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cardfan

macrumors 601
Mar 23, 2012
4,431
5,627
Not really, its not running a desktop quality operating system, its apps are not desktop quality, i.e., Photoshop and Office are nerfed versions. I can multitask a lot more on a laptop, and hook up a heck of more peripherals on my laptop then my iPad.

Its great that you find your usage on the iPad to be better then a laptop, but that doesn't mean your tablet is a better laptop

That’s precisely the concern with an arm Mac. Nerfed versions of software. The emphasis will be more that you can run iPad or iPhone apps on it.

If we can get desktop quality programs and not lite versions then perhaps it’ll be worth a look. I would be curious to see the native arm version of office for Mac that was shown at the event. MS doesn’t even have such a thing for windows arm though I’m sure they’re working on it.
 

johannnn

macrumors 68020
Nov 20, 2009
2,315
2,601
Sweden
I have no interest replacing my iMac with a new iMac. That thing is plenty fast, and I never hear the fan.

I however am very much looking forward to a ARM laptop. The current laptops have incredibly ****** thermals. Something so basic as connecting a laptop to a 4K external display often makes the fan go loud. This should be a thing of the past with a 13” ARM MBP.
 

PineappleSundae

macrumors newbie
Aug 16, 2013
2
0
Australia
I was planning on going from a 2013 Macbook Air to a 2020 Macbook Pro, but after WWDC I've decided to hold off. I'm most likely going to get an ARM MBP as soon as it's available.
 

ondert

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2017
692
997
Canada
I passed to iMac about 3 years ago after all the 3 MacBooks' keyboards had failed and eGPU simply didn't fulfill my needs. So, transition to ARM is a big, big thing and I'm both curios and doubtful about it. If everything goes well then I'll gladly replace my iMac with an arm version after 2 to 3 years. Then getting an iPad to use on the go will be much more beneficial for me then carrying a MacBook since both of them will have many of the apps in common.
 

steve1960

macrumors 6502
Sep 23, 2014
293
300
Singapore
My daughters have 11 inch MBA's one of them will not be supported in Big Sur one will so gives me another year on one device at least. As for the other one I just don't know. Avoid butterfly keyboards at all costs, the move to ARM is a train wreck waiting to happen. I just don't know what to do frankly.
 

texasmac76

macrumors member
Dec 13, 2014
36
21
I will definitely stay with the Mac but it will be after this 2019 16" has alot more miles on it. I am excited over the new direction Apple is taking. They are finally unifying their whole ecosystem for developers too. I will NEVER return to a windows based system. The frustrations are still too fresh( and that was last used on a windows 10 system several years ago). I think the new ARM Macs are a definite look to the future. It was a dead end alley to stay with Intel. But I still think there will be a much longer time than people on here are thinking before these intel based macs are obsolete.
 

Caliber26

macrumors 68020
Sep 25, 2009
2,327
3,657
Orlando, FL
For sure.

My only Mac right now is a Late 2013 13" MBP (8GB RAM & 256GB SSD). I'm happy to report that it's still running just as great as it did on Day One, so I'm hoping they also unveil an ARM iMac this year because that's what I'd prefer to buy next.
 

-LikesMac-

macrumors 6502
Jun 20, 2010
429
23
I'm excited to see where ARM MBPs go. Most likely, I won't be getting the 0th-gen MBP (note that I said 0 and not 1 because that's what it really is). Once my current MBP stops working, though, you better believe that I'll try to max out the ARM MBP that's available at the time. Here's to hoping that:
- Battery life is great
- The CPUs are powerful
- The hardware-software integration is amazing
- The price is reasonable
 

bsamcash

macrumors 65816
Jul 31, 2008
1,033
2,623
San Jose, CA
I’m getting one. After Apple’s official announcement I got rid of my 16” MacBook Pro and got the quad core Air so I can justify buying another MacBook by the end of the year. Haha.
 

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,308
8,320
My daughters have 11 inch MBA's one of them will not be supported in Big Sur one will so gives me another year on one device at least. As for the other one I just don't know. Avoid butterfly keyboards at all costs, the move to ARM is a train wreck waiting to happen. I just don't know what to do frankly.
After viewing some of the WWDC videos on Apple’s website, I’m excited about the transition. Benchmarks alone won’t tell the whole story, but native Apple Silicon apps will have access to the neural engine, better integrated graphics, and will be able to use both the high-efficiency and high-power cores at the same time. Rosetta 2 will bring some of these benefits to existing apps, as well.

It sounds like Apple learned some lessons from the PowerPC to Intel transition, and that Rosetta 2 will work better than Rosetta 1. Notebooks stand to benefit most from the transition, so we will likely see those first.
 

MyopicPaideia

macrumors 68020
Mar 19, 2011
2,155
980
Sweden
That’s precisely the concern with an arm Mac. Nerfed versions of software. The emphasis will be more that you can run iPad or iPhone apps on it.

If we can get desktop quality programs and not lite versions then perhaps it’ll be worth a look. I would be curious to see the native arm version of office for Mac that was shown at the event. MS doesn’t even have such a thing for windows arm though I’m sure they’re working on it.
I am going to have to respectfully and genuinely ask you what ever gives you the impression that any software on the Mac will be nerfed versions of any kind? If you watched the WWDC Keynote and/or the State of the Union presentation, and paid attention, you would not be having these concerns at all. Running iOS and iPadOS apps was a footnote at best compared to what they really were talking about. It is being done because they can. I know there are a lot of iPhone apps I would love to run in a little window as companions to my desktop. I also know that many, many developers are going to opt out of putting their iOS and iPadOS apps on the Mac App Store, because they don’t want people running them there, like Fortnite and other games like it, or the core functionality would be lost, i.e. rear camera, etc.

Just because they are unifying the design language look and feel across platforms doesn’t mean they are gimping macOS and turning it into iOS or iPadOS. It is still the wide open platform it has always been. It still runs every single app that is running on the Mac today. All apps that get optimized and run natively on Apple Silicon will be that much better. What part of FCPX and Logic Pro X is nerfed? Maya running smoothly in emulation on the A12Z DTK? Craig Federighi telling John Gruber how he was amazed at the DTK‘s performance when the Apple Silicon team, quote “wasn’t even trying.”

No... I honestly feel like all of this closing down, dumbing down, software nerfing paranoia is just that, and not based on anything Apple has done or insinuated. They have done quite the opposite, vehemently, many times. I think Craig said it best, “What more do we have to say or do? I’d ask people to judge us by our deeds. We are not closing the Mac down, we are not merging operating systems. The Mac is and will remain the open and flexible platform it has always been.”
 

weckart

macrumors 603
Nov 7, 2004
5,975
3,696
I wish that they would sell the developer Minis. It's basically $500 to rent one right now. They probably require an NDA like they did the last time.
So rent one. You'll either get a $500 voucher against a new ARM-whatever when they ship when you return it or you'll likely make a bit more hanging onto it for a few years and then sneakily selling it on eBay as a rare retro item - especially if you back up all the iterations of ARMOS Big Sur it gets.

No... I honestly feel like all of this closing down, dumbing down, software nerfing paranoia is just that, and not based on anything Apple has done or insinuated.

Apple nerfed iMovie and FCPro back in the day. It has form. It even did the same to AirPort Utility. I would wait and see. Fools rush in etc.
 
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breegenie

macrumors newbie
Sep 26, 2013
10
0
I will, depending on what’s on offer. I wish I knew the Apple Silicon roadmap, at least for the back to school window. Our timeline to replace our Macs is fastracked. They’re both displaying issues being used more heavily for work/school and sharing the Mini is not going to work going forward.

looking for 3 now or very soon:
MacBook Air - need a dedicated device for new high schooler. Got by using iPhone 8 or iPad Air 2 when the Mini 2012 was being used but sharing needs to end.

iMac 27 or MBP 13 with external - my 2011 iMac is overheating and shutting down on mildly hot days. Haven’t even hit the Jul/Aug scorchers yet.

iMac 21.5/24?- don’t trust the youngest with a laptop yet and hooking up the 23” Apple Cinema Display to a newer Mac takes a ridiculous amount of dongles.

They just refreshed the MBA, MBP 13 and mini - will they launch ARM by September/October for recently refreshed models?
 

Karnicopia

macrumors 6502
Mar 27, 2015
483
507
I think I am going to pick one up if it's the 14" MBP, I think that would be close to the perfect machine for me. I like the bigger screen of the 15/16 but if the 14" is able to pack a lot of the power into that smaller form factor with great battery life that is going to check a lot of boxes for me. I've always been a fan of that size but I wanted the dGPU for editing and external monitors but the fans spin up so bad for that it's kind of annoying. I think with how efficent these ARM processors are we should see a pretty significant leap in graphics and if the integrated is good enough I can use the external monitor and handle editing on the go without all of the heat I think I'd prefer that. I'm excited to see where this can go I think the performance they have been able to get out of just the 2 year old iPad chip is impressive so I'm looking forward to seeing what they are able to do when they scale this up.
 

johngwheeler

macrumors 6502a
Dec 30, 2010
639
211
I come from a land down-under...
I’m getting one. After Apple’s official announcement I got rid of my 16” MacBook Pro and got the quad core Air so I can justify buying another MacBook by the end of the year. Haha.

OK...but I would expect at least a year's wait before you can get an ARM equivalent of the 6-8 core MBP16. Rumors are that the MBP13 will be the first. It will be very interesting to see how an ARM MBP13 compares to an Intel MBP16 - maybe it could come close?
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,516
19,664
So how would the gpu work with the ARM? Will the gpu chips like 5600m be able to work with ARM machines. I did not see anywhere mention about gpu etc. I know the new ipad pros play games smoothly and at the keynote, they showed Adobe apps working nicely but wasnt sure if apple would be having their own gpu chips or still going with AMD etc.

I was going to return my mbp 16" and get the 5600m version but wasn't sure how useful down the road it would be esp the price and the news on ARM. I'm sure the 5500m is fine for now but it seems plans are stalled a bit on future proofing with these laptops from this year, especialy since we keep our laptops far longer. I still use my mbp 13" 2013 but its heating up too much now with my work-from-home multi tasking on it. Hence I got the mbp 16" and I use vmware for windows due to my job too.

Apple have their own GPUs. They work very differently from the traditional Nvidia and AMD GPUs, which allows them to be much more efficient. These GPUs do not have dedicated video memory. Apple emphasizes that Apple Silicon Macs will come with Apple GPUs.

It is at this point unclear how and whether they are going to solve the higher-end graphics issue. They have the 13" covered, since their own GPUs can provide more than competitive performance (probably around 5300M Pro). I don't expect any higher-performance Apple GPU this year.
 

ZeroTemplates

macrumors newbie
Jul 1, 2020
12
3
I will pick one up if they have and SD-Card reader or an CF-express reader in it, as the Thunderbolt 3 will most likely be out (even though intel has it ope-source-ish now). Or wait for the USB4 standard to be picked up in the laptop, otherwise my old MBP15 from 2014 is good enough. (I hate dongles)

They will have space now to add all of the above as the CPU will put out around 16w of heat, so a macbook air cooler will do the job.
 

AJB1971

macrumors 6502
Jun 23, 2011
452
431
I had been holding off replacing my 2013 MacBook Pro because of the butterfly keyboard - had a few near misses where I was tempted to buy a heavily discounted one! Then I was going to get the 2020 Air, but I’m not sure it’s wise to buy what will soon be ‘old’ technology.

I’ve decided to wait for the ARM Macs. I’m pretty sure that Apple will update the design at the same time (just leave the keyboard alone!).

I’ve been through the transition from PowerPC to Intel and that went smoothly, although I’m not a power user.

The only complication is that I do occasionally need Windows, but not for anything intensive. A few years ago I picked up a couple of used desktop PC's up for a family member and an associate. They were less than £40 each. I’m tempted to do the same for myself.
 
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