[luau] Re: PPC vs. X86

[Warren Togami]

Eric Jeschke wrote:
> 
> I don't agree with this.  They are tracking the top of the PPC
> manufacturing pretty closely.  Witness: the dual 1GHz G4 is their
> current top of the line (they have been beating Motorola's door down
> trying to get them to build a faster chip, but Motorola does not have
> the market/fab/capitalization/design/?? to ramp the architecture up as fast
> as Intel and AMD).  Even AMD is conceding the 32-bit performance crown
> to Intel, because nothing AMD has now in the 32 bit line is touching the
> P4's performance. 

Didn't IBM have something that is the "next generation" of PowerPC, but 
it is currently too expensive for Apple to use mainstream?

I don't know if AMD conceded to Intel in 32-bit, but I think it doesn't 
matter to AMD anymore because their current roadmaps show a strong push 
directly into their upcoming 64-bit Hammer architecture.  Hammer I think 
would minimally match P4 in performance if not exceed, and due to 
economies of scale should be far cheaper than Itanium, leading to 
greater mass market acceptance.  If their plans hold we should be able 
to buy relatively cheap 64-bit x86 compatible servers, workstations and 
eventually laptops.  Linux support will be great too. I can't wait. =)

Warren