Earlier quoted context omitted.
as is Intel, I don't think there has been a true x86 CPU in a while
I did hear this from my Prof in our university too, where can I find information about this?
Qualcomm, Microsoft Announce Snapdragon 835 PCs with Gigabit LTE
81–90 of 198 posts
Re: Qualcomm, Microsoft Announce Snapdragon 835 PCs with Gigabit LTE
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the new operating system will include x86 emulation, giving it the ability to run 32-bit Windows desktop applications unmodified.
a) only 32bit b) At what speed though? x86 emulation isn't trivial, and arm seems to be sufficiently different in architecture to incur a large translation overhead.
Microsoft has had videos out for a while of their x86 emulation. They have a demo of loading Photoshop CC, and it looks close to native speed, though I notice a bit of window refresh. Looks usable, but I'd like to see more demos.
Re: Qualcomm, Microsoft Announce Snapdragon 835 PCs with Gigabit LTE
#83I think this is GREAT news, because it implies the following.
a. - Intel and AMD losing their pseudo-monoply on PC/laptop chips, perhaps enabling bringing some prices down.
b. - Mainstream PCs abandoning the old x86 (+IA64, AMD64) instruction set for a more modern instruction set which (i guess) enables more modern, more power-efficient architectures.
but much more exciting than the above is that...
c. - The jump to a more power-efficient CPU will enable me to have a nice desktop PC with, say, 128 cores, and with no extravagant cooling system or ridiculously high power consumption (I need to pay the power bills, anything that will be on for at least 8 hours a day will be watched for power consumption.). I know that there are already ways to take advantage of GPUs, but they are for specific operations. A desktop PC with a huge lot of cores will bring more generalized performance improvement.
And TRUE hardcore multitasking...
d. - This will push all vendors and Open Source projects to improve on their compiler support for that architecture.
Re: Qualcomm, Microsoft Announce Snapdragon 835 PCs with Gigabit LTE
#84> With a Snapdragon inside your PC, you'll no longer need Wi-Fi to fetch your latest e-mail and catch up on Twitter. Instead, you'll be able to get online wherever there's cellular connectivity. I'm not buying the optimism, especially not in the US. The cellular data is still horribly limited. In Canada it is even worse. The "unlimited" plan is surging back, but it has automatic throttling at varying points. Oh and s…
That makes me think of an Android "laptop" Toshiba made that had this silly bright notification light.
Back before Google had a little civil war between Android and ChromeOS...
Re: Qualcomm, Microsoft Announce Snapdragon 835 PCs with Gigabit LTE
#85> With a Snapdragon inside your PC, you'll no longer need Wi-Fi to fetch your latest e-mail and catch up on Twitter. Instead, you'll be able to get online wherever there's cellular connectivity. I'm not buying the optimism, especially not in the US. The cellular data is still horribly limited. In Canada it is even worse. The "unlimited" plan is surging back, but it has automatic throttling at varying points. Oh and s…
That makes me think of an Android "laptop" Toshiba made that had this silly bright notification light.
Back before Google had a little civil war between Android and ChromeOS...
Re: Qualcomm, Microsoft Announce Snapdragon 835 PCs with Gigabit LTE
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
It really is just a threat though. These companies use the appearance of a competitor to extract cheaper pricing from their suppliers. If anyone is expecting better than Netbook performance, they're probably out of their mind.
Yes, but how many people really need better than netbook performance? Most knowledge workers only need email, excel and web browser. SaaS is eating desktop. Modern smartphone is capable of 3d games and even VR. Dropping prices temporarily until a newcomer is strangled is something we've heard of in the past, but this time the competitor has a huge and growing mobile market, so the threat and lower prices are likely t…
> Yes, but how many people really need better than netbook performance?
With current super bloated state of the web, Electron apps and other disasters? Probably all of them.
Re: Qualcomm, Microsoft Announce Snapdragon 835 PCs with Gigabit LTE
#87I look forward to learning more about this product. I love that we're moving non-x86 into mainstream consumer products like this (and not limited to low-end chromebooks, e.g.). ARM SoCs lack the backward compatible x86 BIOS-style bootstrap. This is great because it's kinda crazy to think about booting into stuff like MBR, real mode, etc in 2017. But this is bad because without good standards it's really tricky to hav…
This is lunacy. It will break compatibility with nearly all software out there. From games to productivity apps. Like the stuff I actually use a PC for.
Lunacy? Nah, the vast majority of software that regular people use is massively I/O bound. For the stuff that isn't (photoshop, e.g.), it will get ported. All of those non-photoshop apps will work just fine under emulation. Chrome and Edge will be ported, they'll work just fine.
I predict that this will have a negligible impact on PC games. They're CPU/memory/GPU bound and will not work well under emulation. They're not likely to get ported. But gamers are not the target market for this product.
Re: Qualcomm, Microsoft Announce Snapdragon 835 PCs with Gigabit LTE
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, I'm not really buying the LTE being the "killer feature" thing either. I hope Qualcomm is not betting the farm on that. Its ARM processors will have to stand on their own feet in regards to performance alone. Few people buy their laptops based on LTE support, and although I do believe it could become more popular in the future, I don't think it will have a fast pick-up, with or without Qualcomm's promotion of L…
I definitely think it will be popular in the future. It depends on who wins the race for ubiquitous network coverage, though. Google, Facebook, and SpaceX have all moved to initiate programs to install global high speed wifi access. This is probably the last edge chance for cellular network companies in the long term. If wifi hits first, with projects like Google home offering free calling as well as other ip-phone s…
> Otherwise I wouldn't mind one to turn into a highly portable Linux machine -- stars in my eyes, and all that.
Assuming you'll be able to boot Linux on such a device, that might still require exploiting some yet-to-be-found bugs to root it, and/or voiding its warranty. BTW good luck with GPU drivers, multitouch, exotic sensors...
Re: Qualcomm, Microsoft Announce Snapdragon 835 PCs with Gigabit LTE
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you missed that news : https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/12/windows-10-will-seamless...
Have there been any public previews of this? I'm still trying to figure out how they can emulate x86 without significant performance problems due to the different memory concurrency models
I have heard the concern re memory concurrency models, can somebody explain the problem a bit more?
Re: Qualcomm, Microsoft Announce Snapdragon 835 PCs with Gigabit LTE
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
> My little 10" ARM chromebook has already left my more powerful laptop gathering dust. It seems like 'just a browser' at first glance, but it becomes so much more when you add a chroot which can launch X sessions into Chrome tabs. So you claim running X sessions in Chrome tabs is better than running X directly?
Well...yes, sometimes. You could run a WM in a chrome tab, but I prefer breaking out individual programs. Like, I can have KiCAD running in one tab, with the datasheets for parts I'm using in nearby tabs. Or I can just break an IDE out into its own window. It's a small screen, so having the whole browser window dedicated to the program is nice, and you can even use fullscreen mode and navigate with ctrl+[shift+]tab.…
> Like, I can have KiCAD running in one tab, with the datasheets for parts I'm using in nearby tabs.
To me this rather sounds like one should use another window manager than the default one that usual GNU/Linux distributions install if one has a small screen.
I'm no GNU/Linux wizard, but I somehow expect that such a window manager already exists.