Apple on Wednesday reported profits in the first three months of the year topped one billion dollars as sales of Macintosh computers climbed more than 50 percent.

"We're delighted to report 43 percent revenue growth and the strongest March quarter revenue and earnings in Apple's history," said Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, Apple's chief executive.

"With over 17 billion dollars in revenue for the first half of our fiscal year, we have strong momentum to launch some terrific new products in the coming quarters."

Apple Inc.'s fiscal second-quarter profit jumped 36 percent on blistering sales of Macintosh computers, but the company forecast lower-than-expected earnings and its stock price tumbled.....

Apple shares fell $2.31, or about 1 percent, to $160.58, in after-hours trading. The stock had fallen nearly 5 percent earlier. It had closed up $2.69, or 1.7 percent, at $162.89 before its earnings were reported.

But the latest results showed that it was firing on all cylinders during the first three months of the year.

Apple Inc. on Wednesday posted a 36 percent rise in quarterly profit, helped by strong sales of Macintosh computers and iPod players, but its profit margin and cautious outlook disappointed investors.

Shares of Apple fell 1 percent after the company, known for conservative financial forecasts, gave a profit outlook for its current quarter that was below Wall Street estimates.

"It looks like the Macs were good, the iPods were flat and the iPhones were OK," said Robert Stimpson, portfolio manager at Oak Associates, which owns Apple shares.

Apple is to buy a microprocessor design company founded by one of the key minds behind the ARM chip design that went on to become Intel's erstwhile XScale family.

The firm in question is PA Semi, which currently develops low-power processors based on the PowerPC architecture. Apple's dealt with PA before, as a possible supplier of advanced PowerPC chips for the old Power Mac and PowerBook lines. Ultimately, Apple went to Intel instead.

It's been suggested that Apple will migrate its ARM-base iPhone to [Intel's forthcoming] Atom... but the move to buy PA seems to suggest otherwise......

Late Tuesday, in response to questions from Forbes.com, an Apple spokesman said Apple has agreed to buy a boutique microprocessor design company called PA Semi. The company, which is known for its design of sophisticated, low-power chips, could spell a new future for Apple's flagship iPhone, and possibly iPod products as well.

The 150-person chip company, P.A. Semi, was founded in 2003 by Dan Dobberpuhl, who was a lead designer for the well-regarded Alpha and StrongARM microprocessors developed by Digital Equipment in the 1990s....

Apple's choice is a blow for chip maker Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ), which has been trying to convince Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple to rely on Intel's chips--particularly its latest low-power line up, called Atom....

In February 2007, P.A. Semi debuted a 64-bit dual core microprocessor which the company asserted was 300% more efficient than any comparable chips. It consumes only 5 to 13 watts running at 2 gigahertz.....

These new MacBook Pro models might be classified as speed bumps, implying that the pro laptops' new enhancements constitute a minor, albeit noteworthy update.

However, the updated models actually represent a fairly significant upgrade – both in terms of technology and performance – over their predecessors, which were last updated in November. Debuting Intel's 45 nanometer Penryn processor (a new generation of speedier chips that top the 65-nanometer Merom chips powering the earlier models), the new 2.5GHz MacBook Pros achieved the best scores of any laptop in Macworld's Speedmark 5 benchmark tests.....

If you've been waiting to buy a new Apple laptop, or hesitating about upgrading, wait no longer. The new MacBook Pros are Apple's speediest laptops ever. The higher-end models are loaded with both system and video RAM and better L2 cache capacities, which directly affect performance....

Here's a casemod that would make even Jonny Ive proud. Fashioned from two sheets of white acrylic and lined with perforated steel, this desktop system was once an old and busted Apple PowerBook -- that is before Richard Hunt worked his modding magic. Hunt removed the PowerBook's guts and delicately placed them inside this slick hand-built case. The result, one must admit, looks like something Apple might ship itself.

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