For some time now we have been talking about the new computers in Manzana they had stopped using intel processors in favor of their own constructions based on MRA. However, until now Apple continued to depend on the silicon giant to build its equipment, since there are many chips apart from the processor that were still manufactured by Intel… until now, since it has been discovered that the new MacBook M2 of the firm have already stopped using any Intel chip, now completely disassociating themselves from the manufacturer.
When Apple announced its first computers based on its own ARM processor, it was almost a declaration of intent: those from Cupertino wanted to stop depending on other “giants” in the industry to have greater independence when manufacturing their hardware; After all, they still depend on other companies, but now they are the only big one in the industry involved and as such, they are the ones that will have complete dominance when it comes to manufacturing and designing their computers.
Intel’s latest chip removed from MacBooks
The guys from iFixit have realized this fact, who after disassembling one of the new MacBook M2 to check its ease of repair (and to see their internal hardware, as always) they have verified that these laptops no longer have absolutely any chips manufactured by Intel or linked to the brand. Until now, and despite having its own processor, the MacBook M2 continued to use the JHL8040R chips, retimers USB 4, but in the latest batch of laptops Apple has replaced them with a pair of custom U09PY3 chips.
Interestingly, this switch to chips usb4 Alternative technology is also present in the latest AMD Rembrandt laptops, which use these chips made by Swiss startup Kandou, who claim to supply five of the world’s top six OEMs with such chips. Are they doing this because it’s a change for the better, or just because like Apple they want to completely disassociate themselves from Intel?
What is clear is that when you are a giant in the industry (such as Apple, Samsung, AMD, etc.) you do not want to be depending on another giant, which is direct competition (in this case Intel), so if you can resort to third parties for whatever you need, the logical thing is to do it so as not to be giving money to your competition or depending on them.
Does this affect Apple laptops at all?
In terms of performance or usability, it shouldn’t affect anything at all. We must bear in mind that the biggest change we already saw with Apple’s transition to ARM, and there were more than substantial changes both in performance and in terms of applications, since many have had to rewrite their codes to make them compatible with the ARM architecture instead of the x86/x64 that was used until now, with Intel processors.
The Matterhorn family of chips that have now been integrated into the MacBook M2 ensures excellent signal integrity that enables high bandwidth across USB4, USB 3.2, display port Y Thunderboltall in very cheap chips (it costs Apple less money to integrate these chips than the Intel chips they used until now) and with low power consumption (about 820 milliwatts), and in technical terms they are quite similar to Intel chips, so users should not notice any change in terms of speed and performance.
