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How does this make sense?

V

Val-kyrie

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Feb 13, 2005
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So Apple has continued to use Intel CPUs to update its MBP/MBA line of notebooks. Based on all of the benchmarks comparing AMD's Renoir 4000-series APUs with Intel's Ice Lake and Comet Lake CPUs, it appears that the strength of Intel's processors is in single-core performance while the strength of AMD's processors is in multi-core performance. In light of this, how does it make sense for Apple to continue to use Intel chips while claiming to cater to creative professionals whose software prioritizes multi-core performance?

*N.B., I am comparing the "strength" of the architectures, not the head-to-head performance of these CPUs.
 
I think it makes sense because Apple is probably getting excellent prices from Intel, first right of refusal with new chips, a steady supply of chips, standarized their computers on a single CPU, and all of their OS development has been with Intel processors and chipsets.
 
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Val-kyrie said:
how does it make sense for Apple to continue to use Intel chips
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My personal opinion is that AMD just came out with mobile chips that are quite potent, previously their mobile chips were rather meager. Given the lack of a track record, and the fact it takes time to re-engineer the logic board for the new chip. Its not surprising that Apple wasn't the first to embrace AMD.

I think with Intel's inability to get off of 14nm technology, AMD will be the choice for many makers and its conceivable that Apple too will switch over, though given their release schedule, that's now looking like it will be 2021

I haven't followed AMD's rise in the mobile sector but what little I have seen is most of the laptops using AMD are coupling that with Nvidia GPUs - not sure why, but that could also be a factor in Apple not moving there since they're avoiding Nvidia like the plague.
 
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Apple is likely just buying time. Eventually they want to move all systems to silicon that Apple makes. Same for all Wifi. Apple has hired a lot of good designers and engineers in both the CPU/GPU and Wifi space recently.
 
Audit13 said:
I think it makes sense because Apple is probably getting excellent prices from Intel, first right of refusal with new chips, a steady supply of chips, has already announced that they are moving away from Intel towards their own cpu
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Apple has announced no such thing. That’s a rumor and until Apple announces they are moving to ARM a rumor is all it will be.
 
The computers are effectively signed sealed and delivered a year before they go on sale - for example the model numbers of these computers were registered (i.e. they were submitted for tests to ensure they meet relevant standards) in June 2019, so their design would have already been locked in by then. The 4000 series chips were only announced at CES this year so way too late to be included in these models.
 
Audit13 said:
...has already announced that they are moving away from Intel towards their own cpu, standrized their computers on a single CPU, and all of their OS development has been with Intel processors and chipsets.
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They have not announced any such thing at all. There are rumors that say this is happening, and I would not be surprised, but your assertion that it has been announced is in fact not, in any way, truth.
 
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Wyvernspirit said:
They have not announced any such thing at all. There are rumors that say this is happening, and I would not be surprised, but your assertion that it has been announced is in fact not, in any way, truth.
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My apologies, you are correct. I have edited my post accordingly.

If Apple is going to move away from Intel, it does not make sense to me for them to switch to AMD during the transition period.

PBG4 Dude said:
Apple has announced no such thing. That’s a rumor and until Apple announces they are moving to ARM a rumor is all it will be.
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You are correct. My apologies.
 
Although there's no "official" announcement yet, I think it can be predicted with near-certainty that Apple will reveal their intentions to introduce ARM Macs later this month.

And... it follows that... if they are in a position to "announce" this, that they already have a number of ARM-based Macs up-and-running in their development rooms.

Probably a lot of short memories here, but I can remember back around 2004 when similar rumors were flying around that Apple "had a version of OS X that ran on intel computers". At the time, many rejected such assertions without consideration. But only a year or so later... BOOM! ... Apple not only announced they were moving to intel, but that they had intel platforms already running. And the "transition" that came afterwards was VERY quick.
 
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Fishrrman said:
Although there's no "official" announcement yet, I think it can be predicted with near-certainty that Apple will reveal their intentions to introduce ARM Macs later this month.

And... it follows that... if they are in a position to "announce" this, that they already have a number of ARM-based Macs up-and-running in their development rooms.

Probably a lot of short memories here, but I can remember back around 2004 when similar rumors were flying around that Apple "had a version of OS X that ran on intel computers". At the time, many rejected such assertions without consideration. But only a year or so later... BOOM! ... Apple not only announced they were moving to intel, but that they had intel platforms already running. And the "transition" that came afterwards was VERY quick.
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Apple probably has MacOS running on ARM, probably for years, and possibly other chips as well. It would be short sighted not to be prepared and know what options and what those options would require to make it work.
 
Wyvernspirit said:
Apple probably has MacOS running on ARM, probably for years, and possibly other chips as well. It would be short sighted not to be prepared and know what options and what those options would require to make it work.
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Considering how iOS came about, they've been tinkering with it behind the scenes for at least that long, even if not flat out running OSX on ARM back in 2005/6/7
 
It doesn't make sense, which is why I think Apple will be moving away from them in the next few years here.
 
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