Apple Given Alternative to Intel and IBM prior to Mac Intel Deal

[perkam]

Apparently, PA Semi could have had the launch of their lives with their processors in Macs plus they'd been working with Mac software and Apple for months.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/05/19/pasemi_apple/

Intel must've offered some sweet deal for Apply to comply.

Perkam

[StyM]

At 2GHz, the chip consumes just 7 watts of power according to PA
sweet..

[recons]

Well Apple did get away from PPC due to supply issues (and heat). Make sense not to go with a small time outfit that could have the same supply issues your having.

[perkam]

Well Apple did get away from PPC due to supply issues (and heat). Make sense not to go with a small time outfit that could have the same supply issues your having.That's true...its the same reason they went with ATI X1600 for most Mac Intels instead of Nvidia's offerings...ample supply.

Wonder why supply issues are overtaking Apple's strive for innovation lately...maybe Microsoft is asking for the loans it gave to Apple back in 1990s...with interest :p

Perkam

[recons]

That's true...its the same reason they went with ATI X1600 for most Mac Intels instead of Nvidia's offerings...ample supply.

Wonder why supply issues are overtaking Apple's strive for innovation lately...maybe Microsoft is asking for the loans it gave to Apple back in 1990s...with interest :p


Because having a insuffient supply of innovative products is bad for business.

What loans? Are you talking about the deal for $150M? http://ask.metafilter.com/mefi/30833

[zabomb4163]

At 2GHz, the chip consumes just 7 watts of power according to PA
sweet..

2ghz in itself means nothing. think via processors. high clock speeds, low thermal envelope.....CRAP performance. this is an advanced computer user forum. one would think that members here would read more into this article.

The article states the company has 150 employees and less than 100 million in assets. Intel has 100 thousand employees. Several hundred of which assisted with the design of the new mac.

[nn_step]

Proof once again they will sell a bad product if it has a big enough profit margin

[MaxxxRacer]

It would have been retarded for Mac to go with that other company. In case you havnt noticed, Apple is 75% marketing and 10% product (the other 15% is Steve Jobs ego). If they had a no name CPU in their systems they couldnt market the crap out of it like they can with Intel. Intel has a great marketing campaing already under way (at all times) and will help ease PC users over to the dark side.

Using a no-name CPU would alienate their zealot fans (which the Intel chip did anyway) but wouldnt gain them any ground on the rest of the world as it would not be compatible with any known architecture. They would also not have the added benefit of pre-made systems ready to go, which they did have with Intel.

Intel provided Apple with a total solution. Processor, Chipset, Wifi, bluetooh, mobo, power management, bios/firmware, and finally X86 PC compatability.. The whole enchilada as the saying goes. PA Semi could only provide a Processor, thus leaving apple out in the cold to design everything else for themselves.

So in the end 2Ghz and 7 watts wasnt enough to get PA Semi the contract and for PA Semi to think that it would is purely foolishness.

The moral of the story is simple. In the retail sector, performance looses out to marketing.. Especially when we are talking about Apple customers who already ahve their heads shoved up their.... well I'll let you finish that sentance on your own.

[zabomb4163]

who says PA Semi had somthing even remotely in the same leage as Core duo? (or conroe)

[Entity_Razer]

Who say's they didn't. We will never know now offcourse but seeing as they where the ones behind the alpha chips I think we should give'm a bit more credit. Their alpha's rocked the house and with a architecture/mobo in need of development , I must admit costs to develop initially would've been higher but if you could've had more performance and better support for your products... and as I read the document it seems it was more compatible with PPC then with x86 so less a headache for adobe etc

[zabomb4163]

Who say's they didn't. We will never know now offcourse but seeing as they where the ones behind the alpha chips

if they had tech remotely close to anything IBM, AMD, or Intel had they would have been bought LONG ago. 50 million$..... think about that in the context of CPU developement. It cost amd upwards of 500 just to retool their facility to 65nm.

[nn_step]

if they had tech remotely close to anything IBM, AMD, or Intel had they would have been bought LONG ago. 50 million$..... think about that in the context of CPU developement. It cost amd upwards of 500 just to retool their facility to 65nm.
You forget the blessings of minimal Backwards compatablity, why do you think GPU design is so much cheaper than CPU?
Sure the first Generation would have been amazing but future revisions would have had a steady decay of performance increases.