3 ms·

if you are not using an apple phone, your smartphone likely uses an ARM-licensed chip, and chromebooks/windows RT devices ran ARM cores the only thing holding

if you are not using an apple phone, your smartphone likely uses an ARM-licensed chip, and chromebooks/windows RT devices ran ARM cores the only thing holding back wider adoption is legacy x86 software

ankurdhama 6y ago
The smartphone ARM and chromebook ARM processors are nowhere near the M1 or x86 CPU in terms of performance. You need an M1 kind performance in these devices outside of Apple.
tedd4u 6y ago
Also Raspberry Pi’s are ARM. ARM Macs run x86 software great (my experience) and ARM Windows machines run x86 software adequately (I have read). Don’t know how well QEmu works on Linux - haven’t tried it but know it’s available.
- selcuka 6y ago
  Apple's Rosetta 2 that allows x86 code to run on M1 is a different beast than QEmu though. It translates x86 machine code to ARM code. That's why it is much faster than VM solutions.
  - makomk 6y ago
    QEmu also translates x86 machine code to ARM code, or vice-versa, or many other combinations. It's more optimised for portability and ease of adding translation support for new architectures than performance though but it's a really nifty bit of engineering.
ulzeraj 6y ago
Gaming is still x86 territory and that includes 2 of the 3 main competing gaming consoles isn't? Hard to think of a PS5 as legacy stuff.
- daniellarusso 6y ago
  Is not the majority of gaming occurring on mobile ARM devices, not dedicated consoles or rigs? “Mobile gaming has fast become the largest gaming market in the world with industry revenue expected to hit $76.7 Billion by the end of 2020 and 2.2 million mobile gamers worldwide. It’s become so popular that 72.3% of mobile users in the US are also mobile phone gamers. To put this into perspective when compared with the wider video game market, by 2022 the global game market is set to reach $196 Billion, and the mobile gaming market will account for $95.4 Billion of that alone.” https://www.wepc.com/statistics/mobile-gaming/ https://www.wepc.com/statistics/mobile-gaming/
  - imtringued 6y ago
    >Is not the majority of gaming occurring on mobile ARM devices, not dedicated consoles or rigs? Yes, the "I'm taking a 5 minute toilet break" gaming or the "I'm sitting in a bus and I have nothing else to do" gaming. It's making money off of whales who like that there is f2p plankton to gobble up. I played a bunch of mobile games in 2014 and they were all trash or cash grabs. Often with grinds worse than MMORPGs.
- mschuster91 6y ago
  That's only because no one other than Apple has put up a serious competition in ARM CPU space. Earlier consoles used a boatload of different CPU and GPU architectures (PowerPC, SuperH, IBM Cell, other proprietary stuff, x86), nowadays consoles have converged to essentially a locked down, glorified x86 PC on one side (Xbox One, Xbox S/X, PS4, PS5) and ruggedized ARM-based tablets (Nintendo Switch) on the other side. On the mobile gaming space, ARM already has achieved utter dominance with Switch + iPhone + Android... all it needs for ARM to conquer the console market is for someone to tape out an extremely powerful chip and actually sell it - Apple won't.
- meepmorp 6y ago
  Is the dominance of x86 due to any inherent properties of x86, or historical legacy? I think the xbox-s/x and ps5's choice of CPU vendor was driven more by business factors and the integrated graphics, than the virtues of x86 per se. The Switch does pretty well despite the less powerful CPU in the tegra.

ankurdhama 6y ago

The smartphone ARM and chromebook ARM processors are nowhere near the M1 or x86 CPU in terms of performance. You need an M1 kind performance in these devices outside of Apple.

tedd4u 6y ago

Also Raspberry Pi’s are ARM. ARM Macs run x86 software great (my experience) and ARM Windows machines run x86 software adequately (I have read). Don’t know how well QEmu works on Linux - haven’t tried it but know it’s available.

selcuka 6y ago
Apple's Rosetta 2 that allows x86 code to run on M1 is a different beast than QEmu though. It translates x86 machine code to ARM code. That's why it is much faster than VM solutions.
- makomk 6y ago
  QEmu also translates x86 machine code to ARM code, or vice-versa, or many other combinations. It's more optimised for portability and ease of adding translation support for new architectures than performance though but it's a really nifty bit of engineering.

ulzeraj 6y ago

Gaming is still x86 territory and that includes 2 of the 3 main competing gaming consoles isn't? Hard to think of a PS5 as legacy stuff.

daniellarusso 6y ago
Is not the majority of gaming occurring on mobile ARM devices, not dedicated consoles or rigs? “Mobile gaming has fast become the largest gaming market in the world with industry revenue expected to hit $76.7 Billion by the end of 2020 and 2.2 million mobile gamers worldwide. It’s become so popular that 72.3% of mobile users in the US are also mobile phone gamers. To put this into perspective when compared with the wider video game market, by 2022 the global game market is set to reach $196 Billion, and the mobile gaming market will account for $95.4 Billion of that alone.” https://www.wepc.com/statistics/mobile-gaming/ https://www.wepc.com/statistics/mobile-gaming/
- imtringued 6y ago
  >Is not the majority of gaming occurring on mobile ARM devices, not dedicated consoles or rigs? Yes, the "I'm taking a 5 minute toilet break" gaming or the "I'm sitting in a bus and I have nothing else to do" gaming. It's making money off of whales who like that there is f2p plankton to gobble up. I played a bunch of mobile games in 2014 and they were all trash or cash grabs. Often with grinds worse than MMORPGs.
mschuster91 6y ago
That's only because no one other than Apple has put up a serious competition in ARM CPU space. Earlier consoles used a boatload of different CPU and GPU architectures (PowerPC, SuperH, IBM Cell, other proprietary stuff, x86), nowadays consoles have converged to essentially a locked down, glorified x86 PC on one side (Xbox One, Xbox S/X, PS4, PS5) and ruggedized ARM-based tablets (Nintendo Switch) on the other side. On the mobile gaming space, ARM already has achieved utter dominance with Switch + iPhone + Android... all it needs for ARM to conquer the console market is for someone to tape out an extremely powerful chip and actually sell it - Apple won't.
meepmorp 6y ago
Is the dominance of x86 due to any inherent properties of x86, or historical legacy? I think the xbox-s/x and ps5's choice of CPU vendor was driven more by business factors and the integrated graphics, than the virtues of x86 per se. The Switch does pretty well despite the less powerful CPU in the tegra.