Mac transition to ARM (rumor) and buying

LongLensPhotography

Th..th..that's all folks!
Messages
17,553
Name
[Censored] Fruitcake Bat
Edit My Images
No
If they do move to arm I imagine they'll try to make the move seamless for users. Though I am not sure how well 3rd party apps like LR will cope since they are all built for x86 at the moment
 
Who can remember when Apple switched from PowerPC processors to Intel in around 2005/6? Before my first Mac, by a couple of years, but I think the PowerPC processors were phased out from new releases of the OS about 2011
 
If they do move to arm I imagine they'll try to make the move seamless for users. Though I am not sure how well 3rd party apps like LR will cope since they are all built for x86 at the moment

I am certainly worried about updates ending for the x64 version a bit too soon (osx or 3rd party), while v1 of arm architecture may be a bit of an early beta test.... Without many features of V2 or V3. Say I keep them 5 years on average; is it going to last this far before falling into obsolescence?


When I bought my first Mac it was the first x64. It has remained viable for much longer than the last x32 build. That's where I want to be.
Win platform would likely offer that peace of mind in this regard, unless they too have some unexpected plans. I doubt intel is about to pack up though. I started looking at hp spectre x360 4k. Not cheap at all, but hw is easily as nice or better than apple. Getting used to software is another question. Lack of more ports may be the biggest problem
 
I've been using Apple Macs since the early 1980s and the one thing they've usually managed well is transitioning to new technologies.
 
Wintel will be safer.

The current Apple organisation isn't what it once was regarding either carefully developed products or user experience (Macbook keyboard issues for example) and I'm not convinced about Adobe's ability to integrate their software well with different processors either (i.e. lightroom running faster without graphics acceleration). It's entirely possible the new Macs with ARM chips will be great with LR & PS, but it's not something I'd bet the farm on.
 
I've been using Apple Macs since the early 1980s and the one thing they've usually managed well is transitioning to new technologies.
Same here, been an Apple user since system 6 and that was a long long time ago. When they shifted to Intel from the Powermacs the apps still worked but under emulation during the transition period.

Personally I don't think the move to Arm will happen for a few years yet, if it ever happens at all as Apple tend to keep things pretty well much close to their chest until a final announcement.

Most of the stuff you see on the Internet is pure speculation from the likes of Apple Rumours and others, and if anything I would think that the next iMac lineup could well have an AMD chip in it. Way better than the Intel current lineup especially when it comes to multi core performance and they are cheaper to buy as well. But as they say "only time will tell"
 
Who can remember when Apple switched from PowerPC processors to Intel in around 2005/6? Before my first Mac, by a couple of years, but I think the PowerPC processors were phased out from new releases of the OS about 2011

I remember this well, it was not seamless ime.
 
Last edited:
I remember this well, it was not seamless ime.
What sort of problems did you have? I moved from my iBook 4 to a MacBook Pro 15" dual core and didn't miss a beat. I still have both of them and they still work when required.
 
I just found Microsoft has already done similar with surface X tablet. I thought their failed experiment a few years ago was their last endeavour with arm chip but clearly I was mistaken. I take it they are going to support both architectures for many years to come. Should we expect apple to do the same or attempt a complete switch as soon as possible? It would be time they come out and clarify as even the major outlets like Bloomberg are writing about this.

would think that the next iMac lineup could well have an AMD chip in it.

For an end user it would be a very seamless upgrade that would not break anything. If it costs less that would be even better. This would be a great outcome.
 
Also I would guess canon won't release arm version of ipf6450 drivers for 2021 osx, or any other major rewrite for that matter. Catalina drivers may be the last ones. That would leave me pretty screwed if we were forced down this path
Major os changes kill off many good but older peripherals. For ipf x300 line Catalina is already the deadend.
 
I suppose intel macs can always natively run Windows 10, that can be further updated as needed. I never tried it via bootcamp (not enough space on 256gb ssd for the start). That may be a big consolation prize for the old machines and at least partially keep their value within reasonable levels.

ARM mac, OSX slowly morphing into iOS-like cripple, app store only installation source, isolation of file management are all progressively worse features in that particular order and I fear they are firmly on this track. From that perspective I have no desire to cross that finish line in the apple bandwagon.
 
Apple have always been opinionated about their products. That's why I don't get along with them a lot of the times. For software development though having one is nice.
 
What sort of problems did you have? I moved from my iBook 4 to a MacBook Pro 15" dual core and didn't miss a beat. I still have both of them and they still work when required.

It was the software side, agfa apogee, repro software, Adobe, quark, macromedia, etc etc. A lot of the industry standard stuff just didn't play nice.
 
Last edited:
Well I've just ordered a MacBook Pro with a Apple ARM M1 chip. 8 CPU cores, 8 GPU cores, 16 core neutral engine, 16GB ram.
I'm told by Apple that all existing software will run as quick or quicker using "Roseta" to emulate the Intel x86 instruction set. Lightroom is ready with a version optimised for the new chip. And it will run all iPhone/iPad apps as well.
So I'll let you know how I get on once I have it (5th Dec, ish) Fingers crossed.
 
Well I've just ordered a MacBook Pro with a Apple ARM M1 chip. 8 CPU cores, 8 GPU cores, 16 core neutral engine, 16GB ram.
I'm told by Apple that all existing software will run as quick or quicker using "Roseta" to emulate the Intel x86 instruction set. Lightroom is ready with a version optimised for the new chip. And it will run all iPhone/iPad apps as well.
So I'll let you know how I get on once I have it (5th Dec, ish) Fingers crossed.
When Adobe say Lightroom will be ready in December they mean the Lightron CC app. The Lightroom Classic update shall be come some time next year (2021). Photoshop is expected in early 2021. I’d be interested to see how Lightroom classic runs in Rosetta as I’m thinking of a Mac mini M1. I’m still not sure whether to wait until the next chip set will be available as I can see Apple producing a range of chips.
 
Who can remember when Apple switched from PowerPC processors to Intel in around 2005/6? Before my first Mac, by a couple of years, but I think the PowerPC processors were phased out from new releases of the OS about 2011
I remember the previous switch from 68k to PowerPC - frequent OS crashes with Type 11 errors it took them years to fix.
 
When Adobe say Lightroom will be ready in December they mean the Lightron CC app. The Lightroom Classic update shall be come some time next year (2021). Photoshop is expected in early 2021. I’d be interested to see how Lightroom classic runs in Rosetta as I’m thinking of a Mac mini M1. I’m still not sure whether to wait until the next chip set will be available as I can see Apple producing a range of chips.
I only have the Lightroom CC 1TB deal...I got it cheap for 2 years pre-paid (£76)(I'm only an amateur). I use Lightroom for 90% of my images and Affinity and Luminar4 for the few that need more involved tweaking. But I'll let you all know of any problems that I come across.
 
Back
Top