Intel gets into ARM wrestling

They'll have to drop the power consumption substantially. Current Atoms need big heat sinks or fans. Going to look funny in a big assed phone.
 
It's small wonder that this is such a popular market to get into, when they can make customers pay as much for a low power device as for a medium to high end PC system or laptop. Don't get me wrong, these are wonderful little devices and fiendishly handy, but the hardware is ridiculously expensive.
 
x86 does carry a lot of dead wood and legacy so perhaps ARM is not such a bad idea. Intel (along with Nokia) already has the MeeGo OS that runs on ARM so I don't see why they worry about making x86 smaller. I'd actually prefer to see ARM based desktops.
 
ARM is clearly the future. X86 will never beat ARM for mobile purposes - even a 32nm X86 Atom cannot compete current ARM technology. Soon we will have ARM processors which are "fast enough" for a desktop and laptop computer, and then what will Intel do?
 
Rouxenator said:
At least AMD, the only manufacturer of chips that is holly and worth supporting, is going with ARM : http://www.trustedreviews.com/cpu-memory/news/2011/01/31/ARM-And-AMD-Announce-New-Processors/p1
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That article is a bit confusing with combining two reports on two somewhat different processor news items. The first item is about ARM announcing two new processors based on their R5 and R7 cores and the second item is regarding AMD's new Bobcat based APU, which is still an x86 based architecture.
 
TommyAtkins said:
That article is a bit confusing with combining two reports on two somewhat different processor news items. The first item is about ARM announcing two new processors based on their R5 and R7 cores and the second item is regarding AMD's new Bobcat based APU, which is still an x86 based architecture.
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Yes. It is just about two separate things that happened to have information released at the same time. AMD is not doing anything with ARM technology, at least not according to that article.

Also, what is with journalism's love of terrible puns? Sheesh.
 
Intel used to do kick-ass ARM processors - their XScale range - they sold that division off just before ARM-based smartphones exploded. Bad timing. I'm sure if Atom isn't gaining traction, they can fire up another ARM division. They have good CPU engineers, and great manufacturing facilities. After the i7, I'm sure the engineers who worked on that would consider it a holiday working on something like an ARM chip :)
 
elvis_presley said:
Intel used to do kick-ass ARM processors - their XScale range - they sold that division off just before ARM-based smartphones exploded. Bad timing. I'm sure if Atom isn't gaining traction, they can fire up another ARM division. They have good CPU engineers, and great manufacturing facilities. After the i7, I'm sure the engineers who worked on that would consider it a holiday working on something like an ARM chip :)
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Not to mention their CPU fabrication empire which is by far the best and biggest in the world..

Anyway, just saw this on Anandtech: TI Reveals OMAP 5: The First ARM Cortex A15 SoC

Some choice quotes:
The ARM Cortex A15 cores can run at speeds of up to 2GHz, although specific frequencies will depend on the OEM implementation. At 2GHz TI claims the pair of Cortex A15s should be 3x the speed of the 1GHz Cortex A9s in the OMAP 4330. At the same clock speed, TI is boasting a 50% performance advantage from the A15 over the A9.
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In our Tegra 2 review I mentioned that the transition from ARM11, to Cortex A8 and now to Cortex A9 left us with a generational performance improvement each step of the way. The move to A15 will be no different. ARM’s Cortex A8 went mainstream in the performance segment in 2010, Cortex A9 will do the same in 2011 and with any luck we’ll see A15 before the end of 2012. It’s this sort of yearly cadence that ARM and its partners must keep up in order to really catch up and surpass what Intel has been promising with Atom. Atom came out in 2008 and it won’t be until late 2012 that its architecture is truly refreshed. For a company that survived the mistakes of NetBurst, Intel doesn’t seem to have learned much of a lesson there.
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Wow these things are improving in leaps and bounds - it's just like the old days again! 286, 386, 486, Pentium, Pentium Pro etc etc
 
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