Apple Transitioning Macs to Custom Chips With 'Incredible' Performance Starting Later This Year

[warnergt]

The new era of Mac!

I wonder if people will look back on this thread in 10 years like the iPod and iPhone threads

Or will they look back on this thread like the Apple Newton threads?

 

[donster28]

Great that there were no new iMacs introduced today...would have been a tough choice for me considering my new purchase would have been outdated in 2 years.

But would it have been a money making stop gap for Apple to introduce a re-desgined Intel iMac? I mean, it would have been tempting for a lot us even though we knew it's a stop gap.

 

[JimmyBanks6]

Or perhaps like the Apple III, Pippin, or Newton...

It's pretty hard to return to release day threads on those products when MacRumors didn't exist when any of those products were announced.

 

[djjeff]

Well, this is my last Mac. It's been a long time coming, but this is the final straw for me.

May I inquire as to why? Not trying to be snarky, genuine question.

 

[azentropy]

The A14 is not final yet. Why would they show off benchmarks now when they could still get more performance out of it in the future and show it off then?

Also will be able to compare it to the newest CPUs from Intel and amd. Instead of what they currently have. It would be a waste for benchmarks right now.

You don't think they have an estimate of what it is going to be? They made a big deal again with performance vs power consumption but then didn't provide any examples.
They gave a lot more info in 2005 on the PowerPC to Intel switch.

 

[cardfan]

Too soon to say for me but I'm not buying an ARM Mac until the wonderful 'Rosetta 2' phase is over and we see if the ship rights itself. ARM is great on iPad where I have limited expecations.

Yep. Pretty much. This isn’t worth looking into for years yet. All I see are toy versions of programs like ms office. Cute but can’t use them for work.

 

[SocialKonstruct]

I think that I am looking at the new Surface Book or Razr very hard now

 

[E.Lizardo]

How the hell did they run Tomb Raider for the INTEL MAC on an iPad SoC that fluently? That looks insane.

Again, they are running an emulated game, which is already a taxing game on Mac chips, on an iPad SoC???!??!!?!?

Apple ARM chips are beasts. Exited to see how they do when released and benchmarked against the intel models they replace.

 

[Jyby]

Science Rules!

 

[Coconut Bean]

Why would Apple do that on a pre-release version of MacOS that it still going through the optimization process. Not to mention the fact that everyone on the forums here are going to try and pick apart any numbers Apple puts out, trying in vain to convince Tim Cook and company to stay on bIntel. I am somewhat skeptical that Apple will use the A12Z in shipping Macs anyways.

To put confidence that it will ACTUALLY work with software, without having hundreds of Apple coders optimising the **** out of your software.

 

[tobybrut]

It can't be simple virtualization. They carefully avoided the topic of whether or not that Linux distro was running a native ARM version or if it was emulating X86. If they wanted to show Windows apps running, they would have.

My guess is Apple is working with Parallels to incorporate Rosetta 2 that allows them to translate X86 code on the fly or when Intel Windows apps are installed. That’s the only way I can see Windows running at anything close to native X86 speeds. I remember the old days of running Windows on Parallels on PowerPC Macs. It was a miserable experience. If it’s anything like the old days, Apple’s virtualization efforts will be a waste of time. If Apple’s Rosetta 2 can convert the machine code to ARM during installation, I have to image that’s what Parallels is doing, too.

If you are right and Apple was running an ARM distribution of Linux, then we can forget running Windows on Macs in the future.

 

[MacKenzie999]

Very excited to see the performance and battery life gains in the next 2 years.

I view battery life the same way I view disk space: no matter ho much you have, things that depend on them will grow to the point where it's still not enough.

 

[jgbr]

I don't know what to make of us this, but MacOS 11 and Apple silicon feels like the end of a chapter. The end of the Jobs chapter. Finally.

 

[DummyFool]

MacBook Pro with an A14Z is going to absolutely crush Intel, and have far better battery life. Can’t wait.

It's gonna be rated at 10 hours, why would it be more ? They could have made it more with Intel but they wanted the thinnest product possible that gives 10 hours, why would it change ?

 

[nt5672]

Did I understand it correctly that Apps compiled in XCode will natively run on both intel and Apple processors?

For a couple of years, until Apple kills the capability.

 

[monkeybagel]

I like how during the Virtualization feature demo, they only mention Linux and not Windows. As a full stack web developer, I need all environments, so it makes me nervous. Need more info before deciding if I'm going to make the jump to their silicon or begrudgingly transition my primary machine to a PC. Here's hoping...

Basically no GUI performance was demoed...

 

[Squozen]

I wonder if we'll get an ARM and Intel CPUs as configuration options within each Mac released in the future.

Let me assure you: you will not.

 

[Sodium Chloride]

OK. how about games? Are we going to see real time Bug’s Life on the Mac?

 

[Steve686]

I buy.

I use.

Whatever is under the hood matters not for me as long as the tool gets the job done.

 

[Christopher Kim]

Although it the Apple Silicon section of the keynote was vague on details (on purpose I'm sure), it was a slick presentation and I'm personally excited. Perhaps I'm in the minority here, but I use the MBP more as a personal computer (though using for Work these days at home, with Citrix virtualization), and don't need true "pro-level" apps. But I like the MBP models (still running my late-2016 13" MBP, first gen with touch bar).

For me, the further integration with the rest of the Apple ecosystem (which for me is a pro) with my iPhone, iPad and Watch, is a big positive. I get why some may be a bit more concerned, but for my use case (and assume other "pro-sumers" demographic), this is exciting stuff.

 

[BeefCake 15]

Does the Virtualization app mean you don't need a 3rd party software like Parallel?

 

[HiRez]

This is probably the best Mac news in decades, although it'll take a few years to achieve the full benefits. Guessing things like MacBook Airs will have outstanding performance right out of the gate (15-20+ hours battery life?), Mac Pro maybe a bit longer as Apple learns how to optimize for top performance.

 

[theotherphil]

But it will run like **** to start with

LOL! So many people have said that Apple wouldn’t be able to run x86-64 without a huge performance penalty yet they showed a game, optimised for intel, yet running fully translated at 1080P without a hitch and Maya 3D with huge polygon count smooth as butter....on a 2018 iPad processor.

I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about on shipping Silicon.

 

[mkzayar]

Was about to buy Mac Pro. Lucky if I bought then need to cry after 2 years again.

 

[cardfan]

Aw darn it, I just spent $2800 CAD last week on a brand new custom upgraded 10th gen Intel i7 MBP 2020, even Macrumors buyers guide suggested buying as the newly refreshed MBPs just came out.
Looks like I will have to return em now, because if I spend so much on a machine I want it to last me the next 3-5 years.

Better this then a beta arm Mac running toy apps. Wait your 3-5 years and enjoy the Intel Mac while you can.