danox

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danox
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  • Amazon denies it had plans to be clear about consumer tariff costs

    danoxdanox
    Absolutely the right thing to do show it (the new Federal sales tax) as a line item on the bill that Americans get to see, eliminate all doubt where the cost is coming from. The red staters need to see it in black and white. They don’t seem to understand anything until it knocks them over the head.

    Anyone selling anything across the land is not gonna take the blame for that occupant in the White House. As we have heard from him so often business is business and he is the greatest at it. Isn’t he? According to his constant blathering he is the smartest man in the room or is it the world I keep forgetting? :smile: 
    kurai_kageForumPostlondorjeffharrisrob53neoncatnubusronnalgnormilarynx

  • Five years of Apple Silicon: How Apple continues to revolutionize chips

    danoxdanox
    danvm said:
    danox said:
    danvm said:
    danvm said:
    And I have work with some of those workstations, and the performance is not as pathetic as you mention.  Some of them have advantages over Apple Silicon, specially when comparing the GPU. 
    You say "workstations" whereas what you quoted said "laptops".  Big difference.  Apple Silicon's performance really shines in power-constrained situations.  If you can run plugged into the wall and with big heat sinks, then the Intel/AMD CPUs and the nVidia/AMD GPUs can burn copious power to deliver serious performance.  They're still inefficient in terms of compute per watt, but you don't notice as watts are cheap in such a situation.

    It would be interesting to see a large scale data centre built from ARM-based machines and compared to ones build from Intel/AMD-based machines, and compare the operating costs.  Some of the big cloud vendors offer lower cost ARM-based hosts just for this reason -- they greatly reduce energy and cooling costs in the data centre.  Not Apple's focus though, so we aren't likely to see Apple Silicon based data centres (except perhaps for Apple's own, but they are typically very secretive about that).
    There is a group of laptops that are considered workstations (Dell Precision, HP Z mobile workstation, Lenovo ThinkPad P-series). The quality of componentes, warranty / service and specs are different from a notebook that you buy in a consumer retailer.  Also, they are certified for ISV's like Autodesk, Bentley Software, Siemens and others. That's the reason I used the term workstation and not laptops. 

    I also know the benefits of Apple Intelligence and ARM in general, especially with power efficiency.  But there are cases where some specialized applications use CUDA / Optix, and you are required to use Nvidia adapters.  In datacenters is very difference, and even more with AI.  There are even rumors of Apple dealing with Nvidia for their datacenters.

    Unlikely report claims Apple is buying 250 Nvidia servers for AI

    Large cloud providers also have their own AI processors (Amazon Trainium2, Azure Maia and Google Axion).  Maybe these processors have advantages over ARM and Apple Silicon for AI tasks.  My point is that ARM and Apple Silicon is not the magic CPU that will solve all problems.  It has many advantages over Intel and AMD in some tasks.  But Intel, AMD and Nvidia have some advantages over ARM / Apple too. 

    At the end, It's good to have competition working for us.  

    The competition from Intel, AMD, and Nvidia is commendable in theory, but Apple boasts several in-house operating systems (ecosystems) that make direct competition with them impractical. I don’t believe any of these companies will be working for Apple again. Two out of the three had their chance, and like Samsung’s (chip division), they only caused trouble for Apple.

    Apple Silicon isn’t magical, but the absence of an in-house OS prevents these companies from optimizing their hardware to an operating system, putting them behind Apple. This is also why Microsoft is frantically flailing around with Qualcomm, attempting to revive its failing and unprofitable Surface computer line.

    You have to consider that Apple ecosystem may have some benefits.  But at the same time, it doesn't means it's the best experience for every case.  For example, gaming is far better with Nvidia, AMD and Intel than with Apple, even with all the advantages their ecosystem have.  The same can be said in the enterprise, where Microsoft have a big advantage, a no other company comes close. 

    And you when you talk about the Surface line, you have to think that Apple is not the only one competing with them.  HP, Dell and Lenovo outsell Microsoft (and even Apple) by a large margin. And these are the top three among many others. With Windows, customers have choices, not that much with Apple.  That's the reason I think you cannot make a 1:1 comparison of sales numbers between Apple vs Microsoft.  

    BTW, from I have seen, the Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite looks very competitive, even with Apple.  And there are rumors that Nvidia have something to announce soon.  

    Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite isn’t competitive with anything Apple has done when it comes to Apple Silicon in fact, they can’t help cheating with their the benchmarks.

    To make matters worse, the Snapdragon phone SOC’S are five-six years behind Apple they can barely achieve iPhone 11 Pro Speed notice the Snapdragon Samsung S24 uses an eight core SOC whereas all of the 11 Pro iPhones use only six cores, the Samsung using the Snapdragon at eight cores is barely ahead of a six year old iPhone. (Soon they will be seven generations back). Apples, only mistake was not including two more gigs of RAM in their iPhones, in short they optimize the little too much in that area.

    https://browser.geekbench.com/mobile-benchmarks  Years ahead generationally.

    Qualcomm has more problems than that and they don’t match Apple in anything when it comes to SOC’s. They do have better lawyers however defending their modem monopoly.

    https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/09/arm-sues-qualcomm-over-its-1-4-billion-nuvia-acquisition/

    Qualcomm is years off the pace that Apple sets. Snapdragon eight core vs Apple six core that’s running behind an iPhone 13 just ahead of a iPhone 12 Pro Max (a iPhone that was released five years ago by Apple). The only good news is that they are ahead of the Google Tensor which is even further behind.

    https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-M4-SoC-analysis-AMD-Intel-and-Qualcomm-currently-don-t-stand-a-chance.839332.0.html Not even in the ballpark….

    Qualcomm bragged about the Snapdragon Elite and posted misleading benchmarks,.

    https://www.gizmochina.com/2024/04/25/snapdragon-x-elite-misleading-benchmark/

    https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/qualcomm-faces-benchmark-cheating-allegations-snapdragon-x-eliteplus-benchmarks-claimed-to-be-fraudulent#xenforo-comments-3843099

    https://itc.ua/en/news/not-a-competitor-to-apple-and-intel-qualcomm-is-cheating-with-snapdragon-x-chip-tests-insiders-say-manufacturers-didn-t-achieve-the-results/

    Qualcomm tried to make themselves look better with a SOC that is many years behind Apple Silicon, I don’t think the new Apple C1 modem is that far back of Qualcomm current modem chips which probably means another trip to court for Apple because Qualcomm Is a bit of a cheat and a patent troll.

    Not only is Apple designing first rate Apple Silicon SOC chips across the board, but the ability to have five (OS) ecosystems integrated/optimize with their Apple Silicon chips puts them far ahead of their competition only government interference in the USA, China, or the EU is where they’re going have their biggest problems going forward.

    PS a hardware company (Dell, HP others) without an in-house OS isn’t competition not if you want to make the best, Qualcomm’s problem is not just Apple. It’s also Microsoft, who will never feel the sense of urgency very similar to Intel, IBM or Motorola of Schaumburg, Illinois when Apple suggested, smaller faster, more energy efficient chips might be needed going into the future. Microsoft is too busy working on Recall or is it Cloudstrike?


    neoncathypoluxawatto_cobra

  • Apple wants nearly every iPhone 18 sold in the US to come from India

    danoxdanox
    anantksundaram said:
    I recall that, for so many years, so many here just laughed off Apple’s long term India strategy as blather and fantasy. 

    Guess what…  

    Still is where is that high-speed rail system, dam or Thorium Reactor in India? 5 to 10 years minimum for India to manage one hit from the cricket bat just once for Apple, and guess what? You know who won’t be in the White House by then anyway….
    neoncatnubustiredskillsForumPostoxonrichwatto_cobra

  • Five years of Apple Silicon: How Apple continues to revolutionize chips

    danoxdanox
    danvm said:
    danvm said:
    And I have work with some of those workstations, and the performance is not as pathetic as you mention.  Some of them have advantages over Apple Silicon, specially when comparing the GPU. 
    You say "workstations" whereas what you quoted said "laptops".  Big difference.  Apple Silicon's performance really shines in power-constrained situations.  If you can run plugged into the wall and with big heat sinks, then the Intel/AMD CPUs and the nVidia/AMD GPUs can burn copious power to deliver serious performance.  They're still inefficient in terms of compute per watt, but you don't notice as watts are cheap in such a situation.

    It would be interesting to see a large scale data centre built from ARM-based machines and compared to ones build from Intel/AMD-based machines, and compare the operating costs.  Some of the big cloud vendors offer lower cost ARM-based hosts just for this reason -- they greatly reduce energy and cooling costs in the data centre.  Not Apple's focus though, so we aren't likely to see Apple Silicon based data centres (except perhaps for Apple's own, but they are typically very secretive about that).
    There is a group of laptops that are considered workstations (Dell Precision, HP Z mobile workstation, Lenovo ThinkPad P-series). The quality of componentes, warranty / service and specs are different from a notebook that you buy in a consumer retailer.  Also, they are certified for ISV's like Autodesk, Bentley Software, Siemens and others. That's the reason I used the term workstation and not laptops. 

    I also know the benefits of Apple Intelligence and ARM in general, especially with power efficiency.  But there are cases where some specialized applications use CUDA / Optix, and you are required to use Nvidia adapters.  In datacenters is very difference, and even more with AI.  There are even rumors of Apple dealing with Nvidia for their datacenters.

    Unlikely report claims Apple is buying 250 Nvidia servers for AI

    Large cloud providers also have their own AI processors (Amazon Trainium2, Azure Maia and Google Axion).  Maybe these processors have advantages over ARM and Apple Silicon for AI tasks.  My point is that ARM and Apple Silicon is not the magic CPU that will solve all problems.  It has many advantages over Intel and AMD in some tasks.  But Intel, AMD and Nvidia have some advantages over ARM / Apple too. 

    At the end, It's good to have competition working for us.  

    The competition from Intel, AMD, and Nvidia is commendable in theory, but Apple boasts several in-house operating systems (ecosystems) that make direct competition with them impractical. I don’t believe any of these companies will be working for Apple again. Two out of the three had their chance, and like Samsung’s (chip division), they only caused trouble for Apple.

    Apple Silicon isn’t magical, but the absence of an in-house OS prevents these companies from optimizing their hardware to an operating system, putting them behind Apple. This is also why Microsoft is frantically flailing around with Qualcomm, attempting to revive its failing and unprofitable Surface computer line.

    neoncatwatto_cobra

  • Five years of Apple Silicon: How Apple continues to revolutionize chips

    danoxdanox
    jfabula1 said:
    With all the $ that Apple have and a very successful M series, still a fabless relying on tsmc.

    It’s never too late. In the future, Apple could potentially bypass TSMC, although it’s unlikely. Such a move would take a decade and a half at least to implement. Intel, and AMD are currently in the rearview mirror and within one or two generations, the M series will likely surpass Nvidia as well. Apple’s current trajectory and iteration rate appears to be faster than its competition.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dhuxRF2c_w&pp=0gcJCYQJAYcqIYzv 

    The comment section is flooded with comments. The reviewer just gave a fair review of the M2 Ultra Mac Studio, mentioning its performance and wattage compared to a 4090 graphics card at 13:02 and 13:09.

    https://opendata.blender.org/benchmarks/query/?compute_type=OPTIX&compute_type=CUDA&compute_type=HIP&compute_type=METAL&compute_type=ONEAPI&group_by=device_name&blender_version=4.3.0 

    What’s noteworthy in this table is that Apple jumped 40 positions from 52nd the M2 Ultra to the M3 Ultras12th spot on the list of devices that run Blender. 

    The M5 Ultra, which has been rumored to be Apple’s next move instead of releasing an Ultra M4 would be a two-generation jump, which raises questions about how many positions they’ll jump to when they release something that’s two generations down the road. (Apple may jump to the top of the chart).

    The M5 processor is rumored to be even more efficient in terms of wattage/energy capabilities than its predecessors and that’s in addition to its increased performance.


    neoncatAlex1Nwatto_cobra