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Over the last few months, an increasing number of references to AMD processors have been uncovered in macOS Catalina code, starting with the 10.15.2 beta in November and now continuing in the 10.15.4 beta.

Given that Macs currently use Intel processors, the references are naturally prompting speculation that perhaps Apple plans to release Macs with AMD processors, but this is unconfirmed as of yet. Apple does rely on AMD for graphics in select MacBook Pro, iMac, iMac Pro, and Mac Pro models.

macbook-pro-amd.png

Many of the references contain codenames of AMD APUs such as Picasso, Raven, Renoir, and Van Gogh. APU or Accelerated Processing Unit is AMD's marketing term for a CPU and GPU on a single chip.


A few months ago, an unsubstantiated report from Taiwan's Economic Daily News claimed that Apple plans to announce a high-end gaming Mac at WWDC 2020. If there is any truth to the rumor, then it is certainly possible that the Mac could be powered by an AMD APU, but many gamers are skeptical.

It's worth noting that we haven't heard any rumors about AMD-based Macs specifically, and it is also possible the references are for internal testing only, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

Article Link: New References to AMD Processors Discovered in macOS 10.15.4 Beta
 
We are still waiting for an update for the issue on the Radeon Pro 5500M with the MacBook 16-inch!
 
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I think this would be great for competition. AMD has been killing it in the CPU market recently, offering comparable performance to Intel chips for way less. If Apple made this move it would really force Intel to improve the price to performance of their chips.
Comparable performance? They’ve been crapping all over Intel in multi-threaded work.
 
I am curious to have you guys explain to me (no facetiousness here!) what the benefit of adding a gaming PC or laptop to the Mac line would have for the macOS platform overall or Apple in general.

Apple did not become the largest company (by market cap) by beating Windows with macOS. It was the iPhone, which was an end run around the whole PC market. Does Apple stand any chance to take on the PC market segment and get well beyond single-digit market share?
 
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Depends what you need the CPU for. For instance, gaming benefits most from good single core performance and Intel still seems to have AMD beat there. Not by much anymore though.
No they don’t. They only have them minimally beat for games at 1080p. Anything 2K and higher ... the difference is almost non-existent. But yes they have them beat on single core, but not by much. A lot of things are moving to multi-threaded now that AND finally pulled their heads from their arses.
 
****. YES!
It’s about damn time. Get ready for more cores and more performance
across the board.

It looks like Apple really was just waiting on AMD to deliver the goods as far as laptop chips to finally begin sourcing x86 chips from AMD as well. Of course to be fair if Apple didn’t switch to AMD this year they would begin looking quite silly as Intel is getting absolutely wrecked in almost every segment.

I don’t think I’ve been this excited for an upcoming Mac release since the OG 5K iMac.

Thank God I’ve been waiting for this day since the release of the Ryzen 1700. Guess I’ll be buying a new Mac this year after all :D
 
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