Macs With AMD Inside?

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

coolie_d

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 1, 2004
Messages
2,586
well, graphics cards anyways, for now.... but I was thinking, with Apple offering AMD (ATI) video cards, it wouldn't be completely beyond the realm of possibility to see AMD processor offerings in the future (you know AMD is going to at least try and cut Apple some kind of deal regarding CPU/chipset/GPU combos).... thoughts?
 
I see Apple sticking with Intel for quite some time.

They probably got a sweet deal on processors and access to Intel's extensive motherboard and technical department. Features like EFI come to mind...

Plus, with Intel currently owning the performance crown, there's very little need for Apple to start offering AMD chips.

I wouldn't be against it (options are always nice), but I really don't see the point.
 
Some Apple Airport units have AMD chips in 'em. They've probably used their chips for other applications too.

As to whether they'll start using AMD CPUs ... I'm going to guess not too likely, but you never know what the future will bring.

Seems like Apple would be just as likely to go back to IBM and do some kind of Cell-chipped offering. There might be contractual problems involving Toshiba and Sony on that front, however.
 
Well, the upcoming K8L from AMD is where I am thinking it may come into being, at least in the top-of-the-line Macs, the quad-core K8L for servers and workstations to be exact..... I believe that is due to be a native quad-core design, as opposed to the Core2 Quad which is 2 Conroe cores on 1 die..... rather than have to share a frontside bus, each core will have it's own hypertransport link...... I could easily see a K8L-based Opteron in a future Mac Pro instead of Xeons......
 
coolie_d said:
Well, the upcoming K8L from AMD is where I am thinking it may come into being, at least in the top-of-the-line Macs, the quad-core K8L for servers and workstations to be exact..... I believe that is due to be a native quad-core design, as opposed to the Core2 Quad which is 2 Conroe cores on 1 die..... rather than have to share a frontside bus, each core will have it's own hypertransport link...... I could easily see a K8L-based Opteron in a future Mac Pro instead of Xeons......
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that Intel designed the mobo for the Pro... Meaning that Apple would have to go back to the drawing board and design their own alternative to fit the Opteron. And does AMD even have an alternative to EFI yet?
 
Rocketpig said:
And does AMD even have an alternative to EFI yet?
Click to expand...

Why couldn't AMD just use EFI? I mean it is not just an intel standard. Hell AMD is on the uefi board of directors.

I have a feeling that apple is getting a real good price from intel right now. This is not to say they will not go to amd. They just need a good reason too.
 
swatbat said:
Why couldn't AMD just use EFI? I mean it is not just an intel standard. Hell AMD is on the uefi board of directors.

I have a feeling that apple is getting a real good price from intel right now. This is not to say they will not go to amd. They just need a good reason too.
Click to expand...

Though Intel did create EFI. I'm not sure about licensing rights for the technology.
 
Rocketpig said:
Though Intel did create EFI. I'm not sure about licensing rights for the technology.
Click to expand...

Besides the fact that AMD is on the board of directors for uefi, amd and intel have a patent sharing agrement in place. Thats why intel was able to use amds x64 instructions.
 
A big reason Apple went with Intel was availability. Intel had the stock and resources on hard at the time Apple was shopping around for a new platform and AMD did not. It also had a lot to do with the new generation chips Intel had on the board at the time.

The sad thing is, If Apple would have waited they would now be benefiting from IBM's new AMD & Intel crusher Power 6 chip!!! I can't blame them for moving on since that was one of the main reasons why they switched in the first place! Motorolla and IBM just couldn't (or wouldn't) supply them with newer generation chips and Apple was constantly stuck having to reuse older technology aka the G4 and G5 chips. These CPUs were absolutely power hungry and produced an insane amount of heat (later G5's)! Just look at their previous laptop line, ever see a G5 based Powerbook? Wonder why? Apple's laptop line was suffering the most because of these setbacks and they needed an alternative solution, thats where Intel comes in...
 
swatbat said:
Besides the fact that AMD is on the board of directors for uefi, amd and intel have a patent sharing agrement in place. Thats why intel was able to use amds x64 instructions.
Click to expand...

I did not know that.
 
Don't forget about branding, either:

TV: "Apple: now with Intel!"
Consumer: "Wow Intel is pretty good!"

or

TV: "Apple: now with AMD"
Consumer: "WTF? who cares?"
 
Slartibartfast said:
Don't forget about branding, either:

TV: "Apple: now with Intel!"
Consumer: "Wow Intel is pretty good!"

or

TV: "Apple: now with AMD"
Consumer: "WTF? who cares?"
Click to expand...
Apple !!!!!!s will always be Apple !!!!!!s, but yes...if I was an outsider looking in, Intel would appeal more just because of it's exposure.
 
Yes, I think that at some point they will have an AMD CPU in it, but I still think that they will stick with Intel for a while
 
Lighthammer said:
A big reason Apple went with Intel was availability. Intel had the stock and resources on hard at the time Apple was shopping around for a new platform and AMD did not. It also had a lot to do with the new generation chips Intel had on the board at the time.

The sad thing is, If Apple would have waited they would now be benefiting from IBM's new AMD & Intel crusher Power 6 chip!!! I can't blame them for moving on since that was one of the main reasons why they switched in the first place! Motorolla and IBM just couldn't (or wouldn't) supply them with newer generation chips and Apple was constantly stuck having to reuse older technology aka the G4 and G5 chips. These CPUs were absolutely power hungry and produced an insane amount of heat (later G5's)! Just look at their previous laptop line, ever see a G5 based Powerbook? Wonder why? Apple's laptop line was suffering the most because of these setbacks and they needed an alternative solution, thats where Intel comes in...
Click to expand...


You're right alot of it came down to the heat issue and the performance per watt equation. Intel seemed to improve ALOT over the past year. I would have to say that I was an AMD believer when I was on PC, but lately with the Core Duo stuff I think Intel is the way to swing.
 
IMG_0583.jpg

;)
 
who cares...

OSX is ported linux/unix/whatever, which runs fine on X86....everyone was wondering if and when they will offer AMD chips...i guess you can look at this as "proof of concept" - it works...just waiting on apple...

so installing OSX on non-apple hardware is illegal...so is 90% of the crap we do everyday with a pc but somehow i don't think 90% of us will be in jail...
 
<--goes to jail

Fellow inmate: What are you in for?
Me: I installed a Mac OS on my PC.

/wrists

I don't really care.
 
w1retap said:
<--goes to jail

Fellow inmate: What are you in for?
Me: I installed a Mac OS on my PC.

/wrists

I don't really care.
Click to expand...

I agree with you 100% there. There is no reason Apple should refuse people to install OSX on a non-Apple computer as long as they buy a copy of OSX and don't call apple up for tech-support.
 
NulloModo said:
There is no reason Apple should refuse people to install OSX on a non-Apple computer as long as they buy a copy of OSX and don't call apple up for tech-support.
Click to expand...
I'm not saying I defend Apple, mind you, but they probably consider a copy of OS X installed on a non-Mac to be money lost in hardware sales.

Sure, we can disagree and claim that Apple would make more money by selling OS X to anyone, but in the end, Apple have decided against that. The license agreement doesn't allow it. At the end of the day, installing OS X on a non-Mac is still a breach of your license. I wouldn't go so far as to call it a crime, though.



Interesting to see that OS X properly identified the Turion, though. I was half expecting it to say "unknown" or "generic" or something like that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top