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Comment by detaro | Hacker News Reader

Unified Memory is not something Apple just introduced and nobody else has.

I know isn't something new (amd announced it iirc back in 2013 with their apu line) but afaik no one implemented the same way as apple, the gpu and cpu are in the same DIE (I'm not sure if this is the word or how is spelled) but they are not a unit, in apple design both can access all the memory and share between without copying or reserve specific memory from the bios for the gpu.

> both can access all the memory and share between without copying or reserve specific memory from the bios for the gpu.

That's pretty much the definition of Unified Memory, i.e. something the other implementations can also do.

Other implementations being mainly mobile Snapdragon SoCs, which don’t directly compete with M1 (yet).

And as already referenced AMD APUs, including the chips for XBox and Playstation. Hence the entire "hope that AMD starts copying" from the original comment doesn't really fit for unified memory.

I do hope these internals and designs "trickle down" into actual builds and products someday. I would love some small beefy desktop workstation similar to the XBox Series X, kinda like a PC take on the old trashcan Mac Pro.

Did you take a look at the intel NUC line? I would probably buy one if I needed a new PC today.

kinda like a PC take on the old trashcan Mac Pro

Several companies are trying that. The Corsair One series is XBox/trashcan Mac sized and plenty powerful. HP has their Z Mini series of Mac Mini sized workstations. Intel sell their NUC and NUC Extereme kits for people who are more DIY inclined.

I'm not an expert on this by any means, but I believe the XBox still uses dedicated memory for the GPU, which is slightly faster than the one reserved for the CPU. The Playstation does use a single block of shared memory.

> Unified Memory is not something Apple just introduced and nobody else has.

The GP did not say that.

Invention is different from innovation. The way Apple has the memory in the same silicon as the CPU and GPU all in a laptop and now desktop... has anyone else done that? It looks like an innovation.

Apple doesn't have the memory in the same silicon as CPU and GPU.

They use CoTS LPDDR memory chips running at the same JEDEC timings as everyone else. Yes, they glue these chips to an interposer board like a GPU with HBM, but unlike those GPUs they aren't doing it for any performance requirements. Keeping it on package just makes things more compact so they can shrink the motherboard even more.

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