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Apple Considering Switch From Intel Chips in Future Macs

Uh

Yea if Apple decides to not use the best out there there's no reason to own a Mac anymore. Hello old-a$$ Power PC.
 
lordonuthin said:
This is just another rumor, I wouldn't put much thought into it.
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Agreed but I would say this rumor has some meat because of what Apple has done in recent years with their own custom silicon with ARM chips.

A chip from the ground up, built specifically for OSX would probably run rings around Intel off the shelf solutions.
 
Apple is bluffing, and badly. If this were poker Apple would not just be holding a weak hand but would have actually dropped its cards on the floor and on its hands and knees searching for the cards.
 
Hawkeye411 said:
G6 Dual Quad Core ... here we come! LOL

Could explain Apples reluctance to buy out ARM.
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People want apple to buy ARM now?

----

AMD seems the most logical choice if they want to dump Intel but still keep x86.

The APUs have an excellent GPU.
 
joelypolly said:
So it could be a system with a ARM CPU + PowerVR GPU (with OpenCL) running all the basic functions such as browsing, mail and any non intensive applications. Launch Photoshop and you spin up the Intel CPU without the built in GPU giving you lower power consumption. Launch a game and the discrete GPU gets going.
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That's a nice idea in theory, but as far as I know it'd be impossible to implement in actuality.

The biggest problem is that ARM and x86 speak entirely different languages. What works on one can't work on the other without an emulator or VM mediating. Both of which will consume massive amounts of power just by running.

The other way would be to mode switch between two OSes that are able to talk to the CPU they're designed for. This would be like bootcamping between iOS and OSX really, and isn't all that beneficial for a mobile device. It's alright for tech savvy people, but confusing for the regular folk who want a device that...wait for the cliche...just works.
 
subsonix said:
There's no reason that virtualization would not work, bootcamp seems unlikely though.
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No, there are huge reasons why virtualization would not work.

- WINE (WineIsNotAnEmulatorIsNotAnEmulatorIsNotAnEmulator Is Not an Emulator) is not an emulator.
- VirtualBox does not emulate other processor architectures, and it's only made for x86.
 
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adder7712 said:
People want apple to buy ARM now?

----

AMD seems the most logical choice if they want to dump Intel but still keep x86.

The APUs have an excellent GPU.
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ARM is what iOS runs on, so it would create more unity to have Mac OS also run on ARM. I wouldn't be that opposed to it if ARM was just as good as Intel and if I didn't already have an Intel Mac.
 
Purant said:
I've been through the PPC to Intel transition. It wasn't pretty.
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... and several apps were still Rosetta based up until Lion. One time was painful enough! :)

faroZ06 said:
ARM is what iOS runs on, so it would create more unity to have Mac OS also run on ARM. I wouldn't be that opposed to it if ARM was just as good as Intel and if I didn't already have an Intel Mac.
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ARM is designed for mobile devices, while Intel x86 for general purpose computing. I don't think ARM chips will be equally as powerful as x86 chips - not until other companies other than Apple start using them in their desktop computers as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple releases an ARM version of OSX ... or a significantly beefed up version of iOS for netbooks.
 
faroZ06 said:
No, there are huge reasons why virtualization would not work.

- WINE (WineIsNotAnEmulatorIsNotAnEmulator Is Not an Emulator) is not an emulator.
- VirtualBox does not emulate other processor architectures, and it's only made for x86.
Click to expand...

Virtualization does not relate to specific products, it a general term.
 
subsonix said:
Virtualization does not relate to specific products, it a general term.
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Yeah, but I was talking about WINE and VirtualBox, which are the two main virtualization programs for Mac OS. There's also Sheepshaver for Motorola PPC and various gaming emulators for N64, Gamecube's IBM PPC, etc.
 
faroZ06 said:
ARM is what iOS runs on, so it would create more unity to have Mac OS also run on ARM. I wouldn't be that opposed to it if ARM was just as good as Intel and if I didn't already have an Intel Mac.
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For high level computing RISC based chips just can't keep up with CISC. Intel has mad great strides in power management with CISC based chips that rival arm design.

Personally I feel it would be a mistake for apple on the consumer front. The only advantage for apple is that they would control the processor design and keep everything in house. Doesn't mean it is a good decision in my opinion as the consumer will lose out
 
Renzatic said:
Not that there's anything stopping the VB people from writing a VM that works on other architectures.

Though it'd be kinda crappy. Running x86 applications in virtual environment on an ARM processor? That'd probably set your computer on fire.
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VB does not emulate other processor architectures. Sure, they could easily write an ARM version of it, but you would only be able to run Android, Windows RT, and other ARM-supporting systems on it.

Writing a version of VB that emulates other processors would be a whole different project.
 
Renzatic said:
Not that there's anything stopping the VB people from writing a VM that works on other architectures.

Though it'd be kinda crappy. Running x86 applications in virtual environment on an ARM processor? That'd probably set your computer on fire.
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And it's open source. Let's amuse ourselves and imagine for a second that this rumor is true, then I think it's safe to say that what they use will be equivalent or better than intel's offering, in which case it would not set your computer on fire.
 
Apple probably will go to mainly ARM processors in the next couple of years.

I'd bet the vast majority of users could get by with one today. Popular software simply does not need anything more than a crappy ARM processor. It isn't until you start talking photo/video editing, CAD, gaming that the CPU matters.

The past decade has seen people continually upgrade with FAR more CPU than they need. You can still run and old AMD Athlon single core 1.5 ghz chip from over a decade ago and you wouldn't notice much of anything for most tasks. Many thin clients already run ARM processors of similar power (or lack there of) and few even notice.

I won't like this move if it happens, but it's kind of obvious that it could be done fairly easily by Apple.
 
coolspot18 said:
... and several apps were still Rosetta based up until Lion. One time was painful enough! :)



ARM is designed for mobile devices, while Intel x86 for general purpose computing. I don't think ARM chips will be equally as powerful as x86 chips - not until other companies other than Apple start using them in their desktop computers as well.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple releases an ARM version of OSX ... or a significantly beefed up version of iOS for netbooks.
Click to expand...

HP is going to put ARM on their servers. It's not just for mobile anymore.
 
intel servers, arm terminals

i think perhaps we're looking at a different type of transition; arm based macs could be low powered os x terminals running software off cloud servers or a home server, intel based. that way the arm mac can still be as capable as it's intel counterpart.
 
faroZ06 said:
Yeah, but I was talking about WINE and VirtualBox, which are the two main virtualization programs for Mac OS.
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I know, which is why I answered with virtualization which solves the problem. Obviously there is nothing out that support a CPU that doesn't exist, I just wanted to say that it's nothing preventing that from happening.
 
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