The new entry-level iMac14,4 and ARM transition
On the first glance the “new” entry-level (aka low-cost) 21″ iMac with it’s 1.4GHz ULV CPU looks mighty underpowered for a desktop-class machine in 2014.
On the second glance I wonder if this is a test-run of Apple to see how many people complain about such a low-performance machine for a potential transition to Apple’s own ARM A7 CPUs. Currently this 1.4GHz (base clock) iMac’s peak (turbo boost) performance is just twice as fast as an iPad Air. Apple already called the A7 “desktop class performance”, and next Apple A8 ARM64 CPUs at a higher clock will certainly close this gap further, …
Update: I personally do not believe in a short-term success of possible ARM Macs. The initial performance will be far below current high-end Intel chips. A gap Apple will only be able to close in half a decade or so, if not Intel will always have a lead, … The far bigger problem is that Apple would loose all the customers buying the Macs and still running Windows (or Linux) on the Mac’s natively, or in a VM. Either intentionally due build quality and design or accidentally getting the first Mac due advertising, and later finding out their office warez do not work on Mac, and thus sticking with the Windows OS for the time being. I would estimate this to be a too large portion of the Mac sales to be easily lost in this transition.
