https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-02/apple-is-said-to-plan-move-from-intel-to-own-mac-chips-from-2020

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retired

@AmigaBlitter

that is nothing new

they replace more and more external components with own developments

@AmigaBlitter

Makes sense.

It's a risk (or should that be RISC). Apple took on Wintel first with 68K and then PowerPC before deciding if you can't beat 'em join 'em and switching to Intel. Arm has made big strides in recent years to the point where Microsoft decided it was worth porting Windows 10 and emulating x86 apps. Apple must have looked at the likely roadmaps for Intel and ARM and decided there was more room for improvement in performance whilst retaining power efficiency with ARM. As mobile i.e. laptop form factor continues to become more important than desktop computers power consumption is a primary concern with tasks needing intensive processing moved to the cloud.

It's a risk though as when switching architecture there can be performance and compatibility issues but Apple have managed to do it twice and have a loyal following so if anybody can do it it's them. If it goes wrong it could finally be the end of the line for Apple as a desktop computer brand.

@IanP

for Apple selling desktop computers is only a kind of hobby, nostalgic reasons

money do they earn with iphones:
https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/312530/umfrage/umsatzanteil-des-iphones-an-apples-gesamtumsatz-nach-quartalen/

now more than 70% of sales volume

@IanP

Apple makes their own roadmap with their ARM chips. They only follow the ISA specifications, but Apple's ARM cores are amongst the biggest ARM cores there are, while still being quite energy efficiënt.

@AmigaBlitter

I have mixed feelings, but it could be first real ARM desktop/laptop platform since the fall of Risc PC.

@AmigaBlitter

This, from the article, isn't correct:
Quote:

The shift would be a blow to Intel, whose partnership helped revive Apple’s Mac success

First, Apple isn't that big a customer for Intel.

Second, Apple's Mac success was already revived by the time they switched from PowerPC to Intel. The switch occurred sometime around 2006 (I consciously purchased a PowerPC Mac at the time) and if anything it heralded the beginning of the decline of Apple's Mac line. It was only a short time later that they released the iPhone which is now all they care about for the most part (even admitting publicly a few years ago that they had neglected the Mac line).

This also isn't quite right:
Quote:

Its would-be rivals haven’t yet produced designs that have displaced Intel’s products when it comes to crunching data quickly.

It's more accurate to say that Intel's price/performance offerings are more attractive than those of IBM, who are apparently happy to sit back and let Intel eat their lunch in the supercomputer market the same way they did the desktop market -- just so long as they can continue with their prestige image and higher profit margins.

IBM: the Leica of the computer world.

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Apple can easily change architectures as their operating system is portable and there or not much legacy software to speak of, all maintained software can easily be compile!d for any relevant architecture.

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@kolla

Boot Camp has been one of the only benefits of upgrading my Core2Duo laptop to a Quad Core i7 one. I have been playing Elite Dangerous and now Sonic Mania and it allowed me to use Outlook Web Access/ App with attachment support when it didn't work on the Mac (something about having to upgrade MS Silverlight - it works now).

With every iteration of macOS they put in features that pander to the 'Cloud computing' fad or interoperability with iOS (something I don't need or want). Tabs being added to Finder was the last major advance and that was during Mavericks in 2013. Everything since Mavericks has been underwhelming and not what 'Pro' computer users want. Apple only care about casuals now and it seems the new iMac Pro and Mac Pros are the last death throws of powerful desktop machines before the Mac line becomes under powered again with Arm CPUs and hence permanently relegated to coffee shop web browsing machines for hipsters! Sad indeed.

Good bye desktop/powerful laptops and hello oblivion! It almost makes me want to invest in the PC ecosystem!!!! If only they had evolved Windows 7 instead of the mess that is Windows 10 then I might have chosen a Windows machine as my next laptop (that is a horrendous thing to accept but it is true ).

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"Art challenges technology. Technology inspires the art."
John Lasseter, Co-Founder of Pixar Animation Studios

@BigD

Here, you win, please accept the world cup of incoherence:

you have been calling x86 machines with the insulting term "PeeCee" at every turn, while lauding the Amiga for its unique chipset.

Now that Apple is going that way - their own CPUs - hence veering toward the "own hardware / own software" vertical integration that was typical of the Amiga machine (and pretty much every home computer before x86 took over).... you say you'd better switch to Windows!

That is pretty retar.... oh, I mean, incoherent.

Last edited by resle on 05-Apr-2018 at 02:07 AM.

@resle

If the best thing about modern Mac machines is the ability to boot Windows for work or gaming then yes this will be a step back.

MacOS isn't the killer app it once was and once it's fully morphed into iOS it'll be all but gone. Apple are pushing on ahead to disable 32-bit apps and continue to remove hardware features in favour of ever thinner machines with the same battery life. It's very uninspiring stuff! What has been the benefit of Metal 2? Where has been the resurgence of Mac gaming? This is all about creating a common development platform with the iPhone as the lead platform!

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"Art challenges technology. Technology inspires the art."
John Lasseter, Co-Founder of Pixar Animation Studios

@Thread

... making my new Macbook productive wasn't easy. Bootcamp is only designed for a dual boot set up but in order to actually be creative on my Mac I have to have the option to boot into Mountain Lion (I don't have Mavericks sadly) to actually run the best version of iMovie and run iDVD reliably. I am also then able to run my old version of Fusion to run Snow Leopard and PPC apps. Apple make all this as difficult as possible but at least it IS possible. I'm afraid they want to shake all this up and try and get Mac users to buy iOS apps! Economies of scale I guess

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"Art challenges technology. Technology inspires the art."
John Lasseter, Co-Founder of Pixar Animation Studios

@pavlor

Quote:

pavlor wrote: @AmigaBlitter I have mixed feelings, but it could be first real ARM desktop/laptop platform since the fall of Risc PC.

Windows 10 already runs on ARM...

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Owner of various Commodore and a SAM440ep\OS4.1FE
See them on http://retro.furinkan.org/

@Nibunnoichi

Yes, it runs, and that's about it :)

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@kolla

Still all the same crap different day. How long before public get quantum CPU's. Computer tech has become boring of late we really could do with another player apart from Apple and Microsoft.

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@kolla

Quote:

kolla wrote: @Nibunnoichi Yes, it runs, and that's about it :)

It works as expected, what do you mean?

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Owner of various Commodore and a SAM440ep\OS4.1FE
See them on http://retro.furinkan.org/

@Nibunnoichi

Propably that not much windows software on ARM available

@OlafS25

Quote:

OlafS25 wrote: @Nibunnoichi Propably that not much windows software on ARM available

It runs Win32 software

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Proud Amigan since 1987
Owner of various Commodore and a SAM440ep\OS4.1FE
See them on http://retro.furinkan.org/

@Nibunnoichi

Through emulation, and not without penalty.

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