Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
ARM-Based MacBook Air Unlikely Based on Analyst Talk with Tim Cook
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Depends. If they make an ARM CPU as powerful as an i7, do you think it'll still be as light, as cool, as easy on the battery life as the current ARM chips out in the wild now?
Actually, for portable computers, single core performance of the Core Duo processor emulating PowerPC code was the same as the performance of the laptop PowerPC versions, and the Intel MacBooks had another spare core, and blew the PowerPC away when running Intel code.
And a keyboard and two 24 inch monitors.
Yup. It'll be silly for Apple to downgrade their computation powers with ARM. If anything, consumers may find Intel processors in their iPad in the near future. How about i7 cpus with the latest nVidia GPU. Hmmm!
People are so black and white, this or that, one wins one loses.
Its just dumb.
Mac OS and iOS will continue to coexist, for the entire foreseeable future. I guarantee you the longest term plans that Apple has in the vault, still contain Mac OS playing a role. Its going to continue to evolve and become even more awesome, and work even more seamlessly with iOS devices.
Do you think Apple is dumb? Do you think Apple wants everyone from the lowly consumer to the creative pro buying $500 iPads that do it all?? NOPE.
Their numbers will always be better selling you the Mac, the iPad, the iPhone, and even some crazy little Nano gadget that you don't even need, but still want.
Its just dumb.
Mac OS and iOS will continue to coexist, for the entire foreseeable future. I guarantee you the longest term plans that Apple has in the vault, still contain Mac OS playing a role. Its going to continue to evolve and become even more awesome, and work even more seamlessly with iOS devices.
Do you think Apple is dumb? Do you think Apple wants everyone from the lowly consumer to the creative pro buying $500 iPads that do it all?? NOPE.
Their numbers will always be better selling you the Mac, the iPad, the iPhone, and even some crazy little Nano gadget that you don't even need, but still want.
Apples not trying to merge iOS and Mac OS, they fell into hella great ideas, and re-implemented them on Mac, especially since people expect when they close an app, for it to return that way, because they got used to the iPhone way. they were fixing Mac OS annoyances.
Giant icons on a non touch screen to launch an app doesn't seem like a great idea to me... it seems more like a accessibility item for people who are almost blind maybe...
Implementing many features that have to be accessed by gestures by default when the main input devices for a desktop are as you say a mouse and a keyboard... still doesn't seem like a good idea to me. In fact, as studies have shown and as Tim Cook demonstrated with his wonderful Lion demo, gestures are a step backwards in usability.
You really think Apple is not aware of there future iOS cpu's based on ARM. They understand the fact and realized that the ARM cpu is not suited for MacOSX. This doesn't mean that they have another CPU planned for iOS.
Binary compatibility is important to Apple.
The MacBook Air is the Mac of the future. It will stick with the more powerful architecture (x86) for as long as possible. Remember what Steve Jobs said. There will always be a need for computers, which he analogized to "trucks," though other devices will increasingly fill the need for consumers. I think the MacBook Air is the "truck" that he envisioned. That's probably why it was so important for him that Macs adopted Thunderbolt, even though there aren't many devices for it. Thunderbolt enables connecting a full-powered docking station to the smallest notebook Apple makes. Thus, once it realizes its potential, Thunderbolt lets any Mac be that "truck" to handle the most resource intensive of computing needs.
And here is the entire story boiled down to a core...
And this core means : we didn't learn J*** SH** at this meeting, but let's tell you what we conjured out of our butts.
Their IMPRESSION of what Apple FEELS? Seriously--wtf?
Anyway. Apple could have very well been playing with the idea of an iPad-book when they were tepid on the whole form function. The industry was behind a curve and Apple far behind in all ways except their actual development of the product was insanely awesome. I bet they shelved ANY plans for an ARM-book about 2 years ago, if they had any such plans, when the sales blew through the roof and created a palpable market barely fathomed before the iPad.
And this core means : we didn't learn J*** SH** at this meeting, but let's tell you what we conjured out of our butts.
Their IMPRESSION of what Apple FEELS? Seriously--wtf?
Anyway. Apple could have very well been playing with the idea of an iPad-book when they were tepid on the whole form function. The industry was behind a curve and Apple far behind in all ways except their actual development of the product was insanely awesome. I bet they shelved ANY plans for an ARM-book about 2 years ago, if they had any such plans, when the sales blew through the roof and created a palpable market barely fathomed before the iPad.
To be honest I think thats what it boils down to. One of the reasons the App store was able to thrive, especially between the iPad and iPhone, was because all the devices are running a similar interface, thus getting apps running across the product line was not a huge issue.
Notably when the Mac App Store was released, it was a completely different store, they didn't try and have the two integrated in any meaningful way.
If they were to have an iOS or even ARM based MBA they really would fragment the Mac lineup, and if iOS happened to be the OS of choice they'd also fragment the iPad and other iOS devices lineup.
TBH the only meaningful gain I can see from it is longer battery life, and while important in a laptop its not like intel based CULV systems can't get a good life out of them nor do I think that alone merits a move for that platform, unless ARM has some high end chips that can also cater to the Macbook Pro and other models so that the entire family moves as one.
Besides, if Apple truely believes that tablets will eclipse pc sales, then they are already well positioned with the iPad anyway and the MBA etc will remain focused on a different segment of the market.
Yes it would be extremely STUPID if Apple would put ARM into a MacBook Air and I believe that is exactly Apple Haters would hope will happen. As for iPad with Intel processor - I would love it if happen - and if you think of it - it is a logical choice with desire to merge the best of iOS with power of Mac OS X.
I have both MacBook Air and iPad 2 and the MacBook Air gets used more. The iPad 2 has limited uses
----------
How about completely destroy Apple MacBook Air line and respect for Apple.
If ARM had a cpu as powerful as i7
1. The cpu would used a lot more power than current ARM
2. By that time current i7 will be like Atom compare to there replacements in the future
3. Future Intel cpus will used less power than current ARM's
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.4; en-us; DROID BIONIC Build/5.5.1_84_DBN-70) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)
I really don't get the people that want ARM processors in Macs. Yeah ARM is great for the mobile market but it just makes no sense in a PC. The fact is ARM processors are much much slower than even the slowest Intel i series CPUs...and if PCs are indeed the "trucks" of the future they need processing power. The only place I see ARM chips in PCs is maybe in the ultra cheap laptop market, but Apple is not in that market. I don't understand the people that want to make destops oversized iPads, what's the point?
I really don't get the people that want ARM processors in Macs. Yeah ARM is great for the mobile market but it just makes no sense in a PC. The fact is ARM processors are much much slower than even the slowest Intel i series CPUs...and if PCs are indeed the "trucks" of the future they need processing power. The only place I see ARM chips in PCs is maybe in the ultra cheap laptop market, but Apple is not in that market. I don't understand the people that want to make destops oversized iPads, what's the point?
This is what is wrong with current smartphone mentality. They don't realize that these are two different markets completely and not everyone believes that smart phone and tablets are the answer to all computing.
It is very naive to think the laptops are going away and replace by mobile devices. Yes I believe that desktop maybe one day - but laptops no. Especially with the low power of ARM cpus.
Yes mobile cpus will advance and so will laptops but PC machines will always be more powerful than mobile machines. I think a more likely future will be Intel cpus in phones than ARM in laptops.
Mac OS based machines like the MacBook Air will be around in 10 years, just more powerful, and longer battery life. For example I have a 5 year dual Xeon 5160 which is more powerful than most laptops - and both of these machines are much powerful that my 2010 macbook air which is lightyears faster than my iPad 2 and any other ARM cpu.
Trucks and cars
And the trucks are absolutely required to deliver the parts and fuel to make and keep cars running.
One of the reasons that iOS devices are piling in the profits is several 100k iOS Developers and nearing a million apps. Until tools such as Xcode run on something other than Mac OS X (Linux?, Windows 8??, iCloud???), Apple has to keep the app supply chain running, and thus keep on shipping Macs that developers like to use.
And the other option, converting iOS to support the full Developer tool chain would pretty much make it Mac OS X on ARM.
And the trucks are absolutely required to deliver the parts and fuel to make and keep cars running.
One of the reasons that iOS devices are piling in the profits is several 100k iOS Developers and nearing a million apps. Until tools such as Xcode run on something other than Mac OS X (Linux?, Windows 8??, iCloud???), Apple has to keep the app supply chain running, and thus keep on shipping Macs that developers like to use.
And the other option, converting iOS to support the full Developer tool chain would pretty much make it Mac OS X on ARM.
Research Regulation FD. A CEO can't give analysts information without telling the rest of the world. In general, these analyst meetings are primarily bland affairs where management regurgitates information that is already in the public domain. If the company does wind up disclosing something that wasn't previously public knowledge, they are very quick to release the information in a public filing.
Meanwhile, back on topic. An IOS based MBA? I doubt that very much....If it was touch screen capable, and ran IOS6, it would fall into competition with what is rapidly becoming Apple's flagship money spinner: The iPad.
A 13" or 11" come to that IOS device? I'm really not sure. My MBA runs OSX and is therefore a useful addition to my Pro and iMac. I have an iPad, so can't see any need for a giant version.
A 13" or 11" come to that IOS device? I'm really not sure. My MBA runs OSX and is therefore a useful addition to my Pro and iMac. I have an iPad, so can't see any need for a giant version.
An ARM-based computer would be a joke. They're anemic as hell-- a bit weaker than G4s clock for clock (and G4s were single-core, obviously..), and the performance-per-watt is actually quite bad compared to any notebook chip, much less an ULV.
Sandy Bridge is a good answer for the MBA. 22nm, better graphics and better performance per clock-- all are very good for a form factor like the MBA.
I'm sure they've got ARM-based MBAs, but they're not going into production any time soon.
I'd love to see a mobile AMD chip in there, however.
Sandy Bridge is a good answer for the MBA. 22nm, better graphics and better performance per clock-- all are very good for a form factor like the MBA.
I'm sure they've got ARM-based MBAs, but they're not going into production any time soon.
I'd love to see a mobile AMD chip in there, however.
I really don't think Apple intends to use ARM in the computers for a while. Maybe in 5-6 years, which Apple will talk about in public in about 5-6 years
I think the comment by Cook was a hint that yes Apple is going to make iOS devices, especially the iPad, more powerful