Apple to offer $999 entry laptop, better graphics

"Clearly the MacBooks and MacBook Pros were in need of a refresh," Baker said. The update was incremental, he said, but "that's kind of where the PC market is these days."

Apple's decision to work more closely with Nvidia for its graphics processing could be a needed boost for the Silicon Valley chip maker.

In July, Nvidia disclosed a major problem with an unspecified number of its laptop chips that were already built into computers from several manufacturers. The problem caused the chips to suddenly fail, leaving users with badly mangled video or no video at all.

Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and Apple have notified customers that their machines contained the problem with Nvidia chips. Apple's notice came just this week.

Nvidia hasn't recalled the chips, and the computer makers have so far said they won't replace all the problem chips _ just the ones that fail.

The original disclosure caused a 31 percent one-day drop in Nvidia's stock price, and the shares have continued sinking. Although Nvidia remains the world's largest maker of standalone graphics chips, the foul-up has given a big opening to its main rival, ATI Technologies, a company now owned by Advanced Micro Devices Inc.


AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson contributed to this report.

The Associated Press


