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Apple's $500 Developer Program Includes Tools and Resources for Transitioning to Apple Silicon, Plus a Loaner A12Z-Based Mac Mini
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if 2 years using it and return it okay.. but if 6 month go di* lol
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don't return it. We don't know how powerful and no way apple can emulate the powerful of MacPro(not powerfull as custom Linux). I have iMac 2017 and + 2 years = 5 years so that time i will think mac mini instead but for now, don't risk if thinking 10 years support like iMac 2011 and MacBook 2011(still using it now)
I don't no where this notion comes from that modern software development includes writing assembly or architecture dependent code. You can safely assume that 95% of code written these days is totally architecture independent.
One thing is for sure: Apple 2020 won’t give participating developers a free machine after returning the dev kits.
Apple announced the Intel switch in 2005, the first version of OS X no longer PPC compatible was released in 2009, and they dropped PPC support completely in 2011.
I would expect a similar timeframe for this transition.
rule one never assume as developer. We currently using 32 bit proc. Long time ago we got one customer using 64 bit itanium and never mention to us. When test at xeon,core 2 duo system work fine when deploy to itannium horrible
** intel itanium is dead allready, we all use now amd 64
Highly unlikely. The dev kit machine is something that they’re prepared to crank out tens of thousands of. It’s certainly not the only ARM-based Mac they have running: if they’re going to ship a production ARM-based Mac - the first of many new ARM Macs - this fall, a few short months away, then they’ve got to have that hardware basically complete already. And they likely have prototypes of numerous other designs that they could have used for these demos. A prototype board inside a the chassis of a Mac Mini or Mac Pro would do just fine. They never said, “and we’re running all this on the same dev kit hardware you can sign up for”, they simply said that all the demos were running on their new “Apple Silicon” processors.
Well Craig did In fact show that the Mac he himself was using in his demonstration was an A12Z dev machine. I just wasn’t sure if everything demoed was using the same dev machine Craig was using.
It seemed to me as if they wanted to to keep the actual chips for the new Macs under wraps until the fall event for a more dramatic reveal.
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They could probably be shut down remotely.
These are dev boxes. They aren't meant to have all the tech bells and whistles. Just enough to develop on.
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Yup
The iPhone Leak Gets Ugly: Police Raid Gizmodo Editor's House, Confiscate Computers | TechCrunch
Wow. Last week, Gizmodo published a massive scoop when they got their hands on what is mostly likely the next iPhone. At the time there was plenty of talk about the legality of Gizmodo's actions (as they admitted to paying $5000 for the device). Now Gizmodo has just published a post saying that...
www.google.com
I don't see how they can't launch an actual Apple Silicon Mac without USB 4 support. They also need to go the full hog and do stuff they couldn't with Intel, like PCI-E 4 support.
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I really wouldn't worry about that, they'll still be releasing Intel Macs for another year or two and they'll need to support the top end Mac Pro for at least 5-7 years.
I wouldn't worry about that, there's not even Thunderbolt 3 on it, let alone USB 4 - it's a dev machine not a production machine.
Yeah, but it’s not really the same. PowerPC development was stalled and IBM couldn’t seem to get it together and that’s why Apple made the switch. My last PowerPC Mac was a Mac mini and it was pretty much useless in two years time because the G4’s single 1.25 GHz processor and 166 MHz bus speed just couldn’t keep up with the rapid changes in technology and software development.
This is why Apple was mum on I/O ports at the general presentation. There will be no ThunderBolt support for ARM-based Macs. There will be outrage in the future when professionals realize Apple is no longer supporting ThunderBolt and its very expensive peripherals.
Although ThunderBolt 3/4 will share the same USB type-C port as USB 4, and both are able to offer the same maximum theoretical bandwidth, the protocols are different. USB 4 does not mandate TB support. TB support is optional and it still costs money for licensure. The protocol for TB was donated by Intel, but for an OEM to advertise the TB nomenclature they must still be certified and pay Intel for the licensure. (Of course, an OEM could include TB 3/4 support without paying Intel but they would be prohibited from advertising support for TB. Realistically, who would do that?)
Unlike TB, some features of USB 4 are either optional or not guaranteed. For example, under the USB 4 spec, PCI-e tunneling, TB support, and USB-C alt modes (e.g. DP alt-modes) are optional and bandwidth is not guaranteed. An OEM may implement a bandwidth of 40Gbps, 20Gbps, or 10Gbps, and still use the USB 4 nomenclature.
Moreover, TB support on USB 4 devices may be quite limited due to the complications involved with supporting the signaling rates for USB 4, TB, and the DP Alt-Mode 2.0. As posted in another forum (spacing added):
In reality, the PHY situation for USB4 with Thunderbolt 3 and DisplayPort 2.0 Alt Modes is quite complicated. You have a single USB Type-C port that needs to support all of the following modes on the high-speed signaling pairs:
USB4 Gen 3 (20 Gbit/s with 128b/132b encoding or RS(198,194) FEC, 4 pairs as 2 bonded, dual-simplex lanes)
USB4 Gen 2 (10 Gbit/s with 64b/66b encoding or RS(198,194) FEC, 4 pairs as 2 bonded, dual-simplex lanes)
USB3 Gen 2 x 2 (10 Gbit/s with 128b/132b encoding, 4 pairs as 2 bonded, dual-simplex lanes)
USB3 Gen 2 x 1 (10 Gbit/s with 128b/132b encoding, 2 pairs as 1 dual-simplex lane)
USB3 Gen 1 x 2 (5 Gbit/s with 8b/10b encoding, 4 pairs as 2 bonded, dual-simplex lanes)
USB3 Gen 1 x 1 (5 Gbit/s with 8b/10b encoding, 2 pairs as 1 dual-simplex lane)
TBT3 (20.625 Gbit/s with 64b/66b encoding, 4 pairs as 2 bonded, dual-simplex channels)
TBT2 (10.3125 Gbit/s with 64b/66b encoding, 4 pairs as 2 bonded, dual-simplex channels)
TBT (10.3125 Gbit/s with 64b/66b encoding, 2/4 pairs as 1 or 2 dual-simplex channels)
DP UHBR 20 (20 Gbit/s with 128b/132b encoding plus RS-FEC, 1/2/4 pairs as 1 simplex main link)
DP UHBR 13.5 (13.5 Gbit/s with 128b/132b encoding plus RS-FEC, 1/2/4 pairs as 1 simplex main link)
DP UHBR 10 (10 Gbit/s with 128b/132b encoding plus RS-FEC, 1/2/4 pairs as 1 simplex main link)
DP HBR3 (8.1 Gbit/s with 8b/10b encoding plus optional RS(254,250) FEC, 1/2/4 pairs as 1 simplex main link)
DP HBR2 (5.4 Gbit/s with 8b/10b encoding plus optional RS(254,250) FEC, 1/2/4 pairs as 1 simplex main link)
DP HBR (2.7 Gbit/s with 8b/10b encoding plus optional RS(254,250) FEC, 1/2/4 pairs as 1 simplex main link)
DP RBR (1.62 Gbit/s with 8b/10b encoding plus optional RS(254,250) FEC, 1/2/4 pairs as 1 simplex main link)
Hopefully Thunderbolt 4 controllers, redrivers, and retimers will be able to handle all of the above so end users don't have to worry about it. (This is corroborated by other sites.)
The reason TB 3/4 support under USB 4 is so important is because TB support requires all of the optional features of USB 4 to be implemented. This is why TB support under USB 4 will be restricted to high end, expensive computers.
They showed the demo using Pro Display XDR, which is a TB3 display. So we know that it supports TB3, the question is will Apple include TB3 in production devices.
it really depends on the software. A basic text editor can probably be recompiled And made to work in an hour or two. A modern 3D game that took 3 years to develop and is optimized for x86 architecture might take several month of work and bug testing to port. For many software companies, it’s not going to be worth it to transition.
$500 deposit on dev kit means the retail price will be around $1000 to $1500 starting which is quite a markup from $75 Raspberry Pi 4 with 8GB DRAM.
They didn't say all hardware used in the demo was A12Z powered, so obviously they were using more advanced processors elsewhere in the demo. Apple is the master of such sleight of hand
But the A12Z seems like a good starting point for the transition. Using it for the DTK hardware will be just fine. And the DTK price is actually reasonable, even for small operations. Will be interesting to see what the program "acceptance" rate will be.
The only comparison we have is the Apple TV 4 developer "preview" hardware, which only $1USD. The units were early production and did not need to be returned. That was VERY reasonable.
Seems like Apple can be reasonable when they need "help" from their developers.
"They need you right now... but when they don't... they'll cast you out"
Who gets a DTK
I'm garbage, I code for money.
At least I'm ahead of the curve...
IMO, no.
The A12Z does not have a TB3 controller so that would be a logical explanation why the DTK does not have TB3.
Mac-specific SoCs can incorporate a TB3 controller and TB3 can be in the consumer-shipping models.
Didn’t Apple say that the Mac mini’s were used for the presentation and demos? Every single one was using the Apple XDR display....