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Hey, I'm still clinging to an Intel MB too... and that's one of the key reasons why.

I've got a Silicon Mac running my desktop... but opted for a third party 5K monitor with more than one video input... and one of the other inputs is used by the first desktop PC I've purchased in about 20+ years. Essentially, just as it was with PowerPC Macs, I'm back to old fashioned bootcamp in the form of an actual PC. When I need faster processing and apps I've traditionally used on Intel Macs are available for PC, I often run them on that PC instead.

IMO: it was a great run when we could have the best of both worlds in one case. And, of course, for those with no need for Windows, Silicon is a much better proposition... albeit with the $henanigan$ with RAM & storage pricing.

I was ready to replace the old Intel MB with that 15" MB air on launch day... until I configured it as I wanted it and pricing was just $tupid... beyond the traditional "Apple premium." That froze that purchase and ultimately I opted to buy a $55 battery for the old Intel one and squeeze a few more years out of it instead. Curiously, I'm back to about 8 hours battery life again, which is technically a "full time" work day.

macOS is obsoleting it so I'm marching towards a replacement anyway. However, now I'm considering a PC laptop for "on the road" (most clients are Windows-centric) vs. paying way, WAY up for a Silicon MB. Do what I can do when away from office on PC, then polish/finish/save some things for Mac when I return? I can hardly believe I'm having such thoughts but I am indeed.
You can go with a last gen Intel MBP with Radeon 5600m. Still a great machine.

For the same reasons you mentioned, I’m going to stick with my 2020 iMac and 2018 MBP as long as Apple will support those machines with new OS releases.
 
You can go with a last gen Intel MBP with Radeon 5600m. Still a great machine.

For the same reasons you mentioned, I’m going to stick with my 2020 iMac and 2018 MBP as long as Apple will support those machines with new OS releases.

I love my 2018 iMac and was in the market for a 2020 iMac with a decent 1 TB ssd drive size, but I think next release of OSX won't support either. It will a mac studio or mac mini only for the next OSX release.
 
I love my 2018 iMac and was in the market for a 2020 iMac with a decent 1 TB ssd drive size, but I think next release of OSX won't support either. It will a mac studio or mac mini only for the next OSX release.
Apple will keep the support for Intel for some more releases because of the Mac Pro.
As for storage, I rely on external. With 40gbps NVMe drives there is no compromise on speed compared to the internal while being much cheaper. That way I can seamlessly transition my workflow on the MBP when I’m traveling.
 
The first thing I noticed with the immersive videos is how blurry everything looked. It is a cool experience. The Alicia Keys studio video felt almost intimate. But they all lacked sharpness.
Agreed. The sharpest thing was the face closeup in the rope walking video. The rest reminded me of quest vids
 
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I’ve had problems with this feature. It simply doesn’t connect if you select and finger tap the connect button that hovers over the Mac. You can see the button depress but nothing ever happens. The only way i can make it work is to go to Control Center, select the icon for Mac connection and choose from the list. That’s how I also found out that it doesn’t only work with Mac laptops as had been initially reported. None of the normal Vision Pro inputs work with the Mac screen, though. You still have to use a keyboard/mouse attached to the Mac.

One beneficial side effect I discovered accidentally is that if I’m connected to a Mac and I’m in another Vision Pro app, the virtual keyboard doesn’t appear. That confused me for a bit, thinking it was a bug, but then I started typing on the Mac’s keyboard and it worked, allowing me to use the Mac’s keyboard with other apps outside the Mac.
 
There is no Intel *macbook* that is faster than than the Apple Silicon Macs..
Ok, lets do a test, I'll load & render a thousand part parametric solidworks or inventor assembly @ 32 courses on the 2015 15" i7, the 2019 16" i9, and any Mx machine Apple has made since then of your choice.

i7: 6min 20sec
i9 w/cooling mods: 3min 42sec
Mx: Still waiting since 2020.

Apple Silicon Macs are far better than their Intel predecessors. Especially the laptops. Performance is significantly improved and the battery life is so much longer than an Intel laptop.
At what? The problem remains that Silicon isn't "better" if it can't do the work at all. Anything remaining after needing an old Intel Mac do the heavy lifting, is menial tasks an iPad can do & transport easier.
 
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Depending on the model, an Intel Mac is one that had lots of competition for RAM & SSD. So instead of paying 3-5X retail pricing for Apple upgrades, one could buy the base Mac and then load it up at any time with much more internal RAM and storage for relatively dirt cheap. There was a time when Apple made this very easy. But as Apple evolved into AAPL, the pursuit of harvesting every possible nickel made some of this increasingly difficult to impossible with many Macs. The latest move forces all RAM & SSD to be purchased from only a single seller- no competition at all- resulting in 3-5X relative pricing for the same amount of RAM or SSD in PC-land.

Similarly, if RAM or Storage went bad in Intel Macs, some models could facilitate replacing the broken part and continuing to use your Mac. Now, when anything at all conks in a Silicon Mac, you throw the whole thing out and buy another.

Intel Macs could also run full Windows instead of emulated ARM Windows (which is not full Windows), making it the only computer type in the world that could natively run BOTH major platforms in one case (excluding hacks). This also meant that a single computer purchase could run just about ALL of the world's software instead of only a relatively tiny subset of it. This included easy access to AAA games and various gaming platforms on the Window-only side. Those consumers who need Windows but wanted Mac could buy a Mac and get BOTH. Now we're back to if you need Windows, you have to buy a PC unless maybe ARM Windows emulation is good enough.

It generally had a focus on Power vs PPW, so it could generally get computing tasks done faster by using more power... instead of slower while sipping power. The difference in net power usage was marginal as the former would average about a single incandescent light bulb or two's power usage each month, meaning nobody saw any huge difference in an electric bill by opting for PPW over Power. But "we" sure make it sound like it's an Apples to Oranges proposition.

Like Spotify before Apple Music or Google Maps before Apple Maps or the LG 5K monitor before ASD, when Apple was embracing Intel, fans loved Intel Macs. Then when Apple abandoned them, fans turned. Suddenly, there were all these flaws that were left unspoken while Macs depended on them but then were relentlessly spoken when Apple wanted people to buy Silicon. Suddenly laps were "suffering third degree burns", fans were "sounding like jet engines", etc.

Intel cost the so-called "Intel Premium" that Silicon would alleviate, except no pass through savings seemed to appear. Instead, Apple's corporate margin fattened, from the traditional 39%-40% to now around 46%-47%. How long until about HALF of every dollar we pay for Apple stuff is falling into the corporate vaults instead of going directly towards the thing we are buying? Hooray for shareholders! Can consumers get a bone or two?

Intel generally offered annual hardware upgrades and Silicon offered the potential of at least the same, but it didn't work out that way for the latter, while Intel has generally continued with the old, roughly annual pace. "We" blamed that on covid & supply chain, etc and maybe that was the cause... except Intel seemed to roughly stay on the traditional pace of new generations.

Intel Macs offered the ability to connect powerful graphics cards in external boxes while Silicon offers its own graphics and only its graphics... even in Mac Pro. Because of robust competitive forces, an Intel Mac Pro could have a ton of relatively cheap, massive RAM while a Silicon Mac Pro can only max out at a RAM amount of Apple's choosing... at thoroughly exploitive pricing vs. market... as is always the case when there is only a LONE seller of anything.

In short, while I can appreciate my own Silicon Mac and use it every day, we had many great benefits with the prior platform. Silicon offers several advantages but so does Intel. Chief amoung them is Power (and Graphics Card Power) vs. PPW and integrated Apple Graphics. In general, PC will use more power to get computing done FASTER while Silicon will use much less power to get things done slower. On the flip side, the latter can have longer battery life than the typical person can use in a day, while the former can burn through its battery in as little as a few hours if the task is demanding.

We Apple people shifted from a mainstream platform with massive competitive-driven support back to a PowerPC-like silo where all key roads must lead to/through Apple Inc. As objectively as I can assess it, I don't know if the pros fully outweigh the cons unless one chooses to make the pros bigger deals while marginalizing the cons. The vast majority of the world happily runs on PC platforms. Our little bubble now happily runs on Silicon... at a steep relative premium.

I mostly agree, with a few notes.

Microsoft is, or should be, treating ARM like the future of full Windows. But there’s some stuff lost in translation there too. Microsoft too is tasking the opportunity to centralize more control, like drivers.

A lot of the issue is not so much that it’s ARM it’s that there’s no proper hardware dual boot, so there’s no true hardware support.

Also, Intel is following the path of Apple anyway, with more power efficient and modular designs. They already did this once with the original Core series and Core 2 Duo. I mostly agree about efficiency but now that they have got the efficiency down, they are cranking up the power. And Apple cares more about battery powered devices anyway, Intel’s strong suit has always been with computers that stay plugged in.

For a gaming computer your power estimates might be a bit low but I get your point, but Apple just doesn’t seem to care. Other than gaming I’m not sure what software on Windows anymore is an absolute necessity that only runs on Windows and doesn’t work in virtualization. Even on Intel Macs a lot of people virtualized rather than actually using Boot Camp.

Windows isn’t the dominant absolute necessity it used to be. One has to think this was an attempt to claw back some of that power from Microsoft by making people choose again, at a time when Apple believes they are in a better position to do so.

When they introduced the Intel Macs they made a point of saying that it can boot Windows. When they introduced AS they showed virtualized Linux and didn’t really do more than imply that say it can run software made for ARM processors. Windows wasn’t mentioned at all, and I don’t know if it’s because they can’t because of the exclusivity agreement or if it’s that they just don’t care.

Sad fact is the computer industry as a whole is changing for the worse. Everything is going to this centralized control model. This is what the Linux/FSF/GNU/etc have been warning us about for decades.

We see the same problems on the software side with Apple trying to re-write the history of software sale and distribution.
 
Everything is going to this centralized control model.
We used to call this "IBM".

IBM dragged its feet into the micro-computer sector because their model was always that they serviced customers by providing a central computer they could control, and terminals (of various types) as needed by the customer. The software, hardware, maintenance, and training - all in a single shop.

Whining about soldered in RAM and SSD is just whining about the trees and missing the forest.

Whether it's Google, or Meta, or Microsoft - the goal is to capture users and make them dependent upon a proprietary digital ecosystem.

I've concluded some people hate Apple because Apple beat the others at their game. First they beat IBM (took some time, and IBM's own fumbling), and now they are beating Google and Meta. Microsoft hangs on only because of legacy investment by hundreds of millions of people using Windows, Outlook, etc. But MSFT is not expanding their market share, it is contracting.
 
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none of the mobile Intel based Macs are faster than the Apple Silicon in them today.
If you take an Intel i9 it will still be faster than the base model M1 in many tasks. It depends on what you do. Graphics heavy stuff, especially sustained, will slow an M1 down while the Intel will keep going. Yes it consumes far more power, but if you're on the charger then that's irrelevant. Haven't compared with M2 or M3 but it's not as simple as "faster in every way". Apple Silicon is faster in general OS stuff and running Apple-made software like Final Cut Pro X but not faster when running Premiere or Stable Diffusion.
 
If you take an Intel i9 it will still be faster than the base model M1 in many tasks. It depends on what you do. Graphics heavy stuff, especially sustained, will slow an M1 down while the Intel will keep going. Yes it consumes far more power, but if you're on the charger then that's irrelevant. Haven't compared with M2 or M3 but it's not as simple as "faster in every way". Apple Silicon is faster in general OS stuff and running Apple-made software like Final Cut Pro X but not faster when running Premiere or Stable Diffusion.
Graphics heavy stuff would be comparing to whatever GPU was paired with that i9, not the i9 itself.

I also don’t understand the notion that it’s no big deal to take a massive performance hit in a laptop by not being plugged in. That’s entirely on Intel not focusing at all on perf/watt in that era.
 
Does it work with Macs that have no screen connected? Like a headless Mac mini or Studio?
Yes but overall the device is trash. The praising reviews must be from people who never tried a quest 3. If the quest 3 is $500 then the step up to the Vision Pro is worth a very solid $1000 tops. The fact 1) you can’t have two video sources playing video (with one muted) at the same time (think a sports game in one window and a movie in the other) and 2) the ability to share through “guest” requires a 3 minute re-registration makes the device junk to me. Apple blocked this device from being viable.
 
Yes but overall the device is trash. The praising reviews must be from people who never tried a quest 3. If the quest 3 is $500 then the step up to the Vision Pro is worth a very solid $1000 tops. The fact 1) you can’t have two video sources playing video (with one muted) at the same time (think a sports game in one window and a movie in the other) and 2) the ability to share through “guest” requires a 3 minute re-registration makes the device junk to me. Apple blocked this device from being viable.
Why are you whining to me?
 
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There aren't very many comments on this post because

1. Intel Macs just aren't very exciting (for obvious reasons)
2. this really screws with the Apple cynic's narrative that everything that greedy old Apple does is for money, so they are going to skirt this far and wide

I don't have an Intel Mac anymore, but it's great to see Apple supporting older devices.
 
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We Apple people shifted from a mainstream platform with massive competitive-driven support back to a PowerPC-like silo where all key roads must lead to/through Apple Inc. As objectively as I can assess it, I don't know if the pros fully outweigh the cons unless one chooses to make the pros bigger deals while marginalizing the cons. The vast majority of the world happily runs on PC platforms. Our little bubble now happily runs on Silicon... at a steep relative premium.

Having a 2023 Intel Notebook at work and cheapest day one M1 Air (2020?) at home, i have to say it is definitely worth it.
Battery life is terrible on the (way more expensive) work Notebook and it often gets hot to the touch. And there are also the fans making noise. Feels like battery life isn't even half of that of my Macbook. But the price is double. So i guess it evens out, right? ;)

It is very obvious which one is the better hardware. And i definitely don't "happily" use Intel on the work Notebook. We need an alternative for Apple Silicon on the Windows market. But it is taking way longer than i expected.
I'd also happily sacrifice upgradability on our work Laptops, if it meant getting the same advantages. As it is, we are already not upgrading our Laptops in any way and just order them with what is needed (or a bit more) from the beginning.

At least Microsoft is still working on improving Windows ARM, which will improve virtualization on the Mac and also hopefully make ARM Laptops a good alternative to Macs. Especially with the Qualcomm - Windows ARM exclusivity deal ending this year and other manufacturers (AMD / NVIDIA) also working on ARM chips. Maybe we will even see it run natively on Macbooks again. (Although i doubt it)
 
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There is no 2024 Intel MB. Comparing a 2024 chip to a 2020 or older chip is not exactly a fair measure. I'd actually be quite interested in seeing what a 2024 Intel-based MB could do vs. a 2024 Silicon-based MB where the goal was not to make either one the obvious superior choice. I bet Apple could roll out a dazzling 2024 Intel MB if they were motivated to also create one.



Yes, no doubt we can be critical of the Intel platform. I can readily talk about heat and shorter battery life, etc. too. On the other hand, having both full Windows and Mac in one box was tremendous utility for a Working Mac professional who generally NEEDS Windows but wants Mac. Full Windows is full Windows. ARM Windows may or may not work depending on the app. The complete solution now is back to lugging either 2 laptops or buy a Windows laptop (the one typically needed) and use the Mac when you get back to home or office... UNLESS a client or company is Mac centric themselves.
Yep, and your comapny can be as Mac centric as it likes but if you NEED Windows, you're SOL.
 
I also don’t understand the notion that it’s no big deal to take a massive performance hit in a laptop by not being plugged in. That’s entirely on Intel not focusing at all on perf/watt in that era.

Macs famously don't take any kind of performance hit if they're not on the charger, this is true for Intel and Apple Silicon equally. The performance hit only happens on some PC laptops and is due to the limited amps the battery can safely supply.
 
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Macs famously don't take any kind of performance hit if they're not on the charger, this is true for Intel and Apple Silicon equally. The performance hit only happens on some PC laptops and is due to the limited amps the battery can safely supply.
No I understand the reasons, what I don’t understand is when people make comparisons to windows laptops and act like the performance drop on battery is somehow acceptable when touting how much “better” intel chips are.
 
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