Apple wants to move Macs away from Intel chips - report

Apple wants to move Macs away from Intel chips - report


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Ooh boy…not again!

- Nick

I believe it will happen but like the article states, not imminent. Moving to AMD would keep all current software compatible, but if the move were to ARM, who knows?

chscag said:

Moving to AMD would keep all current software compatible, but if the move were to ARM, who knows?

Click to expand...

As long as we don't need to start all over again with a new OS & new software (like we have two times before in "Mac History")...then I'm not concerned!

- Nick

I was actually talking about this one or two days ago with some computer savy friends, when this news first came out, and someone mentioned the need to force a substantial technology related update to the line of Mac computers so that a new wave of purchasing will be induced. This was amongst a few other reasons put forward, but if it weren't for a business class that I once took, I would have tossed this idea out the window. A product that is reliable tends to be kept longer than one that isn't reliable.The majority of Macs tend to last longer than the average comparable computer. Since most people don't upgrade Macs as often as the counterparts, it isn't too far off to suggest that Apple would want to plan a shift that would almost force a good deal of people to buy something new. It actually makes sense to me. It makes sense because Apple could single handedly create revenue(short and long term), dump Intel, create a large ecosystem for their own system, and get just that much closer to possibly having a system designed completely in house from the the OS, to the hardware, to the CPU and GPU, as well as get ahead in a new market this new Mac(or whatever is the outcome of this new move). Or at least that's where our minds took us that day.

It could just end up being another move to AMD...a somewhat boring move.

...yes...too much caffeine today...still got LOTS of things to do...to my man cave I go...

If it's ARM they can keep them. Sorry. Very stupid move. Intel wipes the floor with anything out there right now on any desktop.

IMHO, I agree with dtravis7 - ARM is great for certain things (embedded devices, mobile devices (not laptops), etc.) but it just isn't a desktop class CPU.

I know Apple has a thing about demonstrating the point of view that you can "do more with less", but in reality they need to (for some of the models) put more in for better bang for your buck. Let's face it, a big complaint is still that Macs are too expensive. Some are over priced, some are reasonable, but the ones that are overpriced give the impression that the entire line is over priced.

How many of us that play games have 2 systems? A Mac for daily use then a custom built gaming rig for playing games. Those people are having to invest a lot more money just so they can experience both worlds.

how many people have found that on the Retina display that the refresh rate is a bit lacking even doing menial tasks? (see: AnandTech - The next-gen MacBook Pro with Retina Display Review a bit down in the page where it shows relatively low framerates scrolling in Safari)

The CPU's Apple is currently using are great, the i5 and i7 are really powerful processors, but the GPU is still second class and lower in all of Apples devices (even the Mac Pro with the extremely aging 5870 that is blown away by significantly cheaper and newer devices).

If Apple wants to improve their Mac sales, IMHO - they need to create more of a draw, better graphics hardware, better graphics drivers - even if they have to surrender that aspect just to the GPU manufacturers (it sucks playing a game in windows and getting significantly better framerate in bootcamp then in OSX) and as much as I love OSX, it needs to draw more people in which means more of a visual update including easier customization (as that's a huge complaint). Better hardware video decoding support would be nice as well; with the advances in GPUs a video editor shouldn't have to suck their entire machine down to do a video transcode when the GPU could reduce the transcode time and allow for the system itself to still perform other background tasks.

Software availability has improved greatly with the arrival of the Mac App Store; although some of their rules are pushing developers away (I understand sandboxing provides better security, but there are apps out there that just won't work well (if at all) with forced sandboxing which is now a requirement for apps submitted to the MAS).

If they want to be a system that everyone (or many more at least) wants, they will need to change their own perspective on what people actually want on their computer for daily use.

JMHO. Moving to ARM would be a huge mistake at this point and if they did, I probably wouldn't be able to buy another Mac due to my other needs and wants because I won't have two systems running at my desk.

Agreed with the above - the #1 reason I finally gave Apple a shot was the move to Intel and away from the IBM chip.

A move toward yet another proprietary "only to Apple" CPU that would make everything even more incompatible with everyone else's hardware and software on the planet will have me going back to building my own rigs once again.

Just not interested.

Apple has finally moved to the point where people can move to OS X and do pretty much everything they did on their previous OS (with the exception of hardcore gaming and ripping movies you own). Any move that requires even more use of that other OS and I'll venture to surmise that I wouldn't be the only one going back to Windows &/or Linux with any new computer purchase.

AMD, I could go with that as long as the chips are competing with Intel and not 2nd class chips. A move to AMD merely to increase the hefty bottom line Apple already enjoys - well, that'll have almost the same effect as a proprietary chip move.

Any mass exodus of those like me - that will mean a mass exodus of the masses. We are the ones that have been recommending Macs and have caused a great many folks to purchase one. Without the tech heads making such a recommendation - the move back to Windows for all those that only purchase 1 computer every 5-10 years will follow.

Bob, the only thing is, you can't build Notebook computers, so we would have to purchase PC notebooks.

Please Apple, don't do this.

bobtomay said:

Any mass exodus of those like me - that will mean a mass exodus of the masses. We are the ones that have been recommending Macs and have caused a great many folks to purchase one. Without the tech heads making such a recommendation - the move back to Windows for all those that only purchase 1 computer every 5-10 years will follow.

Click to expand...

You over estimate "our" influence. The market demographic over the last several years has shifted from the types you mention to more of the Windows based crowd who are influenced by the easy to use eco-system that Apple is offering. That crowd isn't really into hard core gaming, but rather every day tasks that might soon be relegated to iOS devices.

The Mac Pro didn't get the update we were hoping for, and the design of MBP's seems to be shifting toward where the MBA's are. I'm guessing we'll see a full consolidation of these fundamental sum of parts at some point. And if Apple's target demographic is on board with that, there's nothing that a geek's influence is going to do to change that.

Just my 2pence

Doug

Like bobtomay stated, I also gave Apple a try since they moved to Intel.

Prior to me switching to a Mac, I was a hardcore PC user with many AMD processor desktop's that I modded/overclocked for music applications (DAW) and gaming.
I'd be really curious to see how Apple integrates with AMD if they do make the switch.

ARM chips are more useable than you might think - HP build commercial servers using them, and they have the same power as traditional servers but taking only 10% of the power and 20% of the cost.

ARM isn't there yet, but it will be. Intel chips have been scaling down to meet the power consumption requirements of mobile devices, while ARM has been scaling up to try to catch x86 in terms of processing power. At some point, I will venture to guess by the end of the decade, the two will meet in the middle. At that point, it won't just be Apple jumping on the ARM bandwagon. You can bet we'll see all kinds of small form-factor machines making the jump.

There's a reason Windows 8 was ported over to ARM, and it wasn't just for Windows RT. Microsoft sees the writing on the wall as well.

iCal me... we're just starting to see a new generation of ultra-mobile devices like the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch - there will be more. OS X and iOS will converge at some point too. It's only a matter of time. I don't think x86 is going anywhere anytime soon, but I do believe we'll start to see it cede ground to ARM. Heck, it's already happening with the iPad and Android tablets, which are becoming more and more like a general purpose computing platform.

Wouldn't surprise me if they switched to a "smaller" processor of some sort. The trend is moving to cloud type stuff, applications as services, streaming content, online backups, licensed -vs- owned content, etc... Basically it's going back to the pre-Windows 95 "distributed dumb terminal connected to a pipe" architecture. Put your iPhone in Airplane mode and turn off the WiFi to see how little your device actually does by itself anymore. With the exception of stored games, it basically just renders images, caches a little bit of data and converts bits into sound anymore for the most part. The laptop will get there soon enough for most folks. Your average user doesn't need an "i9" or "i11" processor right now to run an app off a server somewhere. The Camry is replacing the muscle car and as the Newton was an iPhone/iPad before it's time, I'm guessing the same will be said of Google's Chrome Notebook -type setup in retrospect.

I hope that they stay with Intel or at least AMD. Im new to using macs because they are so flexible for those occasions when I need to use another OS like Windows. It can be two computers in one. Years ago I passed on macs only because of the limits of a closed system without the option to run Windows when I had a need.