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Several macOS Monterey Features Unavailable on Intel-Based Macs
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Planned obsolescence on an accelerated scale is all it is. For folks in the music creative industries we don't rush forward. In fact, most are two or three revisions behind in OS X. Until Apple's got a mature ARM line up of systems for heavy production people will keep using older versions of OS X, Intel and even Logic. Most of AVIDs Pro Tools hardware and software has yet to be ported to ARM. iZotope, Native Instruments, Spitfire Audio, etc., are still 12-18 months away. Most of their clients are on PCs with Windows.
That is not how engineering resources are allocated for a new platform or architecture. Also, were you not here for the 68K-->PPC or the PPC-->Intel transition? Apple did nearly the exact same thing with Tiger to Leopard to Snow Leopard. As an Intel Mac owner, I will be ELATED to get major features and functions along with core functionality of macOS for 2-3 more releases after Monterrey before Apple pulls the plug on Intel. I don't expect that will happen, but I will be pleasantly surprised if it does.
Apple is not going to allocate equal resources to Intel as to Apple Silicon for esoteric features that point to larger features down the road that will emphasize the advantages of Apple Silicon. After all, why bother to go through the trouble of a transition if you don't have an end point for the old architecture?
Wasn’t offline dictation already a thing on macOS?? I remember downloading like 400MBs to make it work
I guess this one is all new and powered by the Neural Engine
Sucks that the old one can’t stick around, but I can’t say I’ll miss it… I’ve used dictation maybe like twice in my entire life
I guess this one is all new and powered by the Neural Engine
Sucks that the old one can’t stick around, but I can’t say I’ll miss it… I’ve used dictation maybe like twice in my entire life
You can't possibly tell me that neither the CPU nor GPU in Intel Macs is capable of handling these features. That's just silly. The problem is that Apple implemented them wrong, and in so doing, made the functionality useless except on specific hardware.
Let's take a look at the list more carefully:
- Portrait Mode blurred backgrounds in FaceTime videos
Nobody else has trouble doing this (Zoom, Google, etc.) on the crappiest low-end devices from ten years ago. In JavaScript. It can also be done on the server side, if you prefer. This one is a laughable level of incompetence, IMO.
- Live Text for copying and pasting, looking up, or translating text within photos
My lowly iPhone 6S has no trouble doing this. Then again, how would you even do that usefully with a laptop!?!
- An interactive 3D globe of Earth in the Maps app
Google Earth did this fifteen years ago.
- More detailed maps in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and London in the Maps app
This *might* have hardware performance reasons, but that seems unlikely.
- Text-to-speech in more languages, including Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Finnish
This has nothing to do with hardware. You either have a model for a language or you don't.
- On-device keyboard dictation that performs all processing completely offline
- Unlimited keyboard dictation (previously limited to 60 seconds per instance)
Ewww. This is the moment when I realized that dictation is sending audio out over the Internet.... What privacy?
Everything on this list screams "failure to abstract properly".
The fact of the matter is that Apple shouldn't be programming to the neural engine. They should be programming to a standard API like OpenCL, OpenGL, or TensorFlow, and their implementation of that standard API should implement the functionality in the most efficient way possible on any given device, including using the neural engine, if available.
By using a high-level API, you can write the code once and deploy it on everything from the iPhone 6S up through current hardware, plus every currently supported Mac, rather than being able to run it only on the very latest Mac hardware (and no iOS hardware).
And using the right level of abstraction isn't just about compatibility, either. Using the neural engine is not necessarily the best choice for power management. It could easily be more efficient to run a simple model a few times on the CPU or GPU if its cores are already in a high power state, rather than bringing up the neural engine. That sort of optimization is impossible unless you use a high-level API that is not hardware-specific.
Of course, if Apple used proper abstraction layers, that would probably force them to upgrade the ancient, decade-old versions of OpenCL and OpenGL that they currently ship in macOS, which would mean that they couldn't use the missing features as a way to strong-arm developers into using their proprietary Metal API to discourage cross-platform development.... But I digress.
Why would additional languages on an existing feature or dictation past 60 seconds require the neural engine?
ok so lets look at this another way this is a beta which means its not a "finished" product so don't wine about something thaTS not offically out yet.
however this should be out in the "fall" which prob means sept .
I'm calling it now that by the time it comes out there will be NO intel macs available.
Apple will i think release there M1x or what ever the "pro" version of the chip is called in its Macbook pro's/Imac pro/Mac Pro by then
I think apple is going back to consumer & pro line up colours will indicate the consumer/family/education etc line and the pro line who knows
now where will the mini sit ???????
however this should be out in the "fall" which prob means sept .
I'm calling it now that by the time it comes out there will be NO intel macs available.
Apple will i think release there M1x or what ever the "pro" version of the chip is called in its Macbook pro's/Imac pro/Mac Pro by then
I think apple is going back to consumer & pro line up colours will indicate the consumer/family/education etc line and the pro line who knows
now where will the mini sit ???????
Not sure what you are talking about, but Big Sur is far more stable than Catalina was, and there’s no way to know how Monterey will fare.
Some of them don’t. So should Apple write all its software going forward so as not to take advantage of hardware capabilities that would make the features work better, faster, and while consuming less battery?
So are iPhones of different models. So was the Powerbook (notable example). You bought the machine based on what it did at the time. You didn't know that Live Text would be coming when you bought your system, did you? Nah. Unless you're Kreskin. This isn't a fanboy thing. This is a Apple-has-lots-of-hardware-in-its-portfolio-and-can't-please-everyone thing. The line has to be drawn somewhere.
The software is pre-release. Assume its delayed, and now comes out in May '22. Hardware could have replaced your new system then, too. Just like the planned sunset of Intel, so are these features - planned. They are not officially released as of yet.
You have come to expect new features because OS releases are now free, and have moved to a yearly cadence. If they didn't come out with the new OS for three years, and charged you for the upgrade instead, would you feel the same?
See, this isn't what I'm asking. But since you're throwing it out there, yea, if someone is dropping $15k on an Intel Mac Pro, those features should be available on that machine, regardless of whether it's the intel or M_ vatriant.
Come on man, are we really going to jump through this mental gymnastics right now?
And coincidentally the new MacBook Pro will be for sale at just about the same time as Monterey leaves beta.
😎
I hope this is the case. I’ve been wanting an M1 Air for a while now and every time I chat in asking about getting one from Apple online they tell me I can’t trade a Mac in at my store. I might just show up at a store with it and see what they do.
I think Apple need to tread a little more carefully with this transition. I have no immediate plans to replace my 2020 Intel MacBook Air, and Apple choosing to make some features unavailable to last years hardware might make me think about what I upgrade my ageing iMac with.
You’re missing the point.
there is a feature in the next release of macOS that requires the maximum amount of memory possible in any m1 Mac.
you really think that’s the only feature that’s going to require 16Gb in next years OS?
As do mobile phone companies (like
). They add new features that require specific hardware. Nothing new there.Rene Ritchie talks such nonsense [as he often does in his fan boy way]. You don’t need an M1 chip to draw a globe or do fancy OCR. This is pure nonsense and attempt to kill Intel macs faster.
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Yes, but what I am saying is that the latest MacBook Pro 16" on sale now, is not compatible with the latest features just announced. Older iPhones may be on sale, but the latest one will support the new features. I am happy for the line to be drawn, just not after one year.
Paying or not paying for the OS makes no difference to me, I just expect a new machine to support new features for a reasonable amount of time. ie three years.
Sorry I can't work how to quote on this site.
Paying or not paying for the OS makes no difference to me, I just expect a new machine to support new features for a reasonable amount of time. ie three years.
Sorry I can't work how to quote on this site.
Why should they? You saying so doesn’t make it so. All Apple owes you is that the machine does what they promise it will do at the time you buy it. There’s never an implied promise that it will support every new feature for the indefinite or even near future. And anyone spending $15k on an intel Mac Pro who gives a **** about these silly little features has a screw loose. They obviously bought the machine to do very specific work, not to blur FaceTime backgrounds.