Or maybe 99% of the people will realize pretty soon that they actually only need a smartphone for phone calls, crappy photos, music and maybe some eMails and thus will not any longer waste 700 Euro for browsing the web on a microscopic display once a week?The shift is towards not having a desktop or laptop at all, but just small smart devices. The new smart phones are powerful enough to basically do what a large % of users want from their laptops - surf the web, edit documents, update facebook. Hence many might just drop the laptop altogether - perhaps just keeping some docking port so the phone can be used with a big screen, keyboard and mouse.
But it will not kill the PC. It may consume some of the share, but this is not the killer product.
Considering the fact that there x86 products that can get down into a similar power envelope, AND can run x86 code, I can't see how something that is as limited as the arm device can actually get enough traction.
The incorrect assumptions that people are making:
1. An arm device will run x86 programs
2. That x86 processors couldn't meet similar power/thermal/performance ranges if the market demands this.
Who would actually use this thing?
Well I don't think a PC needs to be x86 to be a PC. Microsoft has already announced Windows 8 for ARM and iOS/Chrome/Linux/Etc. could power a desktop "PC".But it will not kill the PC. It may consume some of the share, but this is not the killer product.
Exactly how "limited" would this arm chip be, if it's designed for the desktop?Considering the fact that there x86 products that can get down into a similar power envelope, AND can run x86 code, I can't see how something that is as limited as the arm device can actually get enough traction.
The incorrect assumptions that people are making:
1. An arm device will run x86 programs
2. That x86 processors couldn't meet similar power/thermal/performance ranges if the market demands this.
Apple & Samsung make their own chips so no phones, Ultra portables, & PMPs there.
Anyone remember windows for alpha, windows for itanium?
Don't assume that a product like this can't be competitive in certain spaces, but the mainstream space probably won't be the place.
Or maybe 99% of the people will realize pretty soon that they actually only need a smartphone for phone calls, crappy photos, music and maybe some eMails and thus will not any longer waste 700 Euro for browsing the web on a microscopic display once a week?
Samsung? Really?
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/samsung-nvidia-tegra-cell-phone,news-4316.html
Also the Galaxy Tab is running a Tegra chip already.
Well that is nothing but wishful thinking. It takes a huge amount of resources to port a game to any platform.
Again, you cannot just recompile a complex application like a game for a different architecture. There are many things which are coded specifically for a CPU architecture, like cache alignment, instrinsics and so on. A game also uses many external libraries without code access which all have to be available for that platform as well.Yes, from platform to platform. Not from architecture to architecture.
It really is as simple as changing a compiler switch from x86 to ARM (or IAT-64) - unless you have some specific assembly or high speed code that is specific to the architecture (aka scientific, non consumer apps).
Or maybe 99% of the people will realize pretty soon that they actually only need a smartphone for phone calls, crappy photos, music and maybe some eMails and thus will not any longer waste 700 Euro for browsing the web on a microscopic display once a week?
Again, you cannot just recompile a complex application like a game for a different architecture. There are many things which are coded specifically for a CPU architecture, like cache alignment, instrinsics and so on. A game also uses many external libraries without code access which all have to be available for that platform as well.
And last but not least: there is just absolutely zero motivation to port a game to an nvidia platform in the first place because it does not provide a new market space.
Well I don't think a PC needs to be x86 to be a PC. Microsoft has already announced Windows 8 for ARM and iOS/Chrome/Linux/Etc. could power a desktop "PC".
Exactly how "limited" would this arm chip be, if it's designed for the desktop?
Are you saying it's not possible for an ARM device to emulate x86?
Samsung? Really?
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/samsung-nvidia-tegra-cell-phone,news-4316.html
Also the Galaxy Tab is running a Tegra chip already.
See? Some people still living in denial and thinking the PC is all that. Given a choice between a $500 phone and $1000 laptop, most people would choice the former.
Developers are ditching the PC platform and switching to phones. Pretty soon we'll even be running all our apps from our phones. Ever heard of remote desktop or cloud computing? The real ballers who roll in money and spend 10 grand a night like it's nothing will use their phones to do all their work and stay connected, while you stay in the basement of your parent's house cutting your fingers on the CPU fan and waiting for your Mom to come down with a bucket so you can defecate (like Cartman in that South Park episode).
Seriously, the only time the PC has been remotely close to cool is when Microsoft puts so-and-so celebrities in their Windows ads.
You guys need to stop denying this, but the PC has always been uncool, and nothing Intel, AMD, and Microsoft do can change that. PC is for people who don't have a life, and that's exactly why they like the PC: They stay at home all the time. People like you and me, we like the PC, we are total nerds who live in the basement of our parent's house.
Outside of our world of nerds with no life, no one gives a rat's a** about the PC. You guys sound like having a fast PC is equivalent to having a hot girl/boyfriend or a fast car.
As for apps, web sites like Facebook, E-mail, Youtube, etc. are all you really need. And those apps might actually help you have a life. If you need to use Word or Excel a lot outside of the office, you need to reconsider your priorities.
A PC doesn't help you get a life, unless you do something productive with it and make a lot of money so you can be a total baller and drive nice cars and wear fancy suits and watches, ok?
Eventually this could happen, but this is not going to be a lightswitch. It has less to do with high end gaming. Type out a long document on an iphone some time and you'll see. I can use mine all night to play games, but last night when I needed to type a long email I pulled out the notebook.
So this chip should be able to run Windows 8, Chrome, iOS and one would suspect Linux as well. It's amazing how fast these markets can turn around. NVIDIA could be bigger than Intel in less than a decade.
And soon she will realize that she is only doing this because it is so trendy and new and that she doesn't have to be so stupid to ruin her eyes and carriage for watching TV and browsing the web.Tell that to my wife - without any pushing by me she decided she had to have a smart phone (I just made sure it was android not apple), it cost a lot less then 700 euro, and she's been raving about it ever since. If you asked her to pick whether she could have a phone or a laptop, she'd pick the phone in a heartbeat. It does what she wants, in fact it does a whole lot of stuff the laptop can't. Just wish it wasn't so easy to watch web tv on it cause that's ruining my online gaming -_-
And what is with the tons of libraries where you can't even get a build for a eight year old C-runtime, but which are being used by tons of software, including games?It won't be that hard, if arm windows takes off then 3rd party companies will quickly provide versions of their libraries for it. Remember the most difficult libraries are the ones that windows provides (e.g. directX) and obviously MS will have ported them, along with visual studio to compile with and all the other software tools making everyone elses job pretty easy.
A lot of people, including MS, completely failed to predict markets.Remember MS is porting to arm, not nvidia so you have access to all window 8 arm powered devices. That's a potentially big market - MS obviously think so or they wouldn't be porting to it.
2 very important things that seem to be overlooked here:
1) nVidia bought an architecture license. Thats (very) different from a core license. Forget Cortex A9 and A15, those are cores designed by ARM specifically targeting handheld devices, pretty good for what they were meant to do, but no more than that.
With an architecture license, you can build a custom core thats targeting any market, a laptop, PC, server, console, supercomputer; just a core that is compatible to ARMs ISA. You dont judge x86 performance potential by looking at Atom while ignoring Beckton. Likewise, dont judge ARM performance potential by looking at Cortex, nVidia could well try and build a Beckton competitor.
2) Seems like everyone forgot nVidia is the only big player to have purchased such license recently. A few months ago, Microsoft bought an ARM architecture license as well, which can only mean they are working on a custom ARM chip as well, and not only on an ARM windows OS. That might be only for xbox, but Id wager a guess they have every intention of doing like Apple, and becoming a vertically integrated company.