KVR Audio

UltraJv · Post by **UltraJv** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 8:59 am

Just for a conversation point :

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/06 ... l_in_macs/

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 9:45 am

It is funny that there was no mention of "ARM" anywhere in that article. It was, in fact, ARMless.

Compyfox · Post by **Compyfox** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 9:53 am

They want to ditch it AGAIN?

SIck of their Macs being turned into better working PC's with either Windows/Linux, eh?

I know why I never jumped on it. If I had to "upgrade" to another chip system again (which only happened like... several times before), I'd be major pissed since none of my owned tools work anymore.

Now tell me, why is Apple superior again?

discoDSP · Post by **discoDSP** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 10:12 am

ARM switch may happen, but not anytime soon.

Right now the latest iPad has more processing power than a G5, but that does not means it's better than current Intel CPUs.

The article seems sensationalist.

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 10:21 am

george wrote:ARM switch may happen, but not anytime soon.

Right now the latest iPad has more processing power than a G5, but that does not means it's better than current Intel CPUs.

The article seems sensationalist.

It is only a matter of time before consumers are no longer being flogged the same processors as business users - ie server and workstations. It is happening already. Look at the latest Xeons - up to 10 core but they only sell 4 and 6 core to consumers.

Apple will probably turn out to be FZ's First Church of Appliantology and will package ARM in a range of form factors.

If ARM + graphics co-pro is fast enough to work with the latest video tech (UHD, 4K - whatever) who - outside niche players like us (DAW users etc) will need x86 in their homes or pockets?

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 10:27 am

Adobe is gonna ditch Apple if Apple ditches Intel. That's at least my take on it.

It would be an idiot move from Apple to ditch Intel for their laptop/desktop range.

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 10:56 am

EvilDragon wrote:Adobe is gonna ditch Apple if Apple ditches Intel. That's at least my take on it.

It would be an idiot move from Apple to ditch Intel for their laptop/desktop range.

Perhaps so but I would have thought Adobe programs would be just the sort of to profit from the massive parallelism of graphics co-pros. I guess it is a big shift and would not easily happen in a short time frame.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 11:07 am

Yes, and who has the best GPGPU out there? Surely not ARM, but nVidia. Nobody can touch nVidia in that area, and Apple already had their love affair broken up with nV (again, idiots

).

Kaine · Post by **Kaine** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 11:08 am

This rumours been kicking around for about a year now on and off. Starting to think the's no smoke without fire...

A lot of people got hacked off back in 2005 when large chunks of their software libaries got made redundent, I'm suprised they are considering taking another swipe at it again quite so soon.

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 11:13 am

EvilDragon wrote:Yes, and who has the best GPGPU out there? Surely not ARM, but nVidia. Nobody can touch nVidia in that area.

ARM cpus are often mated with a graphics chip with multiple cores. The latest from Apple and Asus can work with lots of pixels - eg 2560x1600 for one of the Asus beasties - and then there's all the Retina guff from the Loop. Fitting them all on one substrate drives the cost down but perhaps ARM will license AMD or NVidias tech. Apple bought in some tech of their own so they might cook up their on desktop oriented SOCs with ARM cores.

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 11:18 am

I don't think Apple will have a GPU solution that will match or supersede nVidia for quite some time to come, if ever at all. Especially for GPGPU applications.

And I'm not positive that nV would return to Apple's love hug after what happened between them. nV will keep plugging away kicking ass, providing superior GPU solutions, others can only keep trying to follow suit. Badly.

DarkStar · Post by **DarkStar** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 11:30 am

... don't worry, Apple will switch back to Intel in 2019 for the iMind 06 and iRuletheWorld 02

egbert · Post by **egbert** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 3:13 pm

What is the word on AMD? Are they are likely candidate for a buyout from another player - you would think so if they have good graphics tech and have spun off their Fabs etc. ARM may not be interested in swallowing any other operation and loading themselves up with debt but perhaps another player like Apple would consider this.

Kaine · Post by **Kaine** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 4:57 pm

egbert wrote:What is the word on AMD? Are they are likely candidate for a buyout from another player - you would think so if they have good graphics tech and have spun off their Fabs etc. ARM may not be interested in swallowing any other operation and loading themselves up with debt but perhaps another player like Apple would consider this.

AMD has a deal signed up with ARM already to start producing a ARM cores for the server market.

http://blogs.amd.com/work/2012/10/29/am ... ta-center/

ARM has made no secret out of it wanting to enter this market place and they've been working together for a few years already judging by the hints dropped on last years AMD key notes seminar.

My guess is that we'll see AMD pull back from chip development in order to work on a modular desktop chipset that will allow anyone with an ARM licence to break into the desktop side of things... or that was how I read the notes at the time anyway.

In fact have a look yourself as I may have read it out of context:

http://semiaccurate.com/2011/06/22/amd- ... s-at-last/

And lets face it Semiaccurate is the most accurate name of any site I probably read so it can all be taken with the pinch of salt, other than what was in the first offcial AMD blog post up top. Still it's all quite interesting to watch AMD attempt to move the goal posts on Intel.

We'll see in time, but I wouldn't write them off for a take over just yet tbh.

xh3rv · Post by **xh3rv** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 5:21 pm

The newswire quotes "people familiar with the company's research" as saying Apple is "exploring ways" to use its own silicon in future Macs, as it has become frustrated with Intel's inability to deliver chips that can be built into thin and light devices. Cross-platform integration is also said to be an issue Apple would like to tackle, the report says, paraphrasing one of three sources as saying Cupertino thinks it can make better products if all are based on the same silicon.

My intuition is this is more about mobile expanding up towards the lower end of the laptop market - between iPad and MB-Air, maybe Apple TV sorts of things - than the MB-Pros or any desktops. Intel has widened the gap substantially in terms of fabrication for top-end CPUs. They've been working hard towards mobile but IMO x86 legacy is kind of a ball and chain there. I like the idea that Apple has a vision for integration between mobile and Intel-based stuff but it won't happen soon.

Apple to ditch Intel?