Would anyone have preferred AMD over Intel?

[ibilly]

I feel that the past 6 months have been really good, but it looks to be pretty stagnant. The Core 2 duo is VERY similar to the Core, and it's at the exact same clocks and prices. It's only around 10% improvement, which while good, isn't anything to shout about considering how long we'll be at these clock speeds.

I'm not real up on the situation at AMD, and 64 bit is real swell, but I think that intel is "running out of steam" with the Core because it will be so long until we see the 800 Mhz buses.

Long story short, Intel's plateau for now.

 

[johntucker09]

my understanding is that the Pentium M was based off of the Pentium III architecture, not the Pentium 4 (That was the Pentium 4-m)

 

[Cross]

Been a long time since I've delved into the PC processors (or cared about them) but in the limited way I was keeping track of those changes I do question why Apple chose Intel. Seems for the 32 bit consumer grade CPUs Intel is alright, but when we look at the 64 bit level processors I believe we get a different picture. AMD, unless something has changed drastically, is the de-facto standard here. AMD has set the x64 bit processor standard that Intel uses, AMD was the first to offer full 32 bit support on the CPU without the need of emulation (something that until recently Intel didn't do AFAIK), AMD scores higher in benchmarks with their 64 bit processors (both 64 and 32 bit processing), etc.

People are literally having physical reactions around here to the word "Merom" (I will pause while everyone cleans up the mess they made) when in fact the Merom chip seems to be bunk. Its hotter, its more power hungry, and if I had to offer advice to Apple I would tell them in the most emphatic terms that Merom (damn, gotta pause again) is not for them. The Core2Duo (what is that? No one ever uses Core2Duo to name the Mer...ahem) being hotter and less efficient than the Core Duos would be BAD to put in their products. Can you imagine a MacBook HOTTER than what you've got now? Even with the SMC update the MacBook is still pretty toasty, although now I can rest my hands on the keyboard without feeling the heat. And can you imagine a MacBook with even slightly degraded battery life? People would be up in arms decrying Apple and posting on this board that they were going to file lawsuits against Apple in hopes that the United States Attorney General would notice them.

The underlying thing I have been laying the foundation for is that Apple may have picked the right company for RIGHT NOW (as in, the nanosecond that they released the Intel iMac AMD wasn't as good as Intel), but I think they did it at the expensive of future proofing. 64 bit computing is the future, and you think those Xeon processors will fit in your Macbook (pro)? No chance. I know AMD has been working on their mobile offerings and they're getting pretty good. I don't know if they're 64 bit yet, but if they are then I begin to question Apple's decision.

I think its important to not get caught up in the Apple apologist / fanboi-ism surrounding the Intel move. I bought a Macbook, I love it and I'm glad I spent the money. I also had a G4 Mini and played around a few times with a G5 iMac. I know where Apple was and I know where it is now. We're so much better off with our move to x86 computing, but could we be better off with AMD? I think the answer is yes.

I'm not claiming my impressions are right, and if anyone can correct me I'd love to hear it.

Great job good clear information from what you know (I am not claiming its 100% right but its a great post. The errors are there in ways).

Honestly I still feel Apple made the wrong choice. To answer this users questions AMD has been offering the Mobile Athlon 64 for some time. The Turion is a Great chip and would have been my choice time and time again for the Macbook line. Its 64Bit and has great battery life.

AMD will be releasing new Mobile Chips soon and honestly with how long Intel has been lagging behind I do not expect to see them stay on top long.

However the big thing is this, We drooped the G5 because of heat and what did we gain, another Processor thats getting hotter. Yes its in laptops but as we keep seeing its having problems. Dells are catching fire with this chip.

Frankly I think the Merom is a great chip but I pref AMD (And nVidia for that matter I wish apple would have used them instead of the intel shared graphics in the macbook and in the macbook pro for that matter... but thats another topic that unlike intel vs amd is much closer.) and with the time already spent by AMD on the 64bit side I would have pref to stay with them.

its not how quickly you can take the top with your NEW processor. Its how long you can hold it. Frankly AMD proved it can hold it and Intel finally caught up. However with the release of the new AMD's coming I think we will see this table turn just as it did before.

For Intel's Sake I hope it is a closer race like nVidia and ATI now have. But frankly Apple should have gone AMD. They are even cheaper, imagine the prices using AMD chips compared to intel. They have ALWAYS been cheaper.

I think the Mac would have gone even lower then we see it now in price. And on the laptop line. Every cent saved due to the processor change would be 110% better for Apple.

Also I saw the comment on Intel going into other markets. great. But what I always liked about apple is they focus On APPLE. And AMD has been around since the 486 that I can map from experience. Before that I do not know. Frankly, they have been a lower cost chip but they have done more for the market to Push Intel away from that damn Pentium 4 then any of us know. The Athlon K7 was one of the most overclockable chips I have ever seen not to mention much lower costs. The A64 was the first chip to start that push to 64Bit that even Microsoft acknowledged.

Intel has caught up and they are bigger, but so is Microsoft. Does that mean we should completely partner with Microsoft and make OS X a Registry?

 

[Mav451]

There's the fact that Core 2 > AM2. AMD is even talking about a new socket AM3. AM2 is just a stop-gap. According to Anandtech, the socket for Core 2 processors is what is limiting them currently, and more performance would be seen by having a higher-clocked bus.

Lol I see this everywhere I go. New architecture does NOT equal new socket. That's why the current comparison to AM2 is hilarious. It's the same as comparing a s775 Prescott to a s478 Prescott.

 

[Cross]

At the time the announcement that Apple was moving to Intel was made, Intel was far ahead of AMD in the mobile market and it was well known that Intel would be dropping Netburst and moving to a Dothan-like succesor for all of their lineups. Tom's Hardware had this article out 15 months ago regarding the huge advantage that the Dothan core had over Netburst and for that matter, AMD's Clawhammer. So, of course, Apple knew all of this when the decision was made.

Toms Hardware is so "Anti-AMD" They could say Intel ships a Ti Pentium 6 chip and post it. We all know not to buy half the crap posted by Tom on the AMD vs Intel Debate.

 

[topgunn]

Toms Hardware is so "Anti-AMD" They could say Intel ships a Ti Pentium 6 chip and post it. We all know not to buy half the crap posted by Tom on the AMD vs Intel Debate.

The article, first and foremost, was not about AMD. It was Intel vs Intel; Dothan vs Netburst. Basically, when you pumped up the FSB of Dothans to the equivilent of the Netburst, the Dothan blew it away. Dothan was the future and Netburst was dead. Oh, and they threw in a few AMD benchmarks for good measure.

I know Tom's is biased. Case in point, I would have liked to have seen the Clawhammer's at their max overclock to be fair. I mean, they did overlock the Dothan after all. But that was not the point. Intel was at a dead-end with Netburst and everyone in the industry knew it...a year and a half ago.

 

[topgunn]

I feel that the past 6 months have been really good, but it looks to be pretty stagnant. The Core 2 duo is VERY similar to the Core, and it's at the exact same clocks and prices. It's only around 10% improvement, which while good, isn't anything to shout about considering how long we'll be at these clock speeds.

I'm not real up on the situation at AMD, and 64 bit is real swell, but I think that intel is "running out of steam" with the Core because it will be so long until we see the 800 Mhz buses.

Long story short, Intel's plateau for now.

The MOBILE Core 2 Duo (Merom) is very similar to the Core but the other Core 2's (Woodcrest and Conroe) are FAR superior to the previous offerings from Intel. And what makes you think we will be stuck at these clock speeds?

Intel is far from stagnating. Just look at the next 6 to 9 months. In that time, we should see Clovertown for Mac Pro's and Santa Rosa for laptops not to mention the impending upgrade to Merom which should occur with a month or two. After suffering through the last few years with IBM and the G5, I can't see how anyone can call Intel, in its current form, stagnant.

 

[Mav451]

Intel is far from stagnating. Just look at the next 6 to 9 months. In that time, we should see Clovertown for Mac Pro's and Santa Rosa for laptops not to mention the impending upgrade to Merom which should occur with a month or two. After suffering through the last few years with IBM and the G5, I can't see how anyone can call Intel, in its current form, stagnant.

Well we can watch some of the trends. Remember when the P4-C's were blowing by the AthlonXPs? Intel didn't innovate at all. And since late 2003, when the Athlon64's were blowing past Prescotts? Not much innovation for 2-2.5 years.

Intel doesn't have much incentive until the desktop version of the K8L pops up...which is middle/late, late 2007.

 

[sunfast]

I think the core duo is a great notebook chip and intel have been better than AMD in the mobile department. And lets not forget, the desperate need to get a fast chip in a notebook was one of the driving factors in the transition. And if it had to be all intel or all AMD this was a no brainer for me.

There's nothing to say Apple couldn't go AMD in the future though is there? And I guess it would be much easier as both are x86.