News reports indicated that the Intel chip put into the cell phone was manufactured using a 32 nm process. That's a year-old chip at this point. 22 nm is coming soon, 14 nm after that. Do not discount Intel's ability to compete in the smartphone space. I think ARM will be able to get into notebooks, and Intel will be able to get into smartphones. Competition is good. It's nice to see that ARM is a located in the Britain, and that the Brits are on the cutting edge once again.
While I agree that the computer is 'still' where most stuff happens, I think it's more appropriate to begin readjusting our use of terminology. i.e.;
how do you get photos on an ipad? access personal server or iCloud
how do you get your own music on an ipad? personal server or iCloud (via iTunes match)
how about decent photo editing? computer for professional use, majority - red eye and enhance is usually sufficient enough.
where do you store 50GB of personal music? server or none at all via iTunes match
where do you store the master copies of your photos in a non compressed bastardized format? server
how do you get data onto an ipad? personal server or iCloud
how many people are dumping (converting) their computers for (into) servers and using portable devices to access home server? one for sure , and predicting many to most in the next 5 - 10 years.
Cheers.
You are dumping your PC for a tablet? You gonna play BF3 on a 10 inch screen? What about REAL apps like word and excel? on a 10inch screen it will be awfully confining.
Reading a book or watching the odd clip is ok. But for doing computer stuff, that screen won't do.
Not to mention when you want to watch some content thats not exactly available in ipad friendly formats. You know from certain sites that you go to AFTER you put your browser in incognito mode, lol. Good to see those videos on bigger screens too, just that you may not necessarily want to watch it on the 55-inch in the main room, you know, lol.
In addition to x86, the initial releases of Windows NT (a desktop OS) were compiled for MIPS and DEC Alpha (both RISC designs).
Windows NT 3.51 and Windows NT 4.0 saw the period with the largest simultaneously supported CPU base (4 architectures), which included 3 RISC designs: Alpha, MIPS, and PowerPC. From the very beginning, the Windows NT kernel was designed to be cross-platform compatible.
You're absolutely right; I even remembered that as I typed it but got distracted mid post and left it out... doh. Even so, it's certainly true of consumer versions of Windows and still a very significant move by Redmond.
While I agree that the computer is 'still' where most stuff happens, I think it's more appropriate to begin readjusting our use of terminology. i.e.;
how do you get photos on an ipad? access personal server or iCloud
how do you get your own music on an ipad? personal server or iCloud (via iTunes match)
how about decent photo editing? computer for professional use, majority - red eye and enhance is usually sufficient enough.
where do you store 50GB of personal music? server or none at all via iTunes match
where do you store the master copies of your photos in a non compressed bastardized format? server
how do you get data onto an ipad? personal server or iCloud
how many people are dumping (converting) their computers for (into) servers and using portable devices to access home server? one for sure , and predicting many to most in the next 5 - 10 years.
Cheers.
How about this for a possible minimum configuration:
Headless Server
-- Mac Mini i7
-- promise Pegasus RAID
Mobile Display / Computer
-- iPad
Misc
--AirPort Extreme
Along with speciality app, similar to TimeMachine, which backs up local content to the cloud and stages files between the cloud and the HomeServer based on recent usage.
How much crow will people be eating when the iPad 3 comes out?
Quote:
What about REAL apps like word and excel?
I'm still waiting for you to name some real applications. All I see there are two terrible programs that have much better alternatives already in tablet form.
Quote:
But for doing computer stuff, that screen won't do.
Sure it won't.
Quote:
Not to mention when you want to watch some content thats not exactly available in ipad friendly formats.
Since mobile Flash is dead, that really isn't a problem and won't even matter in a few years.
Quote:
You know from certain sites that you go to AFTER you put your browser in incognito mode, lol. Good to see those videos on bigger screens too, just that you may not necessarily want to watch it on the 55-inch in the main room, you know, lol.
How much crow will people be eating when the iPad 3 comes out?
I'm still waiting for you to name some real applications. All I see there are two terrible programs that have much better alternatives already in tablet form.
ipad 3 will be good. but lets not kid ourselves. mobile GPU's will never equal SLI PC GPU's. A6 vs triple SLI GTX 590 is not even a competition worth mentioning. Hell, even the 570 SLI will stomp all over it.
Not saying the games will look terrible, but they won't be able to run the latest games maxed out, never gonna happen.
Also not saying that's a bad thing, as I doubt apple really expects anyone tio play a big FPS on such a small screen. Not to mention a mainstream RTS, which also rewards players with large displays.
And by excel i mean any spreadsheet app. Its not teh availability of the app, its the fact that you can only see so much at a tuime with a ten inch screen. When you are dealing with anything more than a simple database, example any school project, a big screen is a REAL help, unless you zoom out so far on the 10-incher that you can't read the text.
Same with word. I didn't specifically mean the program as much as i meant the functionality, such as the ability to have two documents open side by side. Something that obviously you can't do on a 10 inch screen without making the text so small youi can't read. And again, for students this is must really, cause you can have your research paper and your source material open side by side and be much more effective than having to switch back and forth.
there is no more growth in the hardcore game market. aka selling $60 games where the goal is to shoot or hack someone to death along with the latest trend of adding graphic sex. the market for $500 graphics cards has peaked as well.
casual gaming with no or little violence is where gaming is headed
ipad 3 will be good. but lets not kid ourselves. mobile GPU's will never equal SLI PC GPU's. A6 vs triple SLI GTX 590 is not even a competition worth mentioning. Hell, even the 570 SLI will stomp all over it.
Not saying the games will look terrible, but they won't be able to run the latest games maxed out, never gonna happen.
It's that kind of thinking that lets companies get passed by the wayside.
Quote:
Excel, Word
So how are people doing so well with existing tablet apps? Your points are nonsensical; particularly the zooming. It's self-defeating.
How about this for a possible minimum configuration:
Headless Server
-- Mac Mini i7
-- promise Pegasus RAID
Mobile Display / Computer
-- iPad
Misc
--AirPort Extreme
Along with speciality app, similar to TimeMachine, which backs up local content to the cloud and stages files between the cloud and the HomeServer based on recent usage.
[...] There was even a rumor last May that Apple had secretly built a prototype MacBook Air powered by the same A5 processor found in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. It was said that Apple officials were impressed by the results, as the test machine performed "better than expected."
It's inevitable that Apple will ship ARM-powered Macs running an ARM version of OS X. Using the ARM design would enable Apple to maintain their margins by avoiding the off-the-shelf price for Intel x86-based chips. Apple simply doesn't buy enough of them from Intel to get the big volume discounts they get on other components (NAND flash memory, touch screens, etc.) And that's got to be a source of irritation at Apple.
Think of it this way. The Intel chip is like a V-8 engine. It can get a lot of work done, but it's big, hot, and consumes a lot of gas when it's under a load. The ARM chip is like an electric motor. Smaller, cooler, and when battery technology gets better, it will be the engine of the future. Just compare the original Apple TV to Apple TV 2 to get a feel for the difference. The original Apple TV was essentially like an extra hot-running Mac mini. Hot to the touch. And heat is wasted energy. Intel chips, due to their basic design, draw a lot of power. Apple TV 2, in comparison, runs cool. It's the same basic circuit board used in the iPhone 4, iPad 1, and iPod touch.
Smaller, cooler, more energy efficient. It's only a matter of time before Apple leverages their ARM designs and uses them in Macs. There are too many benefits. They outweigh the drawbacks.
The only question remaining is "when?" It may not happen until Microsoft 1. ships Windows 8 running on ARM and 2. the ARM port of Windows 8 is stable, and 3. Office is ported to Windows 8 on ARM. That could be as long as 2 or 3 years from now.
Microsoft and Intel both know that Apple could easily dump Intel for their own AX chip line. They'll want to do whatever they can to suppress Mac sales and boost Intel/Windows PC sales. And it sounds like Microsoft could be falling back on the tried-and-true "Embrace and Extend" strategy. They may be trying to get Intel to create a proprietary ARM chip for them. If they can get Intel to create an ARM chip just for Windows 8 and its apps that is incompatible with non-Microsoft compilers, they could make it harder for Apple to get the ARM port of OS X to run on both Macs and Windows 8 ARM devices without an emulation mode of some kind.
But there is still another scenario. Apple might not care if Windows 8 (or any other Windows) runs on the MacBook Air. I wonder how many MacBook Air users have installed Windows. Probably a very tiny fraction of the total user base. Apple could beef up iWork to replace most or all of the commonly used features in Office. And they could write their own competing apps to replace 3rd party Windows-only apps. That would eliminate the need for Windows.
Sure, there might be a "pro" market for Intel-based Windows and its apps. And for that, Apple could keep an Intel-based MacBook Pro around (and an Intel-based Mac Pro, it hasn't been end-of-lifed.)
You are dumping your PC for a tablet? You gonna play BF3 on a 10 inch screen? What about REAL apps like word and excel? on a 10inch screen it will be awfully confining.
Reading a book or watching the odd clip is ok. But for doing computer stuff, that screen won't do.
Not to mention when you want to watch some content thats not exactly available in ipad friendly formats. You know from certain sites that you go to AFTER you put your browser in incognito mode, lol. Good to see those videos on bigger screens too, just that you may not necessarily want to watch it on the 55-inch in the main room, you know, lol.
Thanks for hitting where it hurts and reminding me that my gaming time is pretty much non-existant... lol As for some of your other issues I don't think they are permanent barriers, those walls are weakening and have already begun to fall. I may have posted something similar a few months ago, but I am regularly working on keynotes for my classes, emailing, surfing the net, iMessaging, and controlling my audio all from the comfort of... well anywhere. Want to watch something on a bigger screen, hit airplay, and it's done. I consider myself an above average user and I am continually finding less and less reason to be sitting in front of my iMac.
... oh and the VLC app can usually take care of any 'forbidden' files.
Sure there is. Cost. Intel will try to buy its way in by undercutting ARM in terms of cost. Intel hopes this will by it time to come up with a real contender (this is the approach Intel took when AMD was eating its lunch in terms of performance).
ARM doesnt manufacture the chips, it just licences the designs to chip makers, makes it difficult for Intel to undercut them on price.
Windows 8 + crippled x86 chips will not change Microsoft's tablet fortunes. Windows tablets equipped with x86 chips have existed since the early 1990s. The most recent attempts were the UMPC version. They can run all past Windows apps. You can buy a Samsung tablet with a Core i5 and Windows 7 that will run ancient apps. Microsoft thinks a new UI and new chip would turn a Windows laptop into an iPad? Sounds like the vision of a man named Steve "Tablets are PCs too" Ballmer.
And yet services like OnLive Desktop for iPad get overwhelmed with subscribers. I think people don't want a desktop GUI on their tablet, they want an iPad style GUI. But in addition, they want backwards compatibility with a few key Windows apps, that would otherwise necessitate carrying a laptop around.
Intel will gain marketshare against ARM. I saw the benchmarks and Intel is very competitive. Intel started with a powerful hungry CPU and brought it down to ARM-level.
Microsoft and Intel both know that Apple could easily dump Intel for their own AX chip line.
Not so easily, I don't think. Apple was able to make the jump from Motorola 68K to PowerPC because the PowerPC was powerful enough to emulate the 68K instruction set and still have acceptable performance. Same holds for the PowerPC to Intel jump. The Intel chips had the extra horsepower to run PowerPC code in emmulation. During both transitions most applications and even large chunks for the operating system itself were running in emmulation for months and years after the transition.
To allow a similar transition, the ARM chip would need to be sufficiently more powerful than the Intel chip it is replacing to run code for that Intel chip in emmulation at acceptable speeds. The only alternative would be to get the entire OS and a good representation of the application library 100% ARM native prior to the transition. I would not put that in the category of "easily" dumping Intel.
It may happen someday. But it won't be anytime soon and it won't be easy.
It's inevitable that Apple will ship ARM-powered Macs running an ARM version of OS X. Using the ARM design would enable Apple to maintain their margins by avoiding the off-the-shelf price for Intel x86-based chips. Apple simply doesn't buy enough of them from Intel to get the big volume discounts they get on other components (NAND flash memory, touch screens, etc.) And that's got to be a source of irritation at Apple.
Think of it this way. The Intel chip is like a V-8 engine. It can get a lot of work done, but it's big, hot, and consumes a lot of gas when it's under a load. The ARM chip is like an electric motor. Smaller, cooler, and when battery technology gets better, it will be the engine of the future. Just compare the original Apple TV to Apple TV 2 to get a feel for the difference. The original Apple TV was essentially like an extra hot-running Mac mini. Hot to the touch. And heat is wasted energy. Intel chips, due to their basic design, draw a lot of power. Apple TV 2, in comparison, runs cool. It's the same basic circuit board used in the iPhone 4, iPad 1, and iPod touch.
Smaller, cooler, more energy efficient. It's only a matter of time before Apple leverages their ARM designs and uses them in Macs. There are too many benefits. They outweigh the drawbacks.
The only question remaining is "when?" It may not happen until Microsoft 1. ships Windows 8 running on ARM and 2. the ARM port of Windows 8 is stable, and 3. Office is ported to Windows 8 on ARM. That could be as long as 2 or 3 years from now.
Microsoft and Intel both know that Apple could easily dump Intel for their own AX chip line. They'll want to do whatever they can to suppress Mac sales and boost Intel/Windows PC sales. And it sounds like Microsoft could be falling back on the tried-and-true "Embrace and Extend" strategy. They may be trying to get Intel to create a proprietary ARM chip for them. If they can get Intel to create an ARM chip just for Windows 8 and its apps that is incompatible with non-Microsoft compilers, they could make it harder for Apple to get the ARM port of OS X to run on both Macs and Windows 8 ARM devices without an emulation mode of some kind.
But there is still another scenario. Apple might not care if Windows 8 (or any other Windows) runs on the MacBook Air. I wonder how many MacBook Air users have installed Windows. Probably a very tiny fraction of the total user base. Apple could beef up iWork to replace most or all of the commonly used features in Office. And they could write their own competing apps to replace 3rd party Windows-only apps. That would eliminate the need for Windows.
Sure, there might be a "pro" market for Intel-based Windows and its apps. And for that, Apple could keep an Intel-based MacBook Pro around (and an Intel-based Mac Pro, it hasn't been end-of-lifed.)
Firstly, they will never ship ARM based CPUs until they are at least 64 bit processors. By then the 128 bit market will be on the verge of hitting the server space.
Secondly, they will not remotely compete with the APU products coming out of AMD.
The Macbook Air will have to have a cluster of 64 bit ARM processors with up to 4 Cores per SoC to match the power of the current i5/i7 lineup.
The next major revision of CPUs from Intel and AMD will be battling it out with 8 and 10 core CPUs and their power dwarfs that of the embedded space.
The raw GFLOPS of the latest CPUs are surpassing 200 GFLOPS in their next revision. The Tegra from Nvidia's latest top GFLOP mark is 6.4. Sorry, but the power isn't remotely close.
Finally, the sheer volume of wafer production in the embedded space is already at it's limitations forcing 3rd parties to invest tens of billions just to keep up.
Apple isn't going to invest tens of billions for 3rd parties just to put 40 bit instruction set aware A15's into a Macbook Air.
OS X is a 64 bit through and through OS. The goal for Apple is to move iOS to a 64 bit code base. The ARM A8 is the first 64 bit OS ready design.
They are a good 24-30 months away from it being in general use.
Quote:
While ARMv8 processors will be able to encode and decode AES encryption, and will support on-chip acceleration of the SHA-1 and SHA-256 hashing algorithms too. Another big change ? and one required for servers ? is that the ARMv8 chips will have a finer grain of exception levels between the TrustZone hardware partitioning on the chip, a virtual machine hypervisor, and the operating system than is possible with the ARM v7 designs.
There are four exception levels, and each gets their own handler and thread stack options. ARM Holdings will release detailed specifications for the ARMv8 A profiles in the second half of 2012 and expects prototype systems from vendors in 2014 based on its reference designs.
That's made me think, will an iWork refresh happen at this educational announcement? Would seem like an opportune time.
Here's hoping! More capable would be good but it's be great if iWork were simply more compatible with what 95% of people in business and education already use: if Pages could open, edit and save .docx files without fouling up the formatting, for instance (the .rtf route has bugs in it and is seen as too hard by the PC-using majority)
On topic, I'm thinking Apple will keep their options open, keeping competing chip-makers on their toes. They're in the driver's seat because they're the smartest and best in the business.
Comments
While I agree that the computer is 'still' where most stuff happens, I think it's more appropriate to begin readjusting our use of terminology. i.e.;
how do you get photos on an ipad? access personal server or iCloud
how do you get your own music on an ipad? personal server or iCloud (via iTunes match)
how about decent photo editing? computer for professional use, majority - red eye and enhance is usually sufficient enough.
where do you store 50GB of personal music? server or none at all via iTunes match
where do you store the master copies of your photos in a non compressed bastardized format? server
how do you get data onto an ipad? personal server or iCloud
how many people are dumping (converting) their computers for (into) servers and using portable devices to access home server? one for sure
Cheers.
You are dumping your PC for a tablet? You gonna play BF3 on a 10 inch screen? What about REAL apps like word and excel? on a 10inch screen it will be awfully confining.
Reading a book or watching the odd clip is ok. But for doing computer stuff, that screen won't do.
Not to mention when you want to watch some content thats not exactly available in ipad friendly formats. You know from certain sites that you go to AFTER you put your browser in incognito mode, lol. Good to see those videos on bigger screens too, just that you may not necessarily want to watch it on the 55-inch in the main room, you know, lol.
In addition to x86, the initial releases of Windows NT (a desktop OS) were compiled for MIPS and DEC Alpha (both RISC designs).
Windows NT 3.51 and Windows NT 4.0 saw the period with the largest simultaneously supported CPU base (4 architectures), which included 3 RISC designs: Alpha, MIPS, and PowerPC. From the very beginning, the Windows NT kernel was designed to be cross-platform compatible.
You're absolutely right; I even remembered that as I typed it but got distracted mid post and left it out... doh. Even so, it's certainly true of consumer versions of Windows and still a very significant move by Redmond.
While I agree that the computer is 'still' where most stuff happens, I think it's more appropriate to begin readjusting our use of terminology. i.e.;
how do you get photos on an ipad? access personal server or iCloud
how do you get your own music on an ipad? personal server or iCloud (via iTunes match)
how about decent photo editing? computer for professional use, majority - red eye and enhance is usually sufficient enough.
where do you store 50GB of personal music? server or none at all via iTunes match
where do you store the master copies of your photos in a non compressed bastardized format? server
how do you get data onto an ipad? personal server or iCloud
how many people are dumping (converting) their computers for (into) servers and using portable devices to access home server? one for sure
Cheers.
How about this for a possible minimum configuration:
Headless Server
-- Mac Mini i7
-- promise Pegasus RAID
Mobile Display / Computer
-- iPad
Misc
--AirPort Extreme
Along with speciality app, similar to TimeMachine, which backs up local content to the cloud and stages files between the cloud and the HomeServer based on recent usage.
You gonna play BF3 on a 10 inch screen?
How much crow will people be eating when the iPad 3 comes out?
What about REAL apps like word and excel?
I'm still waiting for you to name some real applications. All I see there are two terrible programs that have much better alternatives already in tablet form.
But for doing computer stuff, that screen won't do.
Sure it won't.
Not to mention when you want to watch some content thats not exactly available in ipad friendly formats.
Since mobile Flash is dead, that really isn't a problem and won't even matter in a few years.
You know from certain sites that you go to AFTER you put your browser in incognito mode, lol. Good to see those videos on bigger screens too, just that you may not necessarily want to watch it on the 55-inch in the main room, you know, lol.
How much crow will people be eating when the iPad 3 comes out?
I'm still waiting for you to name some real applications. All I see there are two terrible programs that have much better alternatives already in tablet form.
ipad 3 will be good. but lets not kid ourselves. mobile GPU's will never equal SLI PC GPU's. A6 vs triple SLI GTX 590 is not even a competition worth mentioning. Hell, even the 570 SLI will stomp all over it.
Not saying the games will look terrible, but they won't be able to run the latest games maxed out, never gonna happen.
Also not saying that's a bad thing, as I doubt apple really expects anyone tio play a big FPS on such a small screen. Not to mention a mainstream RTS, which also rewards players with large displays.
And by excel i mean any spreadsheet app. Its not teh availability of the app, its the fact that you can only see so much at a tuime with a ten inch screen. When you are dealing with anything more than a simple database, example any school project, a big screen is a REAL help, unless you zoom out so far on the 10-incher that you can't read the text.
Same with word. I didn't specifically mean the program as much as i meant the functionality, such as the ability to have two documents open side by side. Something that obviously you can't do on a 10 inch screen without making the text so small youi can't read. And again, for students this is must really, cause you can have your research paper and your source material open side by side and be much more effective than having to switch back and forth.
casual gaming with no or little violence is where gaming is headed
ipad 3 will be good. but lets not kid ourselves. mobile GPU's will never equal SLI PC GPU's. A6 vs triple SLI GTX 590 is not even a competition worth mentioning. Hell, even the 570 SLI will stomp all over it.
Not saying the games will look terrible, but they won't be able to run the latest games maxed out, never gonna happen.
It's that kind of thinking that lets companies get passed by the wayside.
Excel, Word
So how are people doing so well with existing tablet apps? Your points are nonsensical; particularly the zooming. It's self-defeating.
how do you get photos on an ipad? computer
how do you get your own music on an ipad? computer
how about decent photo editing? computer
where do you store 50GB of personal music? computer
where do you store the master copies of your photos in a non compressed bastardized format? computer
how do you get data onto an ipad? computer
how many people are dumping their computers for tablets? almost zero
Since you are so good at looking backwards at where we've been, you should meet yourself from 10 years into the future.
How about this for a possible minimum configuration:
Headless Server
-- Mac Mini i7
-- promise Pegasus RAID
Mobile Display / Computer
-- iPad
Misc
--AirPort Extreme
Along with speciality app, similar to TimeMachine, which backs up local content to the cloud and stages files between the cloud and the HomeServer based on recent usage.
Yup, I like it!
[...] There was even a rumor last May that Apple had secretly built a prototype MacBook Air powered by the same A5 processor found in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S. It was said that Apple officials were impressed by the results, as the test machine performed "better than expected."
It's inevitable that Apple will ship ARM-powered Macs running an ARM version of OS X. Using the ARM design would enable Apple to maintain their margins by avoiding the off-the-shelf price for Intel x86-based chips. Apple simply doesn't buy enough of them from Intel to get the big volume discounts they get on other components (NAND flash memory, touch screens, etc.) And that's got to be a source of irritation at Apple.
Think of it this way. The Intel chip is like a V-8 engine. It can get a lot of work done, but it's big, hot, and consumes a lot of gas when it's under a load. The ARM chip is like an electric motor. Smaller, cooler, and when battery technology gets better, it will be the engine of the future. Just compare the original Apple TV to Apple TV 2 to get a feel for the difference. The original Apple TV was essentially like an extra hot-running Mac mini. Hot to the touch. And heat is wasted energy. Intel chips, due to their basic design, draw a lot of power. Apple TV 2, in comparison, runs cool. It's the same basic circuit board used in the iPhone 4, iPad 1, and iPod touch.
Smaller, cooler, more energy efficient. It's only a matter of time before Apple leverages their ARM designs and uses them in Macs. There are too many benefits. They outweigh the drawbacks.
The only question remaining is "when?" It may not happen until Microsoft 1. ships Windows 8 running on ARM and 2. the ARM port of Windows 8 is stable, and 3. Office is ported to Windows 8 on ARM. That could be as long as 2 or 3 years from now.
Microsoft and Intel both know that Apple could easily dump Intel for their own AX chip line. They'll want to do whatever they can to suppress Mac sales and boost Intel/Windows PC sales. And it sounds like Microsoft could be falling back on the tried-and-true "Embrace and Extend" strategy. They may be trying to get Intel to create a proprietary ARM chip for them. If they can get Intel to create an ARM chip just for Windows 8 and its apps that is incompatible with non-Microsoft compilers, they could make it harder for Apple to get the ARM port of OS X to run on both Macs and Windows 8 ARM devices without an emulation mode of some kind.
But there is still another scenario. Apple might not care if Windows 8 (or any other Windows) runs on the MacBook Air. I wonder how many MacBook Air users have installed Windows. Probably a very tiny fraction of the total user base. Apple could beef up iWork to replace most or all of the commonly used features in Office. And they could write their own competing apps to replace 3rd party Windows-only apps. That would eliminate the need for Windows.
Sure, there might be a "pro" market for Intel-based Windows and its apps. And for that, Apple could keep an Intel-based MacBook Pro around (and an Intel-based Mac Pro, it hasn't been end-of-lifed.)
You are dumping your PC for a tablet? You gonna play BF3 on a 10 inch screen? What about REAL apps like word and excel? on a 10inch screen it will be awfully confining.
Reading a book or watching the odd clip is ok. But for doing computer stuff, that screen won't do.
Not to mention when you want to watch some content thats not exactly available in ipad friendly formats. You know from certain sites that you go to AFTER you put your browser in incognito mode, lol. Good to see those videos on bigger screens too, just that you may not necessarily want to watch it on the 55-inch in the main room, you know, lol.
Thanks for hitting where it hurts and reminding me that my gaming time is pretty much non-existant... lol As for some of your other issues I don't think they are permanent barriers, those walls are weakening and have already begun to fall. I may have posted something similar a few months ago, but I am regularly working on keynotes for my classes, emailing, surfing the net, iMessaging, and controlling my audio all from the comfort of... well anywhere. Want to watch something on a bigger screen, hit airplay, and it's done. I consider myself an above average user and I am continually finding less and less reason to be sitting in front of my iMac.
... oh and the VLC app can usually take care of any 'forbidden' files.
Cheers
...
cause you can have your research paper and your source material open side by side and be much more effective than having to switch back and forth.
Agreed, it's definitely not a one size fits all situation.
Sure there is. Cost. Intel will try to buy its way in by undercutting ARM in terms of cost. Intel hopes this will by it time to come up with a real contender (this is the approach Intel took when AMD was eating its lunch in terms of performance).
ARM doesnt manufacture the chips, it just licences the designs to chip makers, makes it difficult for Intel to undercut them on price.
Windows 8 + crippled x86 chips will not change Microsoft's tablet fortunes. Windows tablets equipped with x86 chips have existed since the early 1990s. The most recent attempts were the UMPC version. They can run all past Windows apps. You can buy a Samsung tablet with a Core i5 and Windows 7 that will run ancient apps. Microsoft thinks a new UI and new chip would turn a Windows laptop into an iPad? Sounds like the vision of a man named Steve "Tablets are PCs too" Ballmer.
And yet services like OnLive Desktop for iPad get overwhelmed with subscribers. I think people don't want a desktop GUI on their tablet, they want an iPad style GUI. But in addition, they want backwards compatibility with a few key Windows apps, that would otherwise necessitate carrying a laptop around.
Apple could beef up iWork to replace most or all of the commonly used features in Office.
That's made me think, will an iWork refresh happen at this educational announcement? Would seem like an opportune time.
Microsoft and Intel both know that Apple could easily dump Intel for their own AX chip line.
Not so easily, I don't think. Apple was able to make the jump from Motorola 68K to PowerPC because the PowerPC was powerful enough to emulate the 68K instruction set and still have acceptable performance. Same holds for the PowerPC to Intel jump. The Intel chips had the extra horsepower to run PowerPC code in emmulation. During both transitions most applications and even large chunks for the operating system itself were running in emmulation for months and years after the transition.
To allow a similar transition, the ARM chip would need to be sufficiently more powerful than the Intel chip it is replacing to run code for that Intel chip in emmulation at acceptable speeds. The only alternative would be to get the entire OS and a good representation of the application library 100% ARM native prior to the transition. I would not put that in the category of "easily" dumping Intel.
It may happen someday. But it won't be anytime soon and it won't be easy.
It's inevitable that Apple will ship ARM-powered Macs running an ARM version of OS X. Using the ARM design would enable Apple to maintain their margins by avoiding the off-the-shelf price for Intel x86-based chips. Apple simply doesn't buy enough of them from Intel to get the big volume discounts they get on other components (NAND flash memory, touch screens, etc.) And that's got to be a source of irritation at Apple.
Think of it this way. The Intel chip is like a V-8 engine. It can get a lot of work done, but it's big, hot, and consumes a lot of gas when it's under a load. The ARM chip is like an electric motor. Smaller, cooler, and when battery technology gets better, it will be the engine of the future. Just compare the original Apple TV to Apple TV 2 to get a feel for the difference. The original Apple TV was essentially like an extra hot-running Mac mini. Hot to the touch. And heat is wasted energy. Intel chips, due to their basic design, draw a lot of power. Apple TV 2, in comparison, runs cool. It's the same basic circuit board used in the iPhone 4, iPad 1, and iPod touch.
Smaller, cooler, more energy efficient. It's only a matter of time before Apple leverages their ARM designs and uses them in Macs. There are too many benefits. They outweigh the drawbacks.
The only question remaining is "when?" It may not happen until Microsoft 1. ships Windows 8 running on ARM and 2. the ARM port of Windows 8 is stable, and 3. Office is ported to Windows 8 on ARM. That could be as long as 2 or 3 years from now.
Microsoft and Intel both know that Apple could easily dump Intel for their own AX chip line. They'll want to do whatever they can to suppress Mac sales and boost Intel/Windows PC sales. And it sounds like Microsoft could be falling back on the tried-and-true "Embrace and Extend" strategy. They may be trying to get Intel to create a proprietary ARM chip for them. If they can get Intel to create an ARM chip just for Windows 8 and its apps that is incompatible with non-Microsoft compilers, they could make it harder for Apple to get the ARM port of OS X to run on both Macs and Windows 8 ARM devices without an emulation mode of some kind.
But there is still another scenario. Apple might not care if Windows 8 (or any other Windows) runs on the MacBook Air. I wonder how many MacBook Air users have installed Windows. Probably a very tiny fraction of the total user base. Apple could beef up iWork to replace most or all of the commonly used features in Office. And they could write their own competing apps to replace 3rd party Windows-only apps. That would eliminate the need for Windows.
Sure, there might be a "pro" market for Intel-based Windows and its apps. And for that, Apple could keep an Intel-based MacBook Pro around (and an Intel-based Mac Pro, it hasn't been end-of-lifed.)
Firstly, they will never ship ARM based CPUs until they are at least 64 bit processors. By then the 128 bit market will be on the verge of hitting the server space.
Secondly, they will not remotely compete with the APU products coming out of AMD.
The Macbook Air will have to have a cluster of 64 bit ARM processors with up to 4 Cores per SoC to match the power of the current i5/i7 lineup.
The next major revision of CPUs from Intel and AMD will be battling it out with 8 and 10 core CPUs and their power dwarfs that of the embedded space.
The raw GFLOPS of the latest CPUs are surpassing 200 GFLOPS in their next revision. The Tegra from Nvidia's latest top GFLOP mark is 6.4. Sorry, but the power isn't remotely close.
Finally, the sheer volume of wafer production in the embedded space is already at it's limitations forcing 3rd parties to invest tens of billions just to keep up.
Apple isn't going to invest tens of billions for 3rd parties just to put 40 bit instruction set aware A15's into a Macbook Air.
OS X is a 64 bit through and through OS. The goal for Apple is to move iOS to a 64 bit code base. The ARM A8 is the first 64 bit OS ready design.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10...ldings_arm_v8/
They are a good 24-30 months away from it being in general use.
While ARMv8 processors will be able to encode and decode AES encryption, and will support on-chip acceleration of the SHA-1 and SHA-256 hashing algorithms too. Another big change ? and one required for servers ? is that the ARMv8 chips will have a finer grain of exception levels between the TrustZone hardware partitioning on the chip, a virtual machine hypervisor, and the operating system than is possible with the ARM v7 designs.
There are four exception levels, and each gets their own handler and thread stack options. ARM Holdings will release detailed specifications for the ARMv8 A profiles in the second half of 2012 and expects prototype systems from vendors in 2014 based on its reference designs.
That's made me think, will an iWork refresh happen at this educational announcement? Would seem like an opportune time.
Here's hoping! More capable would be good but it's be great if iWork were simply more compatible with what 95% of people in business and education already use: if Pages could open, edit and save .docx files without fouling up the formatting, for instance (the .rtf route has bugs in it and is seen as too hard by the PC-using majority)
On topic, I'm thinking Apple will keep their options open, keeping competing chip-makers on their toes. They're in the driver's seat because they're the smartest and best in the business.