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jz-

macrumors regular
Jun 14, 2013
141
28
This make me feel so funny inside when I hear android phones sporting quad and octa cores and still inefficient as hell. I'm not saying android phones are slow. I'm saying they're very inefficient in their use of resources and try to make up for it with too many cores!

I'm not sure it's anything to do with Android being inefficient. The chips benchmark at about the same as the iPhone 5s processor, but Qualcomm chooses to make their chips with more, slower cores, probably for marketing reasons.
 

Dr McKay

macrumors 68040
Aug 11, 2010
3,430
57
Kirkland
iOS devices don't multitask anywhere near enough to make a quad-core chip worth it. Besides, the trade off with a dual core is that you can have higher clocked chips when you don't have power draw and heat of extra cores to worry about.

Not to mention all the sensor processing is done off-die on a separate "Motion"

I thought more lower clocked cores were cooler than higher clocked cores? I thought it was the clock speed increase that generated more heat?
 

Michael Goff

Suspended
Jul 5, 2012
13,329
7,421
It is said to be 800 MHz at base and 2.0 GHz in Turbo Mode. MBA's have higher frequency. At best it will be similar in performance. But thats very unlikely.

If you think a 2ghz A8 will have the same muscle as a 2.0ghz i5 Broadwell, then you must also think that the 3.4ghz processor from yesteryear beats out the 2.0ghz from this year.
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
I'm not doing either one. I am getting at Apple's hyperbole about "desktop performance" is really not about "desktop" as a general usage term.

Both of those all-in-one and towers are in the desktop class of devices.




In outlining or being representative of desktops? No. As being in the class of "fast enough for most folks" then yes. Same issue of what general usage of laptops lead to decline of desktops as a percentage of what folks buy is same factor as what is now leading to folks passing up both laptops and desktops for tablets. The workloads plateau so CPU speed is relatively a non high value issue.



Laptops are not desktops. So matching bottom end performance laptops really is zero indication are moving into the desktop performance range at all.

Again that all depends on how you define "desktop performance". Given that desktops are declining and being replaced by laptops and tablets, I'd say who gives a crap whether or not tablets reach "desktop performance" as defined specifically by desktop computers.

Fact of the matter is, laptops and tablets are plenty for a large percentage of computing needs. We don't benchmark our desktops against the servers and supercomputers of the world. They are highly specialized machines. Desktops are going that way too - and you don't define an entire group of devices by the niche members of the group.
 

H.Finch

Cancelled
Jun 9, 2013
150
76
This might be a dumb question but I'm not that knowledgable of CPU's... does this mean that this iPhone will have a faster processor then lets say a Macbook air of a few years back?
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
If you think a 2ghz A8 will have the same muscle as a 2.0ghz i5 Broadwell, then you must also think that the 3.4ghz processor from yesteryear beats out the 2.0ghz from this year.

It's not about having the same muscle - its about having ENOUGH muscle at higher power efficiency.

Regardless of whether or not the Broadwell chips increase performance by 30%, if the A8 is on par with Haswell chips that currently run the MBA, the efficiency of the A8 could make it a worthwhile successor.

Mind you, I'm talking about base model MBAs here. Obviously we are a ways off from the higher end MBPr and iMacs being run by A# chips.

I really don't see it as that far-fetched.

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Sources?!?!? We don't need no Steeenkin' Sources!
 

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koyoot

macrumors 603
Jun 5, 2012
5,939
1,853
It's not about having the same muscle - its about having ENOUGH muscle at higher power efficiency.

Regardless of whether or not the Broadwell chips increase performance by 30%, if the A8 is on par with Haswell chips that currently run the MBA, the efficiency of the A8 could make it a worthwhile successor.

Mind you, I'm talking about base model MBAs here. Obviously we are a ways off from the higher end MBPr and iMacs being run by A# chips.

I really don't see it as that far-fetched.

Exactly.
 

bawbac

macrumors 65816
Mar 2, 2012
1,232
48
Seattle, WA
More than enough power for a phone. Although they'll scream they still want "quad core" ask them why?

Dualcore is still fine, just give us 2GB RAM this time! :confused:
It's funny how to some what apple does is good enough.
How about more efficient multitasking and load sharing.
How about improved performance when running a lot of apps.

I bet when they come out with a quad core, it will be revolutionary and to make it innovative, they will add 4GB of RAM!

Apple is losing it's technological edge to maximize profits and it's going to bite them in their bottom line quicker than expected.
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
It's funny how to some what apple does is good enough.
How about more efficient multitasking and load sharing.
How about improved performance when running a lot of apps.

I bet when they come out with a quad core, it will be revolutionary and to make it innovative, they will add 4GB of RAM!

Apple is losing it's technological edge to maximize profits and it's going to bite them in their bottom line quicker than expected.

:rolleyes: this guy.....

Thanks for all the cookie cutter responses. As I stated earlier, we'll see an A8 chip that is on par with base model MBAs and 2 GB of RAM in the next gen iPads and iPhones - coupled with Apple's incredible talent for efficiency and optimization, the next gen devices will continue the trend of Apple LEADING the industry in tech.

Those quad core and octa core devices that have worse benchmarks and continue to stutter? They'll continue to lag behind.

The ones that get it right do so becuase they OPTIMIZE their software and hardware. The Moto X is a great example of this. The CPU is only a dual core processor, yet it runs smoother than other Android counterparts.

To be clear - its not Android that's the problem here....Android has been quite efficient for a while now. Its those idiotic skins (TOUCHWIZ) that cause seemingly superior hardware to underperform.

The fact that most OEMs buy their chips off the shelf where Apple designs their own speaks volumes about where they stand in the industry.

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and they will still have tab reloading issues :).

Nah - its really only the iPad Air that struggles with this. I've been told the reason is the page caches are much larger due to the number of pixels. 2GB RAM would CERTAINLY be plenty for all the other devices in the iOS lineup, and I'm sure it would work for the Air as well.
 

brendu

Cancelled
Apr 23, 2009
2,472
2,703
Apple is losing it's technological edge to maximize profits and it's going to bite them in their bottom line quicker than expected.

Apple has never had more of a technological edge than they do now. If you think they are losing an edge they once had you know nothing about the technology in Apple's current or past devices.
 

jrswizzle

macrumors 603
Aug 23, 2012
6,107
129
McKinney, TX
Apple has starved people of reasonable hardware to the point people are so desperate for an update to the hardware that even just adding additional ram is enough to satisfy them.

Reasonable hardware? :rolleyes:

Sure, the fastest mobile chip out there is "reasonable".....up until the GS5 (THIS YEAR's phone), the iPhone boasted the best mobile display on the market as well.

Reasonable....

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Apple has never had more of a technological edge than they do now. If you think they are losing an edge they once had you know nothing about the technology in Apple's current or past devices.

Here here. Can't wait to see what they have in store this year. The 5S was arguably my favorite release thus far.
 

brendu

Cancelled
Apr 23, 2009
2,472
2,703
Apple has starved people of reasonable hardware upgrades. They are so desperate for an upgrade to the hardware that even just adding additional ram is enough to satisfy them.

Please, tell me why my iPhone needs a quad core processor?
 

Michael Goff

Suspended
Jul 5, 2012
13,329
7,421
It's not about having the same muscle - its about having ENOUGH muscle at higher power efficiency.

Regardless of whether or not the Broadwell chips increase performance by 30%, if the A8 is on par with Haswell chips that currently run the MBA, the efficiency of the A8 could make it a worthwhile successor.

Mind you, I'm talking about base model MBAs here. Obviously we are a ways off from the higher end MBPr and iMacs being run by A# chips.

I really don't see it as that far-fetched.

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Except we're expecting a 50% increase. That won't make it as powerful as Haswell.

2596/5047- i5 MBA
1370/2477 (Single/Multi) - iPad Ait with A7

1370*1.5=/=2596
 

koyoot

macrumors 603
Jun 5, 2012
5,939
1,853
Except we're expecting a 50% increase. That won't make it as powerful as Haswell.

2596/5047- i5 MBA
1370/2477 (Single/Multi) - iPad Ait with A7

1370*1.5=/=2596

Double that.

1.4 GHz with turbo mode to 2.0 GHz. Plus smaller technology process.

We get to doubling the performance, with tweaks here and there, the same as they were for jumping from A6 to A7.

We get to range of 5000 points in multicore score in Geekbench 3, in 2.5W power envelope.

Thats pretty amazing.
 

xgman

macrumors 603
Aug 6, 2007
5,672
1,378
Apple has starved people of reasonable hardware upgrades. They are so desperate for an upgrade to the hardware that even just adding additional ram is enough to satisfy them.

Most people here won't admit that. I don't care how optimized iOS is, 1gb of ram for almost anything in the 2nd half or 2014 is hard to defend. (but they still will)
 
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