Another AMD Graphics Executive Headed to Apple?

[olternaut]

Apple must be on to something; there´s no way these talented people, along with the PA Semi crew, would come work with Apple unless it offered them the opportunity to do something groundbreaking.

Indeed do I concur with your assessment sir.

 

[AidenShaw]

well, maybe, but....

Apple must be on to something; there´s no way these talented people, along with the PA Semi crew, would come work with Apple unless it offered them the opportunity to do something groundbreaking.

First of all, Apple bought P.A. Semi - the people didn't choose to move to Apple, it was work for Apple or find a new job.

Second, it's easy to read too much into some executives changing jobs. Typically the execs are not actually creating "stuff" - they are good at either managing the creative engineers, or they are good at communicating the importance of the "stuff" to the outside, or they are good at listening to the engineers talk about new "stuff" and deciding which things should be pursued and which should wither.

An ATI/AMD exec moving to Apple might not mean that Apple is building a GPU - it may simply mean that Apple needs some people who've proven that they can motivate and manage a large team of innovative people. Plus, AMD is on hard times, and often the best people are the first to abandon ship.

 

[akadmon]

I hate companies who steel expertise from other companies, and I hate people who sell out! I guess loyalty and developing home-grown talent amount to nothing more than a hill of beancounters these days.

 

[Thex1138]

Status Report Mr Spock!

It will be 18 to 24 months before these chiefs will have any products out of the pipeline to the desktop..

But it seems Apple have some big plans for this class of device they are about to debut, and their road map may reshape and grow in the coming short to medium term.

....So will Spock walk out on stage and hand Captain Steve Jobs his status update on the media tablet [macbook Touch] at Dev Con 09' ?

 

[iMaggot]

Well, lets hope these guy do something ground breaking for Apple.

 

[Sehnsucht]

AMD processors run way too hot, and are viable only for bargain Wal-Mart and Best Buy PCs, in my opinion. They came to the multi-core market too late.

That they do. I work at AMD-Mart (Wal-Mart) and the frickin' AMD crap is pretty much ALL we sell. Among the very few Intel computers we have, there's not a single Core 2 Duo, just dinky Pentiums from 3 years ago. But as for Apple ever using AMD processors in Macs, I say F**K THAT!!! Intel owns, and I'm glad Apple finally realized that back in 2005.

 

[labrats5]

My God...

AMD processors run way too hot, and are viable only for bargain Wal-Mart and Best Buy PCs, in my opinion. They came to the multi-core market too late.

I'll entertain the debate if someone here want to argue how great AMD CPUs and their company is - in the context of this news story ...

I hope not to be disappointed by Apple's plans with these new hires. Graphics upgrades and more choices with graphics = ok. Re-visiting CPU choice = bad. My MacBook Pro is hot enough as it is with an Intel Dual Core. I can already see the spinning Beach Ball and hardware errors screaming from the hardware if they shift gears in Cupertino.

I'm sure someone has already commented on this, but I just can't let this go. AMD wasn't late to the x86 multi-core market, they MADE the x86 multi-core market. They were first by a long shot. The Athlon x2 was years before the core duo, intel's first decent dual-core.

I mean, there are plenty other reasons why this post is stupid, but seriously, learn some history before you make an opinion.

 

[dhowden]

Watch out AMD, Apple is poaching your staff, one by one...

 

[AforAndromeda]

fab.

OK I'm a bit disgruntled really...


Now will someone at Apple please innovate the sound chips.

We need a quantum leap here.

I don't mean louder.

I know most people seemingly are happy with an average sound, ok, fair dues, but some of us like the kind of sound that moves the emotions..

When I had my second hi fi I played the sound of a car crash and my wife and her mother ran to the window caus they thought it real.

That's the sort of realism I want in a sound. I mean clearer and with air and space.

There is room for improvement. Everything from the chip, connectors through to amp or headphones. (how many people have remarked on the difference when using good headphones or speakers).

Apple:
Why not start planning 64 or 12bit sound. Even a tie up with I-Tunes so the manufacturers have got something to sell.

Why not be able to take your reciording from your phone into a studio to remix...

Apple were/are good at innovation.

Over to you...


Peace

 

[BMWFan]

Intel has the fab capacity to simply bury AMD. Intel could drive the prices so low that AMD would be having to pay people to buy their processors.

Intel wouldn't be allowed to do that due to anti-trust regulations.

 

[batchtaster]

All they need now is a good reliability person and a fire chief

Don't forget the sailor, the biker and the cowboy.

 

[diamond.g]

I wonder if Apple could come up with a GPU in the first run that could actually keep up with ATI/Nvidia. PowerVR got out of the game due to their inability to keep up. Why is everyone assuming that ImgTec is going to all of a sudden have a core/chip that just pwns that Apple could use?

I would like to see Apple get back into the console business. We will be able to see if the XBLA model is one that can truely thrive. Plus I am curious to see what level of tech Apple can throw into a console and still sell for a profit and be able to compete techwise with MS/Sony.

 

[applecultvictim]

GreAt reply as per usual Aiden shaw, you go take that two sit ford plane and travel transatlantic and I ll take an airbus.

 

[Imhotep397]

...Apple working with AMD to bring out an OpenCL based game console...

I don't see it, I mean if Apple wanted to work with AMD they would just work with AMD not hire away their best minds. I do know that Jobs and company have a serious hard-on for getting AppleTV right so they may be incorporating a "SuperChip" into that to coordinate with the Intel cpu and some kind of Larrabee GPGPU with the idea in mind that game development for that, as a platform, will finally make it a successful product. I don't know if the box is going to outshine cable, but I think that's their ideal competitive scenario.

 

[nuckinfutz]

. I do know that Jobs and company have a serious hard-on for getting AppleTV right so they may be incorporating a "SuperChip" into that to coordinate with the Intel cpu and some kind of Larrabee GPGPU with the idea in mind that game development for that, as a platform, will finally make it a successful product. I don't know if the box is going to outshine cable, but I think that's their ideal competitive scenario.

I see little evidence that Apple cares about gaming on an ATV thus I expect the next model to be basically an iPod without a screen.

The chip designer will be primarily focused on low end mobile stuff IMO though the ATV will probably benefit from the low power and it'll add more sales units for the SoC. We don't need Intel based chips to playback video or listen to audio.

 

[satcomer]

My guess and talk from some old friends in high places that OpenCL is the reason Apple is getting these people. My feeling is the OpenCL is going to make Snow Leopard a real gaming machine if the gaming software community grabs onto it.

 

[Some_Big_Spoon]

Why buy the company, the debt, the inevitable anti-trust, and head-to-head rivalry with Intel, when they can just buy the talent? Waaaaaay cheaper.

I wonder if Apple could just buy AMD.

 

[chewietobbacca]

My guess and talk from some old friends in high places that OpenCL is the reason Apple is getting these people. My feeling is the OpenCL is going to make Snow Leopard a real gaming machine if the gaming software community grabs onto it.

OpenCL has nothing to do with gaming - it uses the GPU to do simple calculations at extremely parallel high speeds. A GPU is already used for gaming - its called OpenGL or DirectX API's to do gaming. OpenCL isn't going to speed up gaming - gaming is already based on the GPU and its API (be it DX or OGL) and has been that way since the beginning of graphics cards (remember the DirectX vs. OpenGL vs. Glide battles?)

Sheesh, with all the hype around SL and OpenCL, people are starting to think OpenCL is the be-all end-all for computing and will solve everything.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Don't forget the sailor, the biker and the cowboy.

LOL!

 

[AidenShaw]

That they do. I work at AMD-Mart (Wal-Mart) and the frickin' AMD crap is pretty much ALL we sell. Among the very few Intel computers we have, there's not a single Core 2 Duo, just dinky Pentiums from 3 years ago. But as for Apple ever using AMD processors in Macs, I say F**K THAT!!! Intel owns, and I'm glad Apple finally realized that back in 2005.

I sure hope that you don't work in Wal-Mart's computer department, because you don't seem to understand much about them.

Walmart.com shows a number of Core 2 Duo systems, including two marked as "available in stores" (most are online-only).

Also, you apparently don't understand that those "dinky 3 year old Pentiums" are really new "Core 2 Duo" chips (Merom/Allendale/Wolfdale) - although they are marked as "Pentium" because of a smaller L2 cache.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentium_Dual-Core

 

[Imhotep397]

I see little evidence that Apple cares about gaming on an ATV thus I expect the next model to be basically an iPod without a screen.

The chip designer will be primarily focused on low end mobile stuff IMO though the ATV will probably benefit from the low power and it'll add more sales units for the SoC. We don't need Intel based chips to playback video or listen to audio.

Yeah...little evidence of Apple moving into gaming. (LOL)

Microsoft Xbox Strategy and Marketing Executive to Join Apple?

 

[nuckinfutz]

Yeah...little evidence of Apple moving into gaming. (LOL)

Microsoft Xbox Strategy and Marketing Executive to Join Apple?

http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/04/30/apple.recruits.xbox.head/

he has quit his employer of 15 years to take up an education-related position at a European Apple office.

Would that be educational games?

 

[t0mat0]

OpenCL could help gaming - through helping the game physics for example.

As for potential of custom silicon - onLive might be an interesting potential upcoming example. Will be interesting to see if they open up that "revolutionary video compression algorithm and custom silicon". Been in development for 7 years. We get... a not so well defined Quicktime X at some point when 10.5.7 gets done, and 10.6 rolled out giving us a

"streamlined, next-gen platform advancing modern media & Internet standards featuring optimized support for modern codecs and more efficient media playback, making it ideal for any application that needs to play media content..."
apparently. Interesting to see what Perlman's got up to since Quicktime.

Going to make an interesting WWDC at the very least.

 

[Flynnstone]

Apple has vision. (Jobs & others)
Apple has a good balance sheet. The recession is hurting them much.
Apple has plenty of cash in the bank so to speak. They're liquid.
Therefore Apple is in a very good position to drive.

Apple buying AMD could hurt their relationship with Intel. Do we see any AMD processor chips in Macs? ... no, but yes.
Single processor computation power is basically llimited in grow, hence the move to parallel (OctoMac... & Snow Leopard).
What has more computation power than the CPU? ... the GPU. (Ignoring old Intel integrated graphics).
Add OpenCL to the recipe.
This has very good possibilities for the Mac ...
But the iPhone essentially has no competition. It could very well drive innovation in the PC realm as well! (PC = Mac or Windows)
Whos driving?

 

[Axemantitan]

and other things we can't talk about yet

I wonder what those will turn out to be?