News - Apple may ditch Intel and x86 altogether in new MacBooks

[andrewmchugh]

I think this will kill off hackintosh. But I don't think it will kill gaming on the mac.

[kingpotnoodle]

Then there's the fact that if they go ARM then there's less 3rd party upgrade options.
If there's no option to chuck in a discrete gfx card or upgrade the memory via standard DDR3 (or 4 by then) Dimms then you're into the i(Device pick a number) no upgrade other then buy a new one system.
"Look at the the iMac 3 it's got everything you loved about the iMac 2 but with the extra 4 Gig of ram and a 20% clockrate increase for only $1399.95" followed 12 months later by "Look at the the iMac 4 it's got everything you loved about the iMac 3 but with the extra 8 Gig of ram and a 10% clockrate increase for only $1429.99"

That's pretty much the way it is now, iMac isn't user upgradeable to the average Joe, it needs some skill and tools... most Macbooks are all soldered with the exception of the proprietary format SSD stick shape thing (even the RAM is in the new ones)... Mac Mini is tightly integrated, just the RAM and disk you can swap I think.

The only easily serviceable (in the usual PC sense) Mac left is the Mac Pro.

[Michael H]

x86 will be very competitive in the traditional ARM markets (phones and tablets) before ARM will compete with x86 on the desktop.

[abaxas]

x86 will be very competitive in the traditional ARM markets (phones and tablets) before ARM will compete with x86 on the desktop.

GLOL

Intel would have to destroy their margins, that aint going to happen.

[shaithis]

Why? Even with current technologies tablets - which is more or less an ARM-only deal - are making surprisingly good gaming platforms ... isn't that one of the reasons given why the DS etc are suffering in sales? Plus the article says that (a) it's multi-core; (b) we're talking five years hence, and (c) it's also laptops they're speaking about.

Cutesie app store tablet games are not gaming IMO!

[Zeven]

That would probably end gaming on Macs.

At least at the moment they have bootcamp, once they switch to ARM they will only have Modern-UI apps available via dualboot (if and when WinRT works on an ARM Mac)

Pity, and GOG just started selling games for Mac OS as well...

[b0redom]

That's pretty much the way it is now, iMac isn't user upgradeable to the average Joe, it needs some skill and tools... most Macbooks are all soldered with the exception of the proprietary format SSD stick shape thing (even the RAM is in the new ones)... Mac Mini is tightly integrated, just the RAM and disk you can swap I think.

The only easily serviceable (in the usual PC sense) Mac left is the Mac Pro.

That's not really true is it? The Macbook Pro and Macbook have always been reasonably easy to upgrade RAM and HDD wise. The iMac is a doddle to upgrade the RAM, I'd say even easier than a normal desktop.

Sure you can't upgrade the HDD easily, but I'd guess that's the same on all all-in-one units. That being said though, I have a mate who took his iMac to an Apple authorised service center for a quote on replacing his HDD with an SSD and they said they'd do it, warranty it, and take the glass out and reclean it dust got in and he was unhappy for £40 (he provided the SSD), which I thought was eminently reasonable to be fair.

The average Joe wouldn't upgrade their beige box PC either. That's how noddy computer shops are still in business.

[TheAnimus]

That's not really true is it? The Macbook Pro and Macbook have always been reasonably easy to upgrade RAM and HDD wise.

I thought the new ones were not. All soldered on etc.

[b0redom]

Only the Retina display ones as far as I know, and I suspect that's down to getting the unit as thin as possible rather than making it difficult to upgrade, but I don't know obviously.

[kingpotnoodle]

I thought the new ones were not. All soldered on etc.

That's the direction it's going it, they are hard to open up and pretty much the only thing in the latest gen Macbooks you can change is the persistent storage. iMacs are hard to open, the new smaller one has no RAM door and accessing the drives in either is quite an operation, the Mac Mini has always been a tricky one because it's so small.

Apple are moving increasingly towards the phone/tablet "Appliance" model - when you want more you have to revisit the Apple store. I think it's a great shame and very bad for users, especially given the price gouging on upgrades at point of sale. I hope in the long run karma bites them for it but sadly I can see the whole industry going the same way in the pursuit of pointlessly thinner and thinner devices. Who seriously would care if iMacs were a bit thicker? Really? They still look like microwave oven doors however thin you slice them. Another 0.5mm off an Ultrabook but now can't change the RAM - oh whoop de doo, thanks for nothing... etc etc

The person who first decided "thin as possible" meant amazing is someone I would like to slap, form and functionality need to work together and sacrificing functionality to make something stupidly thin is just annoying.

[mikerr]

I'd be surprised if they did move away from x86 until at least Windows is supported on ARM

Surface RT is basically Windows on ARM here and now.
The full desktop UI is there.

[b0redom]

Really? Can it run Visio? VMWare vCenter? Crysis?

[mikerr]

It's Windows OS on ARM, not suddenly porting or emulating 3rd party x86 apps

plus Microsoft hasn't publically released any api/tools for windows/arm deployment other than WinRT (metro/modernUI).

[b0redom]

Yeah I know what you meant, but I guess you knew what I meant too.

[fail_quail]

This wouldn't surprise me a bit.

Would provide a clean break with all older software and give them a great opportunity to lock down the entire platform to the app store model, like on IOS.
I bet MS dreams that they could do the same...

[fail_quail]

Apple are moving increasingly towards the phone/tablet "Appliance" model - when you want more you have to revisit the Apple store. I think it's a great shame and very bad for users, especially given the price gouging on upgrades at point of sale. I hope in the long run karma bites them for it but sadly I can see the whole industry going the same way in the pursuit of pointlessly thinner and thinner devices. Who seriously would care if iMacs were a bit thicker? Really? They still look like microwave oven doors however thin you slice them. Another 0.5mm off an Ultrabook but now can't change the RAM - oh whoop de doo, thanks for nothing... etc etc

The person who first decided "thin as possible" meant amazing is someone I would like to slap, form and functionality need to work together and sacrificing functionality to make something stupidly thin is just annoying.

I posted a similar rant regarding thin phones on one of the articles here recently, i completely agree

There really is a bizarre obsession with thinness at literally any cost in the tech market at the moment. I'd happily add a little thickness for more functionality myself...