Whacky idea #7549: Why don't manufacturers integrate an ARM chip on the PCB?

[-Slacker-]

...So PCs can run both Windows/OSX and Android?

Android is sort of a 'lite' operating system and doesn't need powerful hardware, since it's designed to run on ultra mobile devices, so only a low performance chip would be needed to get the job done, like a cortex a-9 or a qualcom.

They are cheap and small.

At first I thought about Intel or AMD putting said ARM chip directly on their x86 chips' dies, but that would bring up extra problems, like ARM desing licensing etc, whereas a motherboard manufacturer could just buy the chips directly from ARM or Qualcom and shove it in on the motherboard.

 

[sandorski]

What purpose would that serve?

 

[-Slacker-]

You mean what purpose would being able to run Android serve, or what purpose would including an AMR soc in the motherboard serve?

I'm going to assume it's the former.

I'm sure there are functionalities and apps that are exclusive to Android.

 

[sandorski]

Either. There maybe some Apps only available on Android, but I doubt there are no equivalent Apps available on PC. If you really wanted Android Apps on PC, an Emulator would be what you need.

 

[nenforcer]

It's called Chromium OS and it runs just fine on x86.

In fact, Intel just spent a ton of money optimizing it to run on their Atom platforms.

http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/

If you really want Android they make smartphones with docks that are tablet sized.

Otherwise you'll have to wait for something like nVidia's Project Denver which will be a powerful multicore desktop ARM chip on which you can either run Windows 8 or possibly Android.

 

[Sable]

http://www.android-x86.org/

 

[plastic desk]

ARM doesn't make anything, so it would be hard for the mobo manufacturer to buy from them.

 

[Lonyo]

Asus also has Splashtop which is a lite fast-boot operating system, and you don't need an ARM processor in your computer to run it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splashtop#Motherboards_featuring_Splashtop

 

[MaxDepth]

Android emulator: BlueStacks http://bluestacks.com/

 

[The Wayfarer]

There's no financial incentive. Traditionally, the enthusiast market isn't a significant fraction of most OEM's sales, so the R&D/tooling cost would probably outweigh the profit potential...

 

[JustMe21]

Or incorporate a low powered x86 processor onto the chip. And have the ability to have an internal USB slot to run an embedded OS, which would switch to full OS mode when higher functions are needed. Also, during low powered operations, it would keep the hard drives and video cards offline as well and allow power to go to them upon switching to full OS mode.

Of course, putting a low powered cpu on the motherboard might be cheaper, plus it would be nice to have an alternate chip onboard in case the main processor gets burned out due to overclocking. This would also allow things like incompatible CPU BIOS flashing to be possible.