Chipworks

In March this year, Apple announced a new generation of MacBook Pros to the market, starting at $1,199 (as of May 16th) and up to twice as fast as the previous generation. We got our hands on a 13 inch MacBook Pro, featuring a 2.3 GHz  processor, 2 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 RAM, 320 GB (5400 rpm) hard drive, as well as Intel’s new Thunderbolt technology. Similarly priced is the 21.5 inch iMac featuring a 2.5 GHz processor, 512 MB of 1333 MHz DDR3 memory, a 500 GB (7200 rpm) hard drive, and also equipped with the Thunderbolt port. Despite having slightly better tech specs, the iMac is priced the same (at time of writing) as the MacBook Pro. Since the decision for many is one of portability over a bit more power, this makes sense and reflects good product management practices. But also because of the substitutability of the two computers, we thought it might be interesting to compare them on a silicon level – with attention to the chips that go unhearalded in the spec sheets. (Note: we didn’t do a physical teardown on the iMac; we are using data from iFixit for that device.)

Processor – Different Chips The MacBook Pro’s new processor is a 2.3 GHz dual-core Intel i5, also known as “Sandy Bridge,” which delivers up to 2x faster performance over the previous generation processor. The device also has 3 MB of shared L3 cache. Package markings on this device are: BD82HM65/SLJ4P/E108A530/’08. As previously mentioned, the processor found inside the iMac is the slightly faster 2.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5-2400S, with 6 MB of Intel Smart Cache. For those who like to compare such things we like Passmark Software, cpubenchmark.net

Thunderbolt Port – Same One of the most talked about new features of this generation of MacBook Pros is the new Thunderbolt port. This technology, developed by Intel with technical collaboration from Apple, allows users to connect high resolution and high speed units to a single port to transfer data, at rates up to 10 Gbps. The iMac also features this new technology.

Ethernet Transceiver – Same Found in both the MacBook Pro and iMac is the BCM57765B0KMLG integrated gigabit Ethernet and memory card reader controller by Broadcom. This device features an integrated 10/100/1000 BASE-T transceiver, and an integrated 5-in-1 memory card reader. Package markings found on this device in the MacBook Pro are: Broadcom logo/ BCM57765B0KMLG/UN1050 P20/113163 3 W.

USB Controller – Similar Found on the circuit board of the MacBook Pro was the SMSC USB2513B USB controller. This device is part of SMSC’s USB251x family of high performance, low power, small footprint USB 2.0 hubs for PC, embedded, and consumer applications and features three downstream ports. Package markings on this device are: SMSC/ USB25138/01046-A2P10/8J144327K/ASE-JW. A similar device by SMSC was also found in the iMac, the SMSC USX2061. We didn’t take die photos (yet) to see if the silicon is the same and the package markings different.

When looking at the silicon level, we found many similarities between the MacBook Pro and iMac. For those who are interested, here is a comprehensive list of devices found in the MacBook Pro MC700LL A. There are several items that we have not identified. If one of them was designed by you, and you want it highlighted, feel free to email us:

Tags: MacBook Pro, MC700LL A, reverse engineering, teardown

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 25th, 2011 at 8:04 pm and is filed under Computer / Tablet. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.