Tim Cook just said they have new intel macs in the pipeline. Those will go over like a lead balloon.
Apple released new mac minis and powermacs when they announced the intel transition.
Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs
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Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs
#242The cost of the transition kit will be $500.
Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs
#243I'm surprised we didn't get any performance numbers. Either raw power or at least power efficiency and projected battery life improvements. Seeing as this is a major reason for the transition (according to them), it feels very weird. They're shipping a 'Development Transition Kit' Mac mini with an A12Z this week, so it's not like the numbers are going to stay private for a long time. Even if there's an NDA, someone's…
The major reason for the transition is higher margins, plain and simple. For customers, both average users and developers it will be a pain with little to be gained.
Unlikely - being able to have full control of your roadmap is a huge strategic advantage. Profits and revenue are nice, but if Apple was interested in that they could dual source x86 from AMD and drive cost down.
You don’t think companies like Oculus are envious of Apple’s flexibility from not having to rely on Qualcomm for their mobile SoCs? It’s not just about profit margin.
Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs
#244Tim Cook just said they have new intel macs in the pipeline. Those will go over like a lead balloon.
I wouldn't be so sure, there are a fair number of people who want a machine that will run x86 for various reasons. Windows support/ Linux support. Even considering how impressive x86 VMs looked in the demo, lots of people will prefer using intel silicon for guaranteed compatibility.
>how impressive x86 VMs looked
You mean that they opened and could run a command line app? I'm not actually sure they implied it was x86.
Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs
#245Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't be so sure, there are a fair number of people who want a machine that will run x86 for various reasons. Windows support/ Linux support. Even considering how impressive x86 VMs looked in the demo, lots of people will prefer using intel silicon for guaranteed compatibility.
Did they say the Linux VMs in the demo were x86? They said "virtualization", which to me, implies ARM Linux.
Yeah, the fact that they didn't show off Windows, but instead Debian of all things, was very telling.
Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs
#246Earlier quoted context omitted.
And a two year transition period. That sounds ambitious as the bigger Apple desktop machines are quite powerful. But suppose you could just fit them with multiple chips.
If they keep the desktop thermal budget I have no doubt they could scale up the A series to be just as powerful as any intel chip.
I doubt whether making big chip just for Mac Pro/iMac Pro profitable. Chiplet approach looks like benefitical.
Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs
#247> Apple will release the first Mac with Apple silicon end of this year, and it expects the transition to take two years. That's more than twice as long as the transition from PPC. Sounds like they've not yet figured out how to do high-end. Hopefully, they won't be as quick to drop support on the $6k 2019 Mac Pro as they were on the 2005 Power Mac G5 quad (<4 years from release to unsupported by OS X).
What? PPC transition took 4+ years until Snow Leopard was released.
You're gonna see macs across the line being moved over to Apple chips Q4 and Q1
Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs
#248Earlier quoted context omitted.
It wasn't just lack of performance numbers, there were no actual products announced. They would have had to tip their hand on a lot of info that is not helpful to customers or their ability to keep selling Intel stuff. One big question though will be how this devkit benchmarks against the current maxed Intel mac mini. I'm curious if GPU performance beats the current BlackMagic eGPU. (rx 580)
Not divulging their hand may be a thing. But they could at least have said something (rehashed) about the A12Z: "it performs better than the CPUs currently shipping in the Mac mini by X% in Y benchmark". I'm not intrisically excited for a new Apple product, but if they could have told me, we can deliver 50% extra battery life in your new MacBook at comparable performance, that would build up some hype and maybe minds…
> Not divulging their hand may be a thing. But they could at least have
Let's say that the new numbers are mindblowingly good. So then what? Nobody buys anything from them until next year because they're all waiting? Yikes. This way fewer people will be mortified of the idea of buying something right now instead of waiting.
Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs
#249Tim Cook just said they have new intel macs in the pipeline. Those will go over like a lead balloon.
The Mac Pro (and possibly the iMac Pro) will still be Intel for a while. I expect the portable lineups to get the ARM treatment first (as they are the most similar with the iPhone/iPad in terms of power requirements), and then scale it up for actual high-power desktop CPUs.
Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs
#250I wonder if Big Sur on Apple Silicon is still Unix based, i.e. with all the Unix underpinnings and terminal access?