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Apple Considering Switch From Intel Chips in Future Macs
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Here's what they'll do. They'll make their own chips so they won't have to pay the intel premium anymore, but they'll charge just as much, if not, more for their new "A13" powered laptops. And the most powerful programs they'll be able to run is the same garbage that's on iOS.
Apple, please don't.
Apple, please don't.
For computers but Apple's largest money maker runs ARM chips so even if their Macs stopped selling as much because of a move away from Intel they'd still be fine.
Unlikely that ARM has compatibility with Intel chips. So Windows won't run and tons of Mac OSX software will need to be repurchased. Regardless how good ARM chips get compared to Intel at that time the switch will be a pain.
Folks ..there are plenty of people that run Macs and don't give a flying $%^&*( about running Windows.
Business are moving to tablets and even Microsoft is supporting ARM.
X86. Put a fork in it.
and Apple isn't the only one. Microsoft is experimenting with it too, with it's ARM version of Windows 8; Windows RT.
not to mention all the android based products that are also running on ARM processors. I think Intel is going to have a tough road ahead!
not to mention all the android based products that are also running on ARM processors. I think Intel is going to have a tough road ahead!
I just posted speculation about this in the Mac Pro forum yesterday. It's been an obvious step for the past year or two.
If Apple can gear up serious processors, and why not, they can switch to designing their own and then being able to engineer their own timetables as the hardware needs instead of waiting for Intel to come up with a McProcesssor they can use.
If Apple can gear up serious processors, and why not, they can switch to designing their own and then being able to engineer their own timetables as the hardware needs instead of waiting for Intel to come up with a McProcesssor they can use.
This is true for a lot of enterprises I imagine. I have a MacBook Pro at work because I do a lot of FCP work. But my company was more than happy to buy one because I could also have everything I needed on the PC side via Fusion.
If Fusion wasn't an option - I would likely have to switch to Adobe Premier and/or have two systems. And since there's a lot of legacy videos in FCP - that could be a huge pain for updated those videos.
I see a lot of whining and handwringing over a "rumour". Give me a break.
If they do start looking into ARM then they would most likely resurrect the Universal Binary and just start encouraging developers to target both architectures. Not a big deal. They would continue to sell both side by side for a while and let the market decide.
Stop panicking. Microsoft is testing the waters with the ARM based surface right? Are you panicking over that?
If they do start looking into ARM then they would most likely resurrect the Universal Binary and just start encouraging developers to target both architectures. Not a big deal. They would continue to sell both side by side for a while and let the market decide.
Stop panicking. Microsoft is testing the waters with the ARM based surface right? Are you panicking over that?
You are probably right Sneakz. It also makes sense if they keep pushing OSX closer to iOS. Apple has the money to do it. The benefit would be not having to wait on Intel for processors. I think Intel is mainly to blame for the lagging update for the Mac Pro in my opinion.
One of the huge advantages of Apple going x86 was the ability to basically run any x86/x86-64 OS at close to native speeds (not including GPU). I do this now with daily running Windows XP, Windows 7, RedHat EL 4,5 and 6 VMs.
Going to ARM or some other custom route would negate that.
Going to ARM or some other custom route would negate that.
Panicking? No - people are just voicing their concerns.
And why would people panic over what Microsoft is doing if they own Macs? Most people here, I'm assuming, who are responding to this news have Macs.
You mean like how Linux is developed for :
- x86
- MIPS
- SPARC
- PPC
- Alpha
- ARM
- IA64
- tons of others I'm not thinking...
There is nothing surprising about Apple having a portable codebase if a bunch of open source hippies can do it.But ARM ? ARM ? What's the value there ? Performance per watt is no better than Intel. The reason ARM processors are so energy efficient today is because they lack the sheer number crunching capabilities of x86 chips. Intel proved with Medfield that x86 is as power efficient as ARM, if they also sacrifice number crunching. There's even an Android phone that runs on a Medfield SoC!