Apple Has the Upper Hand on PC Makers Looking for Glory

Word on the street has is that processors specifically designed and developed by Intel for the MacBook Air will soon hit more PC platforms from different vendors other than Apple. The move is of course expected to create a bit of competition for "the world's thinnest notebook," but hey, every company in the industry is seeking to shrink the hardware, so why wouldn't they want Intel working for them too?

Reportedly, two (yet unnamed) PC makers will be using Air's miniaturized Intel Core 2 Duo processors according to a "source familiar with Intel's plans," reads a macworld.com piece. Not only that, but the initiative is well underway, as the same sources claim that systems powered by the small Intel chips will be released soon.

I can see the headlines now: "Ours Is the Smallest"; "No! OURS is the Smallest AND the Lightest!"; "You Can Have the Smallest and the Lightest, WE Have the Thinnest!" (although I'm not sure exactly how much thinner notebooks can get and still provide great performance).

Nathan Brookwood, an analyst with Insight 64, reckons that PC manufacturers could use the miniaturized Merom CPU in mini desktops or subnotebooks. However, Mac OS X Leopard is said to give MacBook Air an advantage, while other systems could only be based on Windows or Linux.

Another advantage for Apple is of course product design, Brookwood added, noting that MacBook Air competitors (if there are be any) will find that quite hard to emulate: "What has resulted from Apple's move to Intel chips is its forcing other OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] to pay more attention to the styling of their systems, which is clearly an advantage for users," said Brookwood.

Since it's Apple who's asked Intel to shrink down the CPU and chipset by as much as 60 percent in total footprint to comparable Merom processors, you can only imagine how much Apple flavor the processors come with. If either of the two companies in question plan on using the new tech at optimum efficiency, they might just need to have a word with Apple, too.