Should I Buy an Intel Mac Today or Wait to Buy an Arm-Based Mac?

[Accuphan]

Earlier this year in May, I decided to make the big decision to purchase a 2019 Mac Pro. It was everything I could have dreamed of: a modular desktop tower PC that is designed beautifully and runs macOS. Of course, I had heard about the ARM rumors, but was caught off guard when they announced the transition a month later. I also purchased a 2020 13" MBP for mobile use to accompany it. Between these two machines I've got over $10,000 invested.

I've been an Apple fan for the last decade and own many of their products. If they burn me like they did to Power Mac G5 buyers (ie my Mac Pro is only software supported for 2-3 years), I will have to think long and hard about giving Apple any of my money ever again.

A psychologist once said: "You cannot anticipate a depression."
And that's what you seem to be doing. Anticipating problems and getting angry about something that hasn't yet materialized.
Why, though?

You were "caught off guard" because the time from hearing about the rumors to Apple actually announcing something wasn't ... long enough ... for you?
Well, you should be on this website more often, or may avoid it entirely.

I am in the process of making up my mind about a new iMac.
Buy now? 10th gen Intel, for less money than the previous model?
Wait for the iMac with ARM hardware? Till when? For how long?

We'll see if I can be patient or buy a machine soon...

 

[CC88]

I didn't understand one thing.

Will current eGPU work on AS mac? I'm in the process to buy one and would be nice to re-use it on AS mac.

 

[chucker23n1]

I didn't understand one thing.

Will current eGPU work on AS mac? I'm in the process to buy one and would be nice to re-use it on AS mac.

We don't know. Some signs seem to point to only Apple-branded GPUs working on ARM Macs, but I don't really buy it.

My guess is current eGPUs will work fine, but at this point, we don't know. (The developer transition kit doesn't answer this question either way. It has no Thunderbolt, and has various other limitations.)

 

[joloriquelme]

I was thinking and there is another important point about THIS transition, compared to PowerPC transition in 2005-2006.

In that time, Apple's computer market share was MINIMAL compared with today. As a matter of fact, the Mac-boom started after the Intel transition was completed (because of Vista, the 'get a Mac' campain, and the iPhone-boom in 2007).

And, today and until Apple releases the first ARM-based Mac, Intel-based Macs are around 10% of all active computers around the world. And of course this means tons and tons of millions of customers.

You frankly can't leave out of support and not release new OS versions for millions of millions of computers. This would be millions of millions of angry customers.

Believe me, I think both transitions are totally different. Apple can stop selling Intel-based Macs as a strategy and forcing new users to enter the new ecosystem, but it simply cannot abandon their ENTIRE user base existing in 2020.

So, based on this new factor, I could think that we are going to see macOS updates for at least 4 or 5 years.

 

[SeattleMoose]

Endless change = endless job security. Applies to both HW and SW.
Is it all good enough now? Their answer...NEVER!!!
Even if you just dig in and say I am not upgrading anything, the world around you will keep changing and eventually you won't be able to "play" with the rest of the world.
Like it or not, you will end up being dragged along and your wallet WILL be emptied...again.

 

[Leon Bronswijk]

Honestly I’m going to buy the first MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon because:

• I believe Apple Silicon Macs (even the first ones) will have far less problems than the current existing Intel Macs. Apple has designed their current Macs to run on chips that don’t exist; thats why they have issues with thermal throttling and don’t nearly reach the performance they could. Apple has always wanted to push their innovation far what is beyond possible with Intel’s chips. Thats the core of many of the problems Mac users have today.
• Apple has plenty of experience with ARM Chips; they have been doing it with the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, etc. for years now and that does give them the expertise in what to work out before launching a product with such a chip in it.
• Besides the point I mentioned above Apple has been working behind the scenes on Apple Silicon Macs for years now. This isn’t just some idea they came up with this year and are just now working out; this has been on their agenda for a long time.
• Apple says it will continue to support Intel Macs for years ahead. While I believe they will support Intel macs for a while I don’t think it will be that long. See, Apple will try to phase out Intel as quickly as they can because as we all know they like uniformity in their line-up. It will probably take less long for Apple to phase out the Intel products they sell. After that it’s just a matter of time before they drop support for those products. Besides, you shouldn’t just think about system updates in this case. Many people (including myself) rely on third-party software. Developers need to choose what to focus on: Apple Silicon Macs or Intel Macs. Considering Apple will fully transition to their own custom chips; the amount of Apple Customers using Intel will decline and the amount using Apple Silicon will increase. Therefore developers will shift their focus to these new chips. Many applications will slowly become unusable on Intel Macs because of this. Apple won’t tell you this because of the Intel Macs they are still about to release, Apple Silicon could seriously hurt the sales of these Macs if they dont talk about support for the Intel ones. So if you want a Mac and don’t intend to buy another one for some time, an Apple Silicon Mac is your best bet.

This is just my opinion and the way I feel about it. I would really love to hear other people’s opinion on this! LMK

 

[brdeveloper]

Honestly I’m going to buy the first MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon because:

• I believe Apple Silicon Macs (even the first ones) will have far less problems than the current existing Intel Macs. Apple has designed their current Macs to run on chips that don’t exist; thats why they have issues with thermal throttling and don’t nearly reach the performance they could. Apple has always wanted to push their innovation far what is beyond possible with Intel’s chips. Thats the core of many of the problems Mac users have today.
• Apple has plenty of experience with ARM Chips; they have been doing it with the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, etc. for years now and that does give them the expertise in what to work out before launching a product with such a chip in it.
• Besides the point I mentioned above Apple has been working behind the scenes on Apple Silicon Macs for years now. This isn’t just some idea they came up with this year and are just now working out; this has been on their agenda for a long time.
• Apple says it will continue to support Intel Macs for years ahead. While I believe they will support Intel macs for a while I don’t think it will be that long. See, Apple will try to phase out Intel as quickly as they can because as we all know they like uniformity in their line-up. It will probably take less long for Apple to phase out the Intel products they sell. After that it’s just a matter of time before they drop support for those products. Besides, you shouldn’t just think about system updates in this case. Many people (including myself) rely on third-party software. Developers need to choose what to focus on: Apple Silicon Macs or Intel Macs. Considering Apple will fully transition to their own custom chips; the amount of Apple Customers using Intel will decline and the amount using Apple Silicon will increase. Therefore developers will shift their focus to these new chips. Many applications will slowly become unusable on Intel Macs because of this. Apple won’t tell you this because of the Intel Macs they are still about to release, Apple Silicon could seriously hurt the sales of these Macs if they dont talk about support for the Intel ones. So if you want a Mac and don’t intend to buy another one for some time, an Apple Silicon Mac is your best bet.

This is just my opinion and the way I feel about it. I would really love to hear other people’s opinion on this! LMK

I'm planning getting good deals for Intel Macs on Black Friday. I need running windows on Virtualbox for work, but also have lots of plugins for Logic Pro that I doubt will run smoothly on AS right from the launch date. I think that casual users or some media professionals (Photoshop users, for example) will see benefits on upgrading the architecture, but last years I've seen incompatibility issues even in minor updates like 10.9 to 10.10 or 10.11 to 10.12. Often I needed to circumvent the issue with editing package files or disabling SIP. So I congratulate early adopters for making Intel Macs less expensive in the short term.

 

[G5isAlive]

Guess no longer. You can buy a M1 laptop. Or read reviews. Could not resist saying that. Yes, I know, old thread.

 

[smoledman]

Pulled the trigger recently and got a Intel 27" 5K iMac, because I need Windows 10 for professional reasons. I figure in the next few years Apple & virtualization makers will resolve any compatibility issues with Apple Silicon and my next PC might that.

Just for starters though, cold boot to lock screen:

2013 Core i7 iMac - 60 seconds
2020 Core i9 iMac - 10 seconds

 

[smoledman]

Honestly I’m going to buy the first MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon because:

• I believe Apple Silicon Macs (even the first ones) will have far less problems than the current existing Intel Macs. Apple has designed their current Macs to run on chips that don’t exist; thats why they have issues with thermal throttling and don’t nearly reach the performance they could. Apple has always wanted to push their innovation far what is beyond possible with Intel’s chips. Thats the core of many of the problems Mac users have today.
• Apple has plenty of experience with ARM Chips; they have been doing it with the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, etc. for years now and that does give them the expertise in what to work out before launching a product with such a chip in it.
• Besides the point I mentioned above Apple has been working behind the scenes on Apple Silicon Macs for years now. This isn’t just some idea they came up with this year and are just now working out; this has been on their agenda for a long time.
• Apple says it will continue to support Intel Macs for years ahead. While I believe they will support Intel macs for a while I don’t think it will be that long. See, Apple will try to phase out Intel as quickly as they can because as we all know they like uniformity in their line-up. It will probably take less long for Apple to phase out the Intel products they sell. After that it’s just a matter of time before they drop support for those products. Besides, you shouldn’t just think about system updates in this case. Many people (including myself) rely on third-party software. Developers need to choose what to focus on: Apple Silicon Macs or Intel Macs. Considering Apple will fully transition to their own custom chips; the amount of Apple Customers using Intel will decline and the amount using Apple Silicon will increase. Therefore developers will shift their focus to these new chips. Many applications will slowly become unusable on Intel Macs because of this. Apple won’t tell you this because of the Intel Macs they are still about to release, Apple Silicon could seriously hurt the sales of these Macs if they dont talk about support for the Intel ones. So if you want a Mac and don’t intend to buy another one for some time, an Apple Silicon Mac is your best bet.

This is just my opinion and the way I feel about it. I would really love to hear other people’s opinion on this! LMK

I heard that 2020 is the last new spec update for Intel-based iMacs. Meaning no more newer Intel processors or GPUs that go with those processors for normal iMac or iMac Pro. Going forward, the next iMacs will be AS.

 

[Michael Scrip]

cold boot to lock screen:

2013 Core i7 iMac - 60 seconds
2020 Core i9 iMac - 10 seconds

I'm guessing the 2013 still has a spinning hard drive?

 

[smoledman]

I'm guessing the 2013 still has a spinning hard drive?

Nope, SSD. However one can expect the combination of 7 years of degradation + slower SSD from 2013 being the factors here. No matter what I'm very pleased. Now I'm set up with my computer for the next 7 years.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Nope, SSD. However one can expect the combination of 7 years of degradation + slower SSD from 2013 being the factors here. No matter what I'm very pleased. Now I'm set up with my computer for the next 7 years.

Oh wow! Yeah those older SSDs, while fast at the time, are nothing compared to modern SSDs.

Enjoy your new computer and ultra-fast storage!