Softpedia
 

NEWS CATEGORIES:



NEWS ARCHIVE >>
SOFTPEDIA REVIEWS >>
MEET THE EDITORS >>
Home > News > Technology and Gadgets > CPU

May 20th, 2011, 13:20 GMT · By

Intel in Danger of Losing Apple's MacBooks

SHARE:

Adjust text size:


Intel might lose MacBooks to AMD or ARM
Enlarge picture
That things are changing on the IT market is not something that can be classified as a mystery, but some say that things are getting particularly heated for a certain, high-tier maker of processors.

Intel may not have been in that much heat about a year and a half ago, but these days seems to be bringing more and more challenges to its door.

The tablet market is the prime reason behind how x86 processors are starting to feel more and more strain.

Basically, there is no longer a clean line between the x86 and ARM architectures as far as the markets they serve go.

With ARM chips getting strong enough to power slates and, soon enough, small laptops, it is no longer any surprise to know that Intel is doing its best to make Atom chips as low-power as possible.

Now, it is reported that the Santa Clara, California-based CPU maker may be sailing in dangerous waters in regards to Apple's MacBooks, although ARM is not its only enemy in this case.

For those that don't know, the MacBooks are Apple's particular brand of mobile computers, which have been using Intel chips for years.

Now, however, Advanced Micro Devices has the Fusion APUs (accelerated processing units), which have better integrated graphics and have been seeing quite the adoption rate among other PC maker as well.

It is also worthy of mention how Apple recently stopped using NVIDIA graphics adapters in many of its systems, having switched over to AMD ones.

Now that ARM is plotting multi-core processors of its own, some of them with up to 16 cores, the pressure on the world's top CPU maker is rising.

Intel senior Vice President Tom Kilroy did say that "we work very closely with them and we're constantly looking down the road at what we can be doing relative to future products. I'd go as far as to say Apple helps shape our roadmap."

Nevertheless, there is no real assurance that Intel is guaranteed to keep powering Apple MacBooks in the long term.
FILED UNDER:
Intel
MacBook
laptop
Apple
CPU

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK:

1,687 hits · 2 comments · Link to this article · Print article · Send to friend · Subscribe to news

MUST-READ RELATED ARTICLES:


OCZ to Launch More Budget Friendly SandForce 2000 SSD, the Solid 3

OWC Intros Mercury Aura Pro Express SSD Upgrades for MacBook Air

15.6-Inch Dell Vostro V13 Ultrathin Notebook Shows Up

Intel's Z68 Chipset Makes Appearance in 2011 Apple iMac

Apple Quietly Adds Faster SSDs to the MacBook Air

READER COMMENTS:


Comment #1 by: innoleee on 20 May 2011, 15:29 UTC reply to this comment

This is amazing...!!!!!!


Comment #2 by: rickbsgu on 21 May 2011, 04:02 UTC reply to this comment

Can ARM processors support virtualization?

I think a huge number of Mac sales can be attributed to the fact that Windows will run on them, almost seamlessly.

If ARM doesn't support virtualization, that would be a real issue, at least with me.

Copyright © 2001-2012 Softpedia. Contact/Tip us at

WindowsGamesDriversMacLinuxScriptsMobileHandheldNews

SUBMIT PROGRAM   |   ADVERTISE   |   GET HELP   |   SEND US FEEDBACK   |   RSS FEEDS   |   UPDATE YOUR SOFTWARE   |   ROMANIAN FORUM