Apple to debut multiple ARM MacBook, desktop models in 2021

Post by DeathArrow » Mon, Mar 30, 2020, 12:18 PM UTC

philwelch wrote: post #109

raverbashing wrote: post #7

Still to be confirmed, I don't usually take "analyst predictions" too seriously but I found this interesting: "Apple will no longer be held to the whims of Intel" Apple switched to Intel because IBM couldn't ship a good enough G5 for notebooks and for scale issues. Given that Intel is not on track with 7nm and rumours of their CEO being seen in Taiwan the other day it seems history is repeating itself.

It’s not just that IBM couldn’t ship a mobile-friendly G5, but that Motorola couldn’t ship any improvement over the G4 fast enough because laptops were an afterthought for their primarily embedded-centric business. Intel is one of two suppliers for nearly every laptop CPU sold today. If Apple was just disappointed with Intel they could switch to AMD instead. Either way they wouldn’t fall behind the rest of the person…

Post by taylodl » Mon, Mar 30, 2020, 12:40 PM UTC

_ph_ wrote: post #46

rubyn00bie wrote: post #41

Yep, the real give away was the A12Z. It isn't shit all faster than the A12X with the exception of the added GPU core. The A12X was so fast when it came out, reviewers were like "holy shit, this is nearly as fast or faster as comparable x86 laptop," and that was what... two years ago? Apple's ARM processors are likely _so fucking fast_ that they'd absolutely be showing their hand if they put one in a tablet right now…

For me, the real question, and pipe dream, will Apple partner with AMD during the transition and perhaps make some some hybrid AMD x86/Apple ARM machines since they're both being built by TSMC? There is an interesting thought. Apple could embed one AMD-chiplet with up to 8 cores into their designs, where Apple provides the ARM-CPUs as well as the io-hardware the chiplets require. This would retain the ability to run…

Post by scarface74 » Mon, Mar 30, 2020, 1:29 PM UTC

DeathArrow wrote: post #129

scarface74 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have an existence proof. The iPads are already a better value when you compare price/performance. Even the low end $329 iPad can hold its own performance wise to low and midrange laptops. The high end iPad Pros are cheaper and faster than lowend and midrange laptops.

Are you suggesting that Apple laptops are too expensive for what they're worth? How is moving Macs to Arm going to improve this?

Post by arvinsim » Mon, Mar 30, 2020, 2:26 PM UTC

taylodl wrote: post #133

_ph_ wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, the real question, and pipe dream, will Apple partner with AMD during the transition and perhaps make some some hybrid AMD x86/Apple ARM machines since they're both being built by TSMC? There is an interesting thought. Apple could embed one AMD-chiplet with up to 8 cores into their designs, where Apple provides the ARM-CPUs as well as the io-hardware the chiplets require. This would retain the ability to run…

Bingo! This is exactly what I see happening!

Post by Slartie » Mon, Mar 30, 2020, 4:38 PM UTC

sudosysgen wrote: post #136

Slartie wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My thought was this: If the CPU decrypts, it touches every byte being read to RAM, and it touches the data again later when it does actual work on it. If it doesn't decrypt, but a chip next to the NAND does the job, the CPU can DMA-transfer the data directly from that chip to RAM. The first time the CPU touches the data is when it actually does some real work on it.

True, but my thought was that since AES decryption is mostly limited by RAM bandwidth anyways, the transfer from the SSD to the CPU, then from the CPU to the T2 chip, then from the T2 chip to the CPU won't be much faster than transferring from the SSD into the RAM, then decryption, then it being read back into the RAM.