With the on-going Intel CPU shortage, some companies have already turned to ARM or AMD for their CPUs. This shortage has affected the entire industry as many companies have depended on Intel to deliver CPUs for their products. With this shortage expected to continue, could we see Apple turn to AMD like others? Do you know what you will see?:
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As you may have heard, Apple is planning on designing their own ARM-based processors for their computers. But these processors are not expected for a few years. So, what will Apple do in the mean times?
I foresee Apple to continue using Intel Xeon processors in their high-end "workstation" products like the iMac Pro. However, for their MacBook lineup and iMac all-in-ones, I could see Apple turning to AMD for the CPUs in those products while they are designing their ARM processors.
You may ask, what about Thunderbolt? AMD processors do not support Thunderbolt, so why would Intel switch? Well, they could soon. Intel recently made Thunderbolt 3 an open source standard that will also be adopted in the upcoming USB4 standard.
With the upcoming Ryzen 3xxx processors, we could not only see the adoption of Thunderbolt support but also PCIe 4.0. This would be another advantage over Intel. With more PCIe bandwidth, Apple could not only put in a faster SSD, they would also have more bandwidth to allocate to Thunderbolt ports and devices.
Another advantage for AMD would be the small amount of power that the chips use. AMD processors us way less power than their Intel counterparts. Not only would this allow Apple to make MacBooks that use even less power than ever before and increase battery life, but also ones that run cooler.
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I foresee Apple to continue using Intel Xeon processors in their high-end "workstation" products like the iMac Pro. However, for their MacBook lineup and iMac all-in-ones, I could see Apple turning to AMD for the CPUs in those products while they are designing their ARM processors.
You may ask, what about Thunderbolt? AMD processors do not support Thunderbolt, so why would Intel switch? Well, they could soon. Intel recently made Thunderbolt 3 an open source standard that will also be adopted in the upcoming USB4 standard.
With the upcoming Ryzen 3xxx processors, we could not only see the adoption of Thunderbolt support but also PCIe 4.0. This would be another advantage over Intel. With more PCIe bandwidth, Apple could not only put in a faster SSD, they would also have more bandwidth to allocate to Thunderbolt ports and devices.
Another advantage for AMD would be the small amount of power that the chips use. AMD processors us way less power than their Intel counterparts. Not only would this allow Apple to make MacBooks that use even less power than ever before and increase battery life, but also ones that run cooler.
Thank you for reading! This post was available to our Patreons early. Check it out on Patreon at We Could See AMD CPUs in Apple Computers.