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Apple to stop using Intel processors in Macs

nashathedog

nashathedog

nashathedog

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Good news for AMD? Maybe it isn't after all as they are reportedly going to use there own in house processors from 2020.

https://www.theguardian.com/technol...op-using-intel-chips-processors-mac-computers

The plan, reported by Bloomberg, has been rumoured for several years, as Apple has taken on more chip design for devices. The company’s A-series of processors, currently capped by the A11 Bionic chips used in the iPhones 8, 8 Plus and X, are all designed by the company for specific purposes, and based on an architecture licensed from British firm ARM.
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Interesting. Very surprised by this, although Intel will be pushing the same chips until 2021 so maybe Apple feel ARM can keep pace.
 
Dumb move imo.......

Apple (for now) have the volume to keep themselves competitive by using their "own" chips for phones and tablets (with some help from ARM) ....

Same can't be said for their desktop offerings... The demands of desktops vs mobile device chips are and will remain different. Without a big partner like Intel or even AMD they wont likely keep up (not that their desktop offerings even using Intel and AMD components have been consistently good at keeping up with the competition anyway)

Maybe Apple just figures the futures all mobile (for them)? Would not be the first time they have just abandoned a market the previously had products in.
 
Caracus2k said:
Dumb move imo.......

Apple (for now) have the volume to keep themselves competitive by using their "own" chips for phones and tablets (with some help from ARM) ....

Same can't be said for their desktop offerings... The demands of desktops vs mobile device chips are and will remain different. Without a big partner like Intel or even AMD they wont likely keep up (not that their desktop offerings even using Intel and AMD components have been consistently good at keeping up with the competition anyway)

Maybe Apple just figure the futures all mobile (for them)?
Click to expand...

Well if anyone can pull it off Apple will. Fine grain is how the market is heading.
 
Unless ARM chips suddenly become really powerful, they will just become glorified tablets, which themselves are arguably glorified phones.

The latest octocore ARM chips are not as powerful as Intel chips from 5 years ago.
 
Caracus2k said:
Dumb move imo.......

Apple (for now) have the volume to keep themselves competitive by using their "own" chips for phones and tablets (with some help from ARM) ....

Same can't be said for their desktop offerings... The demands of desktops vs mobile device chips are and will remain different. Without a big partner like Intel or even AMD they wont likely keep up (not that their desktop offerings even using Intel and AMD components have been consistently good at keeping up with the competition anyway)

Maybe Apple just figures the futures all mobile (for them)? Would not be the first time they have just abandoned a market the previously had products in.
Click to expand...

I think that the most valuable (coming up to 900 billion $) company in the world would be wise enough to ramp up production of their Apple A series chips to keep pace with their needs for ipad/iphone as well as Mac computers. I seriously doubt they would be so foolish as to have production shortfalls.

Honestly I think this is great. The ARM chips produce a lot less heat and are catching up to X86 quickly. Imagine the form factors that will be possible for machines like MBP and iMac with ARM cpus. It's going to be bananas.

I don't care what chip they use as long as perf is good, and if thermals benefit as well, it's win/win IMO.
 
Read a few stories in this now, I don't see confirmation anywhere that they definitely going ARM

Fingers crossed for a spot of collaboration with AMD.

If they go ARM that will be the end of the line for all the devs and creative professionals IMO, they are the only real "power users" left on the Apple platforms, they'd be better going back to Power9.

I'm not saying it's not possible to go ARM btw, it's definitely possible - but having the hardware isn't enough, it's the fact that every bit of software out there will need to be ported.

Edit: Power9 CPUs are out in the wild @ 5GHz with PCIE 4.0 - wonder if they might go that way
 
mistersprinkles said:
I seriously doubt they would be so foolish as to have production shortfalls.
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It wasn't shortfalls of production I was referring to more the current and likely future unsuitability of ARM style processors for high performance desktop usage. Intel and AMD remain the players here....


Arm style processors are great for mobile apps, tablets etc but to replace an Intel CPU in a Mac Pro? Er no thanks...

Which is why is suspect much like wireless routers that Apple will just abandon this market segment.
 
Just having a look around the alternatives to A10/8 or x86 if they go that way, the Talos 2 from RaptorCS would be a suitable basis for a new MacPro type box:


Specifications
  • 2 POWER9-compatible CPU sockets
    • EATX form factor
  • 16 DDR4 ECC RAM slots
    • Individual 128GB DDR4 DIMM support
    • Supports up to 2TB total main system memory
  • 3 PCIe 4.0 x16 slots
  • 2 PCIe 4.0 x8 slots
  • 2 Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet ports
  • 1 Microsemi SAS 3.0 controller
If they went ARM then we could be looking at something like the Cavium ThuderX2 maybe? Or something based on new Qualcomm:
  • Qualcomm Centriq 2460
  • Cores: 48 64-bit ARM
  • L3 Cache: 60MB
  • RAM: Up to 768GB
  • DDR4: Hex channel and up to two DIMMs per channel
  • Clock Speed: Up to 2.6GHz
  • PCIe: 32x PCIe 3.0 Lanes
  • Power Consumption: 120 watts
  • Single Socket
  • Price: $1,995
As you can probably tell I'm hoping for something a bit better than a giant IPad type device in a different form factor (I miss the full SCSI PPC Macs of old - they were proper computers for people who needed to get stuff done).

Power Mac G5 was out of this world when released, wiki link for any forum users to young to remember when Apple still made serious kit: https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...FjAAegQIBxAB&usg=AOvVaw2w45dZMwV5W67kICnC8txH
 
Caracus2k said:
It wasn't shortfalls of production I was referring to more the current and likely future unsuitability of ARM style processors for high performance desktop usage. Intel and AMD remain the players here....


Arm style processors are great for mobile apps, tablets etc but to replace an Intel CPU in a Mac Pro? Er no thanks...

Which is why is suspect much like wireless routers that Apple will just abandon this market segment.
Click to expand...

I don't think Apple is going to abandon the laptop and desktop computer segments any time soon, dude. I seriously doubt that would happen.
Yes, they make more off the iPhone and iPad.. but laptops and desktops are a sizeable portion of their yearly earnings.
 
I dont think Apple will go Arm in there desktop units, at least not in the highest end. They are much more likely another customer of AMDs designer silicon setup.
16/32 Core TR (4) on 7nm with integrated Navi??? That would satisfy a lot of high end fruit owning graphics/video designers.
 
muon said:
Unless ARM chips suddenly become really powerful, they will just become glorified tablets, which themselves are arguably glorified phones.

The latest octocore ARM chips are not as powerful as Intel chips from 5 years ago.
Click to expand...

Not a good sign if accurate, It sounds like a step backwards, I can't imagine they're that stupid though. What cpu's do they currently use Skylake/Kabylake? If so I can't see them making the next gen with less performance than the one it replaces. they must have something up their sleeves.

TeraVirus said:
Not looking good for Intel, with AMD becoming competitive again.
Click to expand...

The pressure's on.
 
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