4 ms·
My assessment is that ARM is running away from the competition. Apple is indeed designing the chip, but without the ARM architecture, Apple would have nothing t
by ttul 2y ago
My assessment is that ARM is running away from the competition. Apple is indeed designing the chip, but without the ARM architecture, Apple would have nothing to work with. This is not to diminish the incredible work of Apple’s VLSI team who put the chip architecture together and deftly navigated the Wild West of the fabrication landscape, but if you look at the specialized server chip side, it’s now dominated by ARM IP. I think ARM is the real winner here.
- torginus 2y agoEven compared to other ARM cores, Apple is in a league of its own.
- jsheard 2y agoThey have a good silicon design team, but having so much money that they can just buy out exclusive access to TSMCs most advanced processes doesn't hurt either. The closest ARM competitor to the M4, the Snapdragon X Elite, is a full node behind on 4nm while Apple is already using 2nd generation 3nm.
- nottorp 2y agoSo then it should be comparable to the M1 or M2? Which isn't bad at all, if true. But is it, for the same power consumption?
- philistine 2y agoFor some benchmarks the Snapdragon is on par with the M3. But the weirdo tests I found online did not say which device they compared, since the M3 is available in fan-less machines, which limits its potential.
- tempest_ 2y agoOutside of Ampere(who are really more server focused) who else is designing desktop/laptop ARM cpus?
- IshKebab 2y agoThey also have the advantage that they could break software compatibility with the M1, e.g. using 16 kB pages and 128 byte cache blocks.
- dagmx 2y agoThey do mixed page mode depending on the program running.
- amarshall 2y agoIs this really about the architecture itself, or about the licensing of it? AMD and Intel are, afaik, the only ones legally allowed to use x86, and likely have no plans to allow anyone else.