6 ms·
Basically the only advantage is simplified instruction decoding, which it has in common with other RISCs. It has some other nice properties too, I think it real
by BoardsOfCanada 6y ago
Basically the only advantage is simplified instruction decoding, which it has in common with other RISCs. It has some other nice properties too, I think it really shows that it has taken lessons learned from other RISC architectures and struck a good balance. But the reason for the switch isn't how nice ARM is, the reason is that Intel is struggling with its manufacturing process and Apple wants to be in control of its own destiny.
- manmal 6y agoApple also want to add their own narrow-purpose chips (like media encoders and what have you).
- Veedrac 6y agoIt's more than instruction decoding, though admittedly that's a big part. There's also memory ordering (tho it's debatable whether that's problematic), the number of logical registers (particularly important for JITs) and messy dependencies like partial flag updates.