Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs

#81

Post by nouveaux » Mon, Jun 22, 2020, 6:54 PM UTC

simonbarker87 wrote: post #42

Well, that new MBP I bought 4 weeks ago and planned to keep for 5 years just got a muuuuch shorter life span if I can run iOS apps on an Arm Mac, my wife is going to be livid. I guess this also means Catalyst’s life span is pretty short and SwiftUI will becomes the focus?

I'd be surprised if the iOS apps did not work on Intel based macOS. Project Catalyst already works on Intel macs and my guess is many iOS apps have been migrated already.

Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs

#82

Post by mikece » Mon, Jun 22, 2020, 6:54 PM UTC

udev wrote: post #45

chvid wrote: post #26

MacMini with an A12 chip. Available now as a part of a developer kit. Will be fun to see what that can do.

I wonder what the cost of the transition mini is.

If it's like the switch to Intel then it will be $999 and you have to return it when the real versions come out but you'll get a replacement with one of those real versions. Except with the Intel switch you were shipped a slightly repackaged beige box... and that was 15 years ago so my guess is $1499.

Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs

#83

Post by robertoandred » Mon, Jun 22, 2020, 6:54 PM UTC

fortytw2 wrote: post #51

Is it just me or did apple just bungle this entire announcement by not announcing a consumer facing ARM MacOS device, only a hot-rodded Mac Mini with an iPad Pro chip inside. How many devs actually have the setup in place to use a non mobile device? I also wonder if the current+last gen iPad Pro that has the new keyboard + trackpad case will gain the ability to run Xcode and native macOS apps in the near future.

What? It's exactly the same thing they did last time, except the dev kit was in a Power Mac G5 case.

Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs

#84

Post by rahkiin » Mon, Jun 22, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

simonbarker87 wrote: post #42

Well, that new MBP I bought 4 weeks ago and planned to keep for 5 years just got a muuuuch shorter life span if I can run iOS apps on an Arm Mac, my wife is going to be livid. I guess this also means Catalyst’s life span is pretty short and SwiftUI will becomes the focus?

I think we’ll know more after the Platform State of the Union

Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs

#85

Post by mrkstu » Mon, Jun 22, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

Rosetta 2 - the interesting bit was that it was going to pre-translate binaries instead of at runtime. The implications for actual VM emulation is that Rosetta won't work for run time environments like OS emulation. They touched on it briefly with the emulation technologies bit, but it looks like it will be separate from, and likely much less performant than Rosetta.

Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs

#86

Post by awill » Mon, Jun 22, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

cm0000cm wrote: post #29

I was seriously considering upgrading my 2012 MacBook to the new 16" model soon, but now I wonder what kind of longevity or support I can expect from that hardware...

I just got a 16" MBP... Still, the waiting game sucks too. Apple said their first Arm mac will come out at the end of the year, but that could well be a very low end Mac mini, or Macbook Air. It's unknown when the pro line will come out.

Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs

#87

Post by mbreese » Mon, Jun 22, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

nailer wrote: post #63

ogre_codes wrote: post #43

Earlier 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.

Linux and Windows have both supported ARM for a while now.

But you still need ARM specific binaries. If your software doesn’t support your specific flavor of ARM, then you’re out of luck.

(I recently tried to install Zoom on arm64 Debian and it didn’t go so well... Rstudio wasn’t even close to an option)

Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs

#88

Post by nailer » Mon, Jun 22, 2020, 6:56 PM UTC

Mindwipe wrote: post #46

monocasa wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IDK, "look how good our CPU support is by running a several year old GPU limited game" fell a bit flat for me.

Not even running it very well. All the graphics settings were turned down, the framerate looked choppy and it was only running in 1080p.

It was very odd seeing Lara walk through an area with dappled bright light, and her body remain uniformly lit. It may be that the game has a very basic lighting engine though.

Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs

#89

Post by rbanffy » Mon, Jun 22, 2020, 6:56 PM UTC

Mindwipe wrote: post #36

jccalhoun wrote: post #19

Tim Cook just said they have new intel macs in the pipeline. Those will go over like a lead balloon.

The last Macs that will support Boot Camp will be the best selling Macs for years. Much like the 2015 Macbook Pro I expect you'll be able sell it for more than you paid for it years later.

Remember the MacBook Pro with a DVD drive lived on for years after all its siblings were discontinued. We can expect some x86 support to remain available for years after the last new ARM machine is launched.

Re: Apple announces it will switch to its own processors for future Macs

#90

Post by gerardnll » Mon, Jun 22, 2020, 6:56 PM UTC

inapis wrote: post #55

kemiller2002 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is really sad is that I don't think the majority of Apple consumers really understand what this means for the Intel macs in the long run. I fear a number of people will buy them not realizing they have a very limited lifespan.

If those devices will have 4-5 years worth of use, then I think most people would be fine with the purchase. 4-5 years already does require upgrading for either performance or quality of life features.

Yes, I think they will support them for at least 5 years.