Re:ARM Mac Impact on Intel
by dx034 on Tuesday June 23, 2020 @05:17AM
(#23611571)
I thought RISC chips are easier to create in a more power efficient way as the chip design is way easier than for CISC (like x86)? If Apple had been able to create a competitive x86 chip they would've done that. But the instruction set is an extremely important part of that.
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Please no - that debate is an anachronism.
Apple simply can't create any kind of x86 chip whatsoever (at least if they plan to use it :) ) - they don't have an ISA license and likely won't ever be able buy one, because Intel doesn't sell.
Well, apart from outright buying AMD. Or Intel. Or both. :)
So you basically say it's not hard to design a processor (even x86), just patents prohibit it? I had always thought that at least some part of the Intel/AMD dominance was the complexity of the designs and manufacturing that even a company like Apple couldn't build within a decade.