Apple Nearly Used AMD Processors for the 2011 MacBook Air

Apple nearly used AMD processors for the 2011 MacBook Air, according to Forbes.

The site published an article entitled "The Predator" that will appear in the March 12th edition of FORBES magazine which confirms a report from late last year.

AMD struggled with its new fabless model while trying to crank out "fusion" processors that combined a CPU and a GPU in a single part. On paper the idea was promising. A notebook processor dubbed "Llano" got a close look from Apple for an update to the ultralight MacBook Air, scheduled for launch in mid-2011.

But AMD couldn't get early working samples of Llano to Apple on time, one former employee says. Several former AMD employees disagree on just how close AMD came. "We had it," one says. But too many of the Llano parts were faulty. AMD lost the deal.

Interestingly, AMD also pitched a low-cost, low-power processor called "Brazos" for a new version of the Apple TV but Apple wasn't interested.

Read More [via Zack]