retroremakes
March 1st, 2010, 13:40
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/03/500x_a4-apple-chip-top-1.jpg (http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/03/a4-apple-chip-top-1.jpg)There's a lot of speculation about what's inside the A4, Apple's custom and ultra-power-efficient chip that powers the iPad. Nobody knows for sure because, like all their products, it's a seeeeeecret. Until now.
According to Jon Stokes' well-trusted sources, there is no Cortex A9 dual-core (http://gizmodo.com/5293270/cortex-a9-arms-multi+core-mobile-cpus) inside Apple's A4, but just a single Cortex A8 and a PowerVR SGX GPU. According to Jon, it's probable that Apple has taken out a lot of the communication, image, and video blocks that the Cortex A8 uses, making it an extremely lean and efficient processor.
He also says that the people from PA Semi (http://gizmodo.com/5466995/apples-pa-semi-might-notve-designed-the-ipads-a4-chip)—which Apple acquired (http://gizmodo.com/382929/apple-buys-itself-a-little-chip-company-known-for-super-efficient-processors) in 2008—are probably building a custom ARM-based core for future products.
Do you have to care about this? No. As Jon says, the important thing about the iPad is not its specs and how many polygons it can push. That doesn't matter to normal consumers, that just matters to feature-list-obsessed geeks. What would be important for consumers is that the iPad provides an smooth experience, using a user interface different from standard computing (http://gizmodo.com/5452501/the-apple-tablet-interface-must-be-like-this). [Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/apple/2010/02/meet-the-a4-the-ipads-brain-not-quite-ready.ars)]
http://ads.pheedo.com/img.phdo?p=1 (http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?p=1) http://a.rfihub.com/eus.gif?eui=2226 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?d=H0mrP-F8Qgo</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=OWbDM7BxQg8:NSEJ4XCMmdM:H0mrP-F8Qgo) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?d=yIl2AUoC8zA</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=OWbDM7BxQg8:NSEJ4XCMmdM:yIl2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?i=OWbDM7BxQg8:NSEJ4XCMmdM:D7DqB2pKExk</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=OWbDM7BxQg8:NSEJ4XCMmdM:D7DqB2pKExk) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?i=OWbDM7BxQg8:NSEJ4XCMmdM:V_sGLiPBpWU</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=OWbDM7BxQg8:NSEJ4XCMmdM:V_sGLiPBpWU)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~4/OWbDM7BxQg8
More... (http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/OWbDM7BxQg8/whats-inside-the-a4)
According to Jon Stokes' well-trusted sources, there is no Cortex A9 dual-core (http://gizmodo.com/5293270/cortex-a9-arms-multi+core-mobile-cpus) inside Apple's A4, but just a single Cortex A8 and a PowerVR SGX GPU. According to Jon, it's probable that Apple has taken out a lot of the communication, image, and video blocks that the Cortex A8 uses, making it an extremely lean and efficient processor.
He also says that the people from PA Semi (http://gizmodo.com/5466995/apples-pa-semi-might-notve-designed-the-ipads-a4-chip)—which Apple acquired (http://gizmodo.com/382929/apple-buys-itself-a-little-chip-company-known-for-super-efficient-processors) in 2008—are probably building a custom ARM-based core for future products.
Do you have to care about this? No. As Jon says, the important thing about the iPad is not its specs and how many polygons it can push. That doesn't matter to normal consumers, that just matters to feature-list-obsessed geeks. What would be important for consumers is that the iPad provides an smooth experience, using a user interface different from standard computing (http://gizmodo.com/5452501/the-apple-tablet-interface-must-be-like-this). [Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/apple/2010/02/meet-the-a4-the-ipads-brain-not-quite-ready.ars)]
http://ads.pheedo.com/img.phdo?p=1 (http://ads.pheedo.com/click.phdo?p=1) http://a.rfihub.com/eus.gif?eui=2226 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?d=H0mrP-F8Qgo</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=OWbDM7BxQg8:NSEJ4XCMmdM:H0mrP-F8Qgo) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?d=yIl2AUoC8zA</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=OWbDM7BxQg8:NSEJ4XCMmdM:yIl2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?i=OWbDM7BxQg8:NSEJ4XCMmdM:D7DqB2pKExk</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=OWbDM7BxQg8:NSEJ4XCMmdM:D7DqB2pKExk) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?i=OWbDM7BxQg8:NSEJ4XCMmdM:V_sGLiPBpWU</img> (http://feeds.gawker.com/~ff/gizmodo/full?a=OWbDM7BxQg8:NSEJ4XCMmdM:V_sGLiPBpWU)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~4/OWbDM7BxQg8
More... (http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/OWbDM7BxQg8/whats-inside-the-a4)