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Comparison between PIC and other mcu

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StupidDum

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PIC is undoubtedly popular among students. I'm graduating soon, and come across some job opening on microcontroller. However, I found out that not many company in industri uses PIC. Most of them uses Motorolo, Zilog etc. What are the advantages of these microcontroller over PIC??
 
StupidDum said:
PIC is undoubtedly popular among students. I'm graduating soon, and come across some job opening on microcontroller. However, I found out that not many company in industri uses PIC. Most of them uses Motorolo, Zilog etc. What are the advantages of these microcontroller over PIC??

There's an awful lot of products manufactured using PIC's, mainly due to their cheap price. However, you can get much more powerful processors, though at more expense. The Motorola and Zilog processors are usually more expensive and better suited to more complicated systems.

I suspect Motorola and Zilog processers are often used simply for the reason that the companies already use them - so have all the required equipment and experience using them. For many uses a PIC would probably do the job a lot cheaper, and more simply.

The reverse probably holds true with PIC's as well, companies used to using PIC's probably continue to do so - even when for some purposes moving to a different manufacturer may be advantageous.

It's a lot easier to stick to what you know, rather than try and find a different (perhaps better!) solution.
 
Every archetecture has its advantages. More importantly every microcontroller manufacturer has a different set of peripherals. Zilogs new chips have a DMA controller which PICs don't have. A lot of 8051s have an external memory interface which most other archetectures don't have.

Nigels right about sticking with the archetecture you company is familiar with. It costs time and money to have engineers learn new tools. The tools themselves cost money. It also costs money to keep more parts in stock.

I think all the microcontroller companies are fairly cost competative. So archetecture choice is mostly a function of personal preference.

Brent
 
Indeed, people always stick to the microcontroller he/she familiar with, including me. However, I think this is not suppose to be the main factor that determine which microcontroller to be used.

If a new microcontroller offers more powerful function and performance, you will have to consider to use the new one. Otherwise, your product may be eliminated from the market.

Apple doesnt use Motorola anymore, most of the computers use Intel; getting more ppl choose Nokia, Samsung cellphone instead of Motorola. However, motorola microcontroller is still playing an role in embedded system. I guess there should be some other reason behind this, isnt it?
 
There are a huge number of variables that go into chosing a micro. The cell phones you are talking about are consumer items that have to be very cheap. In this case Cost is the controlling factor. If you are making high price low volume items development costs can outweigh parts cost.
 
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