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submitted 10 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

2024 could be the year the PC finally dumps x86 for Arm, all thanks to Windows 12 and Qualcomm's new chip::We've already reported on Qualcomm's new 12-core Arm uberchip, the Snapdragon X Elite, and its claims of x86-beating performance and efficiency. But it takes two to tango when it comes a maj

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[-] fartsparkles@sh.itjust.works 64 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Having used an ARM Mac, and the pains of countless utilities and apps that are x86/x64 only, as well as the pains of virtualising x86/x64 operating systems, I’m not a fan. I can virtualise ARM just fine on x64 but not the other way around.

(Edit: I’m not referring to OS utilities and apps - Apple have done a fine job with porting the OS to ARM, but the same can’t be said for the wider ecosystem - especially FOSS and niche developer toolchains).

[-] simple@lemmy.world 51 points 10 months ago

People probably said the same thing when Apple dropped PowerPC for x86, there's going to be an awkward transition period but when it becomes a standard you'll feel differently.

[-] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 40 points 10 months ago

yeah, but were not talkin some niche audience like apple powerpc products. lets not pretend apple had actual marketshare.

this is messing with legacy windows products that are deeply ingrained the world over. it will be far messier than that apple crap

[-] fartsparkles@sh.itjust.works 19 points 10 months ago

I had a Mac G4 just before the transition from PPC and while that was painful (since x86 emulation sucked) this is a whole different kettle of fish.

These days I’m running all sorts of VMs for research and UTM or QEMU on macOS ARM just doesn’t cut the cheese. On a laptop, sure, ARM is fine. Heck, even in a data centre it’s fine, but on workstations, ARM is too sluggish for virtualisation or anything except ARM. Not to mention the shocking state of Windows 11 on ARM and how loads of Windows components don’t actually function properly or even run. Defenders GUI doesn’t even open!

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[-] bruhduh@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago

Apple yes, windows? Not so sure, in windows there's alot of x86 games and everything, people just won't drop that you know? And with Linux gaining traction in gaming community x86 going to live at least another decade, ONLY way people going to drop x86 if you can launch x86 apps on arm without terrible drop off performance, while apple have that, others don't, so until then except mobile devices only apple and niche laptops gonna be on arm, because gaming and other legacy software people not gonna drop until you can launch it on arm without terrible drops of performance

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[-] mr_tyler_durden@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

I’m confused, my M1 MBP had like 1-2 things max that were x86 still that I needed and those ran fine on Rosetta.

I know docker is a bit more annoying but it’s not that bad IMHO.

[-] 8ender@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Came in to say the same, and I run all sorts of weird shit. Rosetta is so seamless the only way I know it’s an x86 thing is that it takes a while to launch the first time.

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[-] kemsat@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

I’m guessing the ARM version will be for regular people that just go to the main websites. Maybe the x64 version will become enterprise only.

[-] the_q@lemmy.world 62 points 10 months ago

Is Microsoft working on a compatibility layer like Apple did? If no then 2024 is just another x86_64 year filled with bullshit news and hype train conductors.

[-] hansl@lemmy.world 31 points 10 months ago

There’s already a compatibility layer. Microsoft had one before Rosetta 2 was available. You can test it yourself with many windows on arm dev builds that exists, or with a Mac running windows in a VM.

Verdict; not as good as Apple (not sure how it compares with the one from Linux) but good enough. https://beebomal.pages.dev/posts/apple-s-rosetta-2-vs-windows-x86-emulation-explained/

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[-] Evilcoleslaw@lemmy.world 49 points 10 months ago

They're going to have to get the emulation working better for x86/x64 software. And they're going to have to get the driver situation sorted -- which likely means requiring ARM drivers alongside x86/x64 drivers in order to meet certification for having a Windows sticker or WHQL certification to gradually build up the list of supported hardware.

[-] OsrsNeedsF2P@lemmy.ml 49 points 10 months ago

The CPU and processing power benefits would be great, but if I'm going to lose software support then I'm only going to do it for RISC V.

[-] RiikkaTheIcePrincess@pawb.social 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Yaaaah, came here to something something RISC-V ^.^ One of these days I'll have a RISC-V system. I'll have no actual use for it but I'll love it stubbornly just because :D

Anyway I'm gonna be over here daydreaming about RISC-V taking over the world instead of ARM. Bwehehehehe.

(Edited to fix my ^.^-face)

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[-] spacemanspiffy@lemmy.world 37 points 10 months ago

Not a chance. We have several more years of x86 dominance.

[-] sebinspace@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

I don’t know what the author was smoking, but nobody that knows what x86 and ARM are would reasonably say x86 is anywhere near its end. I want it to be, fuck I want it to be, but I’m also not stupid enough to think it’s happening even remotely soon.

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[-] downhomechunk@midwest.social 36 points 10 months ago

How can it be both the year of ARM and the year of the linux desktop?

[-] cbarrick@lemmy.world 31 points 10 months ago

Linux runs great on ARM 😉

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[-] itsnotits@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Linux and ARM are not mutually exclusive.

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[-] Viper_NZ@lemmy.nz 26 points 10 months ago

I don’t care as long as desktops remain modular.

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[-] 9point6@lemmy.world 23 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Nope, I'll never run windows on anything other than x86 (for my desktop).

I'm very happy with my ARM MBP for work, but I occasionally pull up software written decades ago (either music production plugins or games typically) on windows and it still runs, some of the companies that wrote that software no longer exist, so no first party patches will be coming.

[-] ultra@feddit.ro 22 points 10 months ago
[-] 9point6@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Fair play, if you don't need the compatibility with Windows drivers and software, there's no real reason to choose it in 2023.

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[-] banneryear1868@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago

For all the informed technical analysis and debates about this, the vast majority of consumers don't care about any of this stuff, and they're the ones who will decide this "year of the whatever." The worse option technically speaking has won out many times in the past.

[-] JTskulk@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Consumers will choose more battery life, all else being equal.

[-] Crafter72@lemmy.world 18 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Tell me you never used Arm based system for daily drive without telling me you never used Arm based system. General software compatibility is not there and PC is not only on Windows or Mac. Sure on Mac they have enterprise support for their user. By having more power (bruteforcing) to run the emulation simply does not mean the software run flawless.

Maybe I'm a bit bias since I'm comparing it with SBCs (but thats what is affordable). As someone who have Raspberry Pi 4 and Orange Pi 5, the situation is a bit different. Raspberry Pi have a well supported system by communities and the devs, meanwhile on Orange Pi 5 some drivers are not released by the Orange Pi/left to the dust if there are no maintainer, not to mention if you want specific build of binary which not covered by repo/ppa, you have to build yourself from source, and the GPU driver situation for OPi5 which not yet have Vulkan support and sub par performance on Linux meanwhile on RPi5 they have Vulkan support 2 weeks after release.

[-] Brkdncr@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago

All the top posts here are people saying it won’t happen.

I was at the store over the weekend and saw a full display of chromebooks. Someone purchased one right in front of me.

I’m sure there’s a market for both technologies to exist at the same time.

[-] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 30 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

They're purchasing the OS, not the CPU/SOC architecture.

Microsoft doesn't have the same loyalty that Apple does. They can't afford to release an ARM OS that isn't already supported by all major software applications, and majority support for normal x86 apps, with assistance and roadmap to completely bridge the gap.

When the transition is seamless, or 90% seamless, the architecture won't matter, and customers won't even realize they've switched.

If they release ARM hardware that doubles battery life and performance, but doesn't offer a seamless transition, it'll flop. Just like their last attempt did.

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[-] visor841@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

There are tons of x86 Chromebooks still tho.

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[-] RanchOnPancakes@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

Yeah, no. Still got a huge software issue there.

[-] pastabatman@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago

There's a lot of focus on Windows for these types of chips, but Chromebooks are probably the best use case for them right now. ChromeOS runs great on ARM and there's no legacy software to worry about, but they feel kind of slow because the ARM chips they've used have been slow. I'd love an ARM Chromebook that actually rips.

[-] ApatheticCactus@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Could we have a future where we have an arm main CPU, gaming GPU, and also an x86 card?

[-] jacktherippah@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I've used an ARM Mac for the past 3 years on both macOS and Linux. My trusty M1 Air has been an absolute joy to use. I would like more options for a fast, battery efficient and most importantly fanless laptop, so I'm looking forward to this.

[-] LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Lololol no.

[-] pr06lefs@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 months ago

Limping along with a wonky hinge on my 5 year old laptop waiting for these to come out. Haven't run windows for years now so I don't think I'll be missing intel much at all. Might have to do some cross compiling for deploying software to intel cloud nodes, but arm VMs for android development will speedy.

[-] Toes@ani.social 4 points 10 months ago

Depending on which problem you're experiencing, I've used jb weld to fix it.

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[-] deathmetal27@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Don't care what Windows does. What's going on on Linux here.

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[-] tabular@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Silly bot, windows go on the walls.

[-] chakan2@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

I think this is likely. After dealing with how bad W11 is, MS realized they don't need working software or backwards compatibility to sell units.

[-] carpelbridgesyndrome@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago

The main advantage of ARM right now is that there are low power cores available. The actual instruction set is unrelated to this advantage. If Intel or AMD put more serious effort into power efficiency most of the advantages go out the window.

As for instruction set changes impacting what software you can run I think that is still a big issue. Yes porting to ARM is straitforward in more modern programming environments but most software actively developed at the moment has a lot of old cruft that won't easily port if the engineers can even be convinced to touch it. Most businesses are dependent on old software not all of which is still maintained. Most gamers are even more tied to old software that is not going to get ported and often has annoying anti-virtualization checks (see games breaking on systems with enabled intel e-cores).

I am not sure how large the modern non gaming personal pc market is (tablets, phones, works computers, and chromebooks probably took a chunk out of it) but that could be in play.

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this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2023
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