All MacBooks to use LEDs in 2009: supplier
updated 07:40 am EDT, Wed May 21, 2008
MacBooks use LEDs in 2009
Every MacBook released in 2009 will use an LED backlight, says the Taiwan-area newspaper Economic Daily News. Backlight manufacturer Kenmos Technology was Apple's chief supplier of the more color-accurate, efficient screen hardware for 2007 and is expected to have an even more dominant role next year as Apple switches its consumer models to LED lights. Kenmos is said to be shipping as many as five times more LEDs this year, at 1.5 million, though it's not known what number of these are destined for Apple or other customers.
The Mac designer's chief executive, Steve Jobs, has promised as part of an environmental initiative that the company's computer line will switch to all LEDs when feasible but hasn't set out a timetable for the changeover. Switching is believed to hinge largely on reducing the cost of LEDs as well as mass production of the lights for screen sizes used by Apple's products.
Recent reports have suggested that the next revision of the consumer-oriented MacBook will undergo a major redesign that converts the portable from plastic to aluminum and should also introduce other technical improvements, such as Intel's Centrino 2 platform and accompanying faster Core 2 Duo processors.
