Apple planning to move away from Intel chips PCs

[PandaBear]

What take them so long is the question I have.

x86 is probably over powered for what they want to build for most of their devices these days anyways. I mean most of the people do not need all the processing power on their laptop of 14" if a A processor can already run apps on 12".

The major reason to do their own (it will be ARM based like the A processor) would be power consumption. x86 consume too much power, if you make a chip focus on battery life and enough IPs to help accelerate other stuff, it is very likely they can make a thin mac book that last 24 hrs on one charge. Then they can make it really light and portable. App can be compiled for both platform then released on app store, which is a common practice in 2018 but not in 1998.

Macbook is only 2-3" bigger than an iPad pro, so it is totally doable.

 

[Y_K]

Thank you for a good, well structured and compact overview

 

[emg]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
x86 consume too much power


Only because they're so much faster than ARM. Intel is doing pretty well on performance per watt these days, and I've read that ARM becomes more power-hungry than Intel when you push up the clock speeds.

Heck, my iPhone became almost too hot to touch after I used it as a dashcam for a couple of hours on vacation last year. Even something that simple must have pushed up the power usage a lot.

I agree in principle, though. My Intel laptop rarely goes above 500MHz, so I could do just as well with an ARM. If ARM laptops were readily available, I'd certainly consider one next time (it runs Linux, so there's no problem with switching CPUs as all the software I use is already available on ARM).

 

[camrydriver111]

Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
Makes me no difference . I have no plan to own an Apple device . Over priced cult product .


I used to think that way to some extent until I actually tried Apple products.

 

[bunnspecial]

Originally Posted By: camrydriver111
Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
Makes me no difference . I have no plan to own an Apple device . Over priced cult product .


I used to think that way to some extent until I actually tried Apple products.


SOME Apple products are overpriced.

There are a lot of others, though, where you find the "Apple Tax" really isn't there when you compare similarly specced pieces from Dell or HP. You can't directly compare a $1K Apple laptop to the typical $400 laptop when you compare the components used side by side. Even putting components aside, the main chassis of every Apple laptop now is milled out of a single piece of aluminum with additional aluminum for the bottom and top cover. The build quality is top notch.

On the high end, there was a recent tear down of the iMac Pro vs. a high end Dell workstation with the same processor and GPU. They came out about the same price when you compared just the computer itself. The iMac was a BIG winner when you add in the included 5K display vs. not having any display at all with the Dell under comparison.

There's also the OS X experience, which I much prefer for quite a few reasons.

 

[EdwardC]

Originally Posted By: PimTac
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
Makes me no difference . I have no plan to own an Apple device . Over priced cult product .


As I type this from my 2010 MacBook Air that still runs like new, Im happy to say that your opinion matters not.

Ive been through three PC laptops in the same timeframe, and each slows and performs poorly as time goes by.


--------------

Given that laptops are all trending towards being smaller and thinner at all costs, and as more and more gets integrated onto the motherboard (including soldered RAM and SSDs), I guess it is sensible for processing to become more holistically integrated.




Yep. I also have a 2012 MBP plus a iPhone 6. Both still running well.

Apple has the economies of scale to make this happen. It also would simplify their OS plans across the board.


I was on my 2008 MBP up until about 18 months ago. It still works technically. I've had some business grade Dells and IBM/Lenovos that are decent, but even they seem to top out at about 6-7 years for me. The premium for the Apple hardware has been worth it for me too.

 

[bunnspecial]

Originally Posted By: EdwardC

I was on my 2008 MBP up until about 18 months ago. It still works technically


Did you have an early 2008(non-Unibody-has the DVD drive in the front plus USB and a full size DVI port on the right, and also the screen has a thin matte silver bezel, separate trackpad button) or late 2008(Unibody, DVD on the right but all ports on the left, "glass" screen unless special ordered with the anti-glare screen, entire trackpad clicks)?

I ask because-unfortunately-the late '07 and early '08 computers are notorious for GPU failure. Still, though, they are great. When I sat down to REALLY write my masters thesis, I wanted more screen real estate than my 13" had and also was getting tired of the shiny screen. I ended up writing most of it on an early 2008. After I graduated, I treated myself to a gently used 15" mid-2012(non-retina, HR-AG screen) that I'm still using today and don't have any immediate plans to retire it. BTW, an SSD speeds up all MacBook Pros fairly well. The 2008 models support up to El Capitan, and I think there's a work-around to get Sierra if not High Sierra on them. The only problem with the pre-Unibody ones is the memory limit-they officially support 6gb, but actually are just as fast with 4gb in the form of two matched 2gb modules.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: bunnspecial
SOME Apple products are overpriced.

There are a lot of others, though, where you find the "Apple Tax" really isn't there when you compare similarly specced pieces from Dell or HP. You can't directly compare a $1K Apple laptop to the typical $400 laptop when you compare the components used side by side. Even putting components aside, the main chassis of every Apple laptop now is milled out of a single piece of aluminum with additional aluminum for the bottom and top cover. The build quality is top notch.

On the high end, there was a recent tear down of the iMac Pro vs. a high end Dell workstation with the same processor and GPU. They came out about the same price when you compared just the computer itself. The iMac was a BIG winner when you add in the included 5K display vs. not having any display at all with the Dell under comparison.

There's also the OS X experience, which I much prefer for quite a few reasons.


I personally try to stay away from MBP after they start soldering the DRAM to the motherboard to force you to buy it when you order the laptop. Typically I buy with just enough ram and then upgrade later when it is old and slow, and cheap.

 

[bunnspecial]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear


I personally try to stay away from MBP after they start soldering the DRAM to the motherboard to force you to buy it when you order the laptop. Typically I buy with just enough ram and then upgrade later when it is old and slow, and cheap.



Unfortunately this is true. My laptop(that I'm typing this post from) is the last 15" with user-upgradeable RAM. At the time, Apple charged $100 to upgrade it to 8gb from the base 4. I spent around $150(at the time) to go 16gb. It would be about half that now.

I've helped people spec a few at work, and if nothing else I make sure that they go ahead and get 16gb. Up until the touchbar models, you could still upgrade the SSD although it wasn't an officially sanctioned procedure(specialty vendors like OWC carry them) but you can't do that on the touchbar MBPs.

 

[BearZDefect]

Interesting, MacBook Pro have no user-replaceable parts anymore? Then Apply has already turned the MBP into an iPhone style trade-in-when-it-malfunctions hardware. Now they have only those pesky Intel CPUs inside to eliminate.

 

[bunnspecial]

Originally Posted By: BearZDefect
Interesting, MacBook Pro have no user-replaceable parts anymore? Then Apply has already turned the MBP into an iPhone style trade-in-when-it-malfunctions hardware. Now they have only those pesky Intel CPUs inside to eliminate.


Nothing has been officially user replaceable since the Retina models came out, although the SSD CAN be replaced on them. Forget DIY battery replacement-the battery is in several pieces and glued in(the battery isn't officially replaceable on the '09-11 models, but it can be done easily enough).

The current 13" w/o touchbar has an SSD that can theoretically be replaced, but it's permanent on the touchbar models.

We're back to the original Macintosh of 1984, which also didn't have user replaceable parts(although folks found ways to add memory-my 1986 512Ke has an extra DIPP "piggybacked" onto the ones soldered to the board for 1mb total RAM).