Intel's Mac-bound Ivy Bridge CPUs expected to go on sale 8-10 weeks late

Intel's next-generation Ivy Bridge processors, sized at 22 nanometers and expected to appear in Apple's updated Mac lineup, will become available eight to 10 weeks later than originally planned, one company official has said.

Sean Maloney, executive vice president and chairman of Intel China, revealed in an interview with the Financial Times that his company's Ivy Bridge processors are now expected to go on sale in June. Those CPUs were originally planned to become available in April.

The apparent delay will allow Intel more time to manufacture the smaller, more complex chips. Maloney indicated that a later June launch was not prompted by a lack of demand.

The comments support a rumor from earlier this month that indicated Intel was forced to push back shipments of its Ivy Bridge processors to June. However, that same report claimed that a "small volume" of chips would be shipped in early April.

Earlier reports had suggested that Intel planned to debut a total of 25 new 22-nanometer Ivy Bridge processors at launch. They would include 17 desktop CPUs and 8 notebook processors.

Initial chips are expected to include models 3820QM, rumored to be priced at $568, and 3720QM, $378, both of which are potential candidates for an updated MacBook Pro. AppleInsider reported earlier this month that Apple plans to radically redesign its MacBook Pro lineup this year, borrowing traits currently found in the company's thin-and-light MacBook Air line.

An illustration of Apple's notebook lineup planned for the 2012 calendar year.

Reports from late last year suggested Apple was planning to launch its updated MacBook Pro lineup in the second quarter of 2012>. It was said the Ivy Bridge-powered notebooks would feature a Retina Display-quality screen resolution of 2,880 by 1,800 pixels, exactly twice that of the 1,440-by-900 display currently found on the 15-inch MacBook Pro.

Retina Display MacBook Pros would be possible with Ivy Bridge because Intel's next-generation chip architecture will bring support for 4K resolution. That gives Apple and other PC makers the option to build a display that is 4,096 pixels across, at a resolution more than twice that of 1080p.

The new Ivy Bridge notebook processors will feature Intel HD Graphics 4000 architecture. High-end MacBook Pros with dedicated graphics are rumored to be powered by Nvidia in Apple's 2012 lineup.