Apple Dumping Intel For ARM Chips In Laptops?
There's talk that Apple is eying ARM for notebooks and desktops, ditching Intel.
On Friday, reports surfaced that Apple officials have decided to dump Intel processors for ARM-based solutions in its upcoming MacBooks and MacBook Pros-- and possibly even Mac desktops. The transition, stated as a "done deal" by unnamed insiders, won't take place immediately, but is expected to happen "as soon as possible"-- probably in mid-2013.
According to sources, Apple is waiting for ARM architecture to move beyond the 32-bit architecture, possibly holding off for the company's upcoming Cortex-A15 processor design which is expected to hit the market in late 2012 or later. Nvidia's own ARM-based Project Denver processor, which integrates the CPU and GPU onto one die, is expected to launch in the same timeframe and will also use a 64-bit instruction set. There's speculation that Apple's plan and Nvidia's release is not a coincidence.
For Apple, moving to ARM chips would mean it would have a consistent processor architecture across all of its products. Currently the company is using Intel chips in its desktops and laptops, but ARM-based solutions in the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad tablets. The move could also signify a possible attempt to follow Microsoft's footsteps and develop one operating system that can be used across different form factors-- to offer the same OS on the iPad, iPhone, MacBook and Mac desktop.
Then again, so far ARM chips have yet to prove themselves in the PC market, remaining the dominant solution only in the mobile sector. Yet research firm IDC recently stated that it expects ARM to own 13-percent of the PC processor market by 2015. That market shift is expected to be steered by Microsoft's modular Windows 8 which could be released as early as next year.
Speculation of Apple's move to ARM arrives just days after Intel revealed its Tri-Gate transistor design which will begin to appear in 22-nm "Ivy Bridge" chips later on this year, or in Q1 2012. The new 3D transistor structure will enable Intel to increase performance while decreasing the overall chip size, power consumption and leakage. These chips are expected to put Intel in a better position to aggressively compete with ARM in the mobile sector while retaining the x86 architecture.
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No doubt Intel will fight to the death against ARM.
No doubt they will win.
Now that's a good news!
No doubt Intel will fight to the death against ARM.No doubt they will win.
How? By having crappy 40 years old CPU architecture that converst CISC instructions to RISC instructions internally, unlike ARM who are purely RISC? Elaborate on your claim, please?
Intel and ARM have been co existing for years, why should it end because Apple decides to use it in its laptops (even desktops) which are in no way the dominant force like the iPhone is.
Seems rather doubtfull: http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/ [...] uld-it.ars
And Intel vs Arm? Arm losses.
Re:Zingam: You are very wrong and you should first learn what is current state before stating nonsense. (And I really recommend Intel Architectures Dev Manual and Architectures Optimization Reference Manual)
Nvidia's upcoming quad core Kel-Al ARM CPU will perform as well as the Intel T7200 CPU at a fraction of the power cost. Its successors should post even higher numbers.
And these are tablet CPU's. A notebook CPU can use a lot more power if necessary, so even more impressive performance is possible.
ARM isn't at a point where it can replace the CPU found in the iMac or the higher end MacbookPro's. However, the regular Macbook and the Macbook Air are perfect for ARM.
If companies like Apple start putting their weight behind the design, even more impressive things might happen (as R&D budgets will increase).
x86 is a terrible concept: a bulky instruction set that drives a bulky chip. ARM's minimalist instruction set is far more promising, even in the desktop and server market.
why not offer both options...
Apple just keep updating the same old crap ever year to make people buy it.. even though the product aint that good to warrant its price tag.
Maybe on this news Intel should dump Apple, buy Arm and then carry on..
I'm not entirely too sure Apple were aware of Intels tri gate transistors when they were making this decision.
Oh well, they can do what they want, it has no effect on me.
RISC machines worked quite nicely back in the 80s with both Acorn (which spawned or otherwise was involved with Acorn RISC Machines) and Macs using it - they lost out to 'IBM compatible' flavours of the PC due to business users mainly (and games possibly). Maybe that doesn't count as 'proving themselves' but any resurgence won't be the first time RISC has been at the heart of a desktop.
I think.