mdriftmeyer
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Apple Silicon will force industry to reconsider use of Intel chips, says ex-Apple exec
blastdoor said:
Intel is preparing to strike back. Right now Intel is stuck on an old process (14nm) and an old core design (Skylake) across many product lines. But they are slowly clawing their way back. Tiger Lake in laptops and Rocket Lake on the desktop could be a turning point in Intel's competition with AMD. Both products use the long-delayed Willow Cove core, which should make Intel much more competitive with AMD. I don't expect AMD to be wiped out the way they were when Intel came out with Core, but AMD is going to find some very still competition. It's not going to be a cakewalk. It is going to be great for consumers, though -- we might see some real, prolonged competition between Intel and AMD.sflocal said:Intel is blowing it, but AMD is making x86 relevant again. AMD might be the next Intel at the pace they’re going.
But I doubt either will be competitive with Apple Silicon. Apple would have known that their first Apple Silicon MacBooks would be competing against Tiger Lake, and so I'll bet Apple know that they can beat Tiger Lake. And really, they should be able to --- Apple Silicon will be on TSMC 5nm (analogous to Intel's non-existent 7nm process) while Tiger Lake will be on Intel's 10nm process (analogous to TSMC 7nm). And we already know from analysis by Anandtech that Apple's core design is far wider than Intel's, with higher IPC.
Intel's 10nm jump won't be fully there for 18 months. AMD's 5nm path will already be well underway, across its entire lineup. AMD stock will be double it's price now in twelve months or less.
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Intel details Thunderbolt 4 spec, but 'Apple silicon' support is unclear [u]
It’s right there in the spectht said:This news is a nothingburger for Apple? No new functionality in TB4 for Apple devices as far as I can tell:
So, it essentially brings TB capability for PC to Apple Mac levels, almost? 5K monitor support is spotty in the PC world.
Required Intel VT-d based DMA protection.In the Audio world Thunderbolt is in all professional Audio Interface hardware, as well as Ethernet via Dante spec in the likes of Apogee Digital, Universal Audio, Focusrite Red, etc. TB 2 & 3 are big for low latency DMA over PCIe and critical as USB doesn’t have that, period.
The PCIe 32GB/s means PCIe 4.0 as a minimum. No problem as by the time Apple Silicon on Mac Pro arrives they’ll be PCIe 5.0 based motherboards.
https://newsroom.intel.com/news/introducing-thunderbolt-4-universal-cable-connectivity-everyone/#gs.aasuc3When It Is Available: Later this year, Intel expects to deliver the new Thunderbolt 4 controller 8000 series, including:
- JHL8540 and JHL8340 host controllers for computer makers.
- JHL8440 device controller for accessory makers.
The first computers and accessories with Thunderbolt 4 ports are also expected to be available this year, including laptops based on Intel’s innovation program code-named “Project Athena.”
Apple will include one of those host controllers on their Apple Silicon based Mac motherboards just like AMD OEMs will do to offer TB4 on their motherboards.
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Apple unveils plans to ditch Intel chips in Macs for 'Apple Silicon'
They demoed 1080p 60fps low settings and most of the acceleration was coming from the Afterburner integrated components they failed to mention on that motherboard. They mentioned no specs, completely unlike Apple. They showed the barest of stuff working, including that pathetic Maya demo of a wireframe and low graphic non-textured edit view.fastasleep said:I’m amazed they demoed Maya (and gaming) using Rosetta 2. I’m going to guess that 3D/animation apps are all going to be needing to be on Metal already in order to work in Rosetta (or at least work well?) but I’m beyond excited for this!
Guess we’ll be waiting to see the new iMac, wonder when that’ll launch.
Just take a look at what is on the upcoming Motherboard. Most of the heavy lifting will come from the Afterburner parts and not the CPU/GPU SoC.
All those specific processors/accelerators are FPGA based. High efficiency audio processor, Cryptography Acceleration, High-performance video editing, Machine Learning accelerators, High quality camera processor, Neural Engine. These are parts of the SoC. These are add-ons that you can't put in a smartphone or an iPad due to the massive batteries in the way. This stuff is bits and pieces on the Motherboard that compensate for the SoC being weak overall.
You put each one of those in an Intel or especially an AMD system with the Zen 3 and it's 64 core/128 thread max for consumers and you have something that nothing Apple does will ever compete. Apple is doing this to increase their profit margins and further stream line contractual agreements with third parties by no longer being contractually obligated for x amount of years with this or that vendor.
Apple will save the fully loaded system specs shown below for their most expensive variety of system and reduce the components down to their entry level machines. Profit margins will increase along with prices.
The most annoying oblique reference is `Advanced silicon packaging.' The industry leader in advanced Silicon Packaging is the Zen line. The Zen 4 is introducing X3D packaging (2.5D & 3D packaging] for their SoC APUs and CPUs. It's obvious that AMD will be soon move to APUs only with Infinity Architecture shared backplane allowing for GPUs to share the same bandwidth/memory. Zen 2 APUs already have lower power design than Intel.
Zen 3 drops down considerably further. AMD and Apple will be on 5nm and below at the same time.
Nothing Apple is doing is for lack of options.
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How Steve Jobs changed the face of retail with the Apple Store
The irony to those unfamiliar with my old company, NeXT Software Inc, is the look and feel of the Apple Store is a direct reflection of the style aesthetics of NeXT Inc, HQ. The same floors, the same minimalist design, all of it.
Steve was overlord in its design and the Apple Stores. I know I was there. Steve was overlord in redoing the Mac Cafe at Infinite Loop One. I know I was there. Steve was and always will be remembered for his meticulous eye to detail. The new campus is the last child of his creation and he left it in the hands of Ives to fulfill his vision to the last solar panel. If he had lived there would have been improved iterations in its final outcome to the day it opened. Nothing was ever just good enough. He knew design was as alive and forward moving as life itself.There were hundreds of iterations on the Apple Store, with just slight variations from one to the next. The vast majority of people wouldn't notice the difference of iteration 10 to iteration 50, but if you know what your aim is you see it immediately. That was orchestrated by him. His goal was for the consumer to never be distracted while in the Apple Store. to quickly scan the store, take in the vast majority of it at once and know the next time you come in you know exactly where to go and fulfill your needs. In short, the exact opposite of a Brick n' Mortar store where they baffle you with distraction to hopefully get you to impulse buy and kill hours of your day doing nothing.
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Refreshed 13-inch MacBook Pro may have 4TB storage option, 32GB memory
It also needs an 8 Core/16 Thread APU in it, but that would mean dumping Intel because those specs on Intel would overheat the Macbook Pro 13.
