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If someone had said in 2018 "Apple is going to release a macbook pro with an ARM chip that will be faster at running x86 applications than an x86 chip while hav

If someone had said in 2018 "Apple is going to release a macbook pro with an ARM chip that will be faster at running x86 applications than an x86 chip while having a 20 hour batter life", then a lot of people would have responded with a lot of very clever sounding reasons why this couldn't possibly work and what the limitations would be on a hypothetical chip and how a hypothetical chip that they can imagine would behave. I think the evidence is that Apple's chip designers don't care about anyone's preconceived and very logical sounding ideas about what can and can't be done. So what we know is that there is going to be a Mac Pro, and that whatever it is is going to absolutely destroy the equivalent (i.e. absolute top of the range) x86 PC. If you want to be right, take that as a fact, and work backwards from there. Any argument that starts with "I don't think it can be done" is a losing argument.

ksec 5y ago
>If you want to be right, take that as a fact... I guess you dont know enough about Die Space and Reticle Limit on Wafer and Foundry. You are basically arguing if Apple can bypass speed of light.
wmf 5y ago
I'm so old I remember the brief time when Alpha ran x86 code faster than x86 so history is repeating. I am eagerly awaiting M1 Plaid vs. Sapphire Rapids vs. Genoa next year. "If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong." — Arthur C. Clarke
TimTheTinker 5y ago
> Any argument that starts with "I don't think it can be done" is a losing argument. But plenty of interesting opinions start that way -- interesting because someone with expertise thinks so, and/or because the opinion is followed by well-reasoned arguments. OTOH, "it can't be done" is often based on current assumptions about hard limits. Those assumptions have been broken routinely and consistently for hundreds of years now.

ksec 5y ago

>If you want to be right, take that as a fact... I guess you dont know enough about Die Space and Reticle Limit on Wafer and Foundry. You are basically arguing if Apple can bypass speed of light.

wmf 5y ago

I'm so old I remember the brief time when Alpha ran x86 code faster than x86 so history is repeating. I am eagerly awaiting M1 Plaid vs. Sapphire Rapids vs. Genoa next year. "If an elderly but distinguished scientist says that something is possible, he is almost certainly right; but if he says that it is impossible, he is very probably wrong." — Arthur C. Clarke

TimTheTinker 5y ago

> Any argument that starts with "I don't think it can be done" is a losing argument. But plenty of interesting opinions start that way -- interesting because someone with expertise thinks so, and/or because the opinion is followed by well-reasoned arguments. OTOH, "it can't be done" is often based on current assumptions about hard limits. Those assumptions have been broken routinely and consistently for hundreds of years now.