Apple's A4 Chipset Packs ARM CPU and Graphics

[JMcEntegart]

What makes your iPad tick, Apple?

Apple's A4 Chipset Packs ARM CPU and Graphics : Read more

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

too many news posts on this apple stuff. More than half of the people here dont care much anymore for the iPad.

 

[Hiniberus]

Well someone just shat themselves if this is true.

 

[zak_mckraken]

Well, it's gonna shut the folks who were arguing on the A4 vs. Snapdragon!

 

[fazers_on_stun]

You'd think El Jobso would have known what CPU the iNapkin uses .

 

[Marcus Yam]

[citation][nom]xbeater[/nom]too many news posts on this apple stuff. More than half of the people here dont care much anymore for the iPad.[/citation]
Maybe you could try changing your perspective to realize that this is another HUGE step for ARM processor technologies.

Even if you find Apple-related processor technologies something completely outside the realm of your interests, the advancement and growing utilization of ARM products will affect parts of the tech industry that might interest you.

For example, the performance jump of the Intel Atom between Diamondville and Pine Trail isn't as big as what we normally expect. Perhaps it's the lack of competition in the mobile and netbook space that's allowing the Atom continue its existence without the type of advancement that we'd like to see.

With the growing use of ARM-based technologies in things like the iPad and Nvidia Tegra 2 (which will soon be in netbooks), Intel -- and hopefully AMD too -- will have a better reason to step things up in its next generation of chip technologies.

I bet that more than half of the people here care about that sort of stuff.

 

[tikrjee]

[citation][nom]fazers_on_stun[/nom]You'd think El Jobso would have known what CPU the iNapkin uses .[/citation]
It seems Jobs assumes his customers are technologically inept. Though, there's little argument that the processor is a capable little chip. Too bad the (max)iPad doesn't use it to it's fullest potential.

 

[insider3]

I would buy an Ipad only to download a portrait of Steve Jobs on it, so I can facepalm it.

 

[patchez]

why so much hate for the name iPad?
i think it's a great way to recognize the PADD in which most touch screen devices were all modeled.

 

[patchez]

why so much hate for the name iPad?
i think it's a great way to recognize the PADD in which most touch screen devices were all modeled.

 

[Guest]

The author clearly doesn't understand that "integrating" a main processing core with a graphics core and other system management functions is a non-trivial task.
It's not like buying RAM and cramming it into a DIMM slot.

 

[siuol11]

I would be interested, but it is a BSN report... So equal parts sucking up to Nvidia/wishful thinking.
But accurate news rag? Very rarely!

 

[dheadley]

First of all if you go read the article at the source then you will also read all the comments that go with it that pretty much sum this whole story up as a rumor mill/prediction piece.

They claim a MALI-50 GPU which is a step down from the PowerVR chip in the iPhone 3GS and makes that a pretty much no-brainer for incorrect info.

 

[tipoo]

So its like the Tegra 2, only with one Cortex A9 instead of two, and an inferior graphics component.

 

[dheadley]

I also fail to see how Snapdragon is a Qualcomm chip, Z-whatever is a Creative/Zii chip and Tegra a Nvidia chip if the A4 is not a Apple chip. The same stuff is done by every one of those SoC's.

 

[tipoo]

[citation][nom]dheadley[/nom]I also fail to see how Snapdragon is a Qualcomm chip, Z-whatever is a Creative/Zii chip and Tegra a Nvidia chip if the A4 is not a Apple chip. The same stuff is done by every one of those SoC's.[/citation]

Those are all SoC's, not CPU's. They are built around existing ARM processor designs. That is what the article is saying.

 

[hakesterman]

It's not going away, Sorry.

 

[pocketdrummer]

I find the iFlop hatred hilarious. Apple has ridden on their silver-tongued marketing for far too long. Finally, people are beginning to see the products as they are.

Maybe now people will come to their senses about the exorbitant prices.

 

[Miharu]

Cute Soc but probably no enough power to play HD movie. You can probably play correctly movie up to 768p because the screen is actually 1024x768. If you consider 720p as HD­, this is lowres HD. But if you consider like me, blueray is real HD 1080p. This thing coudn't handle the real HD at 1080p (1920x1080!!!!). The fact is... they remove HDMI port...

 

[eyemaster]

Well I'm now even more dissapointed. Here I was thinking that Apple actually designed a cpu for their own good...

 

[pharge]

[citation][nom]eyemaster[/nom]Well I'm now even more dissapointed. Here I was thinking that Apple actually designed a cpu for their own good...[/citation]

well... I guess you forgot it is teh Apple!

They don't invent things... they put things together in a nice little pretty package and sell it!

 

[Someguyperson]

ARRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The reporter is a complete idiot. Snapdragon uses a Cortex A8 processor, whereas Tegra 2 uses 2 Cortex A9 processors. The A8 is an in-order core, whereas the A9 is an out-of-order core. The difference is akin to the A8 and the Atom, except without the SSE and the fact that Atom uses 500% more power. Not only does the reporter not know what's in the Nexus One, but he compares it to the Droid saying how it's similar and completely disregarding the fact that the Droid has the same internals as the 3GS, but with a different manufacturer. The Snapdragon processor is a custom Cortex A8 design that is faster than the other A8s, but slower than the A9.

I still don't understand why nobody cares about Tegra 2, when is is extremely superior to other SoC designs. It has 2 A9s, from what the article says, the iPad has only 1, and MUCH better multimedia capabilities in terms of video. Did I mention there were 30+ tablet designs with Tegra 2 at CES last week?

 

[Ho0d1um]

[citation][nom]someguyperson[/nom]Did I mention there were 30+ tablet designs with Tegra 2 at CES last week?[/citation]
haha...like the media cares what other manufactures are putting out.

 

[dragonsqrrl]

[citation][nom]dheadley[/nom]I also fail to see how Snapdragon is a Qualcomm chip, Z-whatever is a Creative/Zii chip and Tegra a Nvidia chip if the A4 is not a Apple chip. The same stuff is done by every one of those SoC's.[/citation]
except that Nvidia actually designed and integrated much of the coprocessor architecture behind their tegra SOC's, most notably their GPU. If this article is to be believed then neither the main processor nor the GPU in the A4 was designed by Apple. At least in this regard, there is quite a difference between legitimately calling the A4 an Apple processor, and the Tegra an Nvidia SOC.

 

[Guest]

There is alot of hate and jealousy on this post. It is obvious that we won't be buying the iPad. But millions of consumers will. Great device and a great price.