Slashdot Mirror
No More Intel Inside, Apple Plans To Use Its Own Custom-Built Chips in Mac (bloomberg.com)
Apple is planning to use homegrown custom-built processors in its Mac line of computers, ditching Intel, the processors by which powers Apple's current line of computers, Bloomberg reported on Monday. The company could make the switch to its own chips as early as 2020, the report said. From the report: The initiative, code named Kalamata, is still in the early developmental stages, but comes as part of a larger strategy to make all of Apple's devices -- including Macs, iPhones, and iPads -- work more similarly and seamlessly together, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. The project, which executives have approved, will likely result in a multi-step transition.
The shift would be a blow to Intel, whose partnership helped revive Apple's Mac success and linked the chipmaker to one of the leading brands in electronics. Apple provides Intel with about 5 percent of its annual revenue, according to Bloomberg supply chain analysis. Intel shares dropped as much as 9.2 percent, the biggest intraday drop in more than two years, on the news.
The shift would be a blow to Intel, whose partnership helped revive Apple's Mac success and linked the chipmaker to one of the leading brands in electronics. Apple provides Intel with about 5 percent of its annual revenue, according to Bloomberg supply chain analysis. Intel shares dropped as much as 9.2 percent, the biggest intraday drop in more than two years, on the news.
PPC anyone?
Um, wasn't April 1 yesterday?
Apple Computer
-- proudly going out of business since 1976!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Here comes macOS. Only runs on macs, and macs only run it.
You guys do realize that the news is THIRD hand, posted on April SECOND, which could mean that the information originated on April FIRST... just saying.
Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
PPC anyone?
I’m finally gonna get that G5 PowerBook!
#DeleteChrome
I am surprised by the time estimate. Five years? Maybe. Two years: I don't think they are ready for that. Their Ax CPUs are good enough to power mobile devices and their small electronics like the AppleTV and the HomePod. I don't think they are ready for laptops and desktops yet.
I disagree. Their A10X Fusion chip is already "desktop class," and I'm SURE part of the limitation on its processing power is thermal dissipation, and the need for balance between performance and battery life. They could very well introduce a touchscreen MAC, with a keyboard... oh, wait, they kind of already have that, it's called an iPad Pro, (the 12.9 is almost the size of a MacBook Air or Pro, 13", and almost indistinguishable from a MacBook... Nothing. You know, the new MacBook? Add a keyboard and all it's really missing is the ability to run Mac Apps and Programs.
,) LITERALLY the exact same specifications as a mid-2013 BASE MODEL MacBook Air, except i
Anyway, imagine what Apple could do if they built a Mac using, oh, a couple, or a trio, or a quartet of chips out of the new iPad 9.7 they just announced? The WHOLE THING costs like, 330 bucks, which is kinda crazy... the parts you can leave OUT mean the processor alone is only probably like, 50 bucks, maybe? A board containing several of these, with a heatsink to help provide extra TDP capacity, could mean they could clock them up by a factor of... well, I don't know enough about the specifics to speculate on the specifics, but given how the iPad doesn't heat up much in use, with NO external fan ports, I'd have to guess they could kick it up to double or triple its current speed, then as for graphics, again, they could jam several together to get enough GFX grunt to drive a 4k monitor.
They COULD maybe start out with a new MacMini. Discontinue the archaic one now, introduce the NEW... hmm... what could they call it? OH! How about a solid glass square-based pyramid, and call it the iMac Pharaoh, a limited edition Mac that runs macOS apps UNDER iOS, starts out like the original Apple computer at $666, outperforms the iMac Pro, uses less power, and while we're dreaming, projects a holographic display using laser into the user's eyes, allowing for total privacy, and reads microscopic eye-movements for the interface... users would just lay there, eye's half-way glazed over, drooling on themselves quietly, while experiencing the raw computing power of a modern-day supercomputer which they wouldn't have to move a muscle beyond just their eyes, to operate...
Sorry, what were we talking about again? Oh, yeah. Chips. The A-line of chips are more than adequate, I think, especially if scaled up by adding more power, more ability to dissipate heat, and the proper infrastructure underneath to direct and drive it all, i.e., data bus, cache memory, and so on. But all kidding aside, they DO have the opportunity to make something new, to replace the ridiculously agèd MacMini line, and make a clean break from it. Consider this: the eMac and PowerMac or whatever they called that stupid little tower, had those god-awful, ugly plastic cases, which while they had the fun colors, to set them apart from the beige boxes of yeaster-year, or the looming, towering, usually black behemoth towers people (including yours, truly put together themselves,) to appeal to teenaged girls, gave way to generally unfinished aluminum chassis MacPro's and then aluminum clam-shell laptops, the MacBook Pro, then Air, then just "MacBook" and the MacMini followed a similar trend, if you'll recall, they originally had the white plastic chassis, (or was it just the top, and then the surround on the sides and back was aluminum?) then went to all-aluminum, and they eliminated the formerly built-in Super-Drive... and these days it's been several years since the last MINOR update, and so now the base-model, $500 MacMini has, (just checked RIGHT NOW at https://www.apple.com/mac-mini...
Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
Apple is getting rid of Intel but they're not making their own chips. Instead, they're getting rid of processors in their computers entirely. Their new computers will be .2mm slimmer and processors will be made available via dongles for primitive people who refuse to let go of outdated technologies.