Rumor: Apple testing MacBook Air with A5 processor
Japanese blog Mac Otakara claims sources have told them Apple is testing a MacBook Air with an A5 processor, the same CPU powering the iPad 2. While the machine performed "better than expected" according to their source, Mac Otakara says it's unclear whether this test machine was running Mac OS X or iOS. At any rate, the site claims this A5 variant MacBook Air has been created "just for experiment." Mac Otakara has been a reliable source of rumors in the past, having been one of the first sites to accurately depict the updated form factor of the iPad 2.
If Apple has indeed built such a device, it's unlikely the company intends to put it on the market. While the A5 processor is powerful enough under iOS, in terms of raw performance it pales in comparison to even the least powerful Intel chips. For example, the iPad 2's Geekbench score is around 720, while the lowest-rated MacBook Air processor scored over 2000. Benchmarks don't tell the whole story, of course, but they're a fairly reliable predictor of the general performance you can expect to get from a machine.
If Apple's experimenting with ARM processors in its laptop line, it's very unlikely that it's a simple matter of trying to run Mac OS X on the A5 and more likely that Apple is looking for ways to run iOS in a notebook form factor. This could be something as simple as a device that looks like a MacBook Air but has a touchscreen and runs iOS -- basically an iPad with an attached keyboard. Or Apple could have more ambitious plans in mind, with an A5 processor running as a sort of sidecar to a standard Intel CPU, with Mac OS X and iOS both capable of running on the same machine on their respective CPUs. Under such a scheme, iOS might run as a sort of "layer" atop Mac OS X -- rather like Dashboard does now, but more like Dashboard after a serious dose of growth serum.
From what we've seen of Mac OS X Lion thus far, it already looks as though Apple's looking at ways of merging OS X and iOS as far as the software's concerned. If Mac Otakara's sources are correct, it seems it's just a matter of time before the hardware follows.
Share
Japanese blog Mac Otakara claims sources have told them Apple is testing a MacBook Air with an A5 processor, the same CPU powering the...
Add a Comment
I like the idea of a dual ARM/Intel chips in the Macbook Air, but not to run iOS.
Most people don't use the full power of their processor, and even those that do don't use it all the time. If you're just using Safari, or Mail an ARM chip is more than enough to run OS X.
A system that would default to the ARM chip, and only switch to the Intel when necessary would be amazing, particularly on battery life. If an iPad 2 has a 25Wh battery and lasts ten hours, and a current 11" Macbook Air has a 35 Wh battery and lasts 5 hours, could an ARM equipped Macbook Air with a 35 Wh battery last up to 10 hours or more?
I don't care what processor they use as long as it doesn't prevent us from still being able to run Windows at normal speeds instead of having to go back to old PPC emulation speeds. God that was horrible.
Also, anything that keeps the heat down is fine by me.
iPad scores 700 and mba scores 2000? So stick 4 or 5 A5 cpus in there. It'll still use a significantly lower number of Watts, allowing either longer battery life or lower weight. And it won't burn your external genitalia.
Of course, somebody will actually have to learn to write software that can make good use of multiple cpus. Not a good history of that.
If Apple where to replace the currently crop of Intel C2D processors with lower (much lower) powered A5 chips then ill be replacing my 2010 MBP in a heart beat. I actually think of this as a natural evolution.
May 27 2011 at 11:53 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI'm suspecting that we won't see ARM replace x86 anytime soon. If I were a betting man, I would say that we will have a dual-boot notebook (OS X and iOS) before next fall.
May 27 2011 at 10:58 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI admit, I think that would be awesome. Specifically having both A5 and x86 in the same form factor would be extremely useful.
May 27 2011 at 12:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyInteresting, but most likely this is ongoing testing of Arm based chips to log performance and practicality issues for future developments. Arm processors are due a considerable increase in capabilities within a few years and although they won't be directly as powerful as Intel designs they may not have to be if properly utilised and may present a real alternative with their superior battery life to Intel chips or in co-operation with them. The only way to work out the options and viability is to test and develop over some years so this may or may not offer an insight into any short term offerings. However the fact that Intel have opened up to possible collaboration in some unspecified form may suggest that they fear the possible ramifications of these developments.
May 27 2011 at 8:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySo the MacBook air will be Slower with a A5 chip. Gee Apple, nice way to make your computers slower! I think keeping the computers with Intel is a good idea. Try to at least make the chip faster on their computers!
May 27 2011 at 8:46 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI think you are jumping to conclusions, there is no evidence that an A5 Air (or A5 exclusively) is even probable let alone imminent, this is just development work to test viability and any future ARM based AIR would be far more capable than presently possible I suspect. But how do you achieve that if you don't develop?.
May 27 2011 at 9:29 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyApple will not move to the A5 (or any Arm processor) on any of their traditional notebooks until the benefits make sense for most of their customers.
Right now, Apple is probably experimenting with the idea to take a look at the performance / power consumption trade-offs involved. They're trying it out, becuase they can, and because it gives them real results rather than speculation or educated guesses.
If Apple adopted A5 for the MacBook Air now, then performance would likely suck and nobody would care if it ran for a month without recharge. But that's not important, becuase Apple are not seriously considering putting this in their notebook hardware in the near future.
Apple tries a lot of stuff. We dint find out about most of it.
I really don't think this rumour deserves the wild speculation that has just been poured on it.
Apple are simply trying to find the most appropriate level of power consumption vs performance. They'll never stop striving for that.
It won't be A5. It's too slow. It will be A6 if they want it out before Windows for ARM, and it should score 1500-2000. Otherwise, it will be A7 in 2013 or end of 2012. But it won't be A5, it's just for testing. Why would they put a chip in a Macbook air that's alreay been for 6 months in iPad 2 so it's sort of obsolete? If anything they'll use an ARM chip generation that goes first in such a Macbook Air, second in iPad, and later in iPhone.
May 27 2011 at 9:41 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyDeals of the Day
more deals- Acoustic Research Digital Photo Frame with iPod Dock for $50 + free shipping
- Targus Truss Case for iPad and iPad 2 for $15 + free shipping
- Apple iPhone 4 8GB for Verizon, AT&T, or Sprint for $50 + pickup at Best Buy
- Unlocked iPhone 4S 16GB for GSM (AT&T, T-Mobile) for $619 + free shipping
- Apple iMac Core i7 Quad 3.4GHz 27" w/ 24GB RAM, 2TB HDD for $2,677 + $29 s&h
- Used Apple Magic Mouse for $36 + $4 s&h
Software Updates
more updatesFeatured Stories
more stories
Popular Stories
TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Weblog) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple.
12 Comments