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iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

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tipoo
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iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:25 am

https://www.macrumors.com/2017/11/19/im ... -hey-siri/

Big move for ARM on the Mac. I wonder if it'll take over more functions like sleep over time.
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End User
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Re: iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

Sun Nov 19, 2017 11:35 am

tipoo wrote:
Big move for ARM on the Mac.

As the article states this is the second ARM based SoC that Apple has included in a Mac. All TouchBar equipped MacBook Pros come equipped with a T1 chip.
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tipoo
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Re: iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

Sun Nov 19, 2017 3:53 pm

End User wrote:
tipoo wrote:
Big move for ARM on the Mac.

As the article states this is the second ARM based SoC that Apple has included in a Mac. All TouchBar equipped MacBook Pros come equipped with a T1 chip.


I didn't say first move :P

The T1 iirc was something similar to the OG Apple Watch SoC? A10 Fusion is decidedly more capable, and I'm sure will be used for a lot more than hey Siri.
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DancinJack
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Re: iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

Sun Nov 19, 2017 4:31 pm

tipoo wrote:
The T1 iirc was something similar to the OG Apple Watch SoC? A10 Fusion is decidedly more capable, and I'm sure will be used for a lot more than hey Siri.


Wiki wrote:
The Apple T1 chip is an ARMv7 SoC from Apple driving the Touch ID sensor of the 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pro.[89] The chip operates as a secure enclave for the processing and encryption of fingerprints as well as acting as a gatekeeper to the microphone and FaceTime HD camera protecting these possible targets from potential hacking attempts. The T1 runs its own version of watchOS, separate from the Intel CPU running macOS.
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End User
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Re: iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

Sun Nov 19, 2017 5:08 pm

tipoo wrote:
End User wrote:
tipoo wrote:
Big move for ARM on the Mac.

As the article states this is the second ARM based SoC that Apple has included in a Mac. All TouchBar equipped MacBook Pros come equipped with a T1 chip.


I didn't say first move :P

The T1 iirc was something similar to the OG Apple Watch SoC? A10 Fusion is decidedly more capable, and I'm sure will be used for a lot more than hey Siri.

The “big move” will be when Apple replaces Intel CPUs with their own in house designs.
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Ninjitsu
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Re: iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

Sun Nov 19, 2017 5:32 pm

But can it go "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"?
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just brew it!
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Re: iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

Sun Nov 19, 2017 5:40 pm

Ninjitsu wrote:
But can it go "BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT"?

:D

Maybe it has a titanium inner tray to protect critical components?
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tipoo
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Re: iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

Sun Nov 19, 2017 6:15 pm

End User wrote:
tipoo wrote:
End User wrote:
As the article states this is the second ARM based SoC that Apple has included in a Mac. All TouchBar equipped MacBook Pros come equipped with a T1 chip.


I didn't say first move :P

The T1 iirc was something similar to the OG Apple Watch SoC? A10 Fusion is decidedly more capable, and I'm sure will be used for a lot more than hey Siri.

The “big move” will be when Apple replaces Intel CPUs with their own in house designs.



That would be the final move in the plan. This is a step towards it. The A10 and onwards taking more and more duties in Macs going forward will clearly be a big inflection point to get software support.
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the
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Re: iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

Sun Nov 19, 2017 9:57 pm

The real question is: what can this be used for?

The obvious is performing a role as a security coprocessor in a similar fashion as the T1 in the touch bar MacBook Pros. However, is that is indeed the primary role, why just not include the T1 itself?

My guess is that it is a coprocessor for low power operation to handle things like fetching email and several mundane tasks in the backgrounnd, including when the system is asleep. Similarly it could be used to tackle various IO tasks to be offloaded from the main CPU/GPU, including codec acceleration for some specific file formats that Vega can't handle conceptually (Apple Pro Res etc.).
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Re: iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

Sun Nov 19, 2017 10:41 pm

tipoo wrote:
End User wrote:
tipoo wrote:

I didn't say first move :P

The T1 iirc was something similar to the OG Apple Watch SoC? A10 Fusion is decidedly more capable, and I'm sure will be used for a lot more than hey Siri.

The “big move” will be when Apple replaces Intel CPUs with their own in house designs.

That would be the final move in the plan. This is a step towards it. The A10 and onwards taking more and more duties in Macs going forward will clearly be a big inflection point to get software support.

If the intent is for it to be an independent (and therefore harder to break into) security processor, they will likely want to keep it separate. Merging other major functions into it would defeat the purpose of having it in the first place.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
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Dposcorp
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Re: iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

Mon Nov 20, 2017 11:59 am

Apple needs to be careful what chips it starts to use.
I think I know where this is leading.
http://terminator.wikia.com/wiki/Neural_Net_CPU
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Wirko
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Re: iMac Pro includes the A10 Fusion

Mon Nov 20, 2017 12:18 pm

Bah, I read this news on Wccf and it didn't occur to me that the A10 Fusion isn't the same as the AMD A10 APU, which once had (or its predecessors had) a marketing name "Fusion".
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