4 ms·

Well you've got to consider what's going on at the low end of the market too. If Chromebooks are eating into Windows laptop sales and mostly running ARM, and Ap

Well you've got to consider what's going on at the low end of the market too. If Chromebooks are eating into Windows laptop sales and mostly running ARM, and Apple switches to ARM for some or many of its high end computers, which make up more than 50% of that market segment, that's definitely some bad news for Intel. It won't kill them though, just push them out of the consumer desktop/laptop market.

tw04 10y ago
Apple sales are less than 1% of Intel's revenue. It will mean literally nothing. You can paint me a GIANT skeptic of chromebooks in any setting outside of education. My step-mom got one as a present (as in for FREE) from her daughters. She's BUYING a Windows laptop because of how frustrated she is that it works with exactly nothing. Can't use her fitbit. Can't update her GPS. No way to sync her iPhone. etc. etc. etc. It's a niche product for nerds. Any standard consumer will purchase one and never buy a second once they figure out all the limitations of their "cheap" Chromebook. That's ignoring the fact that I've seen more Intel based Chromebooks in the wild than ARM. I completely disagree with your "mostly running ARM" assessment and the only facts I can find on it do as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook A tiny FRACTION of chromebooks run ARM.
- JumpCrisscross 10y ago
  > Apple sales are less than 1% of Intel's revenue It is my understanding that Apple purchases the highest-quality chips of the highest-quality runs and pays a premium for it. What fraction of Intel's profits do Apple represent?
  - rbanffy 10y ago
    A relatively small part. Apple computer sales are not that impressive. They may be a large individual conntributor, but they alone do not sell enough to make a big difference.
    - forgettableuser 10y ago
      Yes, Macs are a pretty small figure. The new iPhone modem deal Intel struck with Apple for around $1.5 billion is a bigger deal, which would be in the ballpark of 2% of Intel's ~$55 billion in revenues. But Intel likes Apple Macs as a show pony. Intel has for years been desperately trying to convince hardware manufacturers to make both more consumer appealing PCs and new consumer devices around their chips. PC makers kept making the same old big beige towers, with the only differentiating factors being price (race to the bottom) and speed. Apple doesn't like to compete in that space and likes to do other things and pushes on different features of chips that allow them to make smaller machines, quiet machines, fully integrated machines, battery friendly machines, and focus on industrial design. Intel knows this and likes to use Apple to push other manufacturers to think in similar ways. The results have been pretty good as there are now PC competitors that make things like the All-in-one-flatscreen iMac, and the Macbook Air. If you remember way back before the iPhone, the original Apple TV was Intel based and showed Intel chips in mainstream consumer non-PC use cases. (This is different than concept demos because this was a real shipping product that actually managed to make enough money to sustain itself.) Also, Apple's obsession with reduction, like eliminating ports has been good for Intel because Apple helps encourage adoption of new standards they want to put out. For example, Apple embraced Thunderbolt at the beginning and was willing to drop legacy ports while most manufactures would normally hedge by keeping legacy ports. Apple pushing hard on this helps makes the 3rd party adoption faster which emboldens manufacturers to migrate faster themselves.
    - IOT_Apprentice 10y ago
      Apple makes the most profit per laptop, for their Air and pro series.
- rblatz 10y ago
  If she has an iPhone why would she need to hook her Fitbit up to a computer? You can do everything you need from the phone via Bluetooth. And what is she syncing her iPhone with? I've not needed to sync my iPhone with a computer in years. Every non-tech person that I know that has a chrome book loves it.
  - berntb 10y ago
    If you have an iPhone -- iTunes for music. Since I only use Linux at home now (yes, yes -- I should look at BSD variants, another discussion), I reluctantly got an Android this year. :-(
    - rblatz 10y ago
      Any song you've downloaded from iTunes will be available on your phone through the iTunes app. If you've ripped a bunch of music then I guess you are right, but I find I don't use either, and instead use Spotify and Amazon Prime Music for all my music needs.
      - berntb 10y ago
        That's the point, iTunes don't run on Linux.
      - IOT_Apprentice 10y ago
        iTunes Match solves that $25/year
- petra 10y ago
  But Google is bringing(slowly) Android into chrome, an it gets some decent reviews: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3086871/chromebooks/how-android-apps-transformed-my-asus-chromebook-flip-into-an-entirely-new-device.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/3086871/chromebooks/how-andro... As for ARM inside the chromebooks : currently Intel sells chromebooks chips at low prices , and for a relatively smaller segment of the market - so they're OK with that. What happens when ARM chips improve, and chromebooks hold a much larger share?
- wstrange 10y ago
  > It's a niche product for nerds. Respectfully I disagree. It's actually a great product for the majority of non-geeks who surf the web, take a few photos and watch Netflix. Most newer devices sync over wifi to the cloud. I am pretty sure your Mom's iPhone can do that. The number of things you need a full blown PC for are diminishing.

tw04 10y ago

Apple sales are less than 1% of Intel's revenue. It will mean literally nothing. You can paint me a GIANT skeptic of chromebooks in any setting outside of education. My step-mom got one as a present (as in for FREE) from her daughters. She's BUYING a Windows laptop because of how frustrated she is that it works with exactly nothing. Can't use her fitbit. Can't update her GPS. No way to sync her iPhone. etc. etc. etc. It's a niche product for nerds. Any standard consumer will purchase one and never buy a second once they figure out all the limitations of their "cheap" Chromebook. That's ignoring the fact that I've seen more Intel based Chromebooks in the wild than ARM. I completely disagree with your "mostly running ARM" assessment and the only facts I can find on it do as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromebook A tiny FRACTION of chromebooks run ARM.

JumpCrisscross 10y ago
> Apple sales are less than 1% of Intel's revenue It is my understanding that Apple purchases the highest-quality chips of the highest-quality runs and pays a premium for it. What fraction of Intel's profits do Apple represent?
- rbanffy 10y ago
  A relatively small part. Apple computer sales are not that impressive. They may be a large individual conntributor, but they alone do not sell enough to make a big difference.
  - forgettableuser 10y ago
    Yes, Macs are a pretty small figure. The new iPhone modem deal Intel struck with Apple for around $1.5 billion is a bigger deal, which would be in the ballpark of 2% of Intel's ~$55 billion in revenues. But Intel likes Apple Macs as a show pony. Intel has for years been desperately trying to convince hardware manufacturers to make both more consumer appealing PCs and new consumer devices around their chips. PC makers kept making the same old big beige towers, with the only differentiating factors being price (race to the bottom) and speed. Apple doesn't like to compete in that space and likes to do other things and pushes on different features of chips that allow them to make smaller machines, quiet machines, fully integrated machines, battery friendly machines, and focus on industrial design. Intel knows this and likes to use Apple to push other manufacturers to think in similar ways. The results have been pretty good as there are now PC competitors that make things like the All-in-one-flatscreen iMac, and the Macbook Air. If you remember way back before the iPhone, the original Apple TV was Intel based and showed Intel chips in mainstream consumer non-PC use cases. (This is different than concept demos because this was a real shipping product that actually managed to make enough money to sustain itself.) Also, Apple's obsession with reduction, like eliminating ports has been good for Intel because Apple helps encourage adoption of new standards they want to put out. For example, Apple embraced Thunderbolt at the beginning and was willing to drop legacy ports while most manufactures would normally hedge by keeping legacy ports. Apple pushing hard on this helps makes the 3rd party adoption faster which emboldens manufacturers to migrate faster themselves.
  - IOT_Apprentice 10y ago
    Apple makes the most profit per laptop, for their Air and pro series.
rblatz 10y ago
If she has an iPhone why would she need to hook her Fitbit up to a computer? You can do everything you need from the phone via Bluetooth. And what is she syncing her iPhone with? I've not needed to sync my iPhone with a computer in years. Every non-tech person that I know that has a chrome book loves it.
- berntb 10y ago
  If you have an iPhone -- iTunes for music. Since I only use Linux at home now (yes, yes -- I should look at BSD variants, another discussion), I reluctantly got an Android this year. :-(
  - rblatz 10y ago
    Any song you've downloaded from iTunes will be available on your phone through the iTunes app. If you've ripped a bunch of music then I guess you are right, but I find I don't use either, and instead use Spotify and Amazon Prime Music for all my music needs.
    - berntb 10y ago
      That's the point, iTunes don't run on Linux.
    - IOT_Apprentice 10y ago
      iTunes Match solves that $25/year
petra 10y ago
But Google is bringing(slowly) Android into chrome, an it gets some decent reviews: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3086871/chromebooks/how-android-apps-transformed-my-asus-chromebook-flip-into-an-entirely-new-device.html http://www.pcworld.com/article/3086871/chromebooks/how-andro... As for ARM inside the chromebooks : currently Intel sells chromebooks chips at low prices , and for a relatively smaller segment of the market - so they're OK with that. What happens when ARM chips improve, and chromebooks hold a much larger share?
wstrange 10y ago
> It's a niche product for nerds. Respectfully I disagree. It's actually a great product for the majority of non-geeks who surf the web, take a few photos and watch Netflix. Most newer devices sync over wifi to the cloud. I am pretty sure your Mom's iPhone can do that. The number of things you need a full blown PC for are diminishing.