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Mac ARM: Will Apple completely do without AMD?

Now that the transition to the ARM processors is underway, there are still some unknowns of size. One of them was about the future of Thunderbolt. The business has not dragged on, Apple said by press that this technology would have its place in future Macs.

The other big question concerns GPUs. How is Apple going to do it? Will it internalize everything as it does on the iPad and iPhone or will it continue to use a partner like AMD?

Apple has not given official information on the subject, but has sown small clues here and there. In its documentation concerning the porting of apps to Apple Silicon, Apple slips a little sentence heavy with meaning:

Don’t assume a discrete GPU means better performance. The integrated GPU in Apple processors is optimized for high performance graphics tasks

That we could succinctly translate into don’t think that a separate GPU processor is synonymous with better performance. GPUs integrated into Apple processors are designed for high graphics performance.

There’s also this slide from a WWDC session, which shows the graphical differences between ARM Macs and Intel Macs. Where Intel Macs have the choice between Intel, Nvidia and AMD GPUs, Macs equipped with Apple Silicon are limited to Apple GPUs. The question that some ask is whether Apple says everything or if it still hides its game.

There are several things to observe in the current situation. First of all, it must be remembered that the demonstrations made by Apple with its DTK during the WWDC introductory keynote were quite impressive. The Apple GPU seemed efficient and was able to run games in conditions that seem unthinkable on the MacBook Air for example.

To explain the switch to Apple Silicon, Apple executives have re-explained their design philosophy and insisted as they did fifteen years earlier on the famous axiom performance per watt. From this point of view, it is hard to imagine Apple doing otherwise on its laptops.

It remains to be seen how Apple will go about competing with the relatively powerful graphics cards found in its workstations like the iMac Pro or the Mac Pro. Will Apple be able to develop a homemade solution? On these machines, will the graphics circuit be removed from the system-on-chip, because it is too large? And if so, will we have the right to an Apple graphics card or from an established player like AMD? As we explained in this articleWhich GPU for a future Mac ARM? Upstream of WWDC, there is no shortage of options for Apple. Apple’s architectural choices for its workstations will be quite exciting to follow.

Last unknown often mentioned: the future of eGPU external boxes. The announcement of Thunderbolt support on the Apple Mac Silicon suggests that these devices will continue to exist.

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