Architosh Staff ([email protected])

19 Dec 2001 [Updated: 21 Dec 2001]

 

Rumor: Elsa to release 'workstation class' graphics board for Macintosh

Initial Report: Elsa working with Nvidia on new Mac card?

According to a series of posts on the Newtek Lightwave 3D discussion boards, graphics card maker, Elsa, may be working with Nvidia to produce a 'workstation' class graphics card for the Macintosh market.

Post Details

From a poster called BeamTracer:

"A reliable source from one of the above companies tells me that Elsa has sent a team of engineers to work at Nvidia to develop a new 3D board to be released soon. Nvidia will supply a team of Mac engineers to bring this "high-end" board to the Mac."

"This new board will be released at the Macworld expo in San Francisco, which is held between Jan 8th and 11th, 2002."

Architosh has sent out an email to Elsa to comment on this post. We will update this story as we learn more. Currently Elsa is not listed in the Macworld Expo exhibitor list. However, other post suggest that this new card will not be released under the Elsa brand name because of a licensing issue with Nvidia.

Editor's Note: Elsa eventually contacted us and informed us that they know nothing about Elsa-made graphics cards for the Macintosh market. While there was some discussion on the phone as to Nvidia's role with supplying Apple with graphics technology, Elsa PR officials declined to comment about Nvidia. When asked if Elsa had any Macintosh plans in the pipeline company officials stated that Elsa does not discuss announced product plans.

Architosh Analysis: Nvidia is currently Apple's partner with high-end graphics cards for Power Mac series computers. Together the two companies help engineer Nvidia-based solutions for the Mac platform, but Macintosh 3D professionals feel strongly that these game-oriented cards are inadequate for serious digital content creation work (3D, film editing and sci/tech and CAD/CAM visualization). We believe that is it plausible that Nvida and Elsa could form a relationship to develop and market workstation cards for the Mac.

Attribution: Thanks Ed!