yperochiakeraiotita wrote: ↑Sun Dec 27, 2020 5:42 pm
bayswater wrote: ↑Sun Dec 27, 2020 2:20 pm
...but we don't know the pain curve ahead.
This! Best case scenario would be pretty soon enough (before 2021 ends), MOTU and third party plugins would be able to catch up on Big Sur and Apple Silicon compatibility, and Apple Silicon would start allowing higher RAM configurations. That way, the 2018 Mini I have now would be a very solid backup machine to a newer AS Mac.
Until then, it seems as though an older Mac or a Hackintosh would be the best route.
VEP seems enticing too but I realized it won't really be a backup machine just in case things go south with the main machine.
Hey, I know a lot of us are getting PTSD from OS 9 to OS X, PPC to Intel, but I'm kinda sorta obsessed with reading up on this switch to Apple Silicon, and there is far far less to worry about.
So first off, these machines are poised to absolutely skunk Intel and AMD except at the most ridiculous core configuration levels. Initial results from the bottom of the barrel cheapest and least powerful M1 Apple Silicon chips in the Air, Mini and 13" Macbook Pro have the chips crushing nearly every chip out there in single core results. The chip released is essentially a 4 "performance" core chip with 4 "efficiency" cores for daily driving. They nearly beat the current 16" 8 core i9 Macbook Pro, and trounce it in tasks that rely on a single core. The next round with the 16" and possibly the lower end iMac should crush pretty much any Intel mac barring the top of the line latest Mac Pro.
This isn't the same as the PPC to Intel switch, the performance differences are going to be flatly obvious. Microsoft is already talking about following suite and making their own chips, because this is exactly why these supposedly low CPU speed chips are competing with the highest single core results out there. The fact that the chips are specifically designed for the OS that runs them is resulting in some really shocking improvements in performance, the System On a Chip design speeds everything up, and the Arm chip itself is just a better design than x86.
So in terms of Rosetta, this is also looking a lot better than last time, people are reporting higher track counts with plug ins running in Rosetta than on Intel machines. Vienna Instruments unofficially stated that reports are coming back that VEP is running astoundingly well in Rosetta on the bottom of the barrel M1 macs out right now. This is absolutely the worst time to switch to Windows, there's no real reason to. The only thing that may still be a valid reason is for PCIe cards and as a VEP slave with a noisy custom PC in a closet etc.
I know DP isn't Apple Silicon native yet, but I have zero compunction or interest in getting another Intel Mac or switching to Windows, this is looking like a truly positive move that Apple made here and the only hassle is waiting for the coming 12 and or 16 core machines coming out next year, hopefully before June. When that happens I think I might be first in line attempting to run DP on one of these new chips, and I will definitely let people know how it goes.
M2 Studio Ultra, RME Babyface FS, Slate Raven Mti2, NI SL88 MKII, Linnstrument, MPC Live II, Launchpad MK3. Hundreds of plug ins.
, so I was already deciding whether to buy the 16" i9 8 core mbp or maybe a switch to the Zenbook Duo for the touch screen, but DP isn't that great with a touch screen outside of the Slate Raven. Luckily enough I hesitated long enough to know I need to wait for the second generation Apple Silicon. Already these things are coming in as really powerful and this is first generation, no one is complaining so far about build quality etc. 