I ntel x86 vs. Arm: Architecture and all key differences explained

The world’s fastest computer at the time of writing is ARM-based!
Fugaku is now the world’s faster supercomputer. As part of the TOP500 project, Japan’s Fugaku computer has been ranked the fastest in the world and is powered bu the A64FX processor. Fugaku is located at the RIKEN Center for Computational Science in Wakō, Japan.


Software compatibility
Applications and software have to be compiled for the CPU architecture they run on, historically the ecosystems such as Android on Arm or Windows on x86 don’t have a problem running on multiple platforms or architectures. Apple’s Arm-based Macs, Google’s Chrome OS, and Microsoft’s Windows on Arm are all modern examples where the software needs to run on both Arm and Intel architectures. Compiling native software for both is an option for new apps and developers willing to invest in recompilation. To fill in the gaps, these platforms also rely on code emulation. In other words, translating code compiled for one CPU architecture to run on another. This is less efficient and degrades performance compared to native apps, but good emulation is currently possible to ensure that apps work.


After years of development, Windows on Arm emulation is in a pretty good state for most applications. Android apps run on Intel Chromebooks decently for the most part too. We’ll have to wait and see if Arm Macbooks run as well.
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