News Rumour - Apple to ditch Intel for ARM

Rumours suggest that Apple will ditch Intel processors for ARM chips.

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/05/06/apple-to-ditch-intel-for-arm/1

 

Im rather glad I bought some stock in ARM a few weeks back

 

Seems a bit silly when Intel are about to start producing 3D transistors which make the CPU 50% more efficient and 37% faster, but I guess if it is true then it's just a case of Apple wanting to take things in-house, like their A4/5 ARM SoCs.

 

Unless ARM have a desktop-class processor that they're not telling anyone except Apple about, I can't see this story being right. As the article states, ARM doesn't have anything that can compete with Intel or AMD on the desktop or the high-end laptop.

Even if Apple were developing an ARM-based netbook, it would have to based on iOS rather than MacOS - I can't see Apple developing MacOS for yet another platform, especially since it would make Universal Binaries even fatter than they are now.

I think this may be a case of someone grabbing the wrong end of the stick (although I'm happy to be proved wrong )

 

Highly, highly doubt it. They only changed architectures 5 years ago, and I don't think devs would be too pleased at changing again. Plus, a large chunk of Mac owners bought Macs precisely because they came with x86 processors that were capable of running Windows (either natively or in a VM).

 

This rumor is total rubbish tbh.

Apple won't ditch intel for ARM in either their MacPro, iMac or MacBookPro. They might however go for ARM with their MacBookAir in the future, when newer and more powerful ARM-chips are developed.

For the iPad and iPhone they're allready using ARM-chips, so they don't need to develop a totally new OS there aswell, as they can build up on iOS and simply integrate more stuff etc.

Aslong as ARM can't deliver the raw computing-power of current intel-chips it's totally uninteresting for Apple to implement them into their hardware targeted at people actually working on their machines.

Oh, in addition... intel can offer low-power chips with more raw computing power aswell, if they only would further develop into that direction. And look at intels mobile low-power parts like the i7-2657M in that regard, which is down to 17 Watt including the HD3000 GPU.

Writing intel off at this point wouldn't be a good decision at all.

 

Agree with Flibblebot and r3loaded. There's no way Apple would do this unless ARM had a CPU which could trounce x86 on native code AND run x86 code at least as fast as current Intel CPUs, at a cost comparable to current Intel CPUs. Bear in mind the number of applications written for x86 which would need to be recompiled to run native, so emulation would be key. They had this with Rosetta Stone when they first went to x86 in 2006 (to run old PowerPC code), and they'd need something similar again.

ARM's current lineup and public roadmap has nothing that would meet these standards. I may be more sceptical than most, but my BS detector is firing off all kinds of alarms right now.

 

Yes but Windows 8, due in less than a year I think, has gone out of it's way to include ARM support...

Maybe MS & Apple know something we don't...

TSB

 

I think in this case "SemiAccurate" would more accurately be called "Completely Inaccurate". I'm trying to get to their site but it's unresponsive - I'm guessing they got slashdotted.

 

sorry, bad quote. bugger

 

That's nothing to do with Apple laptops and desktops - it's about ARM making headway in the low-power mobile PC (netbook-type) segment. I interviewed the guy in charge of the research yesterday, and we'll publish a full article on his predictions shortly.

 

Maybe in the air or something but for high end x86 is still by far the fastest. The rate of progress however I wouldn't rule this out, apple certainly have the software division to make something like that work but it would take complete recodes for multithreading for this to work. In other news Apple bought stock in a company specialising in cloud computing, could that be their solution to "underpowered" machines?

 

Sorry! edited.

completely unrelated note: I would love you guys to interview David Braben about his cheap entry PC for kids/starters. Seems like a really exciting project for our young developers of the future, and kinda ties in with modding a PC to a USB stick ...

 

Seeing as how far ARM has come in the last few years, i'll give it the benefit of the doubt.
x86 arch has been around for far too long, and ARM may just be what the doctor ordered.
Quad or eight core chips and 2-3GHz would be easily possible in 2-3 years for ARM tech.
The majority of people on laptops woudn't need the enormous power that would be available with desktop chips by then, only the Pro workstations.

I see it as pulling the Netbook up to the level of laptops and better.
Want a gaming laptop ? Buy a gaming laptop, with the CPU and GPU needed.
Want a laptop for everything else, daily usage ? ARM will be perfectly suited.

Its also a 'roll your own' arch, so companies can differentiate through how they rolled theirs so to speak.

Intel and AMD would be left with Desktops, High end desktops (Gaming and workstation), and high end servers.

They might even lose out to some Nettops replacing Desktops for some people.

 

while i wouldn't put it past apple to completely change their architecture, operating system and well pretty much everything else again. they love to make old stuff incompatible so you have to buy the new shiny apple thing. i doubt it will be really soon though. after all they just made some heavy commitments to intel arch with their joint effort on thunderbolt.

 

I was of the understanding that as part of Apples suing of Samsung as a means to renegotiating contracts, they were courting Intel for their iPhone chips, just to add some apparent pressure... either I've gotten the wrong end of the stick, or semi-accurate is living up to the first part of it's moniker.

 

Next iteration of windows comes with ARM support doesn't it? And aren't ARM trying to move into the performance sector more?

 

huh a similar Rumor came about with HP in the next few years will be ditching all their current system structures, laptops, desktops and so forth in favor of ARM based versions runnimg WebOS. Even Dell is working on something similar maybe this is where things are heading too, which for the average user makes complete since, its only like 10% of the market that would go for the higher spec systems and the business side of the industry.

 

FYI SemiAccurate(SA) is by Charlie Demerjian - the guy who exposed G92 BumpGate. I do believe this story to be true for the following reasons -
1. Apple have always been control freaks with their hardware, anybody still remember Job's versioning fiasco to cut-off mac clones.
2. No mainstream user needs any processing power more than what is provided by an i5 750. Even latest games for single monitor 1080p setups can run decently with just a Phenom ii 955 and AMD 6850/ nVidia GTX 460. If a quad core ARM can provide comparable processing power then it should be more than enough for most users.
3. Graphics integrated in x86 core started only in recent years from Intel/Clarksfield and AMD/Fusion, but most ARM SoC already have integrated graphic cores, so Apple can end their dependency on Intel as well as AMD/nVidia. Not to mention better thermals and even slimmer mac books.
4. As mentioned in the SA article Apple will not be jumping immediately but only when ARM evolves into 64-bit ISA and quad core, which sounds reasonable

 

I've got a feeling that Windows for ARM is going to be sold to OEMs rather than to retail customers, and that installing it on an ARM laptop would be beyond most people.