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Re:Linux on the Mac – state of the union by digi_owl on Monday December 12, 2016 @09:04AM (#13158057)
Iirc, Intel shipped custom CPUs to Apple for the Macbook Air. Once those CPUs became more generally available other brands followed suit quite quickly.

This has been a repeating pattern with Apple since the iPod success fattened their wallet. They would routinely single out parts they wanted, and then basically order the factory capacity for that year in one go.

Palm/HP execs lamented this fact when they unveiled the Pre 3 and Touchpad, as they often wanted to use the same parts but found Apple had gotten there before them.

Re:Linux on the Mac – state of the union by mrpippy on Monday December 12, 2016 @12:28PM (#13159855)
A rev of the original MacBook Air (the 2008-2010 one) got a custom package of an Intel CPU before it was available commercially.

The original MBA was expensive and underpowered, a niche product at the time. PC vendors responded with equally niche designs (remember the Dell Adamo?)

The Late 2010 MacBook Air introduced the current case design at a reasonable price, used 2+ year old internals (Core 2 Duo + 330m graphics), and set the world on fire.

Re:Linux on the Mac – state of the union by digi_owl on Monday December 12, 2016 @01:10PM (#13160237)
> set the world on fire.

Yeah i can smell the bonfires from here...

Re:Linux on the Mac – state of the union by coldtea on Tuesday December 13, 2016 @06:02AM (#13165987)
Well, considered it went top selling, got huge profits, was mimicked by almost every other manufacturer, and Intel even gave money to OEMs to make a competitive PC laptop, I don't see the sarcasm as warranted.
Re:Linux on the Mac – state of the union by coldtea on Monday December 12, 2016 @09:19AM (#13158136)
>Palm/HP execs lamented this fact when they unveiled the Pre 3 and Touchpad, as they often wanted to use the same parts but found Apple had gotten there before them.

Isn't that how economies of scale and bulk ordering is supposed to work?