Intel CFO Says its Tech is "so Far Ahead", Apple Needs it to Keep up

[Steven Bogos]

Intel CFO Says its Tech is "so Far Ahead", Apple Needs it to Keep up

Intel CFO Stacey Smith brushes off concerns that Apple will break its partnership, saying that his company is significantly ahead of the industry.

Intel CFO Stacey Smith [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/intel] certainly doesn't think this is the case, and says that his company is so far ahead of the industry, Apple would be crazy to give up its chips.

"Our leadership over the rest of the industry is extending," Smith said. "We're not delayed relative to the industry. We're actually ahead of the industry."

"For a customer like Apple you'd have to take a big step off performance to step off our architecture," Smith continued. "That is what in essence enables us to win across different customers."

For your information, the rumors started due to Apple's ARM chips that it uses for its smartphones and tablets getting more and more powerful. The theory was that Apple will soon be able to use these chips in its Mac computers, and not have to rely on Intel anymore.

"Apple is a great partner of ours," Smith added. "Like Intel they like bringing really cool stuff to the market ...As long as we're bringing great technology to the marketplace, we're enabling them to do great Apple products.

What do you guys think of this? Do you think Apple will forever be chained to Intel, or do you think Smith is being a bit too cocky? Personally, I'm excited to see what AMD can do with it's unifying mantle API [http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/technologies-gaming/mantle], to finally break Intel and Nvidia's CPU/Graphics Card dominance.

Source: Business Insider [http://www.businessinsider.com/intel-and-apple-relationship-2015-2]

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[Aerosteam]

I don't use Apple anything so it doesn't affect me but whatever makes the market more competitive the better I guess, even if it's a long way until that happens.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Well that's what happens when you have a monopoly, though to be fair that's more AMD's fault then Intel's.

 

[Sanunes]

I could be wrong, but I thought Apple was using IBM PowerPC chips before switching to Intel.

I am not sure if Mantle alone would be something that interest Apple to switch to AMD even though Apple was investigating AMD at the same time they moved to Intel. From my experiences some of Apple's considerations deal with power consumption and heat generation and from my experiences with AMD (and it could be different now) I have issues with the heat that AMD hardware creates.

 

[Slegiar Dryke]

ooooh, gee, if apple dropped intels high priced chips, maybe that would mean the outlandish prices of apple stuff that only gets you overall pitifully average hardware would drop some!..........


on a cold day in hell

wouldn't affect me though, android everything for mobile stuff here, and their computers are not worth the price by a LONG shot, so meh.

 

[gigastar]

Even if they break off and successfully do thier own thing, i dont see how its going to make the slightest difference to the consumer.

Even if it comes out for the best, it just means sustaining the stream of incrementally more powerful machines, and i wouldnt think for a moment that it would lead to cheaper Macs. Cheaper to make, maybe, but not cheaper to buy.

And of course PC users are still going to be on PC. Its akin to hearing someone shouting about something next door, you can hear them but youre so cut off from them that you wish they would just quiet down already.

As for AMD, i will continue to doubt thier ability to surpass either Intel or Nvidia until i start seeing more developers actually working to make thier games support them.

 

[RicoADF]

I could be wrong, but I thought Apple was using IBM PowerPC chips before switching to Intel

You are correct.

As for the theory of switching to ARM CPU's, I highly doubt they are going to do this not unless they basically want to abandon all their legacy software and switch to just iOS with a desktop interface. It would not be compatible with x86 software in any way so all the i software would need to be ported and then they'd need to get all of the multimedia 3rd parties to come over as well, I can't see this happening and if it did I hope Apple fails horribly as x86 is a standard for PC's, last thing we need is to start breaking software.

If their switching from intel to AMD then that's a different matter as they both use x86/64 architecture.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I bet Foxconn is jumping for joy at this news.

 

[maxmanrules]

Well that's what happens when you have a monopoly, though to be fair that's more AMD's fault then Intel's.

How's it AMD's fault? Intel's the company that pulls dodgy unethical shit over and over again. They pay companies to use only their chips, they bribe them to delay the release or to not release AMD powered laptops, they threatened to do stop bribing companies if they started working with AMD as well.

They were also allegedly part of the group of Silicon Valley companies that agreed not to try to recruit each others employees, which is effectively theft.

Furthermore, they also falsified benchmarks by creating benchmarking software, and using it to inflate results.

It's not AMDs fault that intel keeps pulling shady shit over and over again and extorting and bribing companies so that they don't use AMD.

 

[marioandsonic]

I don't use a Mac or anything Apple-related, so this doesn't really affect me.

I bet Foxconn is jumping for joy at this news.

I see what you did there.

 

[Ajarat]

I am not sure if Mantle alone would be something that interest Apple to switch to AMD even though Apple was investigating AMD at the same time they moved to Intel. From my experiences some of Apple's considerations deal with power consumption and heat generation and from my experiences with AMD (and it could be different now) I have issues with the heat that AMD hardware creates.

IMHO (and I'm not all that knowledgeable... anecdote incoming!) for the price-point the extra heat was not a concern. All I needed for my AMD/ATI rig was adding a case-fan, and all was well. I do also have a comparable Intel/nVidia setup, and the only real difference besides heat that I've noticed is that the Intel system is much more versatile with it's extras while my AMD rig when pushed to higher settings tends to perform a bit better.

What tipped the scales for me to build an AMD rig was how each company handled its multi-cores. Intel strikes a 4-core, and if one core isn't performing right they lock it out and sell it as a 3-core. AMD strikes a 4-core, and all cores must be up to snuff regardless of how many they intend to lock out and market the chip as, making unlocking the extra core(s) a very intriguing prospect. Talk about value per dollar if the system is built with the right parts... Bought a 2 core, running a 4 core in my AMD rig. Had to buy a 4-core Intel to have a comparable system and THAT was expensive.

Of course, that's just my experience, and thus my personal opinion. I could be way off base and/or completely misunderstood what I was being told, or things may have changed since then, but I see no reason to "take sides" (as if THAT'S needed), or turn into some sort of close-minded "fan-boy." In a perfect world, wouldn't it be nice if they could make a collaborative effort and have something like Mantle (or some other similar sort of API) running alongside superior hardware, or is that too "blasphemous" for the fan-boys of either side to even attempt to consider?

 

[Sanunes]

I am not sure if Mantle alone would be something that interest Apple to switch to AMD even though Apple was investigating AMD at the same time they moved to Intel. From my experiences some of Apple's considerations deal with power consumption and heat generation and from my experiences with AMD (and it could be different now) I have issues with the heat that AMD hardware creates.

IMHO (and I'm not all that knowledgeable... anecdote incoming!) for the price-point the extra heat was not a concern. All I needed for my AMD/ATI rig was adding a case-fan, and all was well. I do also have a comparable Intel/nVidia setup, and the only real difference besides heat that I've noticed is that the Intel system is much more versatile with it's extras while my AMD rig when pushed to higher settings tends to perform a bit better.

What tipped the scales for me to build an AMD rig was how each company handled its multi-cores. Intel strikes a 4-core, and if one core isn't performing right they lock it out and sell it as a 3-core. AMD strikes a 4-core, and all cores must be up to snuff regardless of how many they intend to lock out and market the chip as, making unlocking the extra core(s) a very intriguing prospect. Talk about value per dollar if the system is built with the right parts... Bought a 2 core, running a 4 core in my AMD rig. Had to buy a 4-core Intel to have a comparable system and THAT was expensive.

Of course, that's just my experience, and thus my personal opinion. I could be way off base and/or completely misunderstood what I was being told, or things may have changed since then, but I see no reason to "take sides" (as if THAT'S needed), or turn into some sort of close-minded "fan-boy." In a perfect world, wouldn't it be nice if they could make a collaborative effort and have something like Mantle (or some other similar sort of API) running alongside superior hardware, or is that too "blasphemous" for the fan-boys of either side to even attempt to consider?

You are correct that for the PCs we make heat isn't that much of an issue, but it seems for Apple they like making everything small and compact, looking at the new 5k Retina iMac I think heat could become an issue. Of course I could always be wrong.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

ooooh, gee, if apple dropped intels high priced chips, maybe that would mean the outlandish prices of apple stuff that only gets you overall pitifully average hardware would drop some!..........


on a cold day in hell

wouldn't affect me though, android everything for mobile stuff here, and their computers are not worth the price by a LONG shot, so meh.

lol exactly my thoughts as well, apple can't WAIT to make even cheaper chips but still sell at absurdly high prices to make that profit margin even higher.

it'll work in their favor even more now since you won't be able to make direct PC comparisons using the same CPU setup, so they can blow hot air out of their ass as much as they want to until someone does an in depth comparison of bang per buck vs a comparable pc setup.

 

[StreamerDarkly]

I believe the confidence of Stacey Smith is quite justified, for the time being, as ARM chips simply aren't powerful enough to command the price point that Apple likes for its computers.

Perhaps in a couple years time you could see an ARM based Macbook Air.

 

[geizr]

Apple is a hardware company, first and foremost. That is it's business model. Therefore, any maneuver it makes is always going to be in support of that business model (at least as long as that IS its business model). When Apple switched to an Intel-based platform, sales of Macs increased dramatically, in no small part due to the ability to dual-boot Windows on the machine, something that could not be done on the PowerPC platform without performance robbing emulation. Leaving the Intel platform would be deleterious to that singular feature and likely cause a massive abandonment on the Mac platform. So, no, I don't think Apple will be leaving the Intel platform unless there is a truly compelling business reason to do so.

Once you understand a company's basic business model (how they make their money), everything they do makes sense and becomes less of a surprise and more just a logical outcome.

Apple sells you hardware.
Microsoft sells you software.
Google sells you.

 

[FalloutJack]

What is this? The week for people to make whiney complaints about their industry?

 

[coolbond]

theres other chip sets than intel? i thought they all died out a while ago

 

[Smooth Operator]

As for AMD, i will continue to doubt thier ability to surpass either Intel or Nvidia until i start seeing more developers actually working to make thier games support them.

Which can plainly never be done, AMD is 1/100th the size of Intel and they are 1/100th the size of Nvidia yet they are expected to keep up with both (surpass them even). They haven't got the money to throw at every tasty developer and carve themselves a performance exclusivity, you need lots of spare cash for that nonsense.

OT: I highly doubt AMD will be anyone's choice at the high end, they got into the new consoles simply by going with a price so low the others weren't even interested.
Apple being the frequent re-inventor of hot water I do expect them to do something strange, and it is very likely that strange is ARM desktops and iOS for all things, essentially beating MS to the punch since no one willingly goes along with their unified OS shit.
But wait ARM hasn't got the power! You mean your strictly power constrained pocket device can't have the power... shit can get a whole lot faster given the space. On top of that Apple users will never even notice, as long as they are told it's better and some new "apps" are there their shit will be bought like crazy.

 

[mjharper]

As a long-term Apple user, I personally hope that it doesn't produce it own chips, unless it maintains parity with Intel, both in power and architecture. I don't want to return to the old PowerPC days where compatibility with Windows was a struggle. My main rig at the moment is an iMac with Windows installed on a second partiton, and whatever the any PC-elitists think, I'm very happy with the configuration. I game in Windows, and spend a lot of time in it, and were Apple to remove the possibility of native Windows booting from future products, it would probably lose my business.

Apple gained a lot by switching to Intel, not least in quenching the eternal debate over whether PowerPC or x86 architecture was better. Of course, if Apple feels it can produce comparable chips at a profit, it will do so without question. But I'd rather not have to live through the kind of transition Apple users saw when moving from OS9 to OSX PPC to OSX Universal to OSX Intel-only. I'm glad Apple hardware has settled down in the last decade. And if I can't dual-boot, I won't be buying an Apple computer as my main PC any more.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Remember when AMD was the top dog in gaming?

Ah...halcyon days, indeed. Getting a bit tired of Intel's persistent dominance in the market. AMD's really been dropping the ball for the past, what, decade now?