Apple Considering Moving Macs Away From Intel Chips

[lpedraja2002]

I'm kinda scared that this would eventually lead to Apple buying AMD. Even though I don't buy AMD products I like them and as others have said their APU's are becoming a dream come true. I thin two or three more Trinity revisions and we'll finally be able to play games with high quality graphics on 720p or more!

 

[jdwii]

They could use a A10 in their lower-end builds

 

[silverblue]

Apple cannot buy AMD if they want the x86 license - it's non-transferrable.

I cannot see the difficulty in changing from Intel to AMD, either - different CPU, different board, same compatibility. Additionally, AMD doesn't feature-cripple its CPU cores (thank God), so the cheaper models have the same feature support as the more expensive ones. You can't always say the same for Intel, sadly, though you can be sure that prices would be a fair bit higher if the mobile i3s had HT or AES capability for example.

 

[spookie]

This is the best news I heard this week regarding Apple. Just hope it will lift AMD as a real competitor

 

[teodoreh]

Macs are PCs nowadays. Apple is trying to convince people that its not just the design and beautiful plastic exterior, but also that they have hardware differencies from the PC world. A custom x64 processor maybe could help them do so. AMD could be sold to Apple, so as to provide such processors.

 

[teodoreh]

[citation][nom]silverblue[/nom]Apple cannot buy AMD if they want the x86 license - it's non-transferrable.I cannot see the difficulty in changing from Intel to AMD, either - different CPU, different board, same compatibility. Additionally, AMD doesn't feature-cripple its CPU cores (thank God), so the cheaper models have the same feature support as the more expensive ones. You can't always say the same for Intel, sadly, though you can be sure that prices would be a fair bit higher if the mobile i3s had HT or AES capability for example.[/citation]

Who cares about the x86 licence, AMD got the patent of the x64 licence. And after all, if I buy AMD this doesn't mean that AMD will loose it's licenses. This could only happen if I got MERGED with AMD.

 

[groveborn]

Perhaps they're shopping for more than a new CPU...maybe they're shopping for a CPU manufacturer...

 

[teodoreh]

Using ARM processors would be a mixed step for Apple. Apple owns part of the ARM company so this would help them increase their profit and infuence on the IT. On the other hand, making a new transition in such a short time, this could be catastrophic. Apple transitioned from 6502 -> 68000 -> PPC -> x86. Rewritting software to ARM could be a reason for the vendors to get really pissed..

 

[captainblacko]

i cant see apple buying AMD but some sort of partnership/alliance would work well.

If apple was to buy any chip maker it would be ARM.

 

[DjEaZy]

... not the first time...
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Project-Denver-ARM-MacBook-Cortex-A15-Tri-Gate,12711.html
... and with no OpenCL for intel GPU's...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/a10-5800k-a8-5600k-trinity-apu,3241-8.html
... why not AMD's triniti in a MacBook Air... an AIR with game...

 

[mihaimm]

Apple could buy AMD, however that would be a very costly move. While they have loads of cash, producing a competing x86 CPU is a very different matter than a competing ARM CPU.

There's another interesting story here. When Apple moved to x86, AMD was still king. I wondered WTF? Why would they choose the P4s when AMD clearly has a winner CPU, lower wattage and... still cheaper? (the move was announced way before the Core architecture from Intel was available). It made no sense. However... Apple knew a lot more than us since Intel most definitely showed them a clear path with proof of what they were saying. IF Apple is looking at AMD it means AMD has something to show.

Completely moving to ARM... is just crazy talk. The best way you can leverage ARM on the desktop is to ADD an ARM CPU and use it as a coprocessor in order to accelerate ARM native code. Meaning all those iOS apps could run natively on the desktop.

I do remember something about AMD integrating an ARM core inside the x86 CPU starting next year. Maybe that's something to show... x86+GPU+ARM could be a killer chip.

 

[adgjlsfhk]

The main problem I see for this match is AMD's high power needs. Apple has refused to use any fans in their devices, which works with underclocked intel cpu's but might not work well with AMD's power hungry ones.

 

[viktorbkk]

I hate Macs but... an AMD APU powered MacBook Air will print money.

 

[leeashton]

[citation][nom]Mr Mann[/nom]You do realise that this could mean:Apple: "AMD we want you to be our CPU supplier"AMD: "You think we have a chance of producing a working, competing product?"Apple: "Here's Eleventy billion dollars"AMD:[/citation]
thats funny as shit

 

[EnFission]

[citation][nom]3000PoundMagilla[/nom]EnFission, where are there Thunderbolt ports any windows comuters in the stores right now! I can not seem to find any yet! [/citation]

For those of us who build our own computers, it's pretty easy to find. Go on newegg, find your way into the motherboard section, and search for Thunderbolt. There are currently two Z77 chipset motherboards that have it. I'm not saying I would buy it, I was just making an observation.

 

[Guest]

All I can say is FINALLY! The only reason Apple switch to the dead end x86 arc. was because of Steve Jobs hated for Apple (this would require teaching a longgggg history lesson). Maybe we can finally move back to PPC, or the POWER line and be done with Macintosh's that are 2 years behind generic PC's at launch. It would be unbelievably awesome if we could move back to an "in-house" developed OS as well. UNIX is not a good personal computer OS.

Man! If only Steve Jobs would have never come back to apple. We'd probably be using POWER, or Cell based Macintosh's running a variant of BeOS. Damn that alternative present time would have been awesome...

I know everyone disagrees with me, but I have been using Macintosh's since the 80's, and became a Macintosh tech. in the early-mid 90's. Back when Apple had a superior hardware platform, and superior OS to almost anything out there. Those were the hay days of Apple, back when Macintosh's were on 10% of the worlds computer desks. Now, most Apple users seem to be mindless "i" sheep instead of the graphics/desktop publishing crowd of old. I'd love to see all these i-Apple zealots just disappear and the crowd of old come back to the Apple side. I'd go back to Macintosh tech support in a heart beat!

my 2 cents.

 

[gfair]

[citation][nom]walter87[/nom]Have a feeling this is more to do with maximizing profit margins while also claiming (as Apple likes to always do) "2x + faster Graphics power than previous gen product line'.[/citation]

That's your feeling, that this is about Apple's profit margins? Have you considered the potential for an Intel *MONOPOLY* on the CPU market? Does that ring any alarm bells?

And have you considered how illogical your feeling is? Cheaper, less powerful CPUs but charge the same price, and get destroyed in benchmark review after review?

Your suspicion suggests Apple is full of idiots that don't know how to do their jobs. Respectfully, that suspicion is way off.

 

[Guest]

well, some key apple semiconductor people moved to AMD recently. So this might be real.

 

[Guest]

EnFission, 3000PoundMagilla was refering to Thunderbolt in laptops, if you own a desktop you can get a 10 gigabit ethernet card with the hardware/firmware to tunnel PCIe over ethernet, if you did not want to use thunderbolt at all, but Desktops are easy to expand! Laptops are another story, unless you are apple, where are any windows laptops in the stores right now with thunderbolt ports! Currently I can not find a thunderbolt based laptop at any retail outlet. Give me a 2 port Thunderbolt laptop, for around a grand, and a Lucid or GUSII expansion box, and I would say shut up and take my money!

 

[Guest]

If I were Lucid I would be working on an thunderbolt expansion device that could utilize the all the bandwith of Two thunderbolt ports. The Apple macbook pro retina has two thunderbolt ports. If Lucid could certify an expansion box to work with a Xeon Phi co-processor and Nvidia or AMD's latest professional graphics cards, they would have one hell of a Ray Tracing/graphics rig for the professional graphics market!

 

[oj88]

Apple+AMD is the A+ combo into the low-end PC market, while Apple+Intel stays in the high-end. We might see $500 Macs (in the form of tablet, all-in-one, or notebook) next year in the classrooms of elementary schools. Such move will nurture future Apple users.

 

[army_ant7]

Things are finally looking up for AMD.
First it's the consolem akers, and now Apple. I hope this pulls through.

Was thinking that same thing. If AMD gets contracted for the next game consoles and Macs, then they may see a huge profit flow into their bank accounts. Though, they may still need better management nevertheless... I hope to see them do good, and if Apple will be able to help accelerate the development of more GPU-compute applications, then I'm all for it!

 

[Guest]

Apple has it's own brand by now. They don't need Intel stamped on their products.
Maybe AMD is more open for shared developments than Intel.

 

[Duckhunt]

yea i have not bought AMD in 5 years ahhhh. Might not be sadly. If we don't have AMD , intel will become more of a bloated whale.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

AMD has less powerful CPUs but their GPUs and CPU-GPU combo units are top notch. This will be great for people who want to game on Macs.