[Info-vax] OT: About proprietary chips

[John Wallace]

On Jan 28, 9:59 pm, Shi Difu <nos... at uc.edu> wrote:
> In article <paul.nospam-E0AD20.11002828012... at pbook.sture.ch>,
>  Paul Sture <paul.nos... at sture.ch> wrote:
>
>
>
> > In article <nospam.News.Bob-51B685.19484027012... at nothing.attdns.com>,
> >  Bob Harris <nospam.News.... at remove.Smith-Harris.us> wrote:
>
> > > In article <00dc9bb4$0$17126$c3e8... at news.astraweb.com>,
> > >  JF Mezei <jfmezei.spam... at vaxination.ca> wrote:
>
> > > > John Wallace wrote:
>
> > > > > Yes it seems to be an ARM-based chip.
>
> > > > OK, so your arguments about it being less difficult/costly to have your
> > > > own version are very valid.
>
> > > > But it is still costlier than buying some off-the-shelf ARM processors
> > > > for your adult toys/phones.
>
> > > > Will be interesting to hear more about whether Apple was able to do much
> > > > more with its "own" chip than if it had bought off the shelf ones.
>
> > > NOTE: I do not have a "Clue" about what Apple did with their own
> > > chip, but I can guess.
>
> > > I would guess that the value added is the extra bits around the
> > > ARM instruction set.  Things to make the graphics work better.  
> > > Things to deal with the multi-touch.  Things to deal with
> > > accelerometer, compass, etc...
>
> > > The more stuff they can integrate into the CPU chip, the less
> > > power, and the lower the component costs.
>
> > > And I'm willing to bet that the next generation of iPhone and iPod
> > > Touch may be using a version of this chip.  That is millions of
> > > units per year.
>
> > Speculation about that is already there. From:
>
> > <http://www.benzinga.com/102343/apple¹s-screaming-fast-a4-processor-­-the
> > -best-mobile-cpu-in-the-world>
>
> > "Web pages render so fast it was hard to believe. After using the iPhone
> > so much for two and a half years, I¹ve become accustomed to web pages
> > rendering (relative to the Mac) slowly. On the iPad, they seem to render
> > nearly instantly. (802.11n Wi-Fi helps too.)
>
> > Everyone I spoke to in the press room was raving first and foremost
> > about the speed. None of us could shut up about it. It feels impossibly
> > fast. And our next thought: What happens if Apple has figured out a way
> > to make a CPU like A4 that fits in an iPhone? If they pull that off for
> > this year¹s new iPhone, look out."
>
> There is more info here on Appleinsider;
>
> http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/01/28/ipads_custom_apple_a4_p...
> ssor_includes_arm_based_cpu_gpu.html

That particular site is one of many which has sourced their data from
the original article at
http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2010/1/27/apple-a4-soc-unveiled---its-an-arm-cpu-and-the-gpu!.aspx
The original article has already been updated to say (paraphrased) "We
know it's an ARM but we don't specifically know that it's an ARM A9"
which is leaving AppleInsider's article already potentially out of
date. Maybe they and the many derivatives will bother to update, maybe
they won't.

Anyway, best of luck to ARM and their customers in general.

As for the iPad itself, I can't help wondering if it's going to be
just another Newton. But if it catches on enough to force websites to
get rid of unnecessary Flash (which the iPad can't yet display), then
at least it will have had one benefit.