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Nvidia Challenges Apple Silicon With New RTX Spark PC Chip

Shalev Lazarof said:
yeah yeah, it's running windows.
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Luckily for Apple the systems using this chip all are made for Windows. When some consumer version of Linux is running nicely, Apple had better be ready. I'm sure they realize that they need robust standard apps to make this appeal to a broad audience.
 
groove-agent said:
I feel the linux crowd doesn't change. There is always one or two elitists in a topic that drops a pro linux comment. Usually every couple years I look at the various distributions and come to the same conclusion - it's still far from any kind of mainstream adaptation, nor does it remotely compete with non-open source OSes (MacOS/ Windows) with respect to app selection or reliability of existing apps. The age old axiom "you get what you pay for" applies.

If I'm wrong and there is a polished linux distribution out there let me know. The last ones I tried were Debian and Ubuntu which works OK if you're doing average computer things, but if you want to do anything specialized, the app support isn't really there, or the apps are limited or are buggy AF.
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Outside of enthusiasts / hobbyists, etc, Linux isn't a great "do everything OS" for people who wants something that works out of the box.

But something like SteamOS works better, because it has a far narrower set of internet use-cases, and I can see how linux gaining a lot of market share where you have an OS for more specific purposes, and with a UI that is pretty much only useful for those specific purposes.
 
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NVidia Spark -1 Petaflop AI power ...That's 20 times more AI computing power than the fastest Mac.
Apple doesn't even stand a chance of coming close to that kind of performance. It was only a matter of time, because NVIDIA has much better technology in this area.
 
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Happy_John said:
Outside of enthusiasts / hobbyists, etc, Linux isn't a great "do everything OS" for people who wants something that works out of the box.

But something like SteamOS works better, because it has a far narrower set of internet use-cases, and I can see how linux gaining a lot of market share where you have an OS for more specific purposes, and with a UI that is pretty much only useful for those specific purposes.
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There's already a solution for that in most cases, called Windows.

The only case where Linux actually achieves this is the "server"/"internet" space, and again most people just don't care. Maybe Linux runs on my Amplifi box. But I don't care. If I did I might buy a MicroTik, but that holds zero appeal for me. Same with NAS. Same with Plex - easier to run Channels DVR server on my mac. etc etc. If the space is large enough to matter, someone has created a Windows or Mac version.

I mean 3M people run SteamOS. Which is like, who cares, for both Apple and MS.
 
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if this ever gets serious linux support and lenovo put out a 14" variant, i'll be intrigued, especially if Apple destroys the MBP with touchscreen.
 
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bombardier10 said:
NVidia Spark -1 Petaflop AI power ...That's 20 times more AI computing power than the fastest Mac.
Apple doesn't even stand a chance of coming close to that kind of performance. It was only a matter of time, because NVIDIA has much better technology in this area.
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Now give us the memory bandwidth...

"Hey Siri, for SINGLE USER USE, which is more important for token rate, TOPS or memory bandwidth?"
 
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Nyx1 said:
Nice M6 will be crush them all can't wait for November event really hope one more thing like 5 years ago when Apple introduced Apple silicon moments
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Good luck when M5 Max cant even come close to mobile RTX 5070 while many software still Nvidia based. Oh, Mac doesn't even have high-end desktop anyway after they ditched Mac Pro.
 
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pgolik said:
Given the track record of Nvidia Linux support I wouldn't hope for much. Their drivers are famous for being a nightmare on Linux.
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Maybe hard to set up, but all those data centers filled with Nvidia GPUs are not running Windows. Almost all AI is done with Nvidia on Linux.

I think the reason for the online reputation is all the people who try this but lack skill or experience with Linux
 
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I'm always happy for more competition, but I'll wait for the Ars review before forming any kind of opinion. This thing doesn't even have a release date or price yet.
 
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Now who should be concerned about this new chip? Intel, AMD and Qualcomm.
But sure it is advertised as a rival to Apple Silicon. Which is the same thing Qualcomm did with their x-elite (not sure about the name) and look how that went ...
Whatever, more hype ...
 
Why would anyone buy this? Snapdragon X/X2 Elite laptops aren’t exactly flying of the shelves and this will likely be even more expensive.

And running Windows on ARM you still have compatibility issues with some software.
 
ChrisA said:
Maybe hard to set up, but all those data centers filled with Nvidia GPUs are not running Windows. Almost all AI is done with Nvidia on Linux.
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AI yes, but they still have to run Windows instances to ensure that compatibility is tested.

A lot of Nvidia GPUs in the cloud power Windows VMs and Windows based cloud gaming. They’ve been doing that even longer than inference.
 
arubinst said:
Not interested in Windows. But this things could get interesting running Linux. Competition is good! The winner in the end is the consumer.
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Microsoft ARM based surface machines are boot loader locked. So this won't be running linux.
 
This is all well and good, but it is ARM and the VAST MAJORITY of Windows software is written for x86. This might have all the specs, but it won't run games unless it is through a translation layer.
 
NLLV said:
This is all well and good, but it is ARM and the VAST MAJORITY of Windows software is written for x86. This might have all the specs, but it won't run games unless it is through a translation layer.
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Windows on ARM has a translation layer just like macOS and it works similarly well.
 
groove-agent said:
I feel the linux crowd doesn't change. There is always one or two elitists in a topic that drops a pro linux comment.
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On one hand Linux is so important and on the other hand it attracts a kind of entitled snob who comes from wealth but snears at everyone who pays for apps or runs a commercial software company.

I think these type of people have a kind of self guilt complex because they can live on dad’s money. Instead of getting a job they grow dreadlocks, wear logos, can’t shut up about Linux taking over the world and then go wave a Ba’ath party flag in public. There’s actually one such rich kid who left his famous American family and now lives in Ireland funding anti western extremists with his dad’s money.
 
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marte91 said:
The fact that they only have a 9.5 market share of pc overall in the world, if it was the best at everything, everyone will be buying Macs, so come down from the clouds and accept reality.
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Just because most of the world uses Windows doesn't mean it's better by any stretch. Do you not remember back when Apple was still on Intel and Macs actually outperformed Win machines through bootcamp? I do...

Apple switched to their own chips because Intel was dragging the ball on performant chips, the PC industry was caught massively by surprise and are struggling to play catch up. Nothing I said was opinion so it's not my head in the clouds.
 
1. More competition. Games-capable gpu*
2. Not a particularly strong WoA start. But again, see (1).

* something that could not be said about snapdragon X1.
 
GuilleA said:
The 128 GB GB10 Spark is $5,000 (withouth screen, battery, etc.). A similar specced M5 Max MacBook Pro is around $5,500, and about the same for an M3 Ultra/96 GB Mac Studio.
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lets be honest neither of those macs configuration can compete with a spark.
 
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