ATI pre-announces Apple MacWorld unveiling

Updated Apple's relationship with graphics specialist ATI appears untroubled by talk of a deal between the Mac maker and Nvidia, and calls from 3dfx for a more level playing field in the Mac 3D graphics accelerator biz.

Certainly, ATI is claiming (according to MacCentral) that MacWorld Expo, which kicks off in New York tommorrow, will host Apple's launch of three new systems which contain ATI hardware. One, says the company, will be an iMac with a Rage 4XL chip - the rest are two new Power Mac G4s, one with Rage 128 Pro and the other with ATI's latest release, the 256-bit Radeon.

The way ATI tells it, the two chips will be offered as options in Apple's G4 line-up. Presumably, the Rage 128 Pro will end up in the 'Better' system, while the Radeon is reserved for the 'Best' G4.

Presumably, however, Apple isn't going to be too happy about ATI's leak of its product announcement, and will set its lawyers on the Canadian company immediately. That's what it's been doing to Mac-oriented Web site who've had the audacity to speculate upon what the company will unveil this week.

That probably explains why ATI is now vigorously denying it ever said anything about its contracts with Apple, and perplexed ATI spin doctors have been ringing The Register. MacCentral's story cites a press release announcing and annoucement on Wednesday, which we've since been unable to track down on ATI's Web site (and which ATI's PR team hadn't heard of either), but attributes the Apple product information directly to ATI.

Perhaps they should check out their own MacWorld Expo exhibitors' listing, which clearly states: "ATI will launch Radeon, the world's most powerful graphics processor for the Mac. ATI plans a surprise announcement on July 19. In a keynote, wait for Apple to announce three new systems with ATI graphics in them. One will be an iMac with the Rage 4XL chip, the remaining two are PowerMacs which will ship with Rage 128 PRO standard and Radeon." Whoops. ®

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