Apple to adopt AMD CPUs for next-gen systems?

Posted on Friday, February 07 2020 @ 19:00 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck

Ever since Apple switched to x86, the company has exclusively been using Intel processors. TechPowerUp writes this may change soon as references to several AMD Ryzen processors were found in MacOS 10.15.4 beta 1. This includes AMD's Picasso, Renoir, and Van Gogh CPUs.

It's very likely that with increasing CPU IPC and energy-efficiency, Apple is finally seeing the value in single-chip solutions from AMD that have a good enough combination of CPU and iGPUs. The 7 nm "Renoir" silicon in particular could change the mobile and desktop computing segments, thanks to its 8-core "Zen 2" CPU, and a "Vega" based iGPU that's highly capable in non-gaming and light-gaming tasks. AMD's proprietary SmartShift feature could also be leveraged, which dynamically switches between the iGPU and an AMD discrete GPU.

MacOS 10.15.4 Beta 1

NAVI12_A0
NAVI21_A0
PICASSO_A0
RAVEN2_A0
RAVEN_A0
RENOIR_A0
VANGOGH_A0 ???? pic.twitter.com/qFBHg5L0q0
— _rogame (@_rogame) February 6, 2020

About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.

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