Apple will reportedly ditch Intel chips in Macs as early as 2020

[froggyboy604]

In a major shift that carries big implications for both companies, Apple will reportedly replace Intel’s processors with the company’s own chips in Mac computers as soon as 2020, according to a new report from Bloomberg.

Apple will reportedly ditch Intel chips in Macs as early as 2020

I wonder if Apple will use chips similar to the iPad/iPhone CPU which has been used in iPhones for many years.

This is a good idea for Apple to make its own desktop CPUs. Intel is getting sued by many Intel users because of Intel releasing CPUs which are vulnerable to Meltdown and Specter CPU vulnerabilities, and releasing bloated patches which slowed down user's computer.

There is always a chance that Intel can go bankrupt if Intel lose most of their court cases, and Intel needs to pay many trillions of dollars in damages to Intel users who sue Intel because of Specter and Meltdown, and the Intel patches which slowdown their PC.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

So we're safe to say there's yet another major OS that will lose the ability to run software from outside their official download store in the pipeline?

I have nothing against having a central place where you can get all your software from (as a Linux user since 1997, it has always been the way I installed most of my software, and I find it very convenient), but both Microsoft and Apple really need to realise that a desktop is not a mobile phone, and are therefore supposed to give more freedom of options.
In this sense, they're both heading towards a complete disaster.
Or rather, Microsoft already did so by a lot with Windows 8 and completed it all with Windows 10, while Apple has been heading towards a complete disaster step by step for 7 years now.

 

[froggyboy604]

So we're safe to say there's yet another major OS that will lose the ability to run software from outside their official download store in the pipeline?

I have nothing against having a central place where you can get all your software from (as a Linux user since 1997, it has always been the way I installed most of my software, and I find it very convenient), but both Microsoft and Apple really need to realise that a desktop is not a mobile phone, and are therefore supposed to give more freedom of options.
In this sense, they're both heading towards a complete disaster.
Or rather, Microsoft already did so by a lot with Windows 8 and completed it all with Windows 10, while Apple has been heading towards a complete disaster step by step for 7 years now.

I think there is a chance that Macs in the future would lose the ability to run software which is not from the official download store. Apple users would be stuck with running approved software from the download store like how iPhone and iPad are stuck with using apps accepted into the download store.

A new Apple CPU can negatively affect users who watch less popular movies which are not available on iTunes since most video codecs, video players, and streaming apps will not work on Apple branded CPU. People who open less common file types may lose access to their own files if the original creator does not make their program work for Apple new CPU, or their app gets rejected from the App store, and there are no other alternative apps which can open the file.

Maybe Apple's new CPU can run older software made for Intel, and AMD based CPUs, or Apple plans to buy a x86 license from Intel to legally make their CPU run x86 Intel programs like AMD and VIA which has a licensing deal with Intel for an x86 license.

There are probably enough Apple multimedia editing users who will continue to buy Apple PCs with the new Apple CPU because there is no other non-Windows popular OS except for Google Chrome OS which is still not as good for many tasks like video, photo, and audio editing until there are more Android media editing Apps with more features.

There are also users who had bad experience like many computer crashes and ransomware with Windows and Windows PC makers like HP where they are unlikely to buy another Windows PC in the future, so Apple is the most likely choice because it has most common software like multimedia editors, Office suites, and chat apps like iMessage.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

There's a minor flow in your post.
Video codecs and file types aren't relevant to the CPU at all.
However, video encoders/decoders might be written for a certain type of CPU, and file types are entirely up to the OS itself to decide whether they can support it natively, or require a 3rd party tool.

Like how I can open Tarball archives out of the box, while Windows users need to install either 7Zip or WinRAR before they can do so.

But basically, open source software have always been proven to support every CPU, as long as the right compiler exists for that CPU too.
At the same time, they have also proven to be a nightmare to ever get some spotlight on commercial download centres.

When I go over the countless repositories that exist in the Linux realm, only Ubuntu's GUI store offers paid apps alongside free ones.
Everyone else provides all apps for free, or otherwise a way to install outside of the repositories (which is what paid apps on Linux usually end up offering any way).
But at least everything is equally easy to find, and not controlled by alghorithms that decide for you whether you are allowed to know about or not.

 

[froggyboy604]

Thanks for the correction on Codecs and file typesnot being CPU specific. I always thought codecs were programs which were CPU specific, and the codec makers need to remade for each CPU type.

I think third-party codec installers and programs like VLC media player with built-in codecs for support media file types like avi, and MP4 can be CPU and OS specific.

I feel algorithms are not as good for deciding on what software gets rejected and accepted into the software stores, and how the search results for software searches are ranked because some software makers will try to trick the algorithm, or the algorithm was poorly made, and rank poorly made software to the top of the search results.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

I always thought codecs were programs which were CPU specific, and the codec makers need to remade for each CPU type.

Thanks for repeating what I've said.

But as I said, if it's open source, it can be re-compiled by the users themselves, so no need to wait on makers of codecs.
And the good news is, there are some solid open source codecs too, like OGG/OGV.
MP4 on the other hand would be a bit of a trouble, but seeing how it already supported Macs since the early days in both the PowerPC and Intel eras, I don't see why it wouldn't be ported to Apple's CPUs.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Huh, I thought for some reason Macs had their own CPUs.

 

[テクニカル諏訪子]

Until 2006 Macs were running on PowerPC processors, which were CPUs made by Motorola.
In 2006 they made a shift to Intel processors and have been with them since.

Though Mac vs every other PC reminds me to PC98 vs every other PC between 1882 and 2000 in Japan.
The way hardware worked was very different, and so the OS was (the OS lacked a GUI too), and the way it ran software was more comparable to a game console from pre-Wii/PS3/X360.
But because there were so many people using it, lots of Doujin games were released for that, and because lots of Doujin games were released for that, people kept using a PC98 from NEC instead of switching to anything else.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Until 2006 Macs were running on PowerPC processors, which were CPUs made by Motorola.
In 2006 they made a shift to Intel processors and have been with them since.

Though Mac vs every other PC reminds me to PC98 vs every other PC between 1882 and 2000 in Japan.
The way hardware worked was very different, and so the OS was (the OS lacked a GUI too), and the way it ran software was more comparable to a game console from pre-Wii/PS3/X360.
But because there were so many people using it, lots of Doujin games were released for that, and because lots of Doujin games were released for that, people kept using a PC98 from NEC instead of switching to anything else.

Interesting to know.