

Intel's Ivy Bridge chips launch using '3D transistors' - pshken
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-17785464

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wmf
It must be midnight somewhere; the embargos are expiring. Personally, the BBC
is the last place I'd look for coverage of processors; you'd probably be
better off waiting a few hours for AnandTech or something.

(Also, they're called FinFETs.)

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ajross
No, they're called "Tri-Gate" transistors if you want to nit. FinFET is an
industry term, not one Intel uses for this particular process. Both/either are
examples of 3D transistor structure, so the linked article isn't wrong.

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vgnet
With some images of each (which I can't judge for accuracy):
[http://semiaccurate.com/2011/08/18/intel-moves-
transistors-f...](http://semiaccurate.com/2011/08/18/intel-moves-transistors-
from-2d-to-3d-and-more/)

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dethstarr
I'll be waiting for my nano-microchip in the near future, thank you very much.
Enough of this silicon-based stuff!

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sliverstorm
Silicon is here to stay for the foreseeable future, and for a very simple
reason. While we have many advanced possibilities with germanium or carbon
nano-tubes or other such advanced processes, silicon is still the cheapest by
such a magnitude that it wins out in performance per dollar.

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nnnnni
Blank CDs were pretty expensive at one point.

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mjwalshe
I remember (early 80's) when a box of 10 HP floppy disks was £100

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huxley
I remember (mid-80s) when my extremely noisy 20MB SCSI hard drive cost me just
under $1000.

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spicyj
Hopefully we see a new MacBook Pro release soon…

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kzrdude
Rather Air or something to rival it. Thin, silent, energy efficient.

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rbanffy
My bet is on the Pro and Air lines converging. There is not much reason for an
optical drive anymore in the Pros and, without it, they could be thinner.

I expect the 13" MBP to vanish or be turned into an Air with a spinning metal
disk and beefier battery and GPU.

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kzrdude
I agree with you about Pro and Air convergence. With the `MacBook` gone, there
is room for the line to be called just MacBook as well.

I don't think an Air should have a discrete GPU though. Ivy Bridge's IGPU is
better and I'd much rather see it being able to stand alone upon that.

