They saw the machines as computers and began adding the latest graphics chips and networking ports.
Current MacBooks use Nvidia graphics chips along with Intel Core i series and Core 2 Duo processors.
FORBES: Why Apple Will Probably Use Intel Graphics For Its Cheapest Notebooks
After Sega dumped 3Dfx Interactive, its previous partner in developing graphics chips, 3Dfx sued Sega, NEC and VideoLogic.
The result: Nvidia can address as market much bigger than just graphics chips.
Nvidia is focusing on improving the production as well as introducing newer versions of its Tegra line of graphics chips.
FORBES: Nvidia's Better Gaming Margins Don't Mean Much, Stock Price Looks Too Fat
Jen-Hsun Huang has always said his graphics chips were good for more than rendering explosions of zombie maniacs in videogames.
It made a high-stakes bet on graphics chips several years ago, through an acquisition that appears to be paying off.
FORBES: AMD Still Gets Bullied By Intel And Isn't Worth Your Lunch Money
It intends to beef up the graphics abilities of its processors and will one day start selling specialised graphics chips.
And I was surprised to see Nvidia, which makes super-powerful graphics chips for 3D video games, in Traverse City, too.
FORBES: Influx of Nerds Changes Tenor of Auto Industry's Summer Camp
Nvidia, once a provider of power-sucking graphics chips for gamers and engineers, seems to be making the most of the opportunity.
FORBES: With Asus Windows RT Tablet, Nvidia Continues Push Into Wireless
Indeed, sales of graphics chips surged 88% from a year ago, but these are clearly comparisons versus a very weak quarter.
In 2008 it plans to demonstrate a multicore chip named Larrabee that may steal some of the market for high-end graphics chips.
S3 makes graphics chips used in PCs, games consoles and mobile phones.
FORBES: Family Business: HTC To Buy S3 Graphics From VIA For $300M
Beyond the sheer horsepower of the machine, the feature that may do the most for realism is the PlayStation 2's special graphics chips.
The 14-inch Y400 and 15-inch Y500 include an interchangeable HDD bay that users can swap out for dual graphics chips, extra storage space or an additional fan.
ENGADGET: Lenovo expands IdeaPad lineup with Y400, Y500, Z400 and Z500: prices start at $549
' (nyse: AMD - news - people ) ATI division, both of which crank out so-called graphics chips built around hundreds of processor cores.
Advanced Micro Devices launched a package of microprocessors and graphics chips on Monday dubbed Spider, in a bid to grab a bigger swath of the high-end PC market.
The graphics market is now dominated by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices ' ATI division, both of which crank out so-called graphics chips built around hundreds of processor cores.
But its graphics components are specially made graphics chips from Nvidia (nasdaq: NVDA - news - people ), not the usual graphics chips you'll find in a PC.
Pairing Intel or AMD chips with Nvidia's graphics chips in supercomputers (much as they are in personal computers) results in machines that are three times more efficient than ones that rely on CPUs alone.
Even though these graphics chips whip up close to 1 million polygons a second, they bog down in the data, which can travel only so fast between the graphics accelerator and the memory chips nearby.
Nvidia faces challenges in the graphics market from players like Intel and AMD , which are increasingly providing integrated graphics chips to PC makers that reduce the need for separate (discrete) graphics cards.
Nvidia, which has made its name providing high-powered graphics chips, introduced the new generation of its Tegra processor and also announced its own Android-based gaming device and said it will sell it direct to consumers.
FORBES: Nvidia Updates Tegra Chip, Announces Its Own Android Game Device
While AMD has been busy digesting ATI, Nvidia's share of the market for so-called discrete graphics chips has grown to 65% in the third quarter of this year, up from 50% two years ago, according to market tracker Jon Peddie Research.
But AMD, battle-hardened by years of combat with Intel in microprocessors and later with Nvidia in graphics chips, and with a savvy veteran of the PC wars in command, finally has a strategy that will allow it to survive and maybe even thrive.
AMD's official rationale: By adding Markham, Ontario-based ATI's (nasdaq: ATYT - news - people ) graphics chips and chipsets--the circuits at the core of a computer system--to its arsenal, the company is better positioned to compete with Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ).
Under the hood, there's been spec bumps galore, including faster CPUs for both (up to 2.8GHz for the MacBook Pros, up to 2.4GHz for the MacBooks), DDR3 RAM is now in play with both systems, and on the Pro you'll get that pair of NVIDIA graphics chips, the GeForce 9400M and 9600M GT.
ENGADGET: New MacBook / MacBook Pro unboxing and first impressions
The idea is to couple chips like the graphics processors responsible for snappy graphics in home computers and game consoles with central processors like the Intel chips powering your home computer.
It has a fast multi-core processor, separate chips for graphics and sound, and a hard drive.
应用推荐