Yea, sorry I did misinterperate. Creating a fully-grown ARM-based iOS(ish) laptop as an alternative to a MacBook (Reintroduction of the iBook?) would be a fantastic alternative to shrinking OSX, and it would be fantastic if it'd allow mouse support.
For a laptop, wouldn't a trackpad be better than a mouse -- both hands on kb, more gestures, built in, etc?
Isn't the real issue with iOS for a laptop, the inability to display a cursor and position it with granular control?
This would seem to be a very natural UI.
Done correctly, you could even add the cursor/granularity to a touch UI.
I think you guys look to much to the past when considering how Apple might make ARM based Macs. Just consider some of the things that have been revealed at WWDC in the last two years.
The he way I see it Apple has twice choices into the future for Macs. One is to work with Intel on custom silicon to put their IP on a custom Intel chip. The other is to transition to ARM so they can achieve complete control. Now you may ask why, well I suspect in the future we will see more custom execution units be they for video processing, AI acceleration, or other features. AI technology will eventually work its way into hardware and be supported at the operating system level.
The next Mac Pro is going to answer all the doubt and problem people have with it. Broadwell 14nm Xeon E5, there is even one that offer Quad Core running at 5Ghz ! And GPU using 16nm FFC that will offer 3 - 4x the performance of previous Mac Pro. Along side with 10Gbps and Thunderbolt 3 which basically shuts people up about not enough I/O or being slow.
I think that is going to be unveiled in WWDC.
One more day and we are in April, we have no news of Macbook update, which means Apple are launching their update very close to Q3 of Kaby Lake. Since Kaby is nothing more then some variants of Skylake with USB 3.1, as well as better HEVC hardware decoding. I question why Apple not just wait. USB 3.1 with Thunderbolt 3 is basically where apple is aiming in the future. It would also be better if their range has HEVC 10 bit decode.
September is big iPhone 7 launch, would Apple want a small update at the end of the event for Mac. But Since iPhone is now the bread and butter I think they whole event should be iPhone + iOS anyway. Having Mac update in WWDC would be great, but it is running too close to Back to school, which give new model discount. Something very unApple.
Or may be Apple dont give a damn and just update the Mac internel without an event.
The next Mac Pro is going to answer all the doubt and problem people have with it. Broadwell 14nm Xeon E5, there is even one that offer Quad Core running at 5Ghz ! And GPU using 16nm FFC that will offer 3 - 4x the performance of previous Mac Pro. Along side with 10Gbps and Thunderbolt 3 which basically shuts people up about not enough I/O or being slow.
I think that is going to be unveiled in WWDC.
One more day and we are in April, we have no news of Macbook update, which means Apple are launching their update very close to Q3 of Kaby Lake. Since Kaby is nothing more then some variants of Skylake with USB 3.1, as well as better HEVC hardware decoding. I question why Apple not just wait. USB 3.1 with Thunderbolt 3 is basically where apple is aiming in the future. It would also be better if their range has HEVC 10 bit decode.
September is big iPhone 7 launch, would Apple want a small update at the end of the event for Mac. But Since iPhone is now the bread and butter I think they whole event should be iPhone + iOS anyway. Having Mac update in WWDC would be great, but it is running too close to Back to school, which give new model discount. Something very unApple.
Or may be Apple dont give a damn and just update the Mac internel without an event.
The new Mac Pro could be one interesting machine. Intel just released new XEONs which could make for interesting upgrades. As you point out though the big jump will be in GPU performance. I'm really expecting that the next Mac Promwill be a huge technology demonstrator, that is filled with many new technologies.
As for Mac Book I'm not even convinced that the machine is currently the success that many imagine it is. I still see too many reports of low resale prices due to the less than desirable nature of the machine. As such I'm expecting an overhaul of the Mac Dook to make it more usable mainstream. All around faster performance is mandatory but they also need to address the ports issues. There is no way this machine will go mainstream until the ports issue is rectified. That means at least two USB-C ports and a charger that acts as a hub when the Mac Book is plugged into it.
That at hub needs to support a video port, USB ports and at least one TB2 port. Ideally the hub will be feed with TB3 signaling.
Apple has has been updating Mac at WWDC or the weeks around that event for years now. That has never impacted Back to School.
The next Mac Pro is going to answer all the doubt and problem people have with it. Broadwell 14nm Xeon E5, there is even one that offer Quad Core running at 5Ghz ! And GPU using 16nm FFC that will offer 3 - 4x the performance of previous Mac Pro. Along side with 10Gbps and Thunderbolt 3 which basically shuts people up about not enough I/O or being slow.
I think that is going to be unveiled in WWDC.
One more day and we are in April, we have no news of Macbook update, which means Apple are launching their update very close to Q3 of Kaby Lake. Since Kaby is nothing more then some variants of Skylake with USB 3.1, as well as better HEVC hardware decoding. I question why Apple not just wait. USB 3.1 with Thunderbolt 3 is basically where apple is aiming in the future. It would also be better if their range has HEVC 10 bit decode.
September is big iPhone 7 launch, would Apple want a small update at the end of the event for Mac. But Since iPhone is now the bread and butter I think they whole event should be iPhone + iOS anyway. Having Mac update in WWDC would be great, but it is running too close to Back to school, which give new model discount. Something very unApple.
Or may be Apple dont give a damn and just update the Mac internel without an event.
The new Mac Pro could be one interesting machine. Intel just released new XEONs which could make for interesting upgrades. As you point out though the big jump will be in GPU performance. I'm really expecting that the next Mac Promwill be a huge technology demonstrator, that is filled with many new technologies.
As for Mac Book I'm not even convinced that the machine is currently the success that many imagine it is. I still see too many reports of low resale prices due to the less than desirable nature of the machine. As such I'm expecting an overhaul of the Mac Dook to make it more usable mainstream. All around faster performance is mandatory but they also need to address the ports issues. There is no way this machine will go mainstream until the ports issue is rectified. That means at least two USB-C ports and a charger that acts as a hub when the Mac Book is plugged into it.
That at hub needs to support a video port, USB ports and at least one TB2 port. Ideally the hub will be feed with TB3 signaling.
Apple has has been updating Mac at WWDC or the weeks around that event for years now. That has never impacted Back to School.
I'm convinced that Apple's Intel based machines are now just a stopgap. The A series is not yet ready to take over the tasks of desktop computing. It is obvious that something big is in store for the future with TSMC's development of a high performance 7 nm node which will be most likely used for building ARM CPUs. It would seem inconceivable that AMD would drive sufficient volume to justify developing such a process. Especially in a shrinking market for x86 CPUs.
There is no fundamental reason that ARM CPUs cannot be designed for high performance desktop computing with a more generous power envelope.
Apple can justify the volumes for TSMC to develop a high performance 7 nm node in addition to the mobile one.
There is speculation that Qualcomm will the customer utilizing the high performance process, but it would seem doubtful given the recent partnership between Qualcomm and Samsung's foundries.
It would seem and this is pure speculation on my part, that there may be something exciting coming in the not too distant future from the Apple/TSMC partnership.
Right now, Intel cannot provide Apple or even the rest of the market with enough Skylake CPUs to meet demand. TSMC is supplying Apple with plenty of 16 nm FF SOCs and in the process of integrating fan out which will provide considerable further advantages.
I/O is an issue with the A series, but performance isn't. The A9X trounces anything that Intel can build with the same power envelope. Apple can add I/O with sufficient band width to make the A series competitive with Intel's x86 chips. And the most important aspect is that Apple controls its own destiny and no longer dependent on a monopolist to deliver products in a timely fashion.
All of that being said, I really don't think Apple is going to port OS X to the A series. It is far more likely that they expand the capabilities of iOS and let the market decide whether it wants iOS portables and desktops or OSX based machines.
I wouldn't be surprised to see iOS based desktops running on high performance Apple designed ARM CPUs outselling the Intel based OSX counterparts especially with the vast majority of software development for iOS with paltry development for OSX. Software development for iOS even dwarfs Windows.
iOS on ARM is the future. x86 has a little more gas in the tank, but Intel's days as the dominant CPU manufacturer are coming to an end. If the company isn't careful, they may one day be forced to close their doors. It would be nice to see them hang in there and compete, but they aren't being run very well these days. So we will have to see how it all plays out.
Comments
Isn't the real issue with iOS for a laptop, the inability to display a cursor and position it with granular control?
This would seem to be a very natural UI.
Done correctly, you could even add the cursor/granularity to a touch UI.
The he way I see it Apple has twice choices into the future for Macs. One is to work with Intel on custom silicon to put their IP on a custom Intel chip. The other is to transition to ARM so they can achieve complete control. Now you may ask why, well I suspect in the future we will see more custom execution units be they for video processing, AI acceleration, or other features. AI technology will eventually work its way into hardware and be supported at the operating system level.
I think that is going to be unveiled in WWDC.
One more day and we are in April, we have no news of Macbook update, which means Apple are launching their update very close to Q3 of Kaby Lake. Since Kaby is nothing more then some variants of Skylake with USB 3.1, as well as better HEVC hardware decoding. I question why Apple not just wait. USB 3.1 with Thunderbolt 3 is basically where apple is aiming in the future. It would also be better if their range has HEVC 10 bit decode.
September is big iPhone 7 launch, would Apple want a small update at the end of the event for Mac. But Since iPhone is now the bread and butter I think they whole event should be iPhone + iOS anyway. Having Mac update in WWDC would be great, but it is running too close to Back to school, which give new model discount. Something very unApple.
Or may be Apple dont give a damn and just update the Mac internel without an event.
As for Mac Book I'm not even convinced that the machine is currently the success that many imagine it is. I still see too many reports of low resale prices due to the less than desirable nature of the machine. As such I'm expecting an overhaul of the Mac Dook to make it more usable mainstream. All around faster performance is mandatory but they also need to address the ports issues. There is no way this machine will go mainstream until the ports issue is rectified. That means at least two USB-C ports and a charger that acts as a hub when the Mac Book is plugged into it.
That at hub needs to support a video port, USB ports and at least one TB2 port. Ideally the hub will be feed with TB3 signaling.
Apple has has been updating Mac at WWDC or the weeks around that event for years now. That has never impacted Back to School.
There is no fundamental reason that ARM CPUs cannot be designed for high performance desktop computing with a more generous power envelope.
Apple can justify the volumes for TSMC to develop a high performance 7 nm node in addition to the mobile one.
There is speculation that Qualcomm will the customer utilizing the high performance process, but it would seem doubtful given the recent partnership between Qualcomm and Samsung's foundries.
It would seem and this is pure speculation on my part, that there may be something exciting coming in the not too distant future from the Apple/TSMC partnership.
Right now, Intel cannot provide Apple or even the rest of the market with enough Skylake CPUs to meet demand. TSMC is supplying Apple with plenty of 16 nm FF SOCs and in the process of integrating fan out which will provide considerable further advantages.
I/O is an issue with the A series, but performance isn't. The A9X trounces anything that Intel can build with the same power envelope. Apple can add I/O with sufficient band width to make the A series competitive with Intel's x86 chips. And the most important aspect is that Apple controls its own destiny and no longer dependent on a monopolist to deliver products in a timely fashion.
All of that being said, I really don't think Apple is going to port OS X to the A series. It is far more likely that they expand the capabilities of iOS and let the market decide whether it wants iOS portables and desktops or OSX based machines.
I wouldn't be surprised to see iOS based desktops running on high performance Apple designed ARM CPUs outselling the Intel based OSX counterparts especially with the vast majority of software development for iOS with paltry development for OSX. Software development for iOS even dwarfs Windows.
iOS on ARM is the future. x86 has a little more gas in the tank, but Intel's days as the dominant CPU manufacturer are coming to an end. If the company isn't careful, they may one day be forced to close their doors. It would be nice to see them hang in there and compete, but they aren't being run very well these days. So we will have to see how it all plays out.