Well I'm not a Apple stock holder yet, but if I was they will have my vote! To HELL with Intel!
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Apple Considering Adopting AMD Processors for Upcoming Macs?
- Thread starter *LTD*
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Well I'm not a Apple stock holder yet, but if I was they will have my vote! To HELL with Intel!
Very true. We run a great many Opteron servers (
I will never buy anything with an AMD CPU, period.
Apple has already shown they are giving up on the profession market, therefor I have already been planning on the need to switch over to a windows machine in the studio.
Apple has already shown they are giving up on the profession market, therefor I have already been planning on the need to switch over to a windows machine in the studio.
(quoting for context rather than a particular reply, lots of people are making this point)
I don't think there is any doubt that AMD lag in several areas but having the best performance simply doesn't matter to Apple as much.
Their laptops continued to sell well despite trailing every other vendor by 9 months. They still haven't updated the MacBook Air.
Their premium home machine, the nearly-£2000 27" iMac, has a £30, 4 year old GPU (I do resent this ... but I still bought one
) All their Mac Pros are configured with budget graphic cards.Apple don't need cutting edge performance and if a flagging AMD can offer them cheap parts at a good price, Apple will market them exceptionally well, and sell them in large numbers at high margin.
The sky will not fall on our heads.
Well, that's one good point against it. Apple has no interest in making their system more attractive to hackers who have no intention of buying Apple products.
Why would anything happen? If Apple finds a better CPU for the iPhone (or any other product), they can switch. That's one of the advantages of Apple not emphasizing the processor all the time.
I really have trouble with this attitude. I can understand loyalty to BMW over Honda because there are very real differences. I can understand loyalty to Apple over Dell, because, again, there are real differences. I can understand loyalty to Xbox over Wii. What I don't get is why someone would be so loyal to a single CPU vendor.
If the statement were "my experience has been that I typically get more value from AMD", that would be one thing - because it implies that if the value proposition changed, that you'd buy the other one. But to simply say that you would always prefer AMD without regard to anything else seems silly.
The only problem with that is that it's experimental - just like the other 10 'earth-shaking, revolutionary breakthroughs' we see every month. If the technology is as good as they claim, the entire industry will get it. It is unlikely that HP would tie themselves to a single player - even their own computers.
Funny, when Apple did that on their 13" MBP, lots of people attacked them for exactly that position (that a slightly slower processor with much faster graphics was a fair tradeoff).
Intel doesn't, but Apple does. OpenCL does essentially the same thing - but works for all different CPU and GPU types. In fact, one report was that AMD was talking about dropping their own solution in favor of OpenCL.
Sure they could. Whether it makes sense is a different story (especially since the Intel license can't be transferred).
*checks calendar*. I thought so. It's 2010, not 2004.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/am...loss-to-intel-2010-04-16?reflink=MW_news_stmp
This would help AMD, but would it help Apple?
This would help AMD, but would it help Apple?
I'm not buying an Intel Mac until this all pans out then. My PPC children do everything I could ask. AMD doesn't sound too appealing, but if they make another switch and drop Intel, I'll be one pissed off consumer.
At the moment though, I'm a happy consumer. Long live the G4s!
At the moment though, I'm a happy consumer.
Long live the G4s!lots of possibilities
heck they could buy AMD with cash on hand.
More likely however may be that Apple has interest in AMDs many Fab facilities. They would be good places for manufacturing A4 chips and whatever new things Apple has planned with all the IC/Processor engineers they've acquired lately. We don't in fact know who is manufacturing the A4 chip now. Its assumed to be Samsung as there names were on the prototypes but the demand for Apple products has outstripped suppliers abilities before.
Then again Apple could Buy out AMD use their fabs for the A4 and use the Athlon as a basis for a new desktop chip by adding all of the power saving tweaks used in the A4. ... Hmmm... six core 30W Athlon anyone!
heck they could buy AMD with cash on hand.
More likely however may be that Apple has interest in AMDs many Fab facilities. They would be good places for manufacturing A4 chips and whatever new things Apple has planned with all the IC/Processor engineers they've acquired lately. We don't in fact know who is manufacturing the A4 chip now. Its assumed to be Samsung as there names were on the prototypes but the demand for Apple products has outstripped suppliers abilities before.
Then again Apple could Buy out AMD use their fabs for the A4 and use the Athlon as a basis for a new desktop chip by adding all of the power saving tweaks used in the A4. ... Hmmm... six core 30W Athlon anyone!
If Intel doesn't change their ridiculous licensing with the new i series, yeah.
For the third time: AMD has ZERO fab facilities. They spun that off into Global Foundries. If Apple wants Global Foundries to make A4 chips, all they have to do is pay, just like everyone else (including AMD).
Watch this move...
Apple always said they could not make a netbook under $500 that was not junk. Some people have claimed that the current $200-$300 netbooks were junk and the prices have edged up to the $300-$400 range for a somewhat 1/2 way decent spec'd one....
If it is true that AMD processors are cheaper and more advanced with Open CL (and this rumor turns out to be true about Apple adopting AMD chips).....
watch this possible lineup:
Apple keep Intel for top of the line models (mac pros, macbook pros, imac, xserve)
Apple keeps ipad for those who love the form factor of having a larger ipod touch with 3g and the brilliant apps (from the app store) in a portfolio sized computer. To me this thing is incredible.
Apple uses AMD for the mac-mini (except the server version) and lowers the price for consumers (hey, maybe you will get that mid-tower now).
Apple uses AMD and releases a netbook that blows everyone way and is affordable ($400-$500 range). Although I think the ipad is the ultimate netbook - minus a real keyboard.
Apple uses AMD in the macbook and drops the price to compete with the $600-$800 laptop lineups that now run Win 7 Home Premium.
If Apple were smart and to go that route, then I think markshare would sore beyond belief. Everyone could afford an Apple then.
Also if Microsoft were smart - they would bring ALL their office products to the mac (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, OneNote, Visio, Project, hmm - not sure whatelse is left that is branded as an "office" type product). their sales would triple. A lot of companies have gone Apple Only due to reliability and ease of use. Plus, many companies see a mixed solution, highend Windows Servers, but Mac desktops, laptops, iphones, and I just wonder how many will adopt the ipad.
Apple always said they could not make a netbook under $500 that was not junk. Some people have claimed that the current $200-$300 netbooks were junk and the prices have edged up to the $300-$400 range for a somewhat 1/2 way decent spec'd one....
If it is true that AMD processors are cheaper and more advanced with Open CL (and this rumor turns out to be true about Apple adopting AMD chips).....
watch this possible lineup:
Apple keep Intel for top of the line models (mac pros, macbook pros, imac, xserve)
Apple keeps ipad for those who love the form factor of having a larger ipod touch with 3g and the brilliant apps (from the app store) in a portfolio sized computer. To me this thing is incredible.
Apple uses AMD for the mac-mini (except the server version) and lowers the price for consumers (hey, maybe you will get that mid-tower now).
Apple uses AMD and releases a netbook that blows everyone way and is affordable ($400-$500 range). Although I think the ipad is the ultimate netbook - minus a real keyboard.
Apple uses AMD in the macbook and drops the price to compete with the $600-$800 laptop lineups that now run Win 7 Home Premium.
If Apple were smart and to go that route, then I think markshare would sore beyond belief. Everyone could afford an Apple then.
Also if Microsoft were smart - they would bring ALL their office products to the mac (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher, OneNote, Visio, Project, hmm - not sure whatelse is left that is branded as an "office" type product). their sales would triple. A lot of companies have gone Apple Only due to reliability and ease of use. Plus, many companies see a mixed solution, highend Windows Servers, but Mac desktops, laptops, iphones, and I just wonder how many will adopt the ipad.
Agreed, crazy talk to leave the x86 architecture. I'd jump ship as well, back to Ubuntu.
Still think this could be more graphics chip related and its just getting blown out of proportion, that and a finger in Intel's eye for messing with Apple's supply levels/timings.
Oh, shout out to Bellevue, there now too... off to the Square to see the MBPs.
Personally, if there are any negotiations going on (not as leverage), then I would assume it would be for GPUs, not CPUs.
While AMD may be cheaper, apple isn't stupid. True, we don't get the latest and greatest chips from Intel, but we still pay for it, and they realize that. Intel's premium is unavoidable though, as unless AMD's pipeline can catch up, their solutions cannot compare to current intel offerings, and moreso the media frenzy that can often accompany them. Switching to AMD I think would ultimately be more detrimental solely due to PR.
Rather, I would bet money to say that these negotiations are about a greater role of ATI in GPUs, probably even with switching solutions developed in house by Apple. ATI GPU's blow nividia out of the water, and Apple sees the handwriting on the wall in terms of Intel's GPU ambitions.
The bottom line is that Apple still wants Intel's CPU's, and has a vested interest in them (Lightpeak), however they do NOT want Intel's GPU's or graphics card shenanigans.
Just my take on things.
While AMD may be cheaper, apple isn't stupid. True, we don't get the latest and greatest chips from Intel, but we still pay for it, and they realize that. Intel's premium is unavoidable though, as unless AMD's pipeline can catch up, their solutions cannot compare to current intel offerings, and moreso the media frenzy that can often accompany them. Switching to AMD I think would ultimately be more detrimental solely due to PR.
Rather, I would bet money to say that these negotiations are about a greater role of ATI in GPUs, probably even with switching solutions developed in house by Apple. ATI GPU's blow nividia out of the water, and Apple sees the handwriting on the wall in terms of Intel's GPU ambitions.
The bottom line is that Apple still wants Intel's CPU's, and has a vested interest in them (Lightpeak), however they do NOT want Intel's GPU's or graphics card shenanigans.
Just my take on things.
Moving to AMD = Big Mistake Currently
Unless Apple can spray some magical iPad Fairy dust on this adoption, I see it being a mistake.
Unless Apple can spray some magical iPad Fairy dust on this adoption, I see it being a mistake.
Who says OS 11 will be a radical departure like OS 9 to OS X? It can very well be like going from OS 8 to OS 9.
If this happens, AMD chips are great value for money, but what are the chances this "value" is just used to line Apple's pockets?
It'd be great if it happens, mainly because of the AMD/ ATI combo, but I'll need to see the real thing to be convinced.
It'd be great if it happens, mainly because of the AMD/ ATI combo, but I'll need to see the real thing to be convinced.