Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
With ARM you don't need a fan! Don't compare the iPad's new 7nm chip to legacy Intel technology and its legacy thermal architecture! :-o
Not sure if you're being sarcastic, but iPhones already throttle. The ipad may be a bit more resistant due to larger area to dissipate heat.
 
We have all been hearing about the "fusion" of iOS and Mac OS.. It's becoming closer and closer with this iPad release and the addition of USB C. You can now walk up to a monitor and use your ipad on it. you can use a keyboard on the iPad.. you can use a pencil on the ipad - the iPad is the most versitle computer there is (it's just not quite a "computer" yet)

If it happens - there's no doubt the iPad will be this fusion. If Apple keeps putting these chips in.. and keeps avoiding the mac line up, watch Tim and his PR spin this as the iPad is now faster then the Mac..

Then you will have your one more thing announcement - the iPad will also run Mac OS. Your iPad will be used with iOS on the go, then you will plug your iPad into a monitor via USB C and it will begin to run Mac OS. With 1TB of storage and Cell support and the current dongle life - is my theory far off? I don't think it really is.

Apple is clearly shaping the laptop industry to their liking and within the next 5 years I believe the iPad will become a full "computer" that blends mac OS and iOS into one.

That's (Apple dropping laptop/desktop computers for tablets someday) not going to happen anytime soon. It's just a whine/chorus the unhappy here chant because they're not satisfied with Apple macOS computer development - which is pretty much constrained by Intel's roadmap and delays. Some people can only feel good letting others know how unhappy and picked on they are.

There will be a transition to Apple-designed cpus for macOS desktop/laptop computers. Though my bet is on a full-custom design rather than ARM-based.
 
Last edited:
Curious, why?

If an iPad or MB worked equally well with apple chips, Intel Inside, AMD, or 1,000,000,000 miniature squirrels with calculators, why does that vertical integration create value to you as a consumer?

Honest question! :)

Performance benefits, battery life benefits, more frequent updates, more secure, better privacy, new form factors, app flexibility across platforms, stuff like that. My iPad is 100% issue free and I'd like to see that with Apple's other computers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tozovac
iPad has no fan. It'll throttle down in no time. These benchmarks don't parallel real world use. More like fantasy.

I think the main takeaway of this article is that Apple is managing to squeeze high-end i7 like performance in a super low TDP package.

Yes the current 'iPad' design would not be suitable for a lot of applications, but the question is what prevents Apple from designing it's Macbooks with their own chips... say in 2020?

Before, it would be performance. Today, it seems that bar has been lifted.
 
Why does the iPad need to become a Mac? Especially if Apple is working on their own CPUs for the Mac? At the event this week Intel wasn’t mentioned on stage once. It seems very clear Apple is looking to eventually be free of Intel.
The iPad doesn't need to become the Mac nor does macOS need to come to the iPad. What needs to happen, and I think will happen, is that the iPad should take on more tasks that were once relegated only to the Mac. In that context, the Mac gets pushed into much higher-end niche use cases.
 
Performance benefits, battery life benefits, more frequent updates, more secure, better privacy, new form factors, app flexibility across platforms, stuff like that. My iPad is 100% issue free and I'd like to see that with Apple's other computers.

But, can those only be accomplished with Apple chips? Maybe they can and I'm not as well-versed there.
 
Or at least a light weight text editor like Atom.

A prominent Xcode for iPad app developer (unpublished but promising prototype) was recently hired on the dev technology team (as seen on Twitter). Let’s cross our fingers.
 
Curious, why?

If an iPad or MB worked equally well with apple chips, Intel Inside, AMD, or 1,000,000,000 miniature squirrels with calculators, why does that vertical integration create value to you as a consumer?

Honest question! :)

Because Apple can then plan its products around its own roadmaps. Right now, Apple, like every other PC vendor is stuck in their product design planning around Intel's product roadmap and their chips' feature sets and limitations.

Just for example; you can't have LPDDR4 RAM in current Macbook Pros, simply because Coffee Lake Intel chips don't support them. Another example, Apple was able to bring 64bit chips in its A7 processors way ahead of time, and stuck it into the iPhone 5s. Hence they were able to bring iOS into the 64 bit transition way quicker than if they'd stuck Qualcomm CPUs into their phones. And today, the iPhone 5s is still supported by the latest 64bit iOS.

If Apple controls every component, their product road map will be fully in their control. For us, that ultimately means more cohesive, more regularly advancing and better product lines.
 
iPad has no fan. It'll throttle down in no time. These benchmarks don't parallel real world use. More like fantasy.

This. Until we see if it can do this in a sustained way it's nearly meaningless. I certainly *hope* that Apple begins building products that can adequately cool themselves under sustained heavy operations, but it's been a long time since we've seen them accomplish such a thing.
 
Reading that benchmarks, combined with the disappointment with the new Air (after the initial excitement), makes me want to cuddle my 8YO, dying, 11" Air the best I can, until at least until WWDC 2019, to see it there isn't any special announcements about another CPU architecture change on the horizon for the Mac.

I would love to see Apple go ARM! :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: firewood
Time to go ARM on Mac, Apple. You have long been Intel's slave, time to break those chains.

If an ARM-based Mac can't run all the Mac apps we have today plus a Windows VM, an ARM-based Mac is worthless to me, personally.

Also, looking at the amount of RAM that's in these new iPad Pros (seems to be either 4 GB or 6 GB depending on the storage chosen), it's going to take a while for the iPad to have the amount of RAM that a lot of pros need in their MacBook Pros today. Now, if an ARM-based Mac with 8 GB of RAM is somehow able to be roughly equivalent to an Intel-based Mac with 16 GB of RAM, the ARM future may be closer than we think; but I haven't read anything to indicate that is the case.
 
Pretty useless stat, since the iPad Pro is still very limited due to its OS. It will open Safari faster, yippekayee.

A MacBook Pro is the complete package, full OS, mouse support, external HDs, displays, it's a work horse. I can see an iPad Pro work well for on the field, check ups, but no proper heavy duty work.
You'll soon be very suprised what Apple can do, when it isn't constrained by Intel's "Roadmap", which is OBVIOUSLY doling-out improvements and shuffling deck-chairs rather than Innovating (which is what Apple is OBVIOUSLY doing!)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ploki
I want the full version of Final Cut Pro X on the iPad Pro, plus Adobe Aftereffects and I am done with desktop PC.
Time estimate: 2 Years.
[doublepost=1541092149][/doublepost]
Its a shame the iPad isn't as flexible as the MacBook Pro. Wasted performance potential.

Despite the CPU power, MacBook Pro can still do many more tasks the iPad cannot, due to a variety of reasons such as Walled Garden, lack of RAM etc.
Give it a rest.

This is more about the future viability of an ARM-based MAC.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ploki
There is no such thing and CISC and RISC in any modern computer architecture. All micro ops are implemented as what you would call “RISC” and instruction code translation is moving toward “CISC” for icache efficiency.

This is not true. In the x86 processors I've designed, some instructions are inherently RISC-y, some are translated using a microcode ROM on-the-fly to RISC-like ops, and some are CISC-y (for example, instructions that use complex addressing schemes, etc.) Even where individual ops are translated to a sequence of microOps, this is still inherently different than RISC - among other things, you need much more complicated instruction decoders, with microcode sequencers, microcode ROMs, etc. This also affects the instruction sequencing (out-of-order issue and retirement) because you can't ever perform "half" an x86 instruction (e.g. by performing 4 out of 8 corresponding microOps). You have to deal with much more complicated addressing modes, and instructions that write to or read from memory.

RISC is more than just "execute simple instructions." It is "don't allow any instruction to write/read memory other than STORE/LOAD," and "don't use complicated flag modes" and "don't have instructions with more than two operands," etc.
 
Not that anyone might care, but here’s my prediction. Eventually, Apple will develop a hybrid iOS/MacOS iPad. They’ll develop an aluminum keyboard attachment that will connect magnetically or otherwise to the iPad (which is essentially an uninterrupted screen now) and run MacOS when connected to the keyboard. Disconnect the iPad and it switches to iOS. The aluminum keyboard attachment may even give an extra performance boost to the iPad when connected so it can run MacOS smoothly (additional graphics processing, memory, etc. Apple has publicly stated they’ll never merge iOS/MacOS but that doesn’t mean they won’t eventually build a device that can do both. Hmmmm? Something to think about.

You're describing Microsoft Surface - I doubt apple will do that 5 years late.
 
Give it a rest.

This is more about the future viability of an ARM-based MAC.

finally a voice of reason.
so much "hurr durr no mouse" posts throughout.

PowerPC/x86 transition was fairly smooth, and ARM/x86 should be smoother.
[doublepost=1541092452][/doublepost]
This. Until we see if it can do this in a sustained way it's nearly meaningless. I certainly *hope* that Apple begins building products that can adequately cool themselves under sustained heavy operations, but it's been a long time since we've seen them accomplish such a thing.
I'd like to see an i9 in an ipad... :D
 
Pretty useless stat, since the iPad Pro is still very limited due to its OS. It will open Safari faster, yippekayee.

A MacBook Pro is the complete package, full OS, mouse support, external HDs, displays, it's a work horse. I can see an iPad Pro work well for on the field, check ups, but no proper heavy duty work.

Yup. Looking forward to the day when a tablet is a multifunction do-it-all full OS device with real power, capable of accepting any input device plus display connection. It'll happen, just not sure Apple will ever make such a thing … they seem to enjoy limiting connection options … all about wireless, unless it involves a dongle. ;)
 
Apple dumped the PPC due to slow/lack of roadmap, so it is very possible that they may switch to ARM in the future.
However I think people need to step back from a very synthetic benchmark to think performance is comparable with the Macs. I have not seen Spec benchmarks for the A12 chips.

x86 made big progress (especially on the server side) in the very late 2000s (2007-2010) due much improved memory management and memory performance. Would love to see real world comparisons between a Macbook Pro and iPad Pro doing a 30 minute video render on similar software that can use the capability of the system. Similar with multitasking benchmarks. I think that will give a much better indication of where the new iPad Pro/A series actually stack up.

In the meantime I'm still happily using a 15" rMBP (mid 2012) on Sierra and 13" rMBP (mid 2015) with High Sierra doing various compute intensive tasks. vs My iPad Air 1 is barely doing OK with iOS 12. Will need some proof that the A chips and iOS have a longer lifespan with intensive tasks as well.

Bottomline, I think it is very premature to think the the A chips and iOS is ready to take on what macOS and x86 is doing. Perhaps in a few years. As other mentioned and I suspect as well it may start at the lower end of the Mac line with A chips and then go from there. Will be fun to see the transition, given how shoddy the last 2 rounds of macOS and iOS have been.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.