals discrete offerings. Will Apple cheap out and ship the iMac with integrated graphics, or will they split their offerings, with entry-level built around the 9400 and more-expensive models built around the more powerful 9600 chip and discrete memory?
I'm betting the later, especially since Cupertino needs to maintain cleavage between its headless, aka the Mac mini, and all-in-one desktop offerings.
Still, something to think about over the holidays...
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