Apple Expected to Announce Arm-Based Mac Plans at WWDC, Transition Away From Intel to Begin in 2021

[zorinlynx]

This news really cuts short the lifespan of the new Mac Pro. Nobody will want those in a few years.

This happened with the PowerMac G5 back in the day too. The Intel switch was announced not long after the latest model G5 was announced, basically pissing off people who had just invested in new machines. Apple said they weren't leaving older machines behind just yet, but they did, very quickly. In less than a year nobody gave a **** about PowerPC anymore.

We're going to have the same thing happen if they transition to ARM. I'm pissed because this is unnecessary; the x86 architecture is fully capable. At least with PowerPC -> Intel they had a good reason for the switch.

 

[nochese]

What a disaster, just like Catalina. Just change for the sake of change. Mac sales will crater even more and become a niche item.

 

[Azrael9]

Man, Intel has not been having a good year or so. They seem to have really squandered their dominance.

Their profligacy won't save them.

It didn't save IBM or the PPC.

Azrael.

 

[H2SO4]

I wonder when my last purchase of a Apple laptop will be (right before they switch the MacBook Pros to ARM).

For a while at least the last MacBook Pro models will have the Apple TV effect. I remember trying to buy an ATV and after it was discontinued the new ones seemed such a downgrade the prices of the thing rocketed.

 

[cmaier]

Why are people so excited about this? Another freaking CPU transition, another few years of dealing with stuff not working well, having to find new software, and so on.

Not to mention Macs won't be compatible with industry standard PCs anymore; say goodbye to virtualization and Boot Camp.

I'll never understand why some of us blindly agree with everything Apple does no matter what the cost. They're not always right and in this case I feel they are horribly wrong.

2% of mac users use boot camp.

98% of mac users will get much faster macs in better form factors thanks to this transition.

I’ll never understand why some of us blindly assume that technological progress is bad.
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This news really cuts short the lifespan of the new Mac Pro. Nobody will want those in a few years.

It’s modular. Stick a board in it with a bunch of arm chips

 

[Azrael9]

I was very hopeful about the Intel switch, especially when it came to gaming. But now years after it happened, I am disillusioned. Especially after the Catalina drop of 32bit which showed how companies like Steam choose to treat Apple clients (all my Steam library was rendered useless unless I were to install Windows on my machine). Or how stuff like Borderlands 3 keeps deteriorating with each update. Back to console gaming for me, so I no longer care about the Mac architecture.

They are probably leaning towards making iPad and Mac the same family of devices in a few years, bringing the architecture closer makes sense.

Ironically, Mac gaming didn't get the 'BOOM' I thought it would. If anything our 2nd rate gaming citizenship was only compounded.

That's not going to happen *THIS* time.

Apple Arcade. iOS. 1 Billion devices. Mac ARM gets in on the biggest gaming platform on the platform.

Metal.

For 'Mac' gaming?

This is serious news. (Not in the immediately apparent PC GAmoR or PS5 way...)

Azrael.

 

[nt5672]

So, does that mean Apple will FINALLY have less SW issues?

No, it just means that Apple will stop fixing even more existing bugs in order to concentrate the 1/2 dozen or so good software engineers on the transition.

 

[mr.steevo]

"I will never ever buy another Apple product if they get rid of the Floppy Disk CD-ROM drive Firewire 30-pin connector headphone jack INTEL CHIPS! "


Everything Apple has ever done has always considered to be a bad move, yet somehow this bad company has revolutionized the computer, music and smartphone industry.

Watch them announce and proof it first, before throwing your Macs into the trash can.

You missed “No Blu-ray. No sale.”

 

[incoherent_1]

Arm co-processors please. Intel chips are too good for so many tasks. I don’t want to have to drop macOS for Linux.

Love this idea for the high end Macs!

Are there any hardware engineers who can speak whether this is feasible to have two different chips with different architectures fueling the same OS at the same time?

 

[iRun26.2]

2% of mac users use boot camp.

98% of mac users will get much faster macs in better form factors thanks to this transition.

I’ll never understand why some of us blindly assume that technological progress is bad.
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It’s modular. Stick a board in it with a bunch of arm chips

I wonder what percentage of user use VM to run Windows. I never use Boot Camp but I can't get by without Parallels.

 

[nt5672]

. . . . .
I’ll never understand why some of us blindly assume that technological progress is bad.
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. . . .

Because of Apple's poor software quality in recent years! The problem is not the technology, it will be the rollout by a clueless supply chain guy that does not fundamentally understand the software side of technology.

 

[Emeraldsmines1990]

This move will destroy Apple PCs forever , the move from PPC to intel made the Mac Notebook popular to the point every one bought them because if you want to run a missing Windows based program , you can. for Example ,, MS Project , there is no alternative to it on macs no matter what.

more over , ARM cant beat high end 64 cores CPU like the ones in AMD Threadripper , or Epyc , I was expectin Apple to move from Intel to AMD , but this ? this is a destruction ...No one will buy imacs or mac minis or mac pros after this NO ONE.

 

[incoherent_1]

It kind of feels like PowerPC all over again. The general public will not be able to understand how it compares performance-wise with intel chips. They didn’t with the 68xxx series or PPC series, why would they with the ARM series?

I agree, but most people don’t care about specs. Honestly, ever since we got deep into the multicore chipsets I’m not sure I understand it myself and I’m the company “tech guy”

What people will care about, however, is whether they can still run their favorite programs (especially if they’re essential for getting work done). This is the reason I’m dragging my feet on Catalina.

 

[Azrael9]

Now the WWDC graphic makes even more sense as a MacBook.

View attachment 922747

Great catch. 'Hello again...' as Mac on ARM.

The mask revealed.

Epiphany.

Azrael.

 

[Janichsan]

98% of mac users will get much faster macs in better form factors thanks to this transition.

That remains to be seen...

 

[cmaier]

This move will destroy Apple PCs forever , the move from PPC to intel made the Mac Notebook popular to the point every one bought them because if you want to run a missing Windows based program , you can. for Example ,, MS Project , there is no alternative to it on macs no matter what.

more over , ARM cant beat high end 64 cores CPU like the ones in AMD Threadripper , or Epyc , I was expectin Apple to move from Intel to AMD , but this ? this is a destruction ...No one will buy imacs or mac minis or mac pros after this NO ONE.

“Everyone bought them?”

Hardly anyone buys macs. Apple’s ARM products outsell their x86 products by orders of magnitude.

 

[Azrael9]

This move will destroy Apple PCs forever , the move from PPC to intel made the Mac Notebook popular to the point every one bought them because if you want to run a missing Windows based program , you can. for Example ,, MS Project , there is no alternative to it on macs no matter what.

more over , ARM cant beat high end 64 cores CPU like the ones in AMD Threadripper , or Epyc , I was expectin Apple to move from Intel to AMD , but this ? this is a destruction ...No one will buy imacs or mac minis or mac pros after this NO ONE.

Apple must be very confident that it can 'destroy' Intel cpus. AMD included.

They're not going to bring an Intel ATOM like cpu performance to the table.

Azrael.

 

[makman]

AMD x86 plus Apple ARM in one package. It just makes so much sense .

 

[Azrael9]

I'm genuinely interested in what their plans are, while I've have left the Mac fold, I'm curious to see how this unfolds, especially given that they just rolled out a Mac Pro that can cost upwards of 40,000 and more.

I think it's going to be the most interesting 'Mac' story since Steve ran Apple.

It's seismic. And ofc we're curious how this is going to unfold for hardware/software implications.

As for the Mac Pro. Apple will have no problem running a sword through Intel's single core performance with Mac ARM.

When Mac ARM goes into the Mac Pro in a year or so. Customers will still be able to enjoy their £40k Mac Pro.

Azrael.

 

[hudson1]

Some random thoughts:

1) If Apple didn't care about the Mac, they wouldn't be bothering with this transition. They'd just soldier on with X86 Macs until they no longer can.

2) If we believe the rumors, every iteration of MacOS has increased the level of hardware extraction. That will make this transition easier than those in the past.

3) I see the whole Apple ecosystem evolving into a building block approach to operating systems. We've seen this already with iPadOS where it has capability beyond iOS. MacOS will be an extension of that concept and sit at the top of the OS food chain but they all start from the same underlying components.

4) So far, we've only heard speculation of why Apple is going to make this change. I'm interested in hearing what they themselves have to say about the motivation and expected long-term benefits to the user.

5) I bought a 10th-gen 13" MBP YESTERDAY. I haven't even opened the box!

 

[cmaier]

AMD x86 plus Apple ARM in one package. It just makes so much sense .

If “so much” means “none, whatsoever,” then yes.

 

[Emeraldsmines1990]

Apple must be very confident that it can 'destroy' Intel cpus. AMD included.

They're not going to bring an Intel ATOM like cpu performance to the table.

Azrael.

stop dreaming and look AROUND carefully , ARM is waaay behind in high end CPU , there is NOTHING near 1/10 th of AMD 64 cores threadripper performance not even 32 cores one , and this is just the beginning expect new AMD Generation to give you even higher clocks and maybe 128 cores in the very near future ... ARM cant do that not in 20 years.

 

[Tozovac]

Hmmm. As I'm in the market to replace my 2013 MBA i7, I can't be the only one in the market right now for an MBA/MBP to be unsure whether I should buy the lowest/inexpensive MBA with 16GB/1TB that meets my needs (as a hedge in case of upgrading into ARM sooner than my usual 7-year ownership run of any Apple computer), or the more powerful 16" 16GB/1TB (as a hedge to have the more powerful Intel package for better longevity)...

I'm already faced with the prospect of having to buy new Logic, Photoshop, and other 3rd party software that works on my current 2013 MBA w/Sierra but won't with Catalina (unless I 'downgrade' my new MBP/MBA to Sierra for as long as I can)....maybe the bigger issue is my non-understanding (yet) of the potential impacts from ARM... Going to keep reading along.

 

[Rigby]

I wonder what percentage of user use VM to run Windows. I never use Boot Camp but I can't get by without Parallels.

It's not just about Windows. I use my Mac for development work with Linux VMs, with Intel platforms as the target. It was always great to have a platform with MacOS that has Unix underpinnings and all the usual commandline tools, but is still well supported with commercial software as well. I don't like Windows for a number of reasons. If Apple drops Intel support, Linux will be my only choice, and that has its own problems as a desktop OS. Also, Macbooks had by far the nicest hardware of any laptop (like e.g. the unmatched trackpads). It will be a sad day if Macs are no longer an option for me.

 

[nt5672]

iPadOS isn't handling over 1000 threads constantly that x86 processors do for macOS. Sorry, but this ``ARM Mac'' won't replace their x86 line.

Does not matter. Apple's target is teenagers spending their parent's money or drug users/dealers wanting to look fashionable and popular. Neither need 1000 threads to take selfies and snap chat.