Apple Goes ARM: The RISC Revolution

[@abo3abid1]

This guy is one of the only people on KZbin that actually makes me want to hear more of what he has to say. I would enjoy this clip if it was twice as long. He doesn't just rattle out facts, but he doesn't give his viewers a heavily "editorialised" narrative The fact that this is not just sponsored opinion helps a lot.

[@setdark]

try thus guys: kzbin.info i think you'll like them as well

[@RatedMforManly]

Spot on! Mr. Barnatt has something to teach and wants people to learn. Hats off!

[@klwthe3rd]

I agree. I've learned more about computing from this channel which is free than all the paid classes in my life. I love how i always learn something valuable from Chris.

[@kewitt1]

Lol, my hubby can't stand his monitone voice, but he is just one of many tech Channels I watch every video of.

[@davidmalone9865]

@@kewitt1 I find his articulate speech very soothing.

[@kuchenzwiebel7147]

Finally someone who talks about apple without being a total fanboy or saying they do everything to get more money.

[@pdoubleyou7801]

Well, they won't be doing this to make less money. The implication is that Intel needs to be sharp to retain market share in the future.

[@kuchenzwiebel7147]

@@pdoubleyou7801 Yes obviously, that is how companies work.

[@Cobalt985]

@@pdoubleyou7801 Yeah and that's good. Intel finally has some competition in Ryzen processors and seeing how fast ARM leaps past x86 in terms of battery life is going to be fun.

[@Winnetou17]

Well, Apple kind of does. It's when it does it at the expense of customer choice or right to repair or other common-sense things that it's triggering people like me. However this transition to ARM is a perfectly normal decision. It's already looking to be another one of the "the right decision at the right time" ones.

[@utubekullanicisi]

Yup, it was refreshing to look at it from a truly objective standpoint

[@MrKetchupFreak]

Now THIS is quality content for a nice Sunday. Thank you!

[@ExplainingComputers]

You are welcome!

[@xplote6266]

Today: apple starts to replace x86 with arm 2 years later: *How to run GTA V on raspberry pi 5*

[@DJDocsVideos]

So you expect pi 5 to have double the cores on double the speed and a pcie x16 slot to run a real graphics card. Would be nice. I also want at least 4x m.2 slots 2x 10GBit Ethernet, WiFi 6, 32GB of DDR5 ram, 4x Thunderbolt 3/USB 4 :-)

[@suber36g]

@@DJDocsVideos wroosh

[@EfficientTrout]

Unlikely but maybe lattepanda can do that

[@buggerlugz6753]

@@DJDocsVideos - On the Pi's crappy outdated utterly useless vidcore, nope.

[@xplote6266]

@@DJDocsVideos and still is cheaper than a Mac!

[@Wol747]

Those of us who were using ARM processors in the 80s will smile wryly! The RISCOS was streets ahead of anything else but as usual the Brits didn’t take full advantage of the superiority. I’m still using Fireworkx for Windows as my word processor/spreadsheet since it has all the functionality 99% of users want without all the complexity of the rest.

[@ExplainingComputers]

So true.

[@Wol747]

@@msp5138 Nope!

[@RichardRedcroft]

risc vs cisc isnt really that simple anymore, arm is less 'risc', particularly with extensions like neon and helium. Also x86 isnt 'cisc' either, intel mmx was the last cisc x86, and everything since uses decode instructions to run risc on the backend, and cisc instructions on the frontend. The big advantage ARM chips have for power, is their reliance on a lot of fixed function chips for specific tasks, ie dsp, isp's, dedicated video encode/decode etc. x86 chips are more general purpose. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Arm can for example play back video with much less power and heat, but are limited in to specific formats and not able to decode brand new video formats that weren't designed with fixed function logic in mind. x86 takes more power, but is much more flexible. For example android phone cameras are limited to the dsp on the arm chip, both for bitrate and resolution, and require newer dsp's for higher resolution. This is less of an issue on phones, as they dont last 5+ years, but will be interesting on desktop/server where hardware is around much longer. Edit: For example, the block diagram for the a12 shows less than half the silicon is used for cpu compute, even the gpu compute is relatively small. en.wikichip.org/wiki/apple/ax/a12

[@skyak4493]

You are supporting my theory/interpretation. Look up my comment to Chris. The new Apple processor is a new specialized CISC. My question is "Are all the instructions on the A12X accessible to Linux?" or is access embedded in Apple developer tools only?

[@RichardRedcroft]

@@skyak4493 Apple arm chips aren't 'cisc', and arent going 'cisc', apple make good arm chips because they are relatively huge die's, with lots of fixed function hardware. Look at their marketing image for apple arm images.macrumors.com/t/q4_xmud2Yrrz0A5qC2yGNbSt12E=/800x0/filters:quality(90)/article-new/2019/11/applesiliconbenefits.jpg?lossy The core itself isn't the main focus, but lots of dedicated silicon is how they can compete with intel. cisc, or complex instructions would be part of the cpu itself, neon/avx are good examples. Also afaik, apples license doesnt allow them to veer drastically from the arm specification. "These cores must comply fully with the Arm architecture." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture#Architectural_licence While apple can dictate the size of l2 cache etc, they cant create custom instructions afaik.

[@another3997]

ARM licensees are free to fine tune their chips to suit their needs, so it's not really an issue. Some of the more specialised high performance ARM implementations already keep pace with x86. In the x86/64 world, GPUs (mid to high end), sound cards, Network, WiFi and Bluetooth are usually separate anyway, the CPU isn't responsible for a great many things. My ARM phones and tablets will play any audio/video format you care to throw at them, even when hardware acceleration isn't supported... so clearly that isn't an a huge problem.

[@RichardRedcroft]

@@another3997 Not quite, on desktops you have a cpu and a gpu. It doesnt have dedicated image processing (isp), digital signal processors, etc. Also unless your trying to decode av1/hevc with your arm i doubt you would notice. As modern arm have hardware dedicated for most codecs, and can fall back to neon for simd acceleration. Also the downside to having various fixed function is wasted space and transistor waste - no point having fixed function isp/dsp and video encode on a system designed to compute protein folding for example. I'm also not saying the arm chips themselves are weak, but the reason they can get good peformance/watt is because they leave most of the heavy lifting to dedicated sections. Neon is a good example or ARM having to add more complexity to the cpu itself to cope with non acceleratable tasks.

[@biennium992]

Here, one of the inventors of RISC explains how coprocessors and fixed function hardware are not a reversion to CISC. kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6vXaYGZYtKnga8

[@klwthe3rd]

I always get my best education from this channel. I love how Chris always breaks down complex concepts into easy to understand ones so the average laymen can walk away learning something new. Thank you.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for watching!

[@k-d-n]

Acid Burn: "RISC architecture is going to change everything" Zero-Cool: "Yeah, RISC is good" Hackers (1995)

[@Lightstep9]

Ah missed your post, a great Movie that even holds up well today :)

[@louistournas120]

The problem is, some of us don't care about power usage. We want top performance.

[@utubekullanicisi]

@@louistournas120 Efficiency directly correlates with performance. If you have an efficient chip, you have much more headroom to push that chip.

[@MrRefael33]

Where is Linux in all of this RISC/ARM revolution? I'm actually quite surprised you didn't mentioned Linux.

[@GenialHarryGrout]

As a long time Linux user this does get me thinking of what the future holds for Linux on x86. At some point in the future I will need to replace my laptop and when that happens I will need to know which direction Linux distros are going, either x86 or ARM based. Hopefully by the time my need to replace my laptop things will become clearer with ARM based laptops becoming the norm with more distros offering ARM based versions.

[@tedk-42]

@@GenialHarryGrout If you listen to Linus Torvalds, it'll be x86/64 as that's what's available for universally accessible personal computers. Kudos to Apple here. If we have powerful computers built on the ARM instruction sets (in the form of Apple silicon), we can expect to see ambitious devs trying to build the linux kernel on Mac computers and then maybe...more powerful ARM desktop PCs

[@davegibson2478]

Check out Debian, Gentoo, Opensuse and Arch linux - all have ARM distros.

[@bakedbeings]

Heard of Android or Raspberry Pi? :P Also you can nab ARM version of a bunch of Linux desktop distros. The top500 supercomputers list has ARM based scs running Linux too.

[@stevefrawley9756]

L4T (Linux for TEGRA) already runs on Jetson TEGRA based boards, which host ARM64 micros in their SOM. I do development work for the Jetson, primarily using Ubuntu on a VM (Win10-64bit based host), verify it works in Ubuntu, then SSH/SCP it onto the Jetson where it is then compiled for the AARCH64 architecture. So far no issues with code that is simultaneously compiled for x86-64-Linux and AARCH64-Linux.

[@digitalhariini8846]

good and clear explainations. thx a lot

[@stoatrepublic]

Apple computers will cost an ARM and a LEG...

[@ExplainingComputers]

Ya hah! :)

[@shortymtb]

I remember it costing friends an ARM & a leg to shift to PowerPC and then having to bin it all again to shift to x86... I get the feeling they are gonna do this every time their sales slow down...

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

I see whatcha did there

[@bakedbeings]

Boom tish

[@EfficientTrout]

Slow clap

[@rjbook51]

Somehow, I don't see Apple devices dropping in price with this switch.

[@azimuth2142]

Apple only go one way.

[@_Digitalguy]

but they will become more powerful and less hot

[@jasongooden917]

Well... they wont be using Intel anymore.

[@Aplifiedproductions]

They did because the dont.pay the intel.premium

[@rjbook51]

@@jasongooden917 I am hardware agnostic. I don't care what hamster in a wizard outfit makes things work, as long as they work. Less bloated software that does not require ever more powerful hardware would impress me more. Sometimes I miss DOS and C/PM

[@rickhunt3183]

RISC is the future. The trends in microcontrollers have been going that way for a long time. CISC is going to go away at some point. It's a natural progression. The ARM CPU's are going to have to be more powerful than they are now and they will be. I predict anyone making CPU's will have their own version of ARM based processors. Intel is never going to go away. They are into everything. Most people associate Intel with CPU's only, but I believe that only account's for roughly 37% of their segmented income. ..Good video by the way. Your presentations are always first class.

[@daviskipchirchir1357]

Hey what are some of other intel's diversifications?

[@JCTsFascinatingHobbies]

And there I was, back in 1994.......buying my first 'proper' computer, an Acorn RiscPC600, using an ARM610 CPU. I was mocked by my peers, with their 486 DX40s, for buying a dud. Fast forward to now, the RiscPC is still here, albeit in a modified form, and sat next to my work PC, receiving occasional use. Stashed away, an original A440, from 1987, an A5000, a 4000, and a host of Beebs complete my collection. Now, with Apple marking its use of ARM chips in their desktops, I feel that as an Acorn and RiscOS fan, that....we did not win the battle, but, we did fairly well in the war!. That said, my main gaming PC is Intel based, so, the best of both worlds!

[@marior.4305]

I also own an Acorn Archimedes, the predecessor of RiscPC. Great engine in former times!

[@markharrisllb]

I have absolutely no idea how you got so much information, in such an understandable way, in less the 12 minutes.

[@TheSulross]

ARM is almost always implemented as an SoC and that means there's a lot more to supporting a given ARM implementation than just the core ARM CPU instruction set. So this means that, say, one Linux ARM distro for some popular ARM device will not necessarily run on some other ARM device. There is not nearly the same universality of an ARM hardware platform as there is an Intel/AMD x86-64 hardware platform. (And Apple's ARM implementations will likely be highly differentiated in this manner from the rest of the industry's ARM implementation.) Basically, ARM is very fragmented.

[@chrisschembari2486]

Good video, as always. By "RISC revolution", I was hoping for coverage of the RISC-V architecture and possibly some news indicating the rise of open-spec hardware like the Sifive boards is sooner than expected.

[@ExplainingComputers]

That's another video I need to make! :)

[@dpwaaw]

Excellent video - you had my attention all the way to the end. ARM makes sense for servers - especially when you are filling buildings up with them - they use considerable power for cooling as well as for computing.

[@buggerlugz6753]

Acorn was way ahead of its time with its RISC based OS..... bout time we embraced it.

[@davemc1944]

Having 'retired' from computing, I have Christopher to thank for keeping me up to date and still interested in what's going on out there. I can ( and do ) listen to him for hours on end :)

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for watching!

[@skytechbits]

I was wondering how long Apple would stay with the x86 technology. Going back to RISC is very big news for sure. Thank you for sharing.

[@richardkelsch3640]

Amazing how Acorn's custom CPU ends up in the mainstream years later.

[@MichaelPuterbaugh]

Old enough to remember when Macintosh going from 68k to PowerPC was a sign of the RISC Revolution

[@johnnguyen8172]

Happy Sunday, ExplainingComputers! I’m still fascinated by this move from Apple alone and how it can effect other PCs.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Greetings John. It is going to be very interesting to where and into what ARM processors go in the next couple of years.

[@johnnguyen8172]

ExplainingComputers The PC industry slowly goes green as time passes.

[@Flo-cg2jl]

looks like we will see rasberry pi hackingtoshes in the future

[@ibraibraibraibraibra]

You won’t for a very long time. They’re using the same kind of security hardware as they do on the iPhone and the iPad. Arm Mac OS won’t run without that hardware.

[@nsg650]

@@ibraibraibraibraibra but we cant hackintosh like we did earlier patching mac os

[@istvandeak8232]

@@ibraibraibraibraibra dream on dude... new versions geting jailbreaked 3/4 days later release... what ara you even speaking about!? :D and what security? my shit script grabbed info from the kernel without any obstruction! :D -_-

[@ibraibraibraibraibra]

Have you seen anyone make a clone iPhone from off-the-shelf parts that will run IOS? You haven’t, and I’m sure that would be a much more attractive thing for engineers in certain parts of the world to achieve. I would be willing to bet that you won’t see a device that uses off-the-shelf parts to run Arm Mac OS any time soon. Apple recently introduced the T2 security processor in their desktop range to support things like Touch ID, Hackintoshes continue to be able to run Mac OS because it’s not absolutely required in the X86 build, but it will be required to run the Arm build. Arm Hackintoshes are not going to happen any time soon.

[@nsg650]

@@ibraibraibraibraibra but we could try software patched modifying mac os

[@nachiket814]

Is it just me or does he seem like a really cool guy ? I love how meticulous he is while creating the videos. 👍🏻

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks.

[@risquefiasco1305]

Only Mr Scissors competes with Christopher 😉

[@1974UTuber]

Hi Chris this is very interesting stuff. Going off your past predictions I would say people should do the following. 1) Sell 2 Thirds of their Microsoft shares 2) Invest 2 Thirds of that money in Google 3) Invest the last third in Apple. You have been spot on too many times for people to ignor your insights

[@scottleo8363]

This channel is one of the few channels that I think the editor really spends his time explaining things really clear. I am pretty sure this channel will get more viewers and more famous in the future.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks.

[@stoyanatanasov8012]

I found this quite informative.... much appreciated! Keep up the good work! There is always so much new stuff to learn around technology, even if it is technology one isn't using, it's still rather interesting.

[@adityapandey7798]

"ARM is the Future" a few years back some people laughed at the statement. Good, competition in chip and semiconductor technology is good for both science and consumers.

[@risquefiasco1305]

This is without doubt the most informed channel with wonderfully explained topics of great interest.

[@ubaidmalik4145]

The person in the video is really good at breaking the topic down and explaining it with the related background. Really enjoyed watching this video and staying updated on the current developments.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Much appreciated!

[@saturno_tv]

Expected video, excellent explanation. No doubt the best tech stuff is presented here.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Glad you think so!

[@mike406]

I have concerns with Apple moving their desktop and laptops to ARM that they will enforce the artificial restriction that all software for Mac and MacBook have to be retrieved from the App Store. AKA more control and less consumer friendly.

[@Klffsj]

I'm curious to see where that goes, after the whole debacle with Epic Games...

[@wammo12345]

I’ve had the same thought. Currently I have two Serif apps (Affinity Designer & Photo) downloaded from the App Store, and one Serif app (Affinity publisher) which I bought directly from Serif. I wonder if the latter will become some kind of orphan or whether Apple will find a way through this for the Affinity suite.

[@dfs-comedy]

That's Apple's playbook. Lock people in and extort developers. If that bothers people, then they should not buy Apple products. I refuse to buy anything Apple for this reason, plus their gear is over-priced and not that well made, in my opinion.

[@biennium992]

I’m not especially concerned about being able to install third-party software on the Mac. The Mac currently must exist for creating new software. And Apple explicitly talked up how the Mac would continue to be useful for development, including Linux server development with HyperKit and Docker. I’m a bit more concerned about how long the hardware will be supported. My current Mac is almost 7 years old, still supported in Big Sur, and Apple tends to support the OS with security updates for a couple years after the release of the next version. Microsoft has Apple roundly beaten, able to run Windows 10 on 13-year-old computers, and there’s always Linux for people who really badly can’t buy new hardware regularly. iPhones are supported far better than Android phones, but the longest an iPhone has been supported is about 5 years. And with all the proprietary Apple hardware and the security system that includes a proprietary firmware and bootloader, the Linux escape valve is less likely to be available.

[@DarrynJones]

That's what Microsoft did when they introduced Windows RT (Windows 8 ARM) all those years ago. It wasn't a popular choice. Not sure if they still do it with their current ARM versions of Windows 10. We'll see what Apple do when they "invent" desktop ARM in a year or so.

[@wcarcass]

Great explanation, concise, precise, without pandering and very objective.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Much appreciated!

[@AbhimanyuKumar-bt2xf]

wow chris, you made it absolutely clear to me what other articles and youtube videos were trying to convey. Hats off to your content quality and its simplicity over fancy visuals.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Great to hear!

[@sinephase]

saw it coming, and it's going to be hilarious when they leave the x86 users behind just like they did with PowerPC :P

[@ExplainingComputers]

Oh yes, some people will not be happy . . .

[@johnames6430]

yup, make the same mistake twice but now they feel like they are in a better position

[@PS_Tube]

Now it's a paradigm shift. Is it the beginning of new era of computing? Where the portable computers are going to become powerful yet less power hungry? Only time will tell... Although Apple had a habit of changing processor type in a decade or so.

[@andreamitchell4758]

No it's a new paradigm where computers in general become less powerful or at least lots of basic and important software for them becomes less dependent on local hardware resources and relies more on the cloud. I think this is a very bad development. This is seem to be going hand in hand with a total shift to cloud computing and removing freedom and control from the end user and also for these tech giants to spy on us even more and have even more ownership and control over our data and our creative works. I don't like it at all ,of course we already see companies moving this way toward cloud without this development but i am afraid this is going to really accelerate it , and it will make new hardware non compatible with legacy versions of programs that can still be run locally. They want to phase out our ability to own our own programs (or to crack them for free fair use) and have to rely of paying monthly fees like a service for them instead . Basically we are going to see Apple selling us $5000 chrome books and I-macs that are essentially a stationary chrome book sure they may not in fact be dumb terminals but in a lot of cases they will for all intents and purposes be functioning that way, running all the major apps and creation tools from the cloud where you will be paying for them like a service most likely . Sure they will have some power locally but not compared to a mac pro or a custom rig which they will phase out by making all new versions of their software only run on the cloud making it pointless to have more powerful machines since there will be no more new software versions that can run on x86. I think this is just a huge power grab and that it might also be because Moore's law is about to hit the wall and it will be to expensive to keep giving us significant power increases in new x86 or even ARM chips. Just look at the latest Apple fiasco involving fortnite, pulled from the app store because these companies want a 30% cut. These decisions are largely greed driven in the same way ,it's all about money and control not the end user experience. Even though x86 for mobile computing is hot garbage , literally (extremely poor TDP) and Intel always tells HUGE lies about it and the battery life every laptop i ever owned boasts 8 hours battery and is lucky to get 1.5 . even with brightness at the lowest setting and all radios turned off and doing nothing but playing solitaire you could not even get half the advertised battery life. but the cons still outweigh the pros

[@_Digitalguy]

@@andreamitchell4758 while there are some good points you are making a lot of confusion too. Apple is not going to the cloud at all. If anything, it's Windows that could go this way because they cannot move to ARM like Apple does for several reasons. But Microsoft doesn't have the power to impose what they want (see the backlasth with Windows 8), so it's unlikely things will change radically for Windows over the next 10 years...

[@nickoshana2246]

@@andreamitchell4758 Interesting point! Force sheep into the Cloud!

[@williamp6800]

Andrea Mitchell Apple moving to ARM has absolutely nothing to do with moving to the cloud. It appears you are assuming that since ARM chips are currently mostly used in low power (in terms of performance) devices that that implies that Macs using ARM based chips must therefore be low performance devices. That’s wrong. There is nothing about the ARM ISA that prevents high performance CPUs from being based on it. Just take a look at the ARM based Graviton CPUs mentioned in the video that are available on AWS. But in regards to Apple specifically: First, Apple’s Mobile ARM chips are already as powerful as Intels laptop chips. Second, Apple has already said that the chips they are going to build for Macs will not be the same as for their Mobile devices, but instead will be a whole different family of chips, i.e. more performant. Third, the Mac Pro was only “re-born” less than a year ago. They are not going to be discontinuing it. But do expect it to be the last of Apple’s computers to make the ARM transition. Fourth, Apple is not Google. Apple is very much focused on “on device” processing. The more computing goes to the cloud, the less meaningful any differentiation that Apple offers makes a difference. That’s their whole reason for designing their own SOCs for Mobile: to be able to differentiate themselves from everyone else. Fifth, this is just a continuation of the approach that Apple has pursued since Steve Jobs’ return, that Apple, to the extent that they can, should control every significant technology that their products depend upon. So don’t worry about Apple’s move to CPUs they’ve designed being a harbinger of the end of personal computing as we know it. If that does happen, it will be for other reasons.

[@andreamitchell4758]

@@_Digitalguy definitley true that this will affect windows platform more but what happens to all the programs that run on mac OS ?they just rewrite everthing to run on ARM then , but then what happens when something needs more power say a video editor like final cut pro now i never tried an IOS version but imagine it would run ok on a ipad pro but not so much on an entry level ipad and i would imagine that Apple would be trying to unify the experience across all devices so i could see them moving some of their programs that require more power to the cloud

[@HoldMeForever]

Great video. The first time KZbin recommends something good.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Wow, thanks!

[@jajwarehouse1]

The funny thing is Apple moved away from the PowerPC risc processors to x86 because x86 required less power to run. Apple's G5 PowerPC was very fast, but it generated so much heat that it required liquid cooling and could not possibly be used in a laptop. IBM was mainly building the PowerPC around the super-computer market without much regard to power requirements, and this left Apple stranded for the laptop market. Around this time, Steve returned to Apple, they acquired NeXT which had the NeXTSTEP os already running on a wide variety of architectures, including x86, and OS-X was born and Apple moved away from PowerPC. Now, the wheel has turned full circle. Also of funny note, although IBM turned its back on Apple to focus the PowerPCs on super-computers, the Fugaku super-computer recently took the top notch on speed using Fujitsu A64FX ARM processors.

[@geoffhalsey2184]

The only downside of this revolution is that I'll have to use an alternative heating source in my energy inefficient HomeLab, during the winter months.

[@geoffhalsey2184]

@@shaurz Alternatively, a nice toasty 220w AMD FX-9590. LOL

[@22RH544]

Instead of transitioning to ARM for better battery life, people should write better software instead of all the Electron JavaScript monstrosities that are available today.

[@Klffsj]

I think the switch to ARM is good, at least for Macbooks, which are thermal throttled and not properly cooled. I completely agree, however, that software devs need to optimize their apps to demand less processing.

[@ohboy2118]

Absolutely. What is the point of multi-core cpu's if the code only runs on the first core. We have so much processing power going to waste on current devices which ironically has made the devs lazy.

[@totalermist]

@@ohboy2118 That's way too oversimplified. I could build you a super optimised app,but that'd take 3x the amount of work and time and nobody's going to pay for that. Besides, by the time my highly optimised app hits the app store, my slightly less optimised competition has already sold a million copies of a similar app. It's a mixture of time-to-market, cost-versus-benefit and the 80/20-rule at play here and repeating the same oversimplified mantra that "devs are just lazy" doesn't change that.

[@ohboy2118]

@@totalermist fair enough. Thanks for the reply from the other side of the fence if you get what I mean 👍

[@bearwynn]

@@totalermist also, parallel and concurrent programming is notoriously hard to do and requires way more work than sequential programming. It has it's places, but when two threads need to change the same data oh boy does your code want to soil itself

[@EnVideoZone]

Thorough and sensible teaching always. A real service to humankind.

[@nikoladd]

On the ARM powered amazon cloud "servers" it's not really CPU performance that is compared. It's vcpu performance. That's between 2-3times lower then actual physical core performance as it's supposed to be a universal unit. It was based on 2GHz Opteron ... then Amazon decided it's bad advertisement to state their actual performance, when it's way lower then the competition. So 40% boost over standard EC2 vcpu should give you about 50-60% the performance of a modern Intel Xeon core. Apple ARM cpu design is likely to be superior then what Amazon uses(judging by apple's mobile ARM cpus), but still it's unlikely to be able to compete with current Intel and AMD flagships. We shall see.

[@MgarrKid]

Anandtech had a detailed comparison between the Graviton2 and current x86 cpus (both Amd and Intel) - the Graviton2 was quite competitive and came on top in a number of important benchmarks, including single thread performance. How this will translate to the Desktop and day-to-day use is anyone's guess, but future with ARM does look promising. The more choice - the better for consumers!

[@markmilligan6616]

This has just reminded me to power up my Acorn (origins of ARM) RiscPC just to keep the capacitors happy

[@ExplainingComputers]

:)

[@jamesdinsmore9022]

I really really really really really liked this; cleared up dark mysteries; left me much to ponder. Thank you for pulling together the history, trends and evolution of computing!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks greatly. I did wonder what viewers would make of this video.

[@senditall152]

This was the explanation I was searching for thank you!

[@tjf7101]

49 here. Haven’t been this geeked over new consumer tech in a long time.

[@ExplainingComputers]

:)

[@woodant1981]

Looks a bit RISCy to me. Also I know that some fans would give and ARM and a leg for a new A14 or whatever they'll call them

[@ExplainingComputers]

:)

[@woodant1981]

@@ExplainingComputers it's not a funny joke I know😂😂 in all seriousness I'm OK with X86-64 in desktops even though the future isn't massively bright for it. The transitions we'll have to go through to re-develop everything we have to ARM and RISC is just a massive task

[@alliejr]

Wood Ant Just recompile. Very little software is developed in assembly language.

[@crystalsheep1434]

Very funny

[@woodant1981]

alliejr yes I understand that but the transition period and getting companies to actually shift development to ARM and optimize for it will just be a mess. I’m actually really excited though as there are some programmes that I’d love to see on ARM and the previously restricted ARM devices would be opened up to a whole new way of doing things. New ARM processors look ready to take on proper desktop chips as well by the looks of it! Hopefully X86 and ARM will live out their days in harmony as it will take years for X86 to stop being used everywhere and who knows companies might carry it on further!!

[@AnilArya51]

That's a clear explanation Sir..my teachers who take online class should lear from this ... Can you please make a videos on Google Cloud

[@chriholt]

Thanks as always for the clear and concise explanation of this. It should be an interesting few years to come!

[@ExplainingComputers]

We shall see. :)

[@DallasMike424]

Wonderful video as always. I like rare people like you who can distill the complex down to the simple. Continued prayers for your health from my wife and me, Chris.

[@JamesE707]

Interesting news. Question: Does or will ARM employ a secondary maths processor - the x86 series already have one (or more?) on board? Back in the 1980s, Acorn Computers and their RISC machines and RISC OS promised all, but it never took off, and now Apple are to go ahead and embrace the ARM/RISC throughout their range? Makes you wonder why they abandoned PowerPC architecture? - not advanced enough at the time?, Intel x86 too powerful at the time? Will look foward though to seeing the new iMac, not that I will buy one. ;o)

[@massmo2007]

If I remember rightly Acorn Archimedes computers had risc processors back in late 80's early 90's. I used one in school way back then so it's nice to see it making a come back and possibly overtaking the x86 processors

[@ExplainingComputers]

Totally correct -- and those early Acorn machines gave us today's ARM chips (ARM initially stood for Acorn RISC Machine as I recall).

[@martinda7446]

Massmo, Acorn developed the ARM processor - it used to stand for Acorn Risc Machine. The graduate who wrote the instruction set speaks about it somewhere on KZbin (I'll leave you to find out more). It was a two person job one guy did the hardware and the other the instruction set. Acorn were looking for a new processor and went to the States to see what was new...They were not impressed at all..So decided to build their own. RISC was being discussed at the time by a small bunch of people, but that was all. They had a saying, 'MIPS for all' as they developed it. It has taken nearly 40 years so far, but we sure got our MIPS.

[@MrTrilbe]

@@martinda7446 That iirc would be Roger Wilson, now Sophie Mary Wilson, She has had a very important impact on modern computing. Micro Men, while being pure cheese is still a fantastic dramatisation of Acorn and her work

[@martinda7446]

@@MrTrilbe Yes I agree, a great watch. I loved my Speccy.

[@martinda7446]

@@MrTrilbe I told my sister that a woman wrote the RISC instruction set, my sister being a bit of a feminist...She looked and said, 'That is a bloke'...Oops I felt silly. Still wonderful lifetime achievement from Sophie Wilson.

[@RicardoPetrazzi]

I like the fact your videos are NOT interrupted by Adverts..yippeee!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for this feedback. I have indeed opted-out of midroll adverts on all of my videos. I find them annoying when I watch videos, so will not subject my viewers to them.

[@RicardoPetrazzi]

@@ExplainingComputers Very much appreciate that Chris. Best regards

[@rickhunt3183]

I don't want to be misconstrued in my assessment of CISC. Me saying that CISC is going away was not the best choice of words. I don't think it can completely disappear, because there are some distinct advantages with that type of architecture especially when using high level language compilers to create applications, or when additional low level instructions need to be added to a cpu. Discussing RISC vs CISC and the advantage, disadvantages, and usage of each would require a lengthy discussion, and I believe would make a good topic for a presentation. I believe ARM is going to have a significant and dominate role in the current X86 markets..

[@WandererOfWorlds0]

I don't get this attitude of doom and gloom for x86. It's not like AMD and Intel have frozen development of their chips. Modern CPUs use a combination of CISC/RISC. ARM instructions themselves are becoming bloated to a silly amount, check out the dedicated javascript instructions. It's not really RISC anymore.

[@ExplainingComputers]

I would not say doom and gloom. x86 will be around for a very long time. But I think this is the beginning of the end of its dominance.

It was the next logical step for Apple (and it will very much enhance the thermal performance of their MacBooks XD), who is very keen on controlling it's environment. I hope some usability upgrades will spill over to Linux. Before Apple used CUPS for printing, the printer landscape under Linux was pretty barren and focused on postscript and HP compatible printers. Nowthedays nearly every printer runs without much interaction from the user under Linux. So Apple had indirect improved the printer landscape for Linux.

[@kuchenzwiebel7147]

Yes, Apple also contributed Thunderbolt which now will be used in USB 4. Kind of a shame for USB, that Thunderbolt 2, which was released in 2013 is as fast as the new USB 3.2x2. And still Apple gets so much hate...

[@sindotj]

You promised me to explain Windows 10 Architecture. You are more than a teacher for me....

[@SureshKumar-lm9qy]

A mention of theARMs legacy would have been interesting.

[@skndr3067]

What is your opinion on NVidia buying ARM?

[@ExplainingComputers]

I think it is better than ARM being biought by some investment fund. At least NVIDIA has bought it for (and to develop) the technology.

[@Tiger351]

At this stage of the game Apple is a very small fish being circled by the two industry sharks when it comes to desktop computing, I think they have more chance of a hit with Macbooks rather than desktop Macs as their market share is negligible vs AMD and Intel. At least for the desktop I don't think x86 will be going anywhere in the short to medium term.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Agreed on the Macbooks. But remember that far more mobile devices are sold today than desktop. But I agree that there will be x86 chips around for a very long time. "Beginning of the end" for x86 does not mean they will all suddenly disappear. :)

[@slowlymakingsmoke]

I could actually see a future where our desktops become increasingly expensive as they become less common. We could be paying prices like we did in the nineties for high end 3D design workstations for example. Remember Sun and Silicon Graphics?

[@redpillsatori3020]

gareth qually ..yep economy of scale will likely play a part in limiting desktop choices and/or driving prices up for them

[@gepwxaqdfsidsesg1548]

Very quickly after the Apple announcement of ARM Macbooks there was also a Freepascal port to ARM Mac. I tried it on an Apple ARM developer kit with the TransSkel5 implementation of Cocoa and with a bit of bug fixing it worked fine. So it seems that Apple have not altered the Cocoa widget set for ARM and so for the most part developers really will be able to recompile their X86 apps onto ARM and it will work. The only problem is that there doesn't seem to be a port of Xquartz to ARM yet and so X11 apps compiled for X86 Macs are not going to work; at least not yet.

[@haithamkombarji6887]

I hope i had a teacher like ghis man when i was young, am sure i would understand many things without facing difficulties or boring at all . Am one of the active followers of him now and i learned too much from his channel .👍👍

[@ExplainingComputers]

Thanks for watching. :)

[@snoopstp4189]

"I just can't wait to buy a Chromebook" said no one ever.

[@DarioDarrow]

3:52 My old PowerPC iMac used to double as a fantastic heater during winter 🔥😅

[@snowbella597]

😂😂

[@LordAlacorn]

Not a word about Fugaku? :) World most powerful super-computer is now powered by Fujitsu ARM A64FX chip. Era of ARM truly began!

[@HK-sw3vi]

that was some really good explaining done

[@billfreeman5201]

In all the discussions that I have heard about this switch, there is one rather glaring point that does not get attentio, raw power. The reason that X86 is so dominant on PC/Laptop is that ARM chipd just don't have the power to be nearly as powerful, hence why ARM is, at the moment, a mobile platform. So the question is, with regards to Macbooks etc is who is going to want to switch from something like an i& powerhouse, to a puny ARM? Is there something about the progress of ARM that we don't know about that offers a real threat to Intel/AMD because if not then if I was a Mac owner then I would be rather worried about switching my proverbial Porsche 911 to a Ford Fiesta.

[@ExplainingComputers]

You are comparing current ARM chips (designed for mobile devices) with current x86 chips. Apple is not going to put current mobile ARM chips in its desktops :)

[@notthesameman]

I'm still sticking to my pi4 cos I don't like apple or windows, and my pi4 does what it does for me, no need to buy me any further hardware, but this interesting.

[@another3997]

You can have ARM or x86 based computers without Microsoft, Apple or indeed Intel. And the Raspberry Pi is only one of many ARM based computers, so your choices of hardware and software are quite diverse.

[@redpillsatori3020]

...if all you do is light web browsing a single board PC like the Pi might suffice, but for a lot of people it’s not enough power

[@shaswata56]

The best thing about Linux Kernel is, it's almost completely written in C and it's already almost all ISA support. Check debian.org or gentoo.org. Used arch, debian and gentoo on raspberry pi 4/4GB and anyone will agree that the 8GB version will be completely desktop replaceable.

[@JohnKhalil]

If he made a series of tutorials about linux the number of windows users would decrease dramatically, he is a great teacher

[@ExplainingComputers]

I have made several Linux tutorials! :) And will make more.

[@3dtemptube]

2020 is full of "surprises" and this looks like a positive one. Can't wait to run MacOS and MS Office on Raspberry Pi. 😎

[@SarkarMotion]

Their chips will most likely run a proprietary set of instructions, or at least the processor output will be encrypted by T2. Iphones can't run android properly even after jailbreak, so I'm not very hopeful.

[@3dtemptube]

@@SarkarMotion If Apple plans to design such "special" ARM processors for desktops, how are they going to reach full compatibility with other non Apple software?

[@SarkarMotion]

@@3dtemptube maybe they don't, think of all the Apple specific productivity tools. Maybe they'll restrict sideload completely.

[@SarkarMotion]

I know for a fact that all Intel x86 process outputs were encrypted by T2 before going back to the HDD (macbook pro). Besides, all software authentication (crack checking etc) wil be handled by T2

[@3dtemptube]

@@SarkarMotion Interesting, how such encryption affects apps performance...

[@stanisawszczypua9076]

Actually I wouldn't go as far as "the beginning of the end of x86". As was pointed in the video its not even first time that Apple change its CPU architecture. I know its very hard for Apple fans to hear it but whole Apple platform is just a niche. There are only two main OS families that matters Windows on desktop and Android on mobile. As long as Google wont put a lot of resources into creating desktop version of Android, IMHO x86 is not in any danger. It is sad actually because ARM based devices are far cheaper then x86 equivalents.

[@haraldsimon2807]

Black&White topic. Look to the grayscale. The Darwin kernel, which did already support multiarchitecture binaries, is nice and not comming vom Apple, the BSD OS is not coming from Apple, the Objective-C is not comming from Apple, Swift has not been introduced by Apple. The font system is not Apple, and so on. But Apple put everything together into a solution. And THIS is Apple. The processor architecture does not count for a consumer.

[@stanisawszczypua9076]

@@haraldsimon2807 Into a solution that IMHO actually is nothing special.

[@haraldsimon2807]

@@stanisawszczypua9076 I did not say that Apple did something special but they made it.

[@SomeNot]

1993: the Macintosh has switched to RISC based PowerPC chips. This is a revolution and we can expect the entire industry to switch to RISC. Over 25 years later and we still haven’t seen that revolution.

[@sashakoshka]

Apple is also giving developers software to translate x86 Mac programs int ARM ones.

[@AxelWerner]

Switched to LINUX. runs on EVERYTHING.

[@stevefrawley9756]

You mean everything that the hardware manufacturers support. Although not as complete as the WQHL list (darn Open Source Licensing), the list is growing...

[@skyak4493]

How will it run on ARM-Macs? Can it make use of the AI, cryptographic, gpu, and visual processing?

[@nerv4316]

Agreed, I'm really satisfied with my Linux toaster.

[@Rick-vm8bl]

Try telling that to a random laptop you pick up only to find theres no wifi driver.

[@kuchenzwiebel7147]

Come on, just because you switched to Linux doesn't you have to tell everybody that you do.

[@bjarkih1977]

For those interested in ARM I highly recommend the Computerphile interview with Sophie Wilson about the creation of ARM.

[@bjarkih1977]

And this: "ARM Processor - Sowing the Seeds of Success - Computerphile" kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5uye59unLeDr7M

[@SvenneKrap]

I think that the most significant hardware development right now is that RISC-V cores (specifically the Berkely "BoomV3" a.k.a. SonicBoom core) is on par with a 2006 Intel chip but 1) totally open and royalty free and 2) well-designed.. Give it 5-10 years and ARM is legacy only (shorter, if the rumored Nvidia takeover of ARM Holding happens).. The future is most likely to be RISC, but I would be very surprised if was ARM and not RISC-V...

[@ExplainingComputers]

In terms of technical development, I think you are right. But in term of the market, I think the Apple/ARM thing is more important.

[@jonathangerard745]

Your'e videos are very informative and simplified. Nice work

[@ab_ab_c]

Actually, some Intel processors do in fact use RISC-like processing to take advantage of faster computing for certain instructions. What the video doesn't tell you is that for the same exact technology (e.g. lithography process & word length chips) CISC processors out-perform RISC processors. Anyone who has tried to do productive work on a RISC based computer knows they aren't as fast as CISC based systems. Intel offered the i960 RISC processor in the 90s & it was popular, but they didn't continue along that line because they choose to continue to offer higher performance hardware. The big deal with ARM processors is that they are less expensive & good enough for most of the sheeple of the world--but, most businesses are willing to pay for higher performance--and you aren't going to get that from RISC processors when you compare true apples to apples in throughput.

[@peterthepanda]

Pretty sure most of us are watching on devices that use ARM processors.

[@ExplainingComputers]

Very true.

[@kurtisrinker1202]

I certainly am. ARM is just so much more power efficient.

[@Morokiane]

Pentium Gold cpu here.

[@si4632]

@@kurtisrinker1202 Intel atoms perform much better

[@nadirjofas3140]

nah

[@patrickmusson4571]

What does that mean for games that were ported from x86 to MacO/S to run on Apple Computers. For example, if a game was ported to the Mac, does it matter if the Apple Computer is running an ARM processor, can it still run the game on an ARM based computer?

[@jaffarbh]

Fantastic and informative video. Thank you. I think the main reason Apple’s M1 is faster in certain applications than a counterpart x86 isn’t only because it’s RISC but because it doesn’t support some advance functions such as virtualisation (and visualisation acceleration), thus saving precious space on the silicon to add more functional units for mainstream applications such as video editing. There are other trade-offs such as faster RAM but limited in capacity (I think 16GB for now).

[@gb7767]

I feel that Risc-V will be the real nail in the x86 coffin and perhaps also steal a large share of the Android moble market at the same time. It certainly seems that trade restrictions imposed by the US are set to accelerate this process.

[@stumblepuppy606]

I miss the 68k instruction set

[@JohnnyUtah488]

It still lives on in microcontrollers, like the Motorola 68HC11. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_68HC11

[@stumblepuppy606]

@@JohnnyUtah488 no, absolutely not the same. The 68HC11 is upwards compatible with the 6800, not the 68000. Completely different architecture. The 68k family includes the 68000 68EC000, 68010, 68020, 68EC020, 68030, 68EC030, 68040, 68EC040, 68LC040, 68060, 68LC060, and 68EC060 They were mostly found in Classic Macintosh, Classic Amiga, and Classic Atari computers, along with several popular games consoles from the very late 80's and early 90's. The last official chip in the family was the 68060 and its budget variants, released in 1994, and comparable in performance to the 166MHz Pentium 1 from Intel. I say last official release, as a company called Apollo have in the past few years, created their own improvement in the line up, named the 68080, which exists only in FPGA form, and exclusively on their Vampire accelerator cards and Vampire standalone boards. These aren't official in any way, but do give a glimpse in where the family range could have gone had Motorola kept developing instead of partnering with IBM and Apple to create PowerPC.

[@JohnnyUtah488]

@@stumblepuppy606 Interesting. Thanks for the info!

[@alexhudspeth1213]

Thanks for this, Chris. I'm watching it on my overclocked Raspberry Pi 4b, cooled by an ICE Tower, and I couldn't be happier!

[@ExplainingComputers]

Ah, a Pi 4 overclocked with an ICE Tower. A great combination!

[@Reziac]

I'd like to see how performance compares, head-to-head with the same applications. If ARM uses less power but takes longer to do it, there's no net savings.

[@relaxingnature2617]

I keep learning new stuff and it's all Christopher's fault...

[@aceofhearts573]

x86 has something called "games" . Apple will need these "games" to actually succeed. People always looked down on games but the truth is that the technology industry is secretly led by video games

[@johnames6430]

correct, now you can't run all your PC games by installing windows on your mac. Even with a windows 10 port for ARM you won't be able to run steam games that require x86. In the same way that you can't run Sublime text on raspberry pi

[@gteixeira]

There are plenty of games on iPhone already. They just need to port them to macOS.

[@mdyer1130]

Macs aren’t for playing games, they’re for creative people. They can also run iPad and iPhone apps now

[@gteixeira]

@@mdyer1130 Even so there are plenty. I can live without games anyway. In fact most computers I've worked with were never intended to play games and I would not care if they didn't play any at all, but they always have some games developed for that platform.

[@mdyer1130]

@@gteixeira I like games too, I just hate when people assume that two different devices have to do the same things and have to serve the same user base (I wasn’t talking to you originally, just to clear that up)

[@jvb0573]

Nice video clearly explained about ARM processors and what the potentials are for Apple and more big companies.

[@RicardoPetrazzi]

I did my Higher Grade Computing Project on the ARM RISC CPU in 1992 - I named it "Did Acorn take a RISC?".

[@ExplainingComputers]

:)

[@ramanmono]

Will there be Apple Silicon Linux drivers though...

[@skyak4493]

This is my big question. Beyond the ARM instruction set there are vast new capabilities in half a dozen apple designed blocks. The one thing missing could be open source development. It could be like being trapped in Disneyland.

[@negirno]

I've heard a rumor that Apple uses custom compiled Linux to test their chips internally, so yes it'll may be, but those won't going to be used outside of Apple's headquarters.

[@freesaxon6835]

After a long wait Apple are doing something inventive again. I think it's the way forward......ahh the days of the old BBC B & Archimedes

[@jamescaley9942]

So which is best for mining bitcoins? And if I change the font colour in excel, which will cause the fan to come on at full power like it had a divide by zero error?

[@matthewbucknall8350]

Will be interesting to see how ARM and RISC-V fare against each other over the next decade.

[@roembol]

I really think this change will flip the computer industry

[@albyboy4278]

Nah The mobile phones have arm processors too, the industry stay the same. The x86 of today is very powerful to be replaced by Arm.

[@mjdxp5688]

ARM has already taken over a pretty large piece of computing. Essentially every mobile device uses an ARM processor, SBCs with ARM processors are becoming more and more powerful, and most Chromebooks run off of ARM processors.

[@dmmikerpg]

I don't think so, Roemer. This might work very well for Apple, but the need for backwards compatibility in the corporate sphere is going to keep x86 center stage in PCs for a very long time.

[@danielktdoranie]

Yep, Windows NT Kernel is next. Just like Azure , Windows is going *NIX

[@horseradishpower9947]

@@dmmikerpg Not to mention the fact that Apple isn't for everyone. A lot of people will stick to a PC, especially when you consider price. And the average person won't know what ARM is, or care.

[@Doobie3010]

Its always about keeping both all its hardware and customers prisoner to the Apple ecosystem .Wait to see the dodgy code Apple will insert in its own,later custom chips.

[@another3997]

How are you a prisoner? You can run Windows under Apple, you can buy an RPi or x86 system to run anything you like. Apple won't forbid you from doing that. Nobody forces anybody to buy only Apple products. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo do similar things to Apple with their consoles. Even Google controls who can use their Apps, as Amazon do on their Fire Tablets etc.

[@Doobie3010]

A Nother I don’t engage with brand fanatics,sorry.

[@makemoneynow5061]

This video is worth watching! More of this, please!

[@fabh.8123]

Thanks for the quality of your video, very instructive as always. The inclusion of slides is very good imo to have detailed information.