5 ms·

Intel Expecting Apple to Transition to Custom ARM-Based Chips Starting in 2020

15 points by sovande 8y ago

jmpman 8y ago
For my work laptop, I don’t care if my laptop is running an Intel or Apple chip, but for my home laptop, I regularly dual boot to Windows for gaming. Without an Intel chip, I’ll stop buying Apple laptops for home use.
- innagadadavida 8y ago
  Should be possible for Apple to support this via virtualization. Do you just use boot camp and run it natively?
  - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
    Virtualization is relatively fast because the cpu instructions aren't actually being emulated. No one is going to be gaming on an X86 emulator, at least not for anything released in the past decade and a half or so.
    - deleted 8y ago
      [deleted]
  - jmpman 8y ago
    I run boot camp, and for gaming, native CPU support is critical.
- shemtovo 8y ago
  Good that MS is also hard at work on arm support, for the same battery + Android app compatibility reasons
  - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
    Aren't all the Windows ARM devices locked down? Can users purchase and install their own copies of Windows on a non-MS-affiliated piece of hardware? That's a requirement for Bootcamp, unless Apple strikes some special deal with MS, and I don't foresee that happening. Also, the software ecosystem for Windows on ARM still isn't great. There's an emulator built into the OS, but it's an emulator.
Wowfunhappy 8y ago
Whatever the last version of macOS is that supports Intel, I will be on it for a very, very, very, very long time...
- kristianp 8y ago
  Why, exactly?
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
    I wrote a comment and deleted it. There are ways Apple could make this work. But I highly suspect ARM macOS is going to be significantly more restricted and locked down. I doubt we'll be able to disable SIP, for instance. The overall direction macOS is moving is not positive. The article mentions Apple wanting developers to be able to publish one app for both macOS and iOS. I'm all for developer's lives being easier, but Apple's initial marzipan apps are really, really bad. I don't want to use touch-first interfaces on a desktop... Also, I run Windows VM’s, dual boot, do video encoding tasks that see huge benefits from a proper desktop x86 chip, etc.
- aorth 8y ago
  That's unreasonable. What about software security updates?
  - Wowfunhappy 8y ago
    ...I'm not sure I care. I'll have to be careful. I fell in love with macOS a decade ago. It is a legitimate emotional attachment; I love it more than I've ever loved any piece of software. Unfortunately, Apple is taking away more and more of what made the platform appealing. I’m not going to outright give up macOS until it’s ripped from my cold dead hands, but I’m also not moving to ARM for all my computing.

15 points by sovande 8y ago

For my work laptop, I don’t care if my laptop is running an Intel or Apple chip, but for my home laptop, I regularly dual boot to Windows for gaming. Without an Intel chip, I’ll stop buying Apple laptops for home use.

innagadadavida 8y ago
Should be possible for Apple to support this via virtualization. Do you just use boot camp and run it natively?
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  Virtualization is relatively fast because the cpu instructions aren't actually being emulated. No one is going to be gaming on an X86 emulator, at least not for anything released in the past decade and a half or so.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- jmpman 8y ago
  I run boot camp, and for gaming, native CPU support is critical.
shemtovo 8y ago
Good that MS is also hard at work on arm support, for the same battery + Android app compatibility reasons
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  Aren't all the Windows ARM devices locked down? Can users purchase and install their own copies of Windows on a non-MS-affiliated piece of hardware? That's a requirement for Bootcamp, unless Apple strikes some special deal with MS, and I don't foresee that happening. Also, the software ecosystem for Windows on ARM still isn't great. There's an emulator built into the OS, but it's an emulator.

Wowfunhappy 8y ago

Whatever the last version of macOS is that supports Intel, I will be on it for a very, very, very, very long time...

kristianp 8y ago
Why, exactly?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  I wrote a comment and deleted it. There are ways Apple could make this work. But I highly suspect ARM macOS is going to be significantly more restricted and locked down. I doubt we'll be able to disable SIP, for instance. The overall direction macOS is moving is not positive. The article mentions Apple wanting developers to be able to publish one app for both macOS and iOS. I'm all for developer's lives being easier, but Apple's initial marzipan apps are really, really bad. I don't want to use touch-first interfaces on a desktop... Also, I run Windows VM’s, dual boot, do video encoding tasks that see huge benefits from a proper desktop x86 chip, etc.
aorth 8y ago
That's unreasonable. What about software security updates?
- Wowfunhappy 8y ago
  ...I'm not sure I care. I'll have to be careful. I fell in love with macOS a decade ago. It is a legitimate emotional attachment; I love it more than I've ever loved any piece of software. Unfortunately, Apple is taking away more and more of what made the platform appealing. I’m not going to outright give up macOS until it’s ripped from my cold dead hands, but I’m also not moving to ARM for all my computing.