Apple A4 CPU Dissection: iPad is Just a Big iTouch
It uses the same sort of brains and brawn as the latest iPhone and iPod Touch models.
When Steve Jobs took to the stage earlier this year to unveil the iPad, he also announced a custom processor he called the A4. While the company has been rather mum on what's inside the package, early reports figured the A4 to be ARM-based, just like the iPhone and iPod Touch models. And they were right.
Teardown specialist firm iFixit sent the A4 chip to Canadian-based Chipworks, a semiconductor reverse engineering firm, for an x-ray and dissection to find out what Apple's chip is made up of.
These are the conclusions that iFixit it came to:
· There's not much revolutionary here. In fact, the A4 is quite similar to the Samsung processor Apple uses in the iPhone [3GS].
· It's clear from both hardware and software that this is a single core processor, so it must be the ARM Cortex A8, and NOT the rumored multicore A9.
· It's quite challenging to identify block-level logic inside a processor, so to identify the GPU we're falling back to software: early benchmarks are showing similar 3D performance to the iPhone [3GS], so we're guessing that the iPad uses the same PowerVR SGX 535 GPU.
· The iPad has 256 MB RAM, same as the iPhone [3GS].
· The A4 sips power. In fact, power consumption is probably the reason Apple hasn't stepped up performance much from the iPhone [3GS]. In order to get 10 hours of battery life, the entire iPad (including display) has to pull less than 2.5 Watts on average.
It should be noted that, while both the CPU and GPU appear to be upclocked versions of the same things powering the iPhone 3GS, it's still impossible to tell at this stage. Furthermore, there is a single core version of the ARM Cortex A9, so Apple could be using a newer CPU than the A8 in the latest iPhone and iPod Touch.
Nevertheless, we agree with iFixit that, on a hardware level, "there's not much revolutionary here." Apple has essentially built a triple-layer, package-on-package custom chip using off-the-shelf components. Like the company does for the rest of its computing product, it takes something that's readily available in the technology marketplace and layers it with custom software to provide a markedly different experience.

Damn right!
"... While it may represent the most bleeding edge of a new technology..."
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/ipad-wifi-wi-fi-overheating-wireless,news-6360.html
ok, now it bleeds with crap alright...
No. But it plays Crush the Castle!
Damn right!
"... While it may represent the most bleeding edge of a new technology..."
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/ipad-wifi-wi-fi-overheating-wireless,news-6360.html
ok, now it bleeds with crap alright...
Oh, come now - you can't hold Tom's to that old post. That was posted 86,400 seconds before this one! You know that technology never sits still. (Hope Tom's can take a joke...)
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Um, you weren't alone... and yet how many times here on Tom's have we been told "its not just a giant iTouch... its something new called a 'tablet'". *rolls eyes*
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I wonder if this news will also make Tuan reconsider What HP Needs for Slate to Take on iPad, and Win, or more accurately if Taun is willing to consider that the HP slate falls in the netbook classification while the iPad does not... thus it is like trying to compare netbooks to laptops, or laptops to desktops.
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Does this news, or the news of weak wi-fi and overheating mean my predictions that people will continue to snap up iPads in an Apple buying frenzy to feel young and hip and cool? No.
Read the book No Logo, and you'll understand that most companies you recognize by name are dropping manufacturing (these require assets, which require liabilities to acquire and run... you know loans for a building and those things called employees) in turn for "branding".
I say this with the greatest respect, Apple has truly mastered the fine art of branding. Were there better mp3 players out there? Were there better smartphones out there? (Consider price point also.) Was their commercial campaign deceptive when comparing their proprietary software and hardware system to the leading operating system software? Did Apple capture an image that their products equal youth, rebellion, hipness, sharp wits, cool, sassy, etc? I think yes.
Either way, I am so sick of the iPad - both the pro- and con- sides... I kinda wish the pro side would say "yeah, it isn't new and revolutionary, but I like it" and the con side would say "glad its working out for you, enjoy".
Good thing the Courier will have that juicy Tegra 2 with dual core Cortex A9 goodness, eh?
Wrong dude. Technology may sit still within 24 hours (or 86,400 seconds as you may say) but ideas don't.
Implementation may take 4 to six months or so.
You're definitely wrong.
The chip in the iPad does what it is supposed to do. Runs the UI without slowdowns and provides great battery life. Why would Apple ramp up the clock speeds when they have nothing to gain from it? The interface won't be any snappier with higher clock speeds.
I didn't see a market for netbooks and still don't quite understand the demand. I don't really see a market for the iPad but I know it too will sell well.