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

[iBug2]

Same here, except 1984 in my case. 😁

1988 in my case, I'm more excited about this than I was about the intel transition.

 

[bobdobalina]

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

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.

 

[E.Lizardo]

I knew if it happened it would be quick. But why say new intel Macs are coming????

(1)It's true.
(2)Probably to keep sales from crashing(maybe).
They said the exact same thing last time.

 

[venom600]

Could you please elaborate why?

Because I like the flexibility of running Windows in bootcamp and VMWare. Or boot into Linux. Or anything else. I don't trust them not to use this complete control over your user experience to lock you out of using the machine the way you may want to. I'm tired of soldered on RAM and soldered on storage. I love MacOS, but not enough to put up with this.

 

[Duane Martin]

It took Apple less than four years to obsolete the last G5s after the switch to Intel. So another full-on architecture change. For this of us with 2019 MBPs or Mac Pros this’ll be fun.

And it also means goodby Hackintosh users or unsupported Macs. Been fun having you.

No computer manufacturer “obsoletes” hardware in less than 5 years after the last date of manufacturing so this statement is untrue. Perhaps you mean “no longer supports with new OS release”, which is something different. And predicting what will happen with hacks is pointless. Who knows, the industry might, as a whole, adopt ARM. In any case, a lot can happen in the years of this transition.

We have been through transitions before.

 

[happyslayer]

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...

It looked like they had a Parallels version running so I would think/hope it will run Windows. As a computer support person, this is super important to me as well.

 

[ateslik]

looking forward to a 32 core macbook pro with no heat issues

 

[glindon]

They were demoing those apps on a maxed out Mac Pro. Of COURSE it's going to scroll smoothly. Would be pretty scary if it didn't on one of those beasts. What about a lesser, more realistic machine?

No. All those demos were running on an A12Z powering the XDR display. You missed the part where Craig said that.

 

[ruslan120]

I’m excited for this. I was planning on buying a Mac Mini to use as a Plex Server / basic NAS and now it’ll be super power efficient and still be able to stream 4K.

(Will wait for Plex support for hardware acceleration but if iirc they already support ARM).

 

[simcityfan12601]

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.

 

[SteveW928]

Intel mac sales are gonna tank badly. Who would buy into a dead platform ?

Like buying a Powermac G5 in 2006.

People who still need Intel virtualization, I suspect. Plus, it will probably be a year or two until the high-end of Apple's chips eclipses Intel/AMD (assuming it does), and then time for the world to take note, and then time before major shifts in computing (again, if).

Notice, they showed Mac apps that run on Intel, and virtualization for Unix. What about people who run Windows apps?

 

[cppguy]

Interesting. Some of us devs still need Windows for work, because that's how we're making a living. I wonder if we should carry 2 laptops now, or buy a MacBook while it's still Intel. Not sure.

 

[Zdigital2015]

They didn't really share any benchmarks or comparisons beyond that vague graph.

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.

 

[Metrosey]

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

 

[Mellofello808]

This puts people like me who are due for a new laptop in the next year or so in a tough spot.

Hard to decide if I should be a beta tester, or buy something that will get seemed obsolete.

I am a bit of a late adopter so I will probably buy whatever the final Intel MacBook is.

 

[Jmausmuc]

Planned obsolescence..

There is a difference between innovation and planed obsolescence

 

[yozh]

Tim did

 

[marcelvelky]

Did they mention what video card is powering the graphics?

well, it is SoC. so custom.

 

[justperry]

So...it starts with the Mac Mini.

 

[iBug2]

But powerpc to intel was moving towards an industry standard rather than away from it

I think today ARM is the standard.

 

[E.Lizardo]

macbook is dead to me, i dont want an enlarged ipad

How is it an enlarged iPad?

 

[MikeZTM]

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...

Windows 10 is KVM friendly now. Any thing that could virtualize Linux could run Windows. And VM graphic drivers are never done by Apple. Parallels already have a working DirectX 11 on Metal driver that will work day one on it.

 

[NickName99]

2 year phase in/phase out. The first one is the developer kit which is based on the mac mini.

That mac mini running a A12Z will probably trounce the current mini just because of the graphics (pounding Intel graphics into dust).

I expect a purpose-built A-series desktop processor to be much much much faster. Speed cranked, heat-sinked, cooled, etc.

It's gonna be fun.

Oh... and in before the complainers. I'm not complainin'.

The funny thing about the A12Z is that it’s just Apple’s 2018 iPad chip with one more GPU core, and it already blows Intel away at GPU performance.

 

[nt5672]

They didn't really share any benchmarks or comparisons beyond that vague graph.

Because being faster is relative and full of marketing BS.

 

[Fabio_gsilva]

I'm getting old. I vividly remember when Steve Jobs announced the transition from IBM to Intel. He also savored the moment getting a big dump on IBM heads mentioning the unfulfilled promises and disclosing that macs were living this "double life" IBM vs Intel for years.
Lots of people got crazy and anxious and like now, promised to never buy a Mac again as power pc were what truly represented the Mac at the time and... all went well and we have amazing macs.
I'm sure that this time will be MUCH much better for us, users.
Well done, Apple!