In 2011, Intel had to delay the launch of the Sandy Bridge lineup due to faulty chipsets. It is mainly because of that reason that the Ivy Bridge processors didn't launch at the beginning of this year, in order to have more time between the release of the two generations.
With Haswell, the next generation of processors, Intel is not planning on coming back to the pre-Sandy Bridge schedule and should launch Haswell chips between March and June 2013.
As a reminder, the main improvement of Ivy Bridge chips will be the 22 nm manufacturing process coupled to the TriGate technology (3D processors). Haswell will use the same manufacturing process but will bring many improvements regarding the internal architecture. Among these improvements, Intel will include support for transactional memory.
This new memory system is more than needed now that processors have more and more cores and threads and that softwares can use their full potential. When a program is divided in several threads so they can be treated faster separately, there are consequences on the memory since the usage of RAM of each thread has to be carefully determined in order to keep the whole calculation efficient.
With that new system, thanks to a specific set of instructions, it will be possible for the system to monitor specific areas of shared memory but also to grant exclusive RAM access rights to specific threads. It will be a sort of protected super-memory, which will replace the OS in a role that it is not always performing well.
On the side, we presume that this new type of instruction should also prevent problems due to security flaws in the memory allowing some spywares to get information in the RAM about other softwares and pull out otherwise encrypted data.
Using this new transactional memory will however force developers to review their softwares as they will have to adapt them in order to choose specifically how each thread will work by choosing the appropriate set of instructions.
AppleInsider provides new inside about a recurrent rumors related to future MacBook Pro models. The rumor seems to indicate that at least for the 15" model, to come for Spring (with Ivy-Bridge), Apple might remove the SuperDrive and the HD, and only rely on a SSD modules for storage. Such hardware would then be lighter, thinner and have a longer battery lifetime.
If having a more powerful notebook is a key point, it might be a bit extreme to only rely on SSD module for storage. Today, beside RAM modules and HD, we can not really modify anything in our notebook, and tomorrow with such model we might not be able to open the case anymore or upgrade the RAM, or change the storage unit for a larger one. As Apple is using a rather specific SSD module technology, only available from OWC beside Cupertino, we might have issue in being able to upgrade such future hardware. We might even have to pay the RAM at the "Apple rate", meaning 3 to 7 time higher than the equivalent top quality manufacturer.
Of course, we do not want to criticize a model not even released yet, and especially being a rumor, but it would be a strong concern to move toward a closed system where we can not customize or upgrade our machine besides going to Apple. There is still the option that Apple will be releasing a MacBook Air with a 15" display, while maintaining its notebook models with HD/SSD and the current format we know today.
There is a market for 15" ultra-light notebook with only limited storage, high performance and long battery lifetime, but it does not have to be the new design of the entire forthcoming notebook models. If it is though, then let's hope that Apple would have saved a 2.5" HD space so we could add a plate-based HD or a SSD to boost storage space. We current offer ranging from 750 GB to 1 TB for a notebook, having only 256 GB on SSD, would be a massive drawback/stepback.
According to 9to5Mac and other sources, there are currently very limited stocks of iPad 2, independently of the model. There are also many on-going promotions in different countries on iPad 2. All in one, this is probably the sign of a future revision/update of iPad models, expected early March.
Apple tends to empty its own stocks before launching before updating a product or a line, as the remaining units from the previous generation will be used for after sale support, unit replacement or replacement parts.
After a while without new information, rumors about the upcoming iPad 3 are coming back for another round. According to AllthingsD, always well informed, it will be unveiled during the first week of March.
There are also pictures of alleged spare parts of the new model such as the back panel:
There are already questions about the new features of the new iPad. The HD 'Retina' display should be one for sure but for the rest such as a quad-core A6 chip, nothing is sure, and it is very possible that the new model could sport an improved dual-core A5. Apple could decide to focus on the display and on improved battery life rather than on raw power and the name of the new model could simply be iPad 2S.
After all, we have always considered that the race to always more powerful devices for tablet and phones can't be what it was for desktop and laptop computers. For example, there is not a lot that an iPhone 4S does that an iPhone 4 can't do because of insufficient power, as developers still haven't made applications that overwhelm the A4 chip.
In any case, we should have all the answers in about 3 weeks
