New Apple CPU Transisiton?

[neufuse Veteran]

Today I was reading something from a wallstreet paper that said "Apple is contemplating moving to a new microprocessor for all it's products" ... "In April, Apple announced the acquisition of chip maker P.A. Semi. [which they will get CPU's for their Desktop line from]" which I thought was for embedded stuff only? but they kept rambleing on about how Intel is failing (huh? im never taking stock advice from these people) and how they are gona move OSX to this new proc... it was almost so stupid it was halarious...

[instant.human]

we had a rumor going apple is switching/partly switching to amd some time back...

i for my self... dont think so. ;)

[ahhell]

Huh?

[sanctified Veteran]

That would be a stupid move by Apple. Developers would have to code to yet another platform, they will not like that and Apple would lose a lot of credibility.

[neufuse Veteran]

I need to scan this article... its so stupid its halarious.. not at work right now to get it though... it was even talking about "Windows Vista integration in OSX"

[instant.human]

^alright, so then we can all go ahead, theres nothing to see here. :p

[Cara Veteran]

In short...not going to happen for the desktop/laptop line. :)

[MMaster23]

I knew it! I was holding my Mac purchases off for the return of the PowerPC!

[thealexweb]

They could use the technology from that company they just bought and brand it under the PowerPC platform name.

[MMaster23]

They could use the technology from that company they just bought and brand it under the PowerPC platform name.

No they couldn't as IBM owns the platform/name PowerPC .. not Apple.

Apple only makes software and designs hardware. They barely make the hardware themselves nor do they have exclusive rights on technology being used in them. (Who does?)

[Cara Veteran]

No they couldn't as IBM owns the platform/name PowerPC .. not Apple.

Apple only makes software and designs hardware. They barely make the hardware themselves nor do they have exclusive rights on technology being used in them. (Who does?)

If Apple wanted though they could brand a new chip a 'PowerMac' as that is an Apple owned Trademark.

[instant.human]

In short...not going to happen for the desktop/laptop line. :)

i see. and that might be a good thing indeed for xserve. ;)

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

I don't think so. At least, I hope they don't.

[thealexweb]

I know it's very unlikely. The could have bought this firm to help with future iPhones/Pods.

[BlueFiberOptics]

Apple bought that processor company to use their chips in other products. I highly doubt Apple would use them for chips inside their main computers.

[Lasker]

Intel right now is the most powerful chipmaker in the world, how Apple will consider his now growing market-share to a unknown processor chip for his computers? retard!!!

[giga Veteran]

Jobs already confirmed in an interview that PA Semi was going to manufacture chips for the iPhone/iPod.

[Cara Veteran]

Intel right now is the most powerful chipmaker in the world, how Apple will consider his now growing market-share to a unknown processor chip for his computers? retard!!!

Don't worry...all things have a purpose at Apple...and Intel is the chip vendor of choice. That being said, the new acquisition had it's purpose as well, think IP rights...

^ :)

[Blackice]

The only potential transition in the hardware line that I can see is the iPhone going to Atom (it's currently ARM). The problem with that, is that the iPhone doesn't need all the power Atom brings, and the Atom platform is not as compact as Apple needs it to be (although perhaps Intel have come up with another custom chip. It's unlikely, but it's possible).

My view on the transition talk is that it's a software transition. I think Apple are going to make big changes to either iLife, iWork, or both. I actually think they'll bundle the two together in a new package. Here's the summary of my idea:

- Bundle will be priced slightly higher - say $99

- Will negatively impact margins, but not profit

- New suite will be more attractive to current users of iLife who don't own iWork, and vice versa. Volume will not be hurt - if anything, it'll increase. The total profit is less than iLife + iWork, but more than either individually. If volume is not hit, profit shouldn't be either.

- Assuming the greater value for money increases sales, it'll allow Apple to invest more in the suite.

I don't think iLife or iWork make the sort of returns Apple would like. They're weak products - like .Mac was. Bundling the two together, and substantially revamping some of the applications (esp. iPhoto and iWeb), will help the new suite make much more money, as well as making it a better product overall.

I really hope Apple's new keen interest in web standards and SproutCore (see: MobileMe) are signals for a substantially improved iWeb, that can create sites that take full advantage of AJAX and Web 2.0 features.

[giga Veteran]

The only potential transition in the hardware line that I can see is the iPhone going to Atom (it's currently ARM). The problem with that, is that the iPhone doesn't need all the power Atom brings, and the Atom platform is not as compact as Apple needs it to be (although perhaps Intel have come up with another custom chip. It's unlikely, but it's possible).

My view on the transition talk is that it's a software transition. I think Apple are going to make big changes to either iLife, iWork, or both. I actually think they'll bundle the two together in a new package. Here's the summary of my idea:

- Bundle will be priced slightly higher - say $99

- Will negatively impact margins, but not profit

- New suite will be more attractive to current users of iLife who don't own iWork, and vice versa. Volume will not be hurt - if anything, it'll increase. The total profit is less than iLife + iWork, but more than either individually. If volume is not hit, profit shouldn't be either.

- Assuming the greater value for money increases sales, it'll allow Apple to invest more in the suite.

I don't think iLife or iWork make the sort of returns Apple would like. They're weak products - like .Mac was. Bundling the two together, and substantially revamping some of the applications (esp. iPhoto and iWeb), will help the new suite make much more money, as well as making it a better product overall.

I really hope Apple's new keen interest in web standards and SproutCore (see: MobileMe) are signals for a substantially improved iWeb, that can create sites that take full advantage of AJAX and Web 2.0 features.

iLife doesn't make much revenue because it's already included in new macs. iWork at its pricepoint is already pretty good compared to Office. ($80 retail) But who knows, maybe iWork will go the AppleWorks way to be bundled as well--it would be a mighty attractive package for customers right out of the box.

[sn00pie]

Yeah, that would be great to see iWork and iLife come standard with all Macs. :yes:

[giga Veteran]

Enough with the off topic posts.

[kaiwai]

Its a system on chip, so if anything it'll involve developing their own chipset that'll use a low powered cpu from Intel. It doesn't make any sense these days to try and compete against Intel. X86 has won, and everything else is just a niche product.

As for the ATOM in future devices, they're already looking at producing a low powered version; the idea power usage is around 2W, so its going to be difficult to drop below that.

[MrFuji]

Apple to Adopt Alternative Chipsets for Next Laptops?

AppleInsider claims that Apple will forgo the use of Intel's Montevina chipset in their next generation laptops. Instead, Apple will either design their own chipsets or could adopt 3rd part chipsets from AMD or Via.

It should be said however, this does not mean that Apple will be moving away from Intel's processors. The chipsets are simply the support chips required to interconnect the processor and the rest of the computer. Intel's Montevina platform (now known as Centrino 2) consists of a Penryn processor, the Montevina chipset and wireless networking interface. Future laptops will continue to use Intel's most recent Penryn processors which provide improved bus-speeds (1066MHz).

Source: MacRumors

[Cormier6083]

If Apple wanted though they could brand a new chip a 'PowerMac' as that is an Apple owned Trademark.

But Power is so last decade!

Also, where did Jobs mention that they were going to use the new chips in the iPods/iPhones?