Big Sur, and Apple ditching Intel for laptops and iMacs

[mhschmieder]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apple-ar ... 21295.html

This is huge news. I wonder what (and when) the impact will be on cross-platform tools like Java, Qt, JUCE, and others, as well as Microsoft's interesting Azure ecosystem (much of which is oriented around infrastructure support for Machine Learning)?

[stubbsonic]

Oh dear.

Maybe my next computer will be a desktop and not a MBP or iMac.

I wonder if they'll put that same type of non-intel chip in their mini's as well.

[cuttime]

Considering that the Mac Pros that just came out still have Intel Xeons in them, I suspect that they will have to support Intel for a while.

[mhschmieder]

I'm more concerned about the opposite situation, and also that Big Sur might break yet more apps and plug-ins.

[bayswater]

I wonder if they'll put that same type of non-intel chip in their mini's as well.

Apparently they already have.

My question is whether developers of apps like DP and similar will follow Apple down this road, and if they do, how painless the conversion will be.

[mikehalloran]

The A12Z is already in use in the 2020 iPad Pro.

It was first reported in an Intel company report a few years ago that Apple was headed in this direction.

[Michael Canavan]

I wonder if they'll put that same type of non-intel chip in their mini's as well.

Apparently they already have.

My question is whether developers of apps like DP and similar will follow Apple down this road, and if they do, how painless the conversion will be.

I doubt it will be painless, but I can't imagine that MOTU would decide enough is enough with this.
Apple has done this a couple times before with OS 9 to OS X and PPC to Intel. In the bigger picture I would expect this to be the last time it's a drastic change like this though, since they're now transitioning to designing the chips themselves. If they're right and Arm chips end up consistently outperforming Intel and AMD then it would be worth it to port your workstation software like DP over.

All I know is I'm not selling this old Mac Pro with Mojave here, it's going to be my legacy app machine for sure. Also, owning a copy of VEP I now have a specific application (along with DP) that will be my launching point for upgrading this aging MacBook pro here. When Vienna get VEP 8 ( I assume ) running on a MacBook pro with Apples Arm chips, then I upgrade. This way I lose nothing, There's always the Mac Pro to fall back on, and VEP allows using plug ins that haven't or will not port to Arm.

[Tritonemusic]

I just bought the baseline iMac Pro a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't wait and needed a computer. Hope my timing doesn't work against me too terribly soon. That said, I'm really happy right now.

[HCMarkus]

I just bought the baseline iMac Pro a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't wait and needed a computer. Hope my timing doesn't work against me too terribly soon. That said, I'm really happy right now.

Being happy now is always a good thing. Because now is now. And it still is, even... now.

[Michael Canavan]

I just bought the baseline iMac Pro a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't wait and needed a computer. Hope my timing doesn't work against me too terribly soon. That said, I'm really happy right now.

Being happy now is always a good thing. Because now is now. And it still is, even... now.

Didn't the original Universal Binary have an over ten year run?

Latest greatest is a real problem of course, but developers continued to code UB forever.

[Tritonemusic]

I just bought the baseline iMac Pro a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't wait and needed a computer. Hope my timing doesn't work against me too terribly soon. That said, I'm really happy right now.

Being happy now is always a good thing. Because now is now. And it still is, even... now.

Indeed!

[mikehalloran]

I just bought the baseline iMac Pro a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't wait and needed a computer. Hope my timing doesn't work against me too terribly soon. That said, I'm really happy right now.

Wheat Chex, Rice Chex, Pay checks

Reality checks:

Apple supports the MacOS for 3 years after release as required under California law and their agreements with the EU. Although this means security updates, they've been pretty good overall on this.

Tech support, phone and engineering, is free as long as you are running a supported OS on a Mac where the OS is supported. The MP 5.1 running Mojave on a supported GPU? Yes; on a non-supported GPU that required a hack? No. OS 10.13.6, however is.

This is not to be confused with the 3 year maximum under AppleCare which covers the actual hardware—and only if you purchased it. Apple may make an exception under a waiver or recall but it's at their discretion and they're pretty tight on that.

They don't guaranty that a new Mac you buy now will run the next two OS but this has always been the case. It is probable that new hardware sold in 2020 will run Big Sur and whatever happens in 2022.

What does this mean?

Early 2009 Macs and others running El Cap as their final supported OS hit End of life (EOL) in 2018. You might get support for Logic or other Apple apps on one of these machines but I wouldn't count on it.

EOL for High Sierra will be November 2020. It will be announced in October but will be official a few weeks later when Apple notifies government and large corporate clients that OS support is over. Likewise, late 2009–2011 Macs will hit EOL this coming November as High Sierra is their last supported OS.

2012 and later Macs? We don't know EOL. Catalina runs on them. Will Big Sur? If no, then EOL will be November 2022. If yes, then ???

I suspect that AHCI Macs may be affected this year re Big Sur ... but the MP 6.1 was still a current model in 2019, so perhaps not. The 6.1 was only AHCI Mac still sold after 2016. However, NVMe 3 x4 blades are a 5 minute install (and a 2–6x performance upgrade depending on the year and model). NVMe requires High Sierra or later and can be installed in AHCI SSD based Macs going back to 2013.

Since SATA III HDD based iMacs are still being sold (why?!?), I expect EOL to be much later for them.

[mhschmieder]

Mike, that is heartening to hear, and it does offset the hyperbole from Apple's marketing spiel, which calls this the biggest upheaval in macOS since OS X came along, and maybe even bigger than that.

[Tritonemusic]

I just bought the baseline iMac Pro a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't wait and needed a computer. Hope my timing doesn't work against me too terribly soon. That said, I'm really happy right now.

Wheat Chex, Rice Chex, Pay checks

Reality checks:....

Thanks, Mike. Appreciate you taking the time to type all that out. Great info.

[ritzybiz]

I have loaded the Big Sur public beta on a second computer (MBP), and DP 10.11 crashes from splash screen. Safe mode also crashes. But it's early days for the new system.