I wonder if they'll use that as an excuse for complete lockdown of macOS and only allow AppStore reviewed software.
Apple to debut multiple ARM MacBook, desktop models in 2021
21–30 of 148 posts
Re: Apple to debut multiple ARM MacBook, desktop models in 2021
#22Still to be confirmed, I don't usually take "analyst predictions" too seriously but I found this interesting: "Apple will no longer be held to the whims of Intel" Apple switched to Intel because IBM couldn't ship a good enough G5 for notebooks and for scale issues. Given that Intel is not on track with 7nm and rumours of their CEO being seen in Taiwan the other day it seems history is repeating itself.
I agree completely. It’s also the case that ARM core performance is now close to parity with x86. With a little more time, the arm performance curve will poke out above x86 and it will be the perfect time to adopt arm for desktop.
Re: Apple to debut multiple ARM MacBook, desktop models in 2021
#23Still to be confirmed, I don't usually take "analyst predictions" too seriously but I found this interesting: "Apple will no longer be held to the whims of Intel" Apple switched to Intel because IBM couldn't ship a good enough G5 for notebooks and for scale issues. Given that Intel is not on track with 7nm and rumours of their CEO being seen in Taiwan the other day it seems history is repeating itself.
I mean if it's just about performance, why switch architectures instead of using AMD chips?
Re: Apple to debut multiple ARM MacBook, desktop models in 2021
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21033371
That's Geekbench. The differences in Geekbench for ARM devices and Geekbench for x86 are laughable. Why not compare them in a real life workload like a render on Blender or a kernel compile?
I’d love to read your results rendering something in Blender on the latest A13 chip, if that’s the best way to make a comparison.
Re: Apple to debut multiple ARM MacBook, desktop models in 2021
#25I wonder if they'll use that as an excuse for complete lockdown of macOS and only allow AppStore reviewed software.
I doubt that Apple will completely lock down MacOS. However, for corporate machines, the presence of Apple-controlled hardware will enable more comprehensive control of the endpoint, which is arguably good for security.
Re: Apple to debut multiple ARM MacBook, desktop models in 2021
#26The question is as users should we care? If this is cheaper for Apple will they actually lower product prices or just enhance their own margins. Will this result in any superior performance on a cost-adjusted basis?
Users that run VM's because they need to run OSX and Win10, etc most definitely care.
Also, in the pro audio sector it's common for people to spend quite a bit more than the cost of the Mac on Intel-specific DAW plugins.
Re: Apple to debut multiple ARM MacBook, desktop models in 2021
#27The question is as users should we care? If this is cheaper for Apple will they actually lower product prices or just enhance their own margins. Will this result in any superior performance on a cost-adjusted basis?
>If this is cheaper for Apple will they actually lower product prices or just enhance their own margins.
If this would happen, most definitely the improvement on margins. Why would they lower prices?
Re: Apple to debut multiple ARM MacBook, desktop models in 2021
#28Always a year away. I remain deeply sceptical that Apple will move the Mac to ARM, and given their bungling of the MacBook lineup over the last 5 years I have doubts they understand what their users need from a laptop. I don't think they could pull it off without a great deal of pain for their users and developers. I don't think their OS engineers need the burden.
They’ll do it on a select model or two. By passing on some of the cost savings to purchasers, they will drag the market along with them as they gradually replace Intel. I would guess that they target the MacBook Air first, because there are likely large power-performance benefits in that form factor. They will build multiple processor targeting into the default build process in Xcode and will invest a great deal of effort and time into ensuring that app developers are well supported with the targeting of ARM.
They did this before with the move to Intel from PPC. And back then, Apple was a great deal smaller.
Re: Apple to debut multiple ARM MacBook, desktop models in 2021
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21033371
That's Geekbench. The differences in Geekbench for ARM devices and Geekbench for x86 are laughable. Why not compare them in a real life workload like a render on Blender or a kernel compile?
How is running the same code in two different machines and reporting the results objectively "laughable"?
Re: Apple to debut multiple ARM MacBook, desktop models in 2021
#30I wonder if they'll use that as an excuse for complete lockdown of macOS and only allow AppStore reviewed software.
I think it's likely.
They may provide sandboxes for development, some kind of WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) or Docker on Mac, and a "Classic" emulator for apps that haven't been recompiled like they did for the transition between Mac os 9 and Mac os X, and from PowerPC to x86.
Meanwhile they will continue to limit web apps.