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What is on your future roadmap doesn't matter at all, if it's not going to ship in time to compete with your rivals in the current generation. In the next gene

What is on your future roadmap doesn't matter at all, if it's not going to ship in time to compete with your rivals in the current generation. In the next generation, Apple is going to gain a process node advantage, and level the playing field for the first time in respect to power and thermal envelope. Given that they were already in the same ballpark as Intel and AMD without any of those advantages, we're in for a sea change.

AnthonyMouse 6y ago
> What is on your future roadmap doesn't matter at all, if it's not going to ship in time to compete with your rivals in the current generation. The point is that "current generation" doesn't work like that. If AMD releases Zen3 on 7nm and Zen4 on 5nm and the ARM Macs arrive half way between one release date and the other, which one do you want to compare them to? Neither would be strictly "fair" because one or the other would have an advantage of several months of advancement one way or the other. But doing all of this just because they couldn't wait a few more months for Zen4 doesn't make much sense. We're not going to really know until ordinary people can get it in their hands and benchmark it. The whole thing strikes me as Apple seeing Intel stagnating and starting a long-term process in motion several years ago which was too far along to stop by the time AMD brought competition back to the market again.
- GeekyBear 6y ago
  >If AMD releases Zen3 on 7nm and Zen4 on 5nm and the ARM Macs arrive half way between one release date and the other Zen 3 and Apple's laptop chips are both due in the fourth quarter of this year. Apple is going to have a process node advantage at least until Zen 4 ships, which definitely will not happen only a couple of months after Zen 3 ships. However, despite Apple having a better hand to play than AMD or Intel for the first time, I agree that the proof is in the pudding.

AnthonyMouse 6y ago

> What is on your future roadmap doesn't matter at all, if it's not going to ship in time to compete with your rivals in the current generation. The point is that "current generation" doesn't work like that. If AMD releases Zen3 on 7nm and Zen4 on 5nm and the ARM Macs arrive half way between one release date and the other, which one do you want to compare them to? Neither would be strictly "fair" because one or the other would have an advantage of several months of advancement one way or the other. But doing all of this just because they couldn't wait a few more months for Zen4 doesn't make much sense. We're not going to really know until ordinary people can get it in their hands and benchmark it. The whole thing strikes me as Apple seeing Intel stagnating and starting a long-term process in motion several years ago which was too far along to stop by the time AMD brought competition back to the market again.

GeekyBear 6y ago
>If AMD releases Zen3 on 7nm and Zen4 on 5nm and the ARM Macs arrive half way between one release date and the other Zen 3 and Apple's laptop chips are both due in the fourth quarter of this year. Apple is going to have a process node advantage at least until Zen 4 ships, which definitely will not happen only a couple of months after Zen 3 ships. However, despite Apple having a better hand to play than AMD or Intel for the first time, I agree that the proof is in the pudding.