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Intel is in a boatload of hurt right now, they just can't seem to solve their issues with the x86 chip.
I wouldn't say boatload of
hurt exactly as they posted record profits just a week or two ago like. They clearly have execution problems though, and seeing as how long it's been going on it seems inherent to their current organization; they clearly have people occupying positions who shouldn't be there, working against the best interests of the company.
With that said, I wouldn't be surprised to see the next major redesign to use Apple's ARM CPUs. They'll have nearly full control of the entire Mac at that point.
You'd think that, but I'm not so sure it's something Apple wants to do, seeing the power band Macs spread across; from ultra portable laptops to high-end workstations with 18 cores, and in the future undoubtedly even more. High-end chips require more work in research and development, verification and so on, but sell fewer units, so less ability to recoup costs. Custom Apple ARM chips for Macs would be destined for Apple alone, and Macs sell what, 15 million a quarter or something? Mostly cheaper, simpler models as well; Mac Pros would be quite rare in comparison. PCs sold like a billion per year, worldwide, at their peak. Much bigger market to recoup R&D in.
It would be hard to justify developing 18-core+ ARM chips and updating them on a yearly basis when the market is so small. Also worth noting is that Intel uses symmetric multithreading in their CPUs and have done so since the early aughts with Pentium 4. Apple has yet to release a single SMT-capable chip. Not that they couldn't do it no doubt, but as we've seen with "meltdown" and "spectre" and whatnot, designing modern CPUs is really complicated, and SMT complicates things on yet another level.
Missing ports? uh...welcome to the 21st century
Well, TBH, Apple has been removing ports since at least the original iMac when serial and parallel interfaces were replaced with USB. So they did it in the 20th century also. Not sure when they dropped the floppy drive; it was a good long while ago now as well. And yes, people cried about it then as well.
So just get with the program, people.
It's happened before and it will happen again! lol
It’s a shame that the industry can’t deliver regular updates to core components (CPU/GPU).
Nvidia charges too much money for their GPUs and AMD has been too damn poor to run their graphics division at full steam, not with having to scour the sofas for loose change on a daily basis to keep the lights running and console development also eating a big share of their pie. But now with Zen their fortunes are turning; they're profitable again and attracting new talent which they couldn't get before, so expect them to be back on the scene again in about a year or so. Not with something totally revolutionary, because that takes time (and a lot of cash), but something new and decent at least...
