A central processing unit that executes Intel's instruction set. All references to an x86 CPU environment deal with the x86 machine language, and the applications that must conform to this worldwide standard. Windows and Linux are the major operating systems that run in x86 CPUs.
Apple Employed x86 for Years
Mac computers running Mac OS X and macOS used x86 CPUs from 2006 until 2020, when Apple began switching to its own ARM-based chips (see
Intel Mac,
ARM and
Apple M series). See
machine language and
x86.