- Joined
- Jan 7, 2016
- Messages
- 216
- Motherboard
- HP Elitedesk 800 G5 Mini
- CPU
- i9-9900
- Graphics
- UHD 630
- Mac
- Mobile Phone
I am of the highest skepticism when I look at all these claims.
Working in the semiconductor industry and knowing quite well what is going on at the technical level, there is no doubt that intel has been underwhelming in the past few years in their R&D efforts and it is to the point where they have fallen behind contract foundry makers. That being said, I am finding Apple's move as bold and extremely risky.
What made me move to a mac was... intel and the x86 move and the hardware intercompatibility/upgradability with a broader cheaper market. Going to arm reminds me of where apple was with its RISC/PPC hardware architecture which made them an isolated, elitist, closed platform. It corresponds to the brand's strategy but one which had limited success in the past. What Apple is launching here is program to do to the PC market exactly what they have done with the mobile phone market. It may or may not work. Even on the intel platforms you could see it happening with the increasing restrictions on upgrading memory and storage over time. These moves motivated more people to create hackintoshes. I have 3 macbooks in my household only because:
1. I can have one working powerful and flexible hack as I couldn't find anything equivalent in the mac lineup and nothing close to the price I would be willing to pay even making some technical compromises.
2. They are intel based and offer a level of compatibility with Windows PCs and linux.
3. They are a great bridge to iOS devices.
This move takes out 1 and 2 and may even make me question my iOS bias (3) and I fear for them that many will come to the same conclusion. The bet for them is that ARM will displace x86 even in the desktop/laptop segments using an SOC, short product lifetime/non upgradeable platform like what the mobile space has become.
Working in the semiconductor industry and knowing quite well what is going on at the technical level, there is no doubt that intel has been underwhelming in the past few years in their R&D efforts and it is to the point where they have fallen behind contract foundry makers. That being said, I am finding Apple's move as bold and extremely risky.
What made me move to a mac was... intel and the x86 move and the hardware intercompatibility/upgradability with a broader cheaper market. Going to arm reminds me of where apple was with its RISC/PPC hardware architecture which made them an isolated, elitist, closed platform. It corresponds to the brand's strategy but one which had limited success in the past. What Apple is launching here is program to do to the PC market exactly what they have done with the mobile phone market. It may or may not work. Even on the intel platforms you could see it happening with the increasing restrictions on upgrading memory and storage over time. These moves motivated more people to create hackintoshes. I have 3 macbooks in my household only because:
1. I can have one working powerful and flexible hack as I couldn't find anything equivalent in the mac lineup and nothing close to the price I would be willing to pay even making some technical compromises.
2. They are intel based and offer a level of compatibility with Windows PCs and linux.
3. They are a great bridge to iOS devices.
This move takes out 1 and 2 and may even make me question my iOS bias (3) and I fear for them that many will come to the same conclusion. The bet for them is that ARM will displace x86 even in the desktop/laptop segments using an SOC, short product lifetime/non upgradeable platform like what the mobile space has become.