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Perhaps it'll get slower as each sequential MacOS is further optimized for ARM. Perhaps software support will end before the 7 year mark.

Or perhaps it'll be fine and last 7 years.

That's the point. None of us here know anything. Apple probably do and they're not saying.

So why make decisions based on the fear of the unknown?
 
It may be years before vendors truly target native ARM. Or it may be somewhere inbetween.
I remember during the PPC to Intel transition, there were many software companies waiting until the last minute to update their applications. "Just run in Rosetta" they kept saying, until Apple stopped supporting PPC.

Even today we have software companies and IT departments telling users "We support Mac, here are instructions for running our application on a Mac". That "support" was nothing more than steps for booting into Windows.

I'm waiting to see the same companies tell ARM Mac users "just run the iPhone application on the Mac" :D :D
 
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We usually see benchmarks like these how long before the machines are released? (I know, the past is no guarantee.)
 
Apple said they were going to keep releasing Intel-based Macs for a while: "Apple will continue to support and release new versions of macOS for Intel-based Macs for years to come, and has exciting new Intel-based Macs in development." (Source: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/06/apple-announces-mac-transition-to-apple-silicon/)

This is exactly what organization looks like. It gives longevity to Intel-based Apple computers for years rather than Apple completely jumping ship and quickly cutting off support. This is a graceful exit from relying on Intel.


Agreed. The comments in this thread are off the mark.

The transition away from PPC was much shorter than this will be. Apple was the end of the line for PPC basically all together, had to be cut off. This time, inversely Intel isn't going anywhere, there won't be a rush.
 
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I'm waiting for apple silicon. my last 3 intel iMacs 2013, 2017, 2019 really haven't impressed me in speed boost from one to the next

You've spent 1000's on not one, not two but THREE iMac's over the course of just 7 years and none have impressed you?! Must have money to burn! I'm still happily using my 2012 27" iMac and only now looking towards a replacement. :/
 
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How good the ARM machines are affects only the ARM machines; it doesn’t make a screaming 10-core i9 any slower. The SUV model I drive was completely redone in 2019, but amazingly I still love my 2014, and it performs the same as ever.



You think encoding video on an iPad SoC has ANYTHING to do with the laptops and desktops Apple is planning to use the ARM processors in? That’s like me telling you “Don’t bother with Comet Lake; I tried to run ‘x’ software on my Core 2 Duo and it sucked.”

Of course not.
But our tests where merely to compare raw CPU power between i7 and A12. FFmpeg HEVC (with x265) are very CPU depended and do use multi cores. So we could compare the RAW CPU power very good and correct. It pointed out that the RAW A12 power was way inferior compared to the lowest running i7. using FFmpeg is imo one the best benchmark test you can do.
 
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Or perhaps it'll be fine and last 7 years.

That's the point. None of us here know anything. Apple probably do and they're not saying.

So why make decisions based on the fear of the unknown?

Uncertainty is exactly when one needs to be careful and considerate. When the future is known, no problem.
 
so how do we know it's not a Hackintosh? Some 10th gen have be hackintoshed already and a lot of parts can spoofed...
 
You really think the initial Apple Silicon-based Macs will be faster than a 10-core/20-thread Intel i9?
I bet it'll be close speed-wise. But the 27" i9 will be much hotter, noisier, heavier, more expensive, and will need to be plugged in all the time. The new ARM 24" Macs will run on battery, and be a two piece. A small base station wirelessly connected to a separate screen. 24" is probably because it's a giant laptop screen. I bet the ARM iMac specs will be much better than fastest MacBook Pro specs, but will need to catch up to 90W i9 power.
 
Then you are in for a huge disappointment.
We have compiled FFmpeg for ARM and did run on the latest iPadPro. Encoding a 2h 4K movie to HEVC did take +2hours. On an Intel i7 (not the fastest) it took less than 20minutes.
The fastest ARM CPU is still way slower compared to a mediocre Intel.
Basically this means Apple silicon will be good for basic things as long it does not need heave pure CPU power. Ofcourse the Metal APIs will use the GPU too, still in general use it will be a lot slower.

It may be the fastest CPU in any Apple mobile devices, but it is not the fastest Arm chip by a long way. Not when there are Arm server chips with up to 80 cores, and Arm reference designs for even more cores. Apple Silicon will not have the same limits as in the iPad Pro, and will definitely have more than 6GB RAM.
 
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So when are these coming out so the older ones drop in price and the refurbs drop in price? I've been monitoring the refurb page since Monday and only 1 model has shown up between the 21.5 and the 27's. Wonder if the two are related?
 
Whilst I see why it's important for Apple to keep releasing Intel Macs, it's still confusing for consumers and is problematic for businesses looking to upgrade.

Yeah - Apple following through with exactly what they very clearly said they were going to do at WWDC. Really confusing that...

The downside depends on how good the ARM machines are. It’s not so much that Intel machines will stop working (of course they’ll be supported), but it could be dwarfed in performance and usability by ARM machine equivalents

Sounds like what we used to call "progress" to me.

Anyway, the first Intel Macs to get sand kicked in their face by ARM are going to be the MB Air and 13" MBP which are severely limited by thermals and battery life. Maybe also the Mac Mini (which is knobbled by it's Intel worst-of-class iGPU). Then maybe the 21.5" iMac Beating the 16"MBP, the 5k iMac and the Mac Pro is going to be more challenging- probably needing a souped-up CPU with insane numbers of cores and/or extra on-chip acceleration. If Apple are completely dropping discrete GPUs, that's also going to be a hard sell. There's also the issue of getting not just the major Pro apps, but all the third party plug-ins, drivers etc. that they depend on - running native. Not saying it won't happen or isn't possible, but my guess is that the Pro machines won't be replaced until the tail end of Apple's 2 year transition period.

This new Intel iMac sounds like fairly a high-end iMac (with a 10-core processor) which might well be unchallenged for a year or two yet. The Mac I wouldn't buy today would be the MB Air - which is (a) likely to be the first to be replaced and (b) likely to be left in the dust by an ARM version.
 
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Of course not.
But our tests where merely to compare raw CPU power between i7 and A12. FFmpeg HEVC (with x265) are very CPU depended and do use multi cores. So we could compare the RAW CPU power very good and correct. It pointed out that the RAW A12 power was way inferior compared to the lowest running i7. using FFmpeg is imo one the best benchmark test you can do.

Congrats on pointing out that a tablet has less “raw power” than an i7 in the specific task you asked it to do. Maybe you could put an iPhone up against an Intel-powered server next! :/
 
AMD Radeon Pro 5300 as RDNA1?! Are you kidding me? RDNA2 is just about to launch, what's up with them to always make sure for the iMac to be behind in GPU. The only worthwhile reason for them to update the iMac so late would be Big Navi and they gonna pull this again? 🙄
I will fall off my chair if AMD actually ships any RDNA2 capable GPUs this year...if they do, it will be exactly one model (e.g. Radeon 6900/6900XT) and I doubt it will be in meaningful quantities. AMD has been glacial in their GPU rollout.
 
I'm waiting for apple silicon. my last 3 intel iMacs 2013, 2017, 2019 really haven't impressed me in speed boost from one to the next

I have 2 older macs, a MBP and a Mac Mini, both 2012 macs, the only thing which is slow is the Graphics card, both have SSD's inside and 16GB RAM, they run really well.

Looks like you never used any of them to the limit cause the updates were substantial.

Upgrading the HDD and RAM makes these machines fast for the regular users, Intel CPU's didn't improve that much for the average users.
 
I have 2 older macs, a MBP and a Mac Mini, both 2012 macs, the only thing which is slow is the Graphics card, both have SSD's inside and 16GB RAM, they run really well.

Upgrading the HDD and RAM makes these machines fast for the regular users, Intel CPU's didn't improve that much for the average users.

I don't think people realize just how much the GPU is the bottleneck for a lot of people and the CPU performance has been fine for 10 years.
 
I think Apple introduces a redesign with the Intel models to get consumers to buy a shiny new design, then switches to Apple Silicon late this year, early next.
The fact that they contracted Intel specifically for a 95w model at all tells me they are sticking with the current industrial design for the next (last?) Intel as they cannot fit a 125w TDP CPU inside the iMac’s chassis and properly cool it, meaning the Core i9-10900K is out and the Core i9-10900 is useless with a 2.8GHz base frequency.

The new iMac industrial design is going to be specifically tailored for Apple Silicon and that’s that. Apple wants AS to make a dramatic splash to generate excitement for customers.
 
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I don't think people realize just how much the GPU is the bottleneck for a lot of people and the CPU performance has been fine for 10 years.

Yup, If the old (8 year old) CPU is fast, like more than fast enough for most tasks, a new CPU won't make these regular tasks much faster, a webpage loads in a second on my 8 year old mac, on a new mac it's 0.9 seconds, the difference is negligible.
The GPU (Intel) isn't up to it's task for games and so, but for the daily tasks it does it's job well.
 
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