Apple looking at AMD

[Glenn]

Are Apple thinking of buying AMD?

http://news.techeye.net/chips/apple-considers-snapping-up-amd

[Steve]

I'm not surprised either especially since the move to AMD graphics.

[Technical Ben]

I'd hope not. The independence of AMD is what keeps them going. Granted, they make mistakes, but if Apple get hold of them... Id hate to think what would happen. 

[Niall]

Jesus Christ, that would be an AWFUL thing to happen. They'd have control of ATi cards, AMD processors and their own stuff. They'd spend most of their money suing Intel (which would actually please me)

No, I can't see it being allowed, and hope to god it won't be let through. You can put money on AMD CPUs prices going through the roof if they bought them out, in order to sell more Apple PCs. God it gets worse the more I think about it.

[Steve]

I think it might be good idea if Apple are prepared to put some money behind AMD and give Intel some competition again. I think since both companies have a relatively small market share the monopoly commissions won't be too interested. I can see your reservations though if Apple claim some degree of exclusivity.

[Technical Ben]

Basically, we need choice. I like AMD being another option from Intel. I mean, can you buy ARM or HP chips for home use?

It would be like if Tesco bought out the bakers down the road. What chance is there the bakers stay unique, or turn into another Tesco?

[Steve]

You may be correct, if the accusation is correct that Intel used their knowledge gained from the development of the MacBook Air to produce the very similar specified UltraBooKs, then Apple will want some exclusivity. Although my guess is that AMDs current cpu/gpu output far exceeds Apple's requirements.

Market Share

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/market_share.html

Performance comparison

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu-core-i5-2500k-amd-e350,2843-6.html

[Gary]

You may be correct, if the accusation is correct that Intel used their knowledge gained from the development of the MacBook Air to produce the very similar specified UltraBooKs, then Apple will want some exclusivity. Although my guess is that AMDs current cpu/gpu output far exceeds Apple's requirements.

Market Share

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/market_share.html

Performance comparison

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gaming-cpu-core-i5-2500k-amd-e350,2843-6.html

Love the AMD comparison to my i7 2600  AMD made great CPU's but I still think Intel spank them senseless with new architectures, I would have thought Apple would go the ARM way tbh and use their CPU's in the future, as Desktops shrink and only National Grid eating gaming machines remain, ARM would be a more sensible choice. Graphics wise they may stick with the ATI/AMD cards but who knows, I can see OS X dying a death at some point anyway. And iOS being the unified system for all Apple devices. As great as computers are, they are so boring to talk about. 

[Technical Ben]

AMD have the cost savings over intel though. Which IMO would make the chips more desirable to Apple. They are not known to worry about hardware bragging rights. They just need to figure out how to make AMD fashionable. 

[Niall]

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the i5s are better than AMDs top end CPU and still better than the new ones. The other thing with all this is that if you're already invested in an AMD board you'd have to change the mobo and ram, which isn't cheap with intel stuff.

That being said I'm using AMDs top end hex core with 16gb of generic ram, and a twin frozr 560ti, and I can run everything extremely well that I have, and all the new games (BF3, MW3, FM2012, Tropico 4, Skyrim) all on ultra settings. So basically it's not really worth switching or spending extra on top end intel CPUs or any top end gfx card. Well, not for me anyway.