But Microsoft Windows, Chrome OS, and many Linux operating systems are compatible with both ARM and x86. Your architecture choice is preordained if you're an Apple user, with a few Intel-based Macs still available but M1 chips dominating (with rumors of a beefier M1X and all-new M2 on the horizon). An Apple ARM pioneer: Late 2020's MacBook Air M1 Apple's changeover is a leading reason that ARM chips are seeing wider acceptance as an alternative to x86 for mainstream computing. (Its planned sale to Nvidia is currently under scrutiny by the FTC and other regulators.)įound in billions of devices from smartphones to supercomputers, ARM chips had been seen only in some Chromebooks and a very few Windows laptops (based on Qualcomm CPUs) until Apple switched from Intel to its own ARM-design M1 processors in late 2020. ARM-based chips, on the other hand, are produced by hundreds of different companies under license from the British firm ARM Limited, owned by Softbank. The latter was created by Intel in 1978 and dominates the PC industry, with Intel and AMD battling for market-share supremacy. Since software operating systems and applications are written to work most efficiently-or sometimes only-on a certain architecture, this is probably the most important decision point for your next processor.īroadly speaking, today's laptop processors use either the ARM or x86 architecture. This blueprint determines how the processor understands computer code. Processor Architecture: The Silicon UnderpinningsĮvery processor is based on an underlying design called an instruction-set architecture. It's the most important piece of hardware.īefore we get into specific CPU recommendations, let's build an understanding of what differentiates one from another by focusing on the central traits that all laptop processors have in common.

It has a hand in everything: mouse clicks, the smoothness of streaming video, responding to your commands in games, encoding your family's home video, and more. The CPU is responsible for the primary logic operations in the computer.

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