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It looks like what Apple did was take their cellphone Arm processors. Do the minimal changes to get it to work in a laptop, and jammed that into laptops they al

It looks like what Apple did was take their cellphone Arm processors. Do the minimal changes to get it to work in a laptop, and jammed that into laptops they already had. Which seems to me, to be the right strategy, but you do then end up with some weird limitations. I expect these issues to be sorted in the future generations of Apple silicon laptops.

stuff4ben 6y ago
Yeah, like most first gen Apple gear, it's probably wise to hold off until they work the kinks out. That being said, my MacBook Air is getting a little long in the tooth so I may upgrade sooner rather than later.
- alistairSH 6y ago
  I'm torn between a refurb Intel-based MBA or a new M1-based MBA. Or making a leap over to the 12" iPad Pro.
  - lucian1900 6y ago
    I got myself a used iPad Air 3 with a keyboard. Besides programming, I’ve yet to encounter serious limitations.
    - alistairSH 6y ago
      Yeah, the iPad Air is tempting, but I want a "big" screen for photo editing while traveling. If there was a 12" Air, I'd already own it.
      - easde 6y ago
        Refurb 12" Macbook? Wish Apple would reintroduce those with the M1. Awesome form factor, held back by Intel's anemic Core M CPUs.
        lucian1900 6y ago
        I wouldn't be surprised if after migrating everything to M1 we'll end up with 12" & 14" Airs and 14" & 16" Pros.
gutnor 6y ago
That's also why they updated their large sales volume, entry level to average hardware. That will give them loads of data to smooth out the kinks out of Rosetta and the rest of software chain while having enough time to work on the M2. I expect the first "real" Apple silicon hardware will be in November 2021 staring iMac and MBP 16. Then 2022/2023 for the MacPro where Apple really goes all out, deprecate the last of their x86 line up but at this stage we are at the M4 and nobody cares anymore.
wlesieutre 6y ago
In terms of core count (4 performance cores, 4 efficient cores, 8 GPU cores) it’s the tier of hardware used in the iPad Pro, except those are currently based on the A12 instead of the A14. But yeah, I agree they must have a roadmap past these limitations. When we get a 16” MBP I’d bet on it having more RAM and 4 thunderbolt ports. They’ve launched the low end machines with M1 first because this is a first step in the M-processors, and it’s the first time they’ve had any sort of thunderbolt controller with this architecture. Makes me wonder if any of these changes will make their way back to the iPad Pro. Right now they’re USB-C without thunderbolt, but the new iPad Air is getting awfully close to the iPad Pro’s territory. Thunderbolt support and being able to drive a 6K display would be an interesting differentiator.

stuff4ben 6y ago

Yeah, like most first gen Apple gear, it's probably wise to hold off until they work the kinks out. That being said, my MacBook Air is getting a little long in the tooth so I may upgrade sooner rather than later.

alistairSH 6y ago
I'm torn between a refurb Intel-based MBA or a new M1-based MBA. Or making a leap over to the 12" iPad Pro.
- lucian1900 6y ago
  I got myself a used iPad Air 3 with a keyboard. Besides programming, I’ve yet to encounter serious limitations.
  - alistairSH 6y ago
    Yeah, the iPad Air is tempting, but I want a "big" screen for photo editing while traveling. If there was a 12" Air, I'd already own it.
    - easde 6y ago
      Refurb 12" Macbook? Wish Apple would reintroduce those with the M1. Awesome form factor, held back by Intel's anemic Core M CPUs.
      - lucian1900 6y ago
        I wouldn't be surprised if after migrating everything to M1 we'll end up with 12" & 14" Airs and 14" & 16" Pros.

gutnor 6y ago

That's also why they updated their large sales volume, entry level to average hardware. That will give them loads of data to smooth out the kinks out of Rosetta and the rest of software chain while having enough time to work on the M2. I expect the first "real" Apple silicon hardware will be in November 2021 staring iMac and MBP 16. Then 2022/2023 for the MacPro where Apple really goes all out, deprecate the last of their x86 line up but at this stage we are at the M4 and nobody cares anymore.

wlesieutre 6y ago

In terms of core count (4 performance cores, 4 efficient cores, 8 GPU cores) it’s the tier of hardware used in the iPad Pro, except those are currently based on the A12 instead of the A14. But yeah, I agree they must have a roadmap past these limitations. When we get a 16” MBP I’d bet on it having more RAM and 4 thunderbolt ports. They’ve launched the low end machines with M1 first because this is a first step in the M-processors, and it’s the first time they’ve had any sort of thunderbolt controller with this architecture. Makes me wonder if any of these changes will make their way back to the iPad Pro. Right now they’re USB-C without thunderbolt, but the new iPad Air is getting awfully close to the iPad Pro’s territory. Thunderbolt support and being able to drive a 6K display would be an interesting differentiator.