Apple has announced an update to their flagship iMac desktop computers, adding the latest 'Haswell' processors built by Intel and support for more flash-memory storage.
The price-points will be the same: the two 11-inch models will be $999 and $1199, respectively (the more expensive one has more RAM, more Flash storage, and more video memory).
Having already had new polymers and composite materials to play with, and pioneered the transition from cathode ray tubes to flat panel displays in desktops, he is now excited by the possibility of replacing hard drives with smaller, more robust flash memory in iPods.
Given that it will take one or two quarters for memory companies to reconfigure their factories to crank out more NAND flash memory, Handy argues, Apple's fresh orders should sop up enough capacity to keep prices steady, at least for now.
Chips that use graphite show promise for storing more bits than flash memory.
Toshiba announced in December that it was withdrawing from the DRAM business and devoting more resources to flash memory.
This combination makes Optane useful for traditional memory applications, and the technology can include more writing than flash memory cells can support.
