Did you know that the brand new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics chip seen in the new MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and upgraded MacBook Airs, and yet to be seen in notebooks from other companies, has been designed in India?
NVIDIA has a Research and Development centre at Bangalore and it recruits students from top Indian engineering institutes, including the IITs and the NITs. According to Sridhar Manthani, Senior Director, the complete architecture of the chip, from designing it to translating it into a silicon foundry to fabrication, i.e. all the hardware work, was done by the Indian team.
Apple is the first to harness the chip set for its new range of MacBooks
Even as the 70-strong group of engineers here worked for over 18 months to deliver the product, potential customers – PC makers – were trying out early samples. And first off the block, with a family of notebook computers fuelled by the 9400M, is Apple which has used it to fuel the new MacBook family, due to be launched in India next week.
It’s the most powerful integrated graphics processor in the market today, according to NVIDIA. The GeForce 9400M has the chipset and GPU on one die (at least two chips used to be required until now), out of of which 70% is the GPU, which makes for some ming-boggling numbers. For that extra graphics kick, it has 16 parallel graphic cores (and your latest Intel Core 2 Duo processor has has only two cores, unless you own a Mac Pro) and is capable of 54 gigaflops of operations. The thumbnail sized chip is half the size of the Intel integrated graphics chip, delivers up to 5x faster graphics, and up to 6x better performance than the graphic chips used till date. It makes you wonder whether you really will use 54 billion operations per second!
Another important characteristic of this GPU is that it’s energy efficient. According to Apple, a full battery charge will last for five hours, which means that you can watch Transformers in spectacular high definition without having to plug your notebook into a power outlet. Flight delays should now be fun with your MacBook around.
Steve Jobs said, “9400M’s a stunner” and I couldn’t agree more. That said, it’s nice to ogle at and gives you a great feeling of pride but is a little too costly for many in India. The MacBooks cost a fortune (MBs start from Rs. 57,000 and the MBPs from Rs. 1,10,000). So the graphics chip has been designed in India. Great! But has the finished notebook been imported from the Moon?!
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Agreed – and the Rs. 57,000 MacBook doesn’t even have the updated NVidia chipset (it still runs an Intel GMA X3100). The cheapest NVidia machine costs Rs. 72,910 here!
Wow! thats a very interesting piece of news. So when we do get our MBs, it will be a proud feeling considering the chip was designed in our own land( and Steve still takes this country lightly..read: in terms of product pricings).
Its really high time Apple gave us products at competitive rates.
And, heres a BIG hi five to the Nvidia guys. Way to go mates!
Deepak –
Do these people still retail the older generation MacBooks?
mehul –
I don’t think they’ll be competitive in India. The best and the cheapest way is to buy from USA and ask someone to carry it to India.
Yeah, a very proud moment. Even the Intel Indian team does a fine job.
This is awesome news Ashwin! Although I’m pretty sure that if you dig around a bit more, you will find most of the western technology is developed by Bharat ke jawan (part of the brain drain I guess). Photoshop’s splash screen itself is proof that there are so many Indian geniuses out there (and there should be, considering we’re a billion strong).
As for the MacBook prices, I think they will come down to a more sensible $50 markup over the US prices.
Ashwin, was the comment made in saracasm? “The best and the cheapest way is to buy from USA and ask someone to carry it to India.-yeah a very proud moment.”
I don’t really feel proud when I have to look outside my country to be able to purchase something that should be available in a country like India. What does steve think we are? Malawi?
^^
IMO, whether I buy something from USA or India doesn’t matter. If the item is an essential commodity and needs to be purchased on a regular basis, then buying from my locality is important. Not for a computer that we might buy once in 2 years or so.
I don’t know why people keep blaming Apple for the high prices in India. The government of India is obviously thinking that Macs are a premium product, and deserve some premium duties and taxes.
^^
But even the Dell, HP and Sony guys are selling their notebooks in India. But we don’t see the kind of markup that we see on MacBooks on their products? I’m sure they also must be paying STs and duties.
The way I see it, the government isn’t levying so much duties on ‘regular’ notebooks. After all, computers are seen as essential for building our infrastructure. But Macs are obviously seen as premium products, ‘toys for the rich’ (which they aren’t, btw) and hence the higher duties.
@Ashwin – right, they continue to sell the MacBook White (with a SuperDrive now but that’s about it).
@Milind – I hope the prices come down too! What do you think about the non-updated 17″ MacBook Pro? A premium of 24,000 Rs for 2 more gigs of RAM and 70 more gigs (320 from earlier 250) is a bit too much.
Well, there’s also the awesome 17-inch antiglare display with a native resolution of 1920×1200. Trust me, that display is no joke, mate. And rumour has it that the 17-inch MacBook Pro will be updated by January 2009.
@Deepak: That hike is only due to the economy rates. Apple keeps the same price point (if you look at the 17″ in the States, it is still the same price). Just that the dollar rates have changed now and we have to pay the price.
And the 17″ is definitely getting upgraded in two-three months.
“The best and the cheapest way is to buy from USA and ask someone to carry it to India.-
IMO, whether I buy something from USA or India doesn’t matter. If the item is an essential commodity and needs to be purchased on a regular basis, then buying from my locality is important. Not for a computer that we might buy once in 2 years or so.
A few words for u Ashwin mate..
Lets consider, that even if we DO buy the these expensive babies from our shores, i think we all are well acquainted with Apple India’s service backups and not to forget the pathetic resellers who r just HELL BENT on sellin Macs rather than knowing a thing or two more on em. I have myself been through this, a few colleagues too have faced these issues and theres only one word for Apple India> utter BS! So, would any1 want to shell out their hard earned 1 lac or more for buying from one of these idiots, ofc not.
Conversely, well, not all people have relatives residing outside the country. Getting it from abroad is a good option, but it steals the peace of mind when topics like warranty come up. these r electronic goods after all.
This is where Dell, HP or sony( despite them selling the garbage called Windows) score big time over Apple here. The service centers are all across India and more importantly, they dont loot like Apple loots Indians! We already pay 20-30 grand more than the rest of the world and at the same time we get such pathetic services..This is what infuriates the mind, nothin else.
i think its high time Apple pulled up its socks and do something.
Nuff said.
Mehul –
Why are you worried about the warranty? Apple offers international warranties on all its Macs. My MBP’s (brought in USA) SuperDrive developed a snag and I got it replaced free of cost in Chennai and is working well. You should buy AppleCare and have peace of mind for 3 years.
Even though I wouldn’t buy in India for I’ve friends & relatives in USA, I would rather buy a Rs 60k MacBook over a Rs 35k Dell or HP machine. I can’t imagine going back to using Windows.
Apple service might not be the same as it is in the US, but it certainly doesn’t suck. The Imagine stores are more than willing to service your mac (at least the one in Goa) and replacement parts arrive quite soon.
Ashwin>
Mann, i agree with ur point. You have just seen the good part of Apple here. I wont talk any more about it.
Milind> yaar, Goa will always remain an exception!
As far as the indian pricing goes, well, Apple is still way overpriced and either the govt or the company should do something about it( which i think is futile to say so!)