Since the entire PC market is cratering right now I’m not sure anything will happen quickly and it might be a few years before hardware/software makers feel a bit more emboldened to invest in new platforms. Not to mention the fact that the likes of the Snapdragon X Elite has not really been rigorously tested in the market so there might be some wrinkles that manifest and need ironing out. I take all the hype with a big grain of salt.

I disagree; this is hypothetical and should go beyond performance. There are many, many examples of technically superior processors being limited by software support. Will we be locked to a specific boot process? Will there be drivers and support? Qualcomm is particularly known for holding drivers close to their chest.

To be clear, I’ve previously posted that it would be cool to see an ARM board, but so far the ARM vendors haven’t really delivered much supporting an open and consistent system, and there aren’t any prospects for it, either.

Not unless Windows for arm geht’s better

I find the ARM processor very interesting. Ultimately it’s about sheer horse power. ARM for Windows is lacking but the forthcoming generation is so powerful, apparently faster than the m2 by quite some margin, that it will mean that x86 emulation finally works properly.

More and more applications will have native ARM support as they are compiled to support it.

I doubt that Framework will implement an ARM board for a while but it is an interesting concept.

If ARM were to come to framework, would it be possible to run MacOS on em?

Maybe new Processors but they won’t do shit if the software isn’t there and Windows for Arm is still a big pile of shit.

Apple is doing here a great job with Rosetta 2 having run older x86_64 software on their silicon. From what I have seen Windows isn’t really good at it. And not sure if Linux’ bindet has good performance and compatibility if you have some software where no aarch64 binary exists.

I would be very hesitant to buy a none Apple ARM based PC tbh.

Until I got the AMD board I was totally on board the ARM train but the power efficiency it has is good enough that I’m happy with it. When doing light tasks its basically a Macbook Air while having the compatibility x86 has so I don’t have to worry about that.

I posted this in another comment but wanted to expand on it in a direct reply;

It’s worth noting that a big problem with ARM is it’s not one unified architecture. x86-64 has both the problem and advantage that there are more than one manufacturer of CPU’s, but all of them are boxed into being compatible with Intel. This isn’t true with ARM; while the CPU architecture itself is nominally the same, individual vendors are free to implement that standard in myriad ways with myriad support chips that they can pick and choose or develop themselves. Something written for NVidia ARM won’t run on Qualcomm and vice versa, and neither will run on Mac. Unless stricter standards are wrapped around the architecture we’ll never see a true “generic ARM architecture” system. But that’ll never happen beacause it’s a violation of the terms of the agreements that the fabs signed with ARM.

If a single vendor came along with an architecture design for ARM CPU that everyone liked and that vendor allowed other manufacturers to create compatible designs then we could see that standard appear. Maybe Framework could be that vendor… but right now they’re FAR too small with FAR to small pockets to develop an architecture of this magnitude. It’d have to be adaptable to laptops, desktops, datacenter, embedded… you name it. This would require a company with deep pockets and a LOT of engineers on staff. NVidia has both of those but is NEVER going to publish a standard so that Qualcomm can create a competing CPU. Apple’s not going to open their architecture up either for the exact same reason.

intel METEOR LAKE is launching in December and it is a mix of ARM and x86

Microsoft has been trying to push ARM for over a decade now. It’s been a flop every single time. This time may turn out differently … or not. I sure as heck wouldn’t hold off a purchase because of it.

I don’t believe in the ARM hype. Hopefully RISC-V comes along and leapfrogs it.

As a Linux user, I’d mostly be fine with an ARM laptop. Except for running VMware Workstation and Windows. I don’t really seem Qualcomm being able to match Apple in terms of a smooth migration from x86 let alone the problems with Windows, drivers, and decades of random apps.

ARM laptops/desktops in the PC space will happen. Replace x86? Not anytime soon. Need a machine today? Buy AMD and don’t think twice about it.

They’ve been saying that since the 90s (ever seen the movie Hackers?). So don’t hold your breath.

Who you talking to?

The processors aren’t the big hurdle, the ecosystem is. There’s just too much legacy of x86 for things to suddenly make a switch because the Linux & Windows scenes aren’t under an iron grip like MacOS is by Apple, so a unified and industry wide push will never happen - it’s inherently a trickle adoption, if at all.