OS X - AMD

[Guest]

So I have a topic/question/discussion (idk) something that just crossed my mind was, if AMD makes a big enough come back, do you think Apple will start making support for AMD CPUs for OS X/macOS? 

[ProjectBox153]

It really depends on just how much of a comeback AMD makes. I doubt it though. 

[Guest lilbman]

They'd have to take a large majority of the market shares...like, Intel level market shares.

 

And even then, AMD doesn't make efficient enough CPUs to be used in something as thin and light as a Macbook.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, IAmLamp said:

So I have a topic/question/discussion (idk) something that just crossed my mind was, if AMD makes a big enough come back, do you think Apple will start making support for AMD CPUs for OS X/macOS? 

Who knows, i think Apple might start making their own proprietary CPUs for Mac's soon anyway. I guess they could use AMD , but i don't think so for two reasons.

1. Even non techy people know that an i7 is good, right? Non techy people don't know what AMD is, but Intel is more widely known and thus will sell better to non techy people. Apple targets non techy people generally (they prefer hipsters, obnoxious teenagers and celebrities)

2. What reason would they have to do so? I bet they have some sort of deal with Intel and that would end if they started using AMD chips. I bet, however, that Apple will use Intel CPUs with amd integrated graphics in their macbooks 

[STRMfrmXMN]

5 minutes ago, Ethan Meskin said:

Who knows, i think Apple might start making their own proprietary CPUs for Mac's soon anyway. I guess they could use AMD , but i don't think so for two reasons.

1. Even non techy people know that an i7 is good, right? Non techy people don't know what AMD is, but Intel is more widely known and thus will sell better to non techy people. Apple targets non techy people generally (they prefer hipsters, obnoxious teenagers and celebrities)

 

Making proprietary CPUs for one brand, especially Apple who owns such a small fraction of the PC market, is not likely to happen any time soon. It's different in the case of consoles due to consoles all using uniform hardware (by and large) and being their own platform, but it doesn't make financial sense to make one SKU of Intel or AMD CPUs "Apple Edition."

 

13 minutes ago, IAmLamp said:

So I have a topic/question/discussion (idk) something that just crossed my mind was, if AMD makes a big enough come back, do you think Apple will start making support for AMD CPUs for OS X/macOS? 

Highly doubt it. When the ditched PowerPC it was a catastrophic architecture change and I don't see them making that jump anytime soon. They have a good repertoire with Intel and I should assume that they'll stay that way.

[Belgarathian]

It's possible.. they already use AMD for GPUs thanks to their OpenGL performance (and now Metal, I assume). 

 

No reason to think they couldn't secure supply for AMD CPUs as well so long as there is a benefit to Apple... (Cost, performance, power draw, etc). I don't think their mobile lineup will see a change for a while as the Zen chips are workstation/consumer/server fist, mobile second. 

[Droidbot]

AMD procs are already supported under OSX with a special kernel. 

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Belgarathian said:

It's possible.. they already use AMD for GPUs thanks to their OpenGL performance (and now Metal, I assume). 

 

No reason to think they couldn't secure supply for AMD CPUs as well so long as there is a benefit to Apple... (Cost, performance, power draw, etc). I don't think their mobile lineup will see a change for a while as the Zen chips are workstation/consumer/server fist, mobile second. 

Good point for the graphics side of things, but I think if they were to go to AMD CPUs, it might damage their contract/relations with Intel 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

4 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

AMD procs are already supported under OSX with a special kernel. 

That's unofficial support.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

AMD procs are already supported under OSX with a special kernel. 

Are you talking about Hackintosh? 

[Droidbot]

4 minutes ago, IAmLamp said:

Are you talking about Hackintosh? 

yeah, it's a custom special kernel for hackintosh machines. it was supported up till Yosemite afaik

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Droidbot said:

yeah, it's a custom special kernel for hackintosh machines. it was supported up till Yosemite afaik

Let's try and keep it a bit more towards the lighter side of things than the darker areas please lol 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

6 minutes ago, Droidbot said:

yeah, it's a custom special kernel for hackintosh machines. it was supported up till Yosemite afaik

We're talking about actual Apple products being shipped with  Intel AMD inside.

[Droidbot]

5 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

We're talking actual Apple products being shipped with  Intel AMD inside.

But it's a community project - if some independent devs can get AMD procs working on OSX, Apple themselves definitely can. 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

1 minute ago, Droidbot said:

But it's a community project - if some independent devs can get AMD procs working on OSX, Apple themselves definitely can. 

Well just because they could do it, doesn't mean they would do it.

 

I can't see Apple switching to AMD in the near future because they have little to show for the past half decade. Almost all of their CPUs and even their APUs have been underwhelming. Who knows, maybe if AMD finally gets their act together and delivers competitive chips for the next decade, we might see an entry level MacBook powered by AMD. However, AMD would have to prove their worth before Apple sinks a lot of money developing a stable kernel. I've tried installing OSX on my Phenom II machine and even with custom kernels, it still needs a lot of work in order to reach the stability that's expected.

[BuckGup]

Considering the mac book pros have AMD GPUs in them and the mac pros have fire pros in them I don't think anything will change

[2FA]

Last I heard, Apple was looking into using ARM for future Macbooks but I don't know how far along the line that will be. They might go with AMD if they update the Mac Pro but going Intel allows for easier Thunderbolt support which Apple is big on.