AMD/ATI model in Apple's Future?

Comments

• Reply 1 of 5

  joe_the_dragon Posts: 931member

  August 28, 2006 8:55PM

  Quote:
  

  Originally Posted by MacGregor
  
  
  I didn't find this in any of the topics yet so...
  
  
  
  I watched this little c|net clip of an interview with AMD and ATI guys and what first struck me was the fact that the ATI guy had an Apple laptop prominently in front of him on the table. Maybe he was reading a statement from a Word doc on it or maybe he was playing Lord of the Rings on it between questions, but it seemed kind of funny and the AMD guy sort of looked at it a few times.
  
  
  
  http://news.com.com/1606-2_3-6110161...0161&subj=news
  
  
  
  Now I'm not into Da Vinci Code - like speculation ... okay, so I am ... but as they spoke of the reasons for merging the two companies and for creating a seemless architecture with the cpu and gpu working together, not just off the shelf parts, it seemed to me that this was exactly the strategy that Apple uses or used to use when they made their own chipsets and motherboards. Intel of course has low-end integrated chips, but these guys are talking about improving perf/watt ratios and cycle sharing between cpu's and gpu's at a higher level and higher performance level and in ways that may make devices smaller and smaller. Apple, Apple and Apple again.
  
  
  
  So I wonder...
  
  1. Did Apple "know" about this merger before Steve decided to go Intel, and decided not to go with AMD? And is Steve now second guessing himself?
  
  2. Is Steve going to keep AMD/ATI boxes in his basement so that OSX can be running another double life for the time when he wants to jump ship from Intel? My own assumption.
  
  3. Are AMD/ATI actively trying to court Apple from Intel by showing of MacBook Pro's at their media conferences? And is Apple secretly cooperating?
  
  4. Is this all just lunacy and AMD is just panicking and hoping this will save them?
  
  
  
  I do like the idea though!!!!!
  

  
  

  
  
  switching form Intel to AMD is a lot easier then ppc to Intel.
• Reply 2 of 5

  onlooker Posts: 5,252member

  August 28, 2006 11:47PM

  I doubt Apple is going to switch to AMD anytime soon. AMD still has to overcome Conroe, woodcrest, Kensington, Clovertown, and also produce a better laptop CPU, and have better performance per watt ratio than intel. They also have to do this for a proven period of time. Which will take them years to begin with. intel exclusivity is probably getting Apple a lot of good treatment at intel, and they will not throw that away.
  
  
  
  I don't see AMD outperforming intel in the forecasted future anyway.
  
  
  
  Are they even selling a Laptop processor that is near core 2 duo? Are they even selling a workstation CPU that is performing as well as a 3GHz woodcrest? What about the heat? I Just don't hear any real news from AMD because no one expects them to do much, and I agree with that.
• Reply 3 of 5

  hmurchison Posts: 12,425member

  August 29, 2006 12:31AM

  Nah Steve's not second guessing himself. Intel's lineup is superior "right now". Apple's relationship with ATI doesn't change because AMD has purchased them. The value in a company is their oem and consumer assets. AMD would not gut ATI in anyway which harms their existing momentum.
  
  
  
  I'm sure they can and will test their OS with AMD product and if AMD's "Torrenza" platform yields fruit that is superior to what Intel offers in 2008 then Apple can and should investigate if it is the right way to go.
  
  
  
  AMD can do nothing right now to woo Apple from Intel. AMD offers no advantage other than price over the new Core Architecture. Turion and Athlon X2 are inferior to Core 2. AMD has some nice kit in the works though and things will brighten up next year.
  
  
  
  AMD is far from panicking. They are working on the nextgen K8 architecture and with AMD IP they can begin to meld the CPU and GPU in ways that Intel won't be able to. This see saw battle has swung Intel's way but I expect AMD to reverse things in a couple of years as Intel begins to migrate to their next core update.
• Reply 4 of 5

  onlooker Posts: 5,252member

  August 29, 2006 1:28AM

  It's also notable that following Kensington/Cloverown the Intel quad core processors will be true quad core processors, and not 2 dual cores on a single chip, and they were also supposed to introduce an ODMC on that version as well. Being that Kensington/Cloverown is slated for later this year I would expect this following version to be out by mid to late 2007. And that will be where I predict you will see apple using 2 quad core processors in the Mac Pro. Just remember you heard it here first.
• Reply 5 of 5

  jcg Posts: 777member

  August 29, 2006 7:07AM

  Mac,
  
  
  
  Don't read anything into it other than the ATI guy likes and uses an Apple laptop. I doubt that Apple knew about the merger, there was no real reason for ATI or AMD to tell them unless they were going to cut the supply of ATI chips to Apple. AMD may try to court Apple in the future, but I doubt that this is the time for Steve to look into another processor switch. Of course Apple could probably release a Mini using an AMD chip, or another model, at almost any time providing that they don't need to make too many software changes to the OS, and it doesn't require extra work for developers or users. However, if this happened there would probably be repercussions in their relationship with Intel that would be detrimental to Apple in the short-run.