AMD rumored to have a prototype Apple M1 competitor in the works

[Redaktion]

AMD may have an Apple M1 competitor in the works. Rumor is that there are two versions of this chip being developed, with and without integrated RAM. It is possible that AMD could be looking to revive its K12 Core design or improve on it with newer Cortex designs to exploit the highly lucrative ARM market.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-rumored-to-have-a-prototype-Apple-M1-competitor-in-the-works.507238.0.html

[dasdasdas]

Funny. This won't be even remotely as good as M1, heck, not even as good as Snapdragon 8cx. Lol, competitor for M1 :))

[xpclient]

Even though their latest laptop chips beat Intel's H-series Comet Lake, AMD has to go a long way in laptops:

1. Make sure their chips are available in enough supply and in enough laptops all over the world. AMD laptops are rare, non-existent in my country and overall more expensive in countries besides USA. We need lots and lots of choice. If I want a laptop e.g. only with touchpad buttons or only 16:10, there isn't an AMD model, but Intel only. Our AMD choices are always very limited.

2. Just get onboard with USB4/Thunderbolt 4 already

3. Their video chip, Video Core Next is behind Intel Quick Sync and NVIDIA NVENC/NVDEC

I hope their focus on Arm now doesn't distract them from competing properly in x86 first.

[_MT_]

The primary problem isn't that current software is made for x86. Many systems could be ported if there was a good enough reason. No matter how good Apple's chips are going to be, Apple is very unlikely to share. And they're focusing on a quite narrow part of the industry. For example, they don't seem very interested in making processors for web servers.

Existence of such a processor depends on whether they can sell enough of it. Unlike Apple, they don't have a very popular phone to lean on. And success is not guaranteed. Just because they set out to design an ARM processor doesn't mean it will be able to stand up to the top dog. And it might not be their target at all. They could be targeting mid-range phones, for example, as their entry. Or netbooks and chromebooks (low performance, not high performance). Or they could be looking into server processors (they have in the past IIRC). Intel used to have XScale, so ARM wouldn't be new to them either. I believe Intel still holds license to implement ARM architecture (design their own cores).

[yhYVsrEwx82xQqay]

Let's hope AMD uses RISC-V instead of ARM, since ARM is now owned by AMD's competitor NVidia!

[Mike W]

Right now AMD x86 chips blow intel away. I have a $400 laptop with an Athlon Gold. It's faster than a 10th gen I3 at a Celeron price. The problem is heat and power use and that applies to all x86 chips. ARM/Risc seems to be the future. All the power, long battery life, and something you can actually put in your lap without cooking your thighs. I am no Apple fanboy, I have not owned an Apple product for 10 years, but that may change with the M1 and the A14. My research shows me I could replace my laptop completely with a Galaxy Tab S7 or an iPad Pro. If I don't go that way then a Macbook Air is looking very attractive.

[_MT_]

The problem is heat and power use and that applies to all x86 chips.

That's not related to x86. It's a design choice (you can improve performance by either working faster, or trying to do more work simultaneously). Apple is coming from phones where efficiency is very, very important. I think it's safe to say that it significantly influenced their designs. x86 designs have traditionally been coming the other way from desktops to mobile devices. The fundamental problem with x86 is that it clings to backward compatibility. It has kept it alive, but also hindered development. The technical disadvantages (which complicate the design and implementation of certain features) of x86 are rather esoteric to explain here (like the impact of variable length instructions).

[Aftersh0cks]

2. Just get onboard with USB4/Thunderbolt 4 already

I could be wrong. But isn't that because Thunderbolt is a proprietary Intel technology?

[Mmmm]

@ Adidasdasdas

Well, 4 years ago Intel tought the same  :D

[Astar]

Funny. This won't be even remotely as good as M1, heck, not even as good as Snapdragon 8cx. Lol, competitor for M1 :))

You're an idiot aren't you? Its not even launched yet but you can say it won't be as good. Are you a fortune teller?

AMD is the current performance king with the Zen 3. Faster than Intel or Apple's M1. AMD has historically never bothered to make any silicon under the 15W threshold because they aim to make something that will go all the way up to the server class products.

If they put their mind to a low power 5W envelope ARM chip product, which is a market they currently don't even bother catering for now, their track record as a CPU specialist suggests that they have the far stronger pedigree than Apple to make a better product. That's just a fact.