I’m about to update from a 2020 Mac Mini to a Mac Studio Ultra. When I set up the Mini two years ago I did it from scratch to make sure there were no remnants of 32bit software on it. This time however I’m going to use Migration to set up the new one as I’m sure I have some software that doesn’t have a Silicon version. Will software that does a Silicon version such as the Adobe CC programs update to the Silicon versions on their own or will I have to do it manually? Is there a way to check to see which version (Intel or Silicon) is installed? Thanks.
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Updating software from Intel to Apple Silicon
- Thread starter Daverich4
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Activity Monitor will show Intel or Apple in the "Kind" column if it is showing, and the app is running.
The free Go64 app will show Intel, Universal or Apple for all installed apps.
The excellent but not free MacUpdater will show Intel, Universal or Apple and also update info. I run MacUpdater every day to tell me what updates are available but I then always get the update from within the app if possible.
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Thanks. Any thought on what will be involved in changing from Intel to ARM software? Perhaps some of what I have is Universal?
Quite likely.
No special thoughts. The first time you try to open an Intel app it will trigger the installation of Rosetta, and after that you won't notice anything when you open Intel apps, except they may tell you an update is available of course.
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Like stated above, MacUpdater is a very useful tool. You can also go to this site:
Application Compatibility Table — RoaringApps
Crowd-sourced application compatibility for macOS, iOS and Windows.
to determine if software you use is compatible with the new OS, along with seeing whether an app is native with Silicon or not. You can also visit the company's/developer's site to find out the status of the application.
Thanks, it sounds like my software won’t automatically update to the AIM version, I’ll have to spend some time manually sorting it out.Like stated above, MacUpdater is a very useful tool. You can also go to this site:
Application Compatibility Table — RoaringApps
Crowd-sourced application compatibility for macOS, iOS and Windows.roaringapps.com
to determine if software you use is compatible with the new OS, along with seeing whether an app is native with Silicon or not. You can also visit the company's/developer's site to find out the status of the application.
Most software will likely be universal and already native. Automatic updates will happen for some software. manually seeking out a new version should be a rare exception not the norm.
You won't like my answer but do it manually.
Finding out which of all your software, packages, etc (so many things you won't even see in the application Folder) which one is universal is much more of a hassle then just setting the new one up manually and making sure you always use the ARM-native Version.
Have them side by side, go through everything, it's really not such a big of a deal.
New and fresh Architecture -> New and fresh start.
Good idea.
Horrible idea. A silicon architecture change is a huge obstacle to any migration assistant. If it even works, you will end up with lots of old legacy Intel code on an ARM machine.
Of course, not! You will be prompted to install Rosetta (which is not easy to uninstall). At that point your legacy software will run and might even update itself to an ARM version. But once Rosetta is installed you opened the opportunity for Intel code to stay on your system permanently.
You can check in Activity monitor, but if you want to be sure to run no Intel code, the best way is to never install Rosetta in the first place and set up a new system from scratch. It will take a while to get all the settings back where you want them. But major silicon transitions only happen once in a decade.
How to check which apps are running on Apple M1
That could be an interesting thread if you want to start it and share thoughts on the experience
For Adobe just run the update from the CC app. It will default to the M version of their software. Handy tip, you can open Adobe software from the CC app as the Intel version and run it under emulation if you like. I have had to do this for a plugin that was not updated and required Intel.