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loopy123

macrumors member
Aug 9, 2018
64
126
No, they use Windows for ARM on AS and still use x86/64 software by emulation (the Redmond Rosetta-2 pendant). Works good, i.e. even Altium CAD works.
I would second this. Windows 11 ARM running under Parallels on Apple Silicon is remarkably fast even when running x86/x64 software. Accelerated OpenGL is supported. Any software that requires AVX will not run however.
 
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Jumpthesnark

macrumors 65816
Apr 24, 2022
1,242
5,146
California
2017 iMac, fully loaded. Holding on to it until an M4 or better Studio comes out. Also, right now I have a Drobo backing up all my work and photos to the tune of 20 Tb at the moment. I've got to figure out another storage solution since Drobo went Chapter 11 and is no longer supported. Not sure if it runs on later OS as I'm still running Ventura 13.6.1 and afraid to upgrade.
I used to have Drobo as well. Offloaded all my photos to plain HDs now. It's a shame, I liked the Drobo approach but once they weren't supported any more, that became too risky. Good luck with whatever solution you find.
 
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Bruh Bear

Suspended
Jul 16, 2024
54
93
2017 iMac, fully loaded. Holding on to it until an M4 or better Studio comes out. Also, right now I have a Drobo backing up all my work and photos to the tune of 20 Tb at the moment. I've got to figure out another storage solution since Drobo went Chapter 11 and is no longer supported. Not sure if it runs on later OS as I'm still running Ventura 13.6.1 and afraid to upgrade.
Do you care if the backup is local or would you use something like a NAS device?
 

benmuetsch

macrumors member
Oct 10, 2020
73
25
I do everything on Intel Macs :D

Mac Pro 2019: Music production, post production, all audio jobs currently on macOS Monterey

Mac Pro 2010: Office tasks, light CAD tasks, occasionally light gaming, watching TV, macOS Big Sur and Windows 10

MacBook Pro 2009 17": My email machine and typewriter for invoices, macOS Mojave
 

BanjoDudeAhoy

macrumors 6502a
Aug 3, 2020
921
1,624
I just bought a 2012 Mac mini. That will probably replace my 2006 mini because I can’t get it to work with my 27” 4K screen.

But as before, it’ll be a Nostalgia Machine and dual-boot macOS and Windows (for old games).
Also, I’ll probably upgrade it a bit since that’s still possible with the 2012 ones.
 
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Zest28

macrumors 68030
Jul 11, 2022
2,581
3,931
I owned an iMac 2019 with the i9 CPU and it could get quite noisy under even moderate load. My first AS computer was a M1 Air, which was astonishing because a fanless tiny lightweight machine did better in most CPU tasks than my big, high powered desktop with its fan howling.

Apple just sucks at engineering.

My Xbox Series X under full tilt is dead quiet while my 16" M1 Max MacBook Pro would be noisy. And the GPU in the Xbox Series X is more powerful than the M1 Max.
 
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bice

macrumors regular
Aug 22, 2015
211
347
What about you? What are you still using an Intel Mac for that won't work on an Apple Silicon Mac?
a) SDXC slot - I hold on to a MB air because of the SDXC slot. Apple deciding this is a 'pro' function didn't coincide exactly with the transition from Intel it is indeed withholding me from moving to a new macbook air. I don't want/need the power, weight and cost of a macbook pro

b) some programs that I have paid a lot in licensing fees where upgrades to versions from M-processor is either very costly or makes the program worse. Eg. office where the intel versions are proper applications that work like a mac application. Another example is omnigraffle, omnioutline, omniplan etc where upgrades will be costly and I don't use them that much, so the cost is hard to justify.
There is also a number of smaller programs that I love but don't offer upgrades that also holds me back.


My work provides me with a modern mackbook pro, but I find myself going back to my personal machines for some work related tasks as I feel more productive there.

That said, I'm inching closer to renewing my MB air as some programs have become better (office has somewhat improved lately) and some programs (omni, some legacy apps) I actually use less and less these days. The MB air is slowly falling apart, after going to macos 12 it became really slow. I will first try using tablet only when on the road before deciding on a new MB air. I've just ordered the oneplus pad 2 and will try to live with the limitations for half a year to see how it works out.
 

mr_roboto

macrumors 6502a
Sep 30, 2020
856
1,866
Now what would happen if the Xbox Series X was less than 1 cm thin too, I wonder.
It's inconvenient to the cause of trolling to make comparisons between things that are actually comparable, so he's sweeping that under the rug. Twice the weight and 4.5x the internal volume? No difference at all, Apple must suck at engineering!

(Also, I own a 16" M1 Max MBP, and it's not noisy.)
 

PoisonTheWell

macrumors newbie
Jan 27, 2016
11
8
Do you care if the backup is local or would you use something like a NAS device?
I have a Drobo 5D directly hooked up to my iMac. I can just hook a NAS directly to it with a cable, correct? I've been looking at Synology 5 or 6 drive units and OWC Thunderbay equivalents. I'm mostly concerned about ease of use and seamlessness that the Drobo has provided me for the past 15 years or so. I've been able to hotswap drives to expand storage or if one's gone bad. Right now I have 70tb.
 

dandeco

macrumors 65816
Dec 5, 2008
1,253
1,049
Brockton, MA
I still use a 2010s Intel MacBook Pro for running a Windows XP virtual machine to run old PC games and other such software with, along with making "Let's Play" commentary videos via Screenflow. UTM on Apple Silicon Macs still has a few difficulties with emulating such a Windows XP virtual machine.
I also create bootable Intel-compatible MacOS USB installers for my workplace using an Intel MacBook Air.
But other than those, I largely use my M1 MacBook Air for other purposes.
 

izzy0242mr

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2009
691
491
What are you doing/using with yours that cannot be done on an Apple Silicon Mac using Rosetta 2?
Running Windows natively to play the occasional game (usually older games), although I still run into limitations with Intel Graphics sometimes.

Running Windows in a VM either can't run games at all or does so poorly vs native Intel. The Game Porting Toolkit is a great option for some games, but doesn't work for all of them.
 

wonderings

macrumors 6502a
Nov 19, 2021
956
947
Running Windows natively to play the occasional game (usually older games), although I still run into limitations with Intel Graphics sometimes.

Running Windows in a VM either can't run games at all or does so poorly vs native Intel. The Game Porting Toolkit is a great option for some games, but doesn't work for all of them.
Cloud gaming is surprisingly good. I recently started a subscription to Ubisoft Premier and have tried a few games in the cloud on my iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro and they play really well, as long as your connection is good. I had to switch to my 5ghz network at home and was playing Assassins Creed Mirage, Far Cry 6 and an older game I played years ago that I saw they have. Can't remember the name, you basically play a god for these tribe people and advert disasters.
 
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izzy0242mr

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2009
691
491
Cloud gaming is surprisingly good. I recently started a subscription to Ubisoft Premier and have tried a few games in the cloud on my iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro and they play really well, as long as your connection is good. I had to switch to my 5ghz network at home and was playing Assassins Creed Mirage, Far Cry 6 and an older game I played years ago that I saw they have. Can't remember the name, you basically play a god for these tribe people and advert disasters.
I've used Nvidia GeForce Now a while back and definitely liked it. Downside was that it didn't support my hardware very well (I prefer a trackpad to a mouse) and, of course, fees. I'm on a mission to reduce the amount of subscriptions in my life so I'm not too keen to get another one, but cloud gaming is definitely cool!
 

wonderings

macrumors 6502a
Nov 19, 2021
956
947
I've used Nvidia GeForce Now a while back and definitely liked it. Downside was that it didn't support my hardware very well (I prefer a trackpad to a mouse) and, of course, fees. I'm on a mission to reduce the amount of subscriptions in my life so I'm not too keen to get another one, but cloud gaming is definitely cool!
I completely hear you with the monthly fee. I am only doing cloud gaming because I am swapping my Netflix for it. Not sure I will keep it long term, it all depends on the games they bring out.
 

izzy0242mr

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2009
691
491
I completely hear you with the monthly fee. I am only doing cloud gaming because I am swapping my Netflix for it. Not sure I will keep it long term, it all depends on the games they bring out.
That's the other issue too: availability. In my view, if I'm using a remote server to run a game, and that server can run on Linux, Windows, or macOS, then I should be able to play whatever game is compatible with those OSes. It doesn't make sense that I have to wait around for the cloud provider to "support" it when it works on a given system natively. I think I ran into that issue a few times (delays) with GeForce Now.
 

Squiggles Chitter

macrumors newbie
Jul 1, 2024
12
5
This post might belong in a different forum (so, apologies to the mods in advance). But, in the spirit of the Intel to Apple Silicon Mac transition, I'll pose the following question:

For those still holding onto Intel-based Macs (however old or recent they may be), what are you still using your Intel-based Mac for? What are you doing/using with yours that cannot be done on an Apple Silicon Mac using Rosetta 2?

Personally, I have a small handful of 2014 and 2015 era MacBook Pros and Airs for running Mojave and the few 32-bit only apps I still have. But I also have a MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) for Boot Camp and x86-64 virtualization (both of which are non-existent on an Apple Silicon Mac). I'd imagine my reliance on these things will very quickly transition from "maintaining legacy compatibility with something I have a likelihood of using semi-regularly" to "security blanket" as time marches on. But, for now, that's what I'm rocking.

What about you? What are you still using an Intel Mac for that won't work on an Apple Silicon Mac?
I use a 2013 MBP. I used open core patcher to install sonoma. It works more or less like new. I can also install old versions of macos, which is always fun. Why would I spend $1000 or more to upgrad?
 
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MBAir2010

macrumors 604
May 30, 2018
6,975
6,354
there
just now i'm designing a new web site, well the graphics and content form scratch for now
on both Macbooks using CS4 Photoshop which is much easier and quicer for me to use than Affinity.
I already have a site on weebly (i think) that needs current OS and the visuals are lame.
 

bollman

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2001
745
1,624
Lund, Sweden
My 2018 mac mini i7 with 1TB SSD has gotten an upgrade to 64GB of RAM and is working great as a virtualization-server with Fusion. At work, I inherited an iMac Pro 10-core with 64GB RAM and 1TB drive, no need to replace that.
Now that everyone is replacing their Intel macs, there are so many great machines to get your hands on for a bargain.
 

Populus

macrumors 603
Aug 24, 2012
5,928
8,404
Spain, Europe
I’m using an old 2014 Mac mini which still manages to work pretty well on Monterey. It has the more powerful i5 CPU @ 2.60GHz paired with 8GB of soldered RAM and a 1TB SSD that I replaced by myself.

What do I use it for? Well, to be honest I’m increasingly using my iPad Pro for many of the tasks I performed on the Mac mini, mostly text editing, PDF reading, web browsing and email. Those are more conveniently done now on my M2 iPad Pro.

But I still use it for playing, every once in a while, using GeForce Now (there’s no native app for iPad), and some tasks that cannot be done on an iPad like managing torrent files download.

What I’m really eager to have an M4 Mac mini for in the future, is to be able to compress big video files with handbrake, which sadly isn’t available for my iPad.

How'd you do that?
The 2018 Mac mini allowed you to expand the RAM by opening the device. It was an exception unfortunately, as they reverted back to the soldered RAM modules (this time on the M1 SoC), with the 2020 Mac mini.
 
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MBAir2010

macrumors 604
May 30, 2018
6,975
6,354
there
This morning the mac mini 2012 launched the Tour de france stream site and finished brewing my coffee,
i went back to the desk and Olra and her gang stopped blabbing and the director in the sedan waved that flag thus the stage started quite earlier than usual.
I flip open the macbook pro running MT Lion 2012 push the power button for a quick launch, in 3 seconds firefox legacy sprung and in 2 seconds the stream started. i then pressed my JBL go speaker button and received in signal under a second that broadcast the sound in perfect harmony with the display all in under 8 seconds and took the MBP downstairs to watch in delight.

some how that M! and homepods took much, much longer.

I know these scenarios are hard to graps and i feel like a visually impaired person explaing a recent traffic accident to a police officer, as the cop wont take my statement as seriously.
but these incidents are like Tadej Pogačar, a lot amazement and shock as well!
 
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