Live data from Hacker News

Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs from 2020, Replacing Intel

bloomberg.com

31–40 of 1001 posts

Re: Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs from 2020, Replacing Intel

#31
post #14

Steve Jobs mentioned in interviews what a hell of a job his teams did in the initial change to x86 and the immense work it required. I wonder what he'd say in this scenario. Not saying "Steve Jobs would have NEVER allowed this apple is going to shit", simply wondering if the effort required to move to x86 should be essentially discarded (depending on the implementation) Edit: I agree with the replies, they are a good…

Honestly I think Jobs would’ve been all for dropping x86. They also derived an immense amount of value from the effort to move to x86, so it’s not like it was wasted.

Re: Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs from 2020, Replacing Intel

#33
post #14

Steve Jobs mentioned in interviews what a hell of a job his teams did in the initial change to x86 and the immense work it required. I wonder what he'd say in this scenario. Not saying "Steve Jobs would have NEVER allowed this apple is going to shit", simply wondering if the effort required to move to x86 should be essentially discarded (depending on the implementation) Edit: I agree with the replies, they are a good…

In the x86 transition, Apple was discarding the previous effort which had been required to move from 680x0 to PowerPC, and that seems to have been the correct choice.

Re: Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs from 2020, Replacing Intel

#34
post #14

Steve Jobs mentioned in interviews what a hell of a job his teams did in the initial change to x86 and the immense work it required. I wonder what he'd say in this scenario. Not saying "Steve Jobs would have NEVER allowed this apple is going to shit", simply wondering if the effort required to move to x86 should be essentially discarded (depending on the implementation) Edit: I agree with the replies, they are a good…

The effort to move to x86 has paid off tenfold already in the ~10 years since the transition. They now need another effort to sustain the Mac, or whatever comes next, for another 10 years.

Re: Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs from 2020, Replacing Intel

#35
post #14

Steve Jobs mentioned in interviews what a hell of a job his teams did in the initial change to x86 and the immense work it required. I wonder what he'd say in this scenario. Not saying "Steve Jobs would have NEVER allowed this apple is going to shit", simply wondering if the effort required to move to x86 should be essentially discarded (depending on the implementation) Edit: I agree with the replies, they are a good…

Honestly I think Jobs would’ve been all for dropping x86. They also derived an immense amount of value from the effort to move to x86, so it’s not like it was wasted.

>>> They also derived an immense amount of value from the effort to move to x86, so it’s not like it was wasted.

That's a good point and a reminder to me of the sunk cost fallacy.

Re: Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs from 2020, Replacing Intel

#36

Based on this article, it doesn't sound like Bloomberg has enough information to distinguish between Apple being committed to a transition, or Apple developing chips to improve their negotiating position with Intel. It's also very unlikely to happen on such a fast timetable; given the IP situation, it's unlikely Apple could make an x86_64 chip, and any move away from x86_64 is going to require significant work by thi…

> it's unlikely Apple could make an x86_64 chip

Why is it unlikely that Apple would make a x86 chip? Because of IP/licensing, or for technical reasons?

Re: Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs from 2020, Replacing Intel

#38

Based on this article, it doesn't sound like Bloomberg has enough information to distinguish between Apple being committed to a transition, or Apple developing chips to improve their negotiating position with Intel. It's also very unlikely to happen on such a fast timetable; given the IP situation, it's unlikely Apple could make an x86_64 chip, and any move away from x86_64 is going to require significant work by thi…

> it's unlikely Apple could make an x86_64 chip Why is it unlikely that Apple would make a x86 chip? Because of IP/licensing, or for technical reasons?

IP/licensing.

Re: Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs from 2020, Replacing Intel

#39
post #7

I think this was inevitable given the insane YoY performance increase we've seen from A-series chips. Anyone want to chime in on why Intel can't get more than 5% YoY while Apple has been getting 30-40%?

Because they have moved past the easy parts of optimization. Apple's optimizations still have thermal throttling issues (sustained use of an A11 will not beat an Intel chip due to better cooling and IPC). Compared to other ARM licencees they do beat the pants off of. This is probably why Apple put in a T1 chip and a touch bar in the Macbook Pro and the T2 chip (dedicated power module) in the iMac Pro. They are protot…

FWIW, the TouchBar MacBook Pros have the T1, and the iMac has the next generation T2 chip.

Re: Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs from 2020, Replacing Intel

#40

Based on this article, it doesn't sound like Bloomberg has enough information to distinguish between Apple being committed to a transition, or Apple developing chips to improve their negotiating position with Intel. It's also very unlikely to happen on such a fast timetable; given the IP situation, it's unlikely Apple could make an x86_64 chip, and any move away from x86_64 is going to require significant work by thi…

> it's unlikely Apple could make an x86_64 chip Why is it unlikely that Apple would make a x86 chip? Because of IP/licensing, or for technical reasons?

[deleted]
Post reply on HN