Apple executives reveal what went wrong at Intel

What did Apple pull away from Intel? In a new interview, Apple execs Tim Millet and Bob Borchers reveal why the company switched to making its own Mac chips.

They also look at what they’re doing to make the Mac a gaming platform again, how Apple’s silicon architecture makes it possible, and when is the best time to buy a new Mac.

What did Apple pull away from Intel?

It’s hardly a secret that Apple is always experimenting with different platforms for its products. When Steve Jobs unveiled the move to Intel processors in 2005, he revealed that Apple had developed versions of Mac OS X for Intel from the start.

I have no doubt that when Apple first launched its own silicon ambitions in 2010 with the A4 chip, the company started dipping its toe in the water with prototype Macs running on an internal platform. As a just-in-case scenario, Apple is probably still prototyping Intel-based Macs for comparison.

It all started with the iPad Pro

The iPad Pro pushed the boundaries of mobile computing from the very first model.
Photo: apple

According to Millet, Apple’s vice president of platform architecture and hardware technologies, the company began exploring the Mac’s transition to Apple chips in earnest around the time of the iPad Pro’s debut.

“As we started to get into the iPad Pro space, we realized, ‘You know what, there’s something,’” he said TechCrunch.

In fact, the tremendous power of the iPad Pro caused many outsiders to speculate. If Apple can build a largely battery-powered device in a case this thin without active cooling that exceeds the performance of the MacBook Pro…imagine what the same chips could do with more cores, more space, and more cooling in a Mac.

“We wanted the ability to build a range of solutions that deliver the very best performance for fanless machines; for machines with active cooling systems like our professional machines,” said Millet. Apple knew from the start that it wanted a solution that could scale across its entire product line. Optimizing performance per watt has helped Apple achieve just that.

When cooperation helps your enemy

Steve Jobs shows off the original MacBook Air.
Photo: apple

Meanwhile, Apple’s highly collaborative partnership with Intel proved to be a double-edged sword. Yes, the two companies have pushed each other to innovate. “Sometimes our competitors’ products also benefited from this interaction,” Millet said.

The MacBook Air was a product that Apple could never have built with the even older PowerPC architecture. But even Intel had to be squeezed into the form factor, as it required a custom, downsized version of the Core 2 Duo chip. A few years later, Windows PCs that copied the ultrabook design of the MacBook Air began to appear… with the same Intel processors.

With no Intel in the picture, Apple engineers are working with other Apple engineers to develop the entire product at once. Borchers, Apple’s vice president of global product marketing, says this goes deeper than just tightening a feedback loop — there’s no feedback loop to speak of when it’s a collaborative concept-to-execution process.

“You [just] Sit at a table and push each other. ‘Okay, well, what if we get rid of the fan?’” Borchers said. “And it doesn’t require that latency in the system, which I think leads to efficiency gains, but also unleashes your creativity in new ways.”

A return to gaming on Mac

Apple showed up Nobody’s heaven at the launch of the new Mac mini.
Photo: apple

Today, Apple is putting a renewed emphasis on gaming in its product marketing. This used to be a staple of product launches, but it disappeared in exchange for showcasing performance in Adobe creative apps, web and JavaScript speeds, and full-battery video playback hours.

Gaming on Windows PCs has now exploded. If Apple wants a piece of that pie back, it faces a classic chicken and egg problem. The company has an uphill battle to woo both AAA game developers And serious gamer customers. Millet confirmed this in the interview.

“I don’t think we’re going to fool anyone by saying we’re going to make Mac a great gaming platform overnight,” Millet said. “We’ll keep an eye on that for a long time.”

Apple works closely with game studios to ensure its Metal API offers everything they would ask of it.

“We’ve worked hand-in-hand to ensure they have all the tools they need to accelerate the key APIs we will be delivering [companies like] Capcom, for example,” Millet said. “So when Capcom approached us, it wasn’t an awkward haven for them. It should be a very natural ‘Ah, you support these modern APIs that gamers need.’”

Apple silicon is very different from Intel’s x86

It’s not that simple when Apple chips are such a different breed of computer compared to the Intel x86 architecture that has been powering the PC since 1981. Since PCs have separate memory areas for CPU and GPU, Millet speculates: “Game developers have never had 96 gigabytes of graphics memory are now available to them on the M2 Max. I think they’re trying to figure that out […] They are used to working with much smaller video memory.”

This, of course, leads to a limitation of Apple silicon, which of course neither Millet nor Borchers have commented on: Windows PCs are highly extensible in a way that new Macs are not. GPUs larger than entire game consoles can add tremendous performance that just isn’t possible on a single chip. And you can add any PCI graphics card to any compatible motherboard, so you can upgrade your PC at any time.

Apple has yet to show itself for the high-end market. The Mac Pro, the most PC-like product of all Macs, didn’t make the leap to Apple silicon. But if rumors are to be believed, it might not be expandable either.

There’s never a bad time to buy a Mac again

According to Apple executives, it’s always a good time to buy an Apple computer.
Photo: apple

Finally, Millet answers an age-old question: When is the best time to buy a new Mac these days?

“I truly believe, with all sincerity, that now is always a good time,” he said. “No one should shy away from it.”

As I said The Cult Cast (though not as elegant), the story of the new MacBook Pro is simple: last month you could buy an excellent laptop; Today you can buy 20% more excellent Laptop.

Of course, it’s not about getting people to switch from an M1 Mac to an M2. It’s still about transitioning customers with aging Intel Macs to Apple chips.

“We’re just trying to make the decision to move to an even more amazing system ever easier,” Borchers said. At this point, Apple managers can output numbers like 10× instead of 10%.

One final note: Borchers sang right into my ears as he praised the Mac mini.

“We think the Mac mini form factor is such a great way to unleash creativity and, frankly, the good in the world, that we wanted to put it in the hands of as many people as possible,” said Borchers.

This is a change of pace from Apple’s positioning of this machine during the Intel era, to say the least – and I couldn’t agree more.

Source: www.cultofmac.com