Fudzilla: Apple and AMD Fusion

[cbn]

Link courtesy of Maddie.

What sort of benefits could an Apple and AMD partnership bring to the OpenCL ecosystem as well as areas outside of Windows/Apple?

http://www.fudzilla.com/processors/item/20817-apple-to-embrace-amd-fusion

AMD has announced that Apple is planning to embrace its new Fusion platform for its future desktop and notebook systems.

During an AMD Financial Analyst Day presentation, Senior VP and Chief Sales Officer Emilio Ghilardi spilled the beans on this quite interesting development. In a series of Fusion APU slides, Ghilardi also showed slide number 7, which clearly named Apple as one of the many Fusion partners. Ghilardi did not comment the slides, saying merely: "I'll flash through them very quickly."

He mentioned AMD's cooperation with Fusion partners, saying that a bunch of new Fusion products never seen before would be introduced by the end of the year. Yesterday AMD announced that Brazos shipments have already started, so it's quite possible that Apple engineers are already sipping their lattes and toying about with Ontario and Zacate APUs somewhere in Cupertino. Apple already uses AMD GPUs in some of its products, but it has never used AMD processors so it is somewhat surprising to see Apple mentioned in the APU context. Considering AMD's habit of throwing the Fusion brand around, it could also be merely referring to Radeons.

If true, this could prove to be a major coup for AMD, as getting Apple on board the Fusion bandwagon will undoubtedly drive other vendors to consider the new platform as well. Apple on the other hand would also stand to benefit from Fusion's graphics prowess. If there is one thing Apple users appreciate, it's eye candy. Speaking of which, Apple and Fusion logos look rather nice together.

 

[Eug]

I betcha that picture just lists AMD partners, Fusion or otherwise. So yeah, Apple desktops use AMD GPUs already.

 

[veri745]

I betcha that picture just lists AMD partners, Fusion or otherwise. So yeah, Apple desktops use AMD GPUs already.

I would guess this is the reason that Apple appears on those slides as well, but I'm not so sure that Apple has no plans to use Fusion processors. It seems like they would fit nicely into Apple's strategy.

Apple would no doubt keep that info under tight wraps though.

 

[nonameo]

Might just be using it as a threat to get lower prices from intel.

 

[Lonyo]

On a not entirely unrelated note:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/...w_Graphics_Processor_with_OpenCL_Support.html

ARM has introduced its new Mali-T60-series graphics processors for integration into ARM-based system-on-chip devices. The new graphics technologies support OpenGL ES, OpenGL VG as well as OpenCL application programming interfaces

 

[exar333]

I don't see AMD CPU-bsed Apple products unless Apple pulls to parity with Intel on performance; that likely will not happen for a while. Sure Fusion looks pretty good, but until it is benchmarked to provide leading-edge performance and good power efficiency (both of which AMD can't match Intel at on the mobile market now) Apple will likely not adopt their products. On the Desktop side, I don't see Apple adopting AMD processors unless BD is VERY competitive. Taking a step backwards on Mac Pro Desktops would not make sense considering dual 6-core offerings are available now.

 

[Dresdenboy]

AMD denied the "slipped out" announcement: http://translate.google.com/transla...e-Keine-AMD-Prozessoren-in-Macs_45644425.html

 

[cbn]

http://www.fudzilla.com/notebooks/item/20850-apple-will-indeed-use-fusion

Industry sources contradict AMD spin

A very reliable source close to AMD has informed us that Apple will indeed use Fusion APUs in some of its upcoming products.

Although AMD was prompt to issue a statement denying our previous report, it appears that this was merely an attempt at damage control. The leak obviously raised many eyebrows at Apple, which has a very good track record in keeping its upcoming products secret, unless someone drops them in a California bar, of course.

We still don't know the exact details of the deal, but we will try to learn more over the weekend. It's a good time to be an AMD shareholder but be aware that Apple is definitely upset about the whole leak. Very upset.

 

[Idontcare]

What sort of benefits could an Apple and AMD partnership bring to the OpenCL ecosystem as well as areas outside of Windows/Apple?

AMD needs to figure out a way to light a fire and get programming/compiling support going for it's APU aspirations. If they can't get traction with Microsoft on this then why not see if Apple or Google are willing to bite?

 

[Eug]

http://www.fudzilla.com/notebooks/item/20850-apple-will-indeed-use-fusion

I don't deny that Apple could use Fusion APUs, but that "article" sounds like bull.

BTW, the pix were provided "courtesy of Apple".

 

[ModestGamer]

AMD needs to figure out a way to light a fire and get programming/compiling support going for it's APU aspirations. If they can't get traction with Microsoft on this then why not see if Apple or Google are willing to bite?

APP just dropped for AMD which given the nature of the APU GPU portion should pretty much cover the OpenCL DX11 requirements unless I missed something.

 

[grimpr]

Nothing wrong for Apple making more money from little bobcats and apus, even a Llano would rock on a mini with the rest of the line on Intel and Sandy Bridge. Or maybe Apple saw some promising roadmaps.

 

[AnandThenMan]

I don't see AMD CPU-bsed Apple products unless Apple pulls to parity with Intel on performance; that likely will not happen for a while. Sure Fusion looks pretty good, but until it is benchmarked to provide leading-edge performance and good power efficiency (both of which AMD can't match Intel at on the mobile market now) Apple will likely not adopt their products. On the Desktop side, I don't see Apple adopting AMD processors unless BD is VERY competitive. Taking a step backwards on Mac Pro Desktops would not make sense considering dual 6-core offerings are available now.

Strange post.

Apple is all about selling the user experience. Fusion looks like it will be able to deliver much better graphics performance for the power budget. Having a faster CPU is useless when most of the workload that people are doing these days is graphics heavy anyway.

 

[IntelUser2000]

It isn't totally unlikely. The relationship between Apple and Intel is not as good as it was back when they first announced Core 2 based systems, and there's a gaping hole between the ultra low power Atom chips and ULV Westmere/Sandy Bridge chips in performance(not in CPU as it doesn't look like Bobcat will be significantly faster than Atom, but rather in GPU).

There's also a question of if Apple will even use the graphics in Sandy Bridge and opt for switching system like in current Westmere platforms. Remember they are sticking with outdated Core 2 platforms just to provide better graphics support on the thinner notebooks.

I doubt we'll see the Fusion platforms from Apple immediately. Apple has a history of taking forever to release newer platforms. Maybe a Bobcat-based Macbook Air by end of 2011? 😛

 

[grimpr]

Why Intel even bothered with OpenCL in Sandy Bridge and pumping up its graphics if it wasnt for Apple?

 

[IntelUser2000]

Great question. Maybe that's why they don't show OpenCL support on official presentations but hint at select interviews because nobody outside of Apple cares. I doubt the previous generations couldn't have supported OpenCL. So they still might not depending on certain outcomes(like the Apple deal).