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A5: All Apple, Part Mystery

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the chips-and-dips dept.

PabloSandoval48 submitted a fairly lengthy story running on the EE Times about the A5 processor that powers the iPad 2. The story talks a bit about the A4 and A5, the IP issues surrounding the chip, and more. The real question now is what comes next.

12 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Wild Guess... by MarcQuadra · · Score: 5, Funny

    The real question now is what comes next.

    Here's a hint: It will be faster, and it will probably be called 'A6'. Just a guess.

    --
    "Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
  2. Awful article by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The authors of the article and the editor who approved it should be ashamed of themselves. Five pages saying exactly nothing.

  3. And after that? by Lunaritian · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "The A[3+n] processor will be included in Apple iPad [n], which will be released in [2009+n]."

    I just saved you the trouble of thinking

    1. Re:And after that? by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 5, Funny

      "When n is an integer greater than 0"

      Patched for accuracy.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
  4. Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by DanTheStone · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's not the advertisements that tend to make people link to the print version, it's when they spread the article out over several pages. I don't mind advertisements at all, but I hate the online equivalent of turning to several different newspaper pages to finish a single article.

  5. Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by MightyYar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I might side with you if there were any content. The article consisted of some micrographs and a lot of "duh" speculation. I came away with very little new information. It took them a huge block of text to tell me that they don't know what 60% of the chip does.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  6. Knowing apple.... by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In about 2 years a new line of Desktops and laptops will be announced that used the new A10 processor, this processor will be used to get rid of all those ooky older intel based devices by having the new OS not compatible with it. Thus purging the world of the old product forcibly. Just like how those disgusting old G5 quad core towers still linger about now...

    Using old hardware makes Jobs angry.... you wont like him when he's angry....

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    1. Re:Knowing apple.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You're not "nerds," just idiots. And those come in all sorts of varieties,

    2. Re:Knowing apple.... by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The move to Intel was more for logistical reasons as opposed to a dick move to screw people. At the time both Motorola and IBM had problems supplying Apple with enough CPUs. Despite being a big name customer, Apple was really a small customer (in terms of volume) ordering a custom part for both companies. No one wants to carry excess inventory so when Apple kept ordering more chips the two companies had trouble keeping up. By switching to Intel, the supply of chips would be more reliable because the part was now a stock part. If Apple upped their forecasts and didn't end up buying chips, Intel could sell to one of their other customers.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  7. Bored by Tigger's+Pet · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I've been a /. reader for over 8 years now and have noticed the change in the type of story discussed here. I keep seeing people saying things like "Why are we talking about FB - this is suppsed to be a techie site and we should discuss techie things". I tend to find myself agreeing with them most of the time.
    Then a story like this comes along - which should be "manna from heaven" for Nerds and Geeks and I try to read TFA - only to find myself yawning and giving up coz it's dry, tedious and badly written.
    I can't even win in an argument with myself anymore - must be a sign that I'm getting old.

  8. Re:A lot of speculation, very little thinking by UnknowingFool · · Score: 3, Informative

    The battery is actually slightly bigger in terms of capacity. It is 25 kWh whereas the old one was 24.8 kWh. The battery appears much larger only because it is wider but it also is thinner than the old one. As for the A5, another thing Apple did is to make the cores variable speed. They run at a max of 1GHz but clock down depending on usage probably to conserve power.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  9. Re:To be fair, here is link with ads by TheRaven64 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not so much. The two ARM cores are pretty easy to identify on the chip, as are some of the other components. The rest is... something. No one cares enough to work out exactly what. Oh, and the two ARM cores are well under 40% of the total die size. The GPU takes up a reasonable amount of space, and then there are controllers for the various peripherals (network, audio, USB and so on), interrupt controllers, and so on.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News