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Intel's Ivy Bridge chips launch using '3D transistors'
- wmf 14y agoIt must be midnight somewhere; the embargos are expiring. Personally, the BBC is the last place I'd look for coverage of processors; you'd probably be better off waiting a few hours for AnandTech or something. (Also, they're called FinFETs.)
- ajross 14y agoNo, they're called "Tri-Gate" transistors if you want to nit. FinFET is an industry term, not one Intel uses for this particular process. Both/either are examples of 3D transistor structure, so the linked article isn't wrong.
- vgnet 14y agoWith some images of each (which I can't judge for accuracy): http://semiaccurate.com/2011/08/18/intel-moves-transistors-from-2d-to-3d-and-more/ http://semiaccurate.com/2011/08/18/intel-moves-transistors-f...
- dethstarr 14y agoI'll be waiting for my nano-microchip in the near future, thank you very much. Enough of this silicon-based stuff!
- sliverstorm 14y agoSilicon is here to stay for the foreseeable future, and for a very simple reason. While we have many advanced possibilities with germanium or carbon nano-tubes or other such advanced processes, silicon is still the cheapest by such a magnitude that it wins out in performance per dollar.
- nnnnni 14y agoBlank CDs were pretty expensive at one point.
- mjwalshe 14y agoI remember (early 80's) when a box of 10 HP floppy disks was £100
- huxley 14y agoI remember (mid-80s) when my extremely noisy 20MB SCSI hard drive cost me just under $1000.
- sliverstorm 14y agoI'm not saying it will always be that way, but rather there is a large gap so, barring incredible breakthroughs, silicon's got at least a decade or so left. Why couldn't we have incredible breakthroughs tomorrow? Well, we could, but they've been working on non-silicon tech for at least thirty years now- and we are still using silicon.
- unwind 14y agoNano-what? "Microchip" isn't a material ... But silicon is, and you can have as many nano-silicon microchips you want!
- rbanffy 14y ago> my nano-microchip Are you quoting some really obscure science-fiction story? BTW, wouldn't a nano-micro-something be a femto-something?
- VigUi7vv8G2 14y agoThe gates on these chips are 22 nanometers. "microchips" have been measured in nanometers for a while.
- spicyj 14y agoHopefully we see a new MacBook Pro release soon…
- kzrdude 14y agoRather Air or something to rival it. Thin, silent, energy efficient.
- rbanffy 14y agoMy bet is on the Pro and Air lines converging. There is not much reason for an optical drive anymore in the Pros and, without it, they could be thinner. I expect the 13" MBP to vanish or be turned into an Air with a spinning metal disk and beefier battery and GPU.
- kzrdude 14y agoI agree with you about Pro and Air convergence. With the `MacBook` gone, there is room for the line to be called just MacBook as well. I don't think an Air should have a discrete GPU though. Ivy Bridge's IGPU is better and I'd much rather see it being able to stand alone upon that.