New iMac to use ARM Processors?

[Occamsrazr]

Take a look at this article, I had never heard this theory before but it might make sense given the long delay...

http://www.valuewalk.com/2012/06/is-apple-inc-aapl-ready-to-ditch-intel/

Intel still supplies Apple with all of the chips for their laptop and desktop computers. If rumours prove to be true that could be changing. Apple has not yet updated its iMac series of desktop computers. Some believe that part of the delay might have to do with the introduction of computers running on ARM processor technology much like the firm’s mobile devices.

 

[Bug-Creator]

And what would be the point ???

There are no ARM-CPUs available that come even close in performance to the i5/i7s used in the current iMacs and savings in heat or costs would be to minimal to be considered.

Now if it had been about the MacBookAir it would still been ********, but atleast semi-believable ********

 

[benthewraith]

Take a look at this article, I had never heard this theory before but it might make sense given the long delay...

http://www.valuewalk.com/2012/06/is-apple-inc-aapl-ready-to-ditch-intel/

That would be like taking the engine of a Toyota Corolla and sticking it in a Maserati.

 

[talmy]

Take a look at this article, I had never heard this theory before but it might make sense given the long delay...

The comments others made at the end of that article sums things up nicely -- he doesn't know what he is talking about.

 

[lixuelai]

Lol no way. The idea is too stupid to even comprehend. ARM is a different cpu architecture and it will be akin to the PPC -> Intel transition except that it will be going to an inferior product.

 

[sammich]

If you understood where ARM processors are at the moment compared to the current cream of the crop Intel processors are then you would know too, how poor ARM is at the high end of town.

Intel has poured billions into their processor designs for decades. ARM has only just begun, and it's starting at the low end (low power, relatively low performance, and low bandwidth).

ARM chips get about 500-1000 on Geekbench (probably a little higher for the current quads).

Intel top end mobile chips? About 12000. Desktops are probably in the high 10k.

And you can't just go 'oh, we'll slap on faster ARM cores and more cores'. Because even the problem of high performance SMP (simultaneous multi processing) AMD hasn't mastered yet.

Starting to get the idea?

Addendum: oh, and then there's the software side of things. The fact that the MBP/A have been refreshed and released, both of which make up the largest chunk of their sales. Man, I could so on and on and on and on and on...

 

[forty2j]

I would really like to meet the "some" who "believe" this nonsense. So I could go all Darwin on them.

Any change in architecture would be announced well in advance. The "here comes Intel" was announced at WWDC 2005, and the first computer to actually use it launched at WWDC 2006.

 

[leman]

MacRumours will be renamed to MacWildPhantasies at this rate :/ Why even acknowledge junk 'journalism' like that on the forums?

 

[old-wiz]

The ARM chips have nowhere near the power needed for an iMac. can you seriously picture an ARM chip trying to deal with 16GB RAM, separate video card supporting a retina display, gigabit ethernet, thunderbolt devices, and Safari (with 20 tabs open), iPhoto, iTunes, etc? Putting ARM chips in an iMac would be like trying to put a lawnmower engine in an SUV. It's an absolutely silly idea.

 

[Chippy99]

The guy who wrote that article is a cretin.

Apple ditched PowerPC for Intel purely and simply because the price/performance gap between PPC and Intel was becoming intolerably large: Intel offered a huge performance boost at lower cost.

Arm offers no such performance boost. Quite the contrary, in fact. This story can be dismissed out of hand.

 

[thekev]

That writer is trolling all of you. First why would you debut something of that sort in a desktop machine when it's best suited to low power devices? The typical rumor is that the macbook air will get ARM. They see a slight delay (we'll see something over the summer, they never release everything at once), and now writers are trolling us with bizarre conclusions. Beyond this the whole premise is flawed. Intel tried to push atom chips before, and Apple has been fully aware of this just like they were aware Samsung and LG both sell phones, displays, and other things. Intel sells to other oems too. Of course ARM has other licensees too. See how pointless this is worrying that a commodity component supplier also supplies the competition?

 

[kitsunestudios]

ARM in an iMac? Not gonna happen.

ARM in an iMac-styled TV? Reasonable.