Apple’s WWDC: A retrospective

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Good outline from our own Nathan Parker, @parkernathan: WWDC 2020 Bottom Line WWDC 2020 recently wrapped up with its first online-only event. While no
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Alex5723, Myst, Elly, GreatAndPowerfulTech, Perturbance, Microfix

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To me, the big news is the transition to Apple’s own ARM-based processors.

If Apple can pull that off as well as they pulled off the transition to Intel (admittedly, it had problems, but ultimately went very well), I think there’s a chance that this could become Apple’s iPhone-like breach into the traditional PC market.

We’ll see. Give it a few years.

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Nathan Parker, GreatAndPowerfulTech

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I’d really like to see apple offer a netbook sized portable PC device with a proper keyboard, no OSK (On-Screen-Keyboard) with an iSocket cradle for iphones (used for docking/charging AND G5 access via the iPhone comms)
iStation?

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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Myst, Nathan Parker

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I’m sad because my sweet old iPad Air 2 is running on a A8X processor so it won’t get the iPadOS 14 update. Nothing stays the same but the rig has served me well and will keep running for awhile longer.

MacOS iPadOS and sometimes SOS

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Nathan Parker

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Yes the switch to ARM holds some very big questions that Apple did not answer. I have no doubt that Apple has wanted this for some time but needed to get their ARM chips up to speed. This helps bring Apple back to having its own ecosystem including internally designed CPU’s for all its hardware. The question will be will everyone follow Apple into this change or will some decide the step isn’t where they want to go. Not sure I would feel good putting a ton of money in a Intel Mac Pro at this point in time.

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Nathan Parker, OscarCP

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The main question, for me at least, is not so much if Apple will have problems with the switch from Intel to ARM, but what problems the users of Macs, me included, are going to have because of this switch.

As pointed out today, in the discussion on encryption and APFS here #227598 , one potentially undesirable consequence concerns the continuing access to files backed up with ‘Time Machine’ to external drives, for those who move on to the next version of macOs, “Big Sur”, soon to be released, from the one they are using at present.

An one another thing: is it possible to switch off “dark mode”, that looking at some videos on “Big Sur” seems to be the default kind of display? I personally dislike “dark mode”, because it is: (a) well, dark and (b) as it turns out, contrary to the supposed main advantage this display is said to offer, it does tire out my eyes more readily than the old one with a white background.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Nathan Parker

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I believe most mainstream developers will follow, and performance on Rosetta 2 for Intel apps that haven’t made the transition to Universal 2 yet looked good in the demo video. The main app I am curious about is CrossOver since I have two critical apps that run on it.

I wouldn’t invest in a high-end Intel Mac at this time. I have recommended a friend of mine who wants a low-end iMac for his real estate office to go ahead and go for it (he’s a light user) so he’s on a Mac that will hold him over through the transition. By the time it wears out, he can switch to an Apple Silicon Mac without any hiccups.

My next Mac will likely be Apple Silicon, although it’ll be a while before it happens, and the transition will likely be complete and all the kinks ironed out until I switch (just since I have enough life left on my iMac Pro).

For those of who aren’t switching anytime soon, it should be business as usual. Our apps will slowly be upgraded to Universal 2 so when we move to Apple Silicon Macs, they’ll run natively, and we’ll get OS updates for a while until Apple finally shuts it off.

Dark Mode can be disabled. A flip of the switch.

Nathan Parker

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OscarCP

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As Intel Macs fade away it will kill the Hackintosh community and the just new OpenCore Computer Mac clones.

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Nathan Parker

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If anything convinced me ts was that A12Z(Mac Mini based Development Platform) demonstration with Autodesk Maya and that 6 million polygon scene in Maya’s editor Viewport mode and that’s on Apple’s 8 GPU cores/units based integrated graphics and some very performant integrated graphics at that. So the A12Z is just the A12X with the 8th GPU core/unit enable for the A12Z compered to the A12X which has 7 out of 8 GPU cores/units enabled.

There was also a demonstration on that same Mac Mini  based development system with the A12Z running an x86 based gaming title(Shadow of the Tomb Raider) on that A12Z based Mac Mini Developer system and that’s using Apple’s Rosetta-2 translation layer and that x86 to ARM ISA translation on that A12Z based development system’s Apple Silicon SOC. And the Macbooks/Mac Minis/Other Apple Silicon based offerings that will be released for the consumer market  will be using Apple’ A14(SOC Variants) fabricated on TSMC’s 5nm process node.

And really that A12Z’s already shone that Apple’s A series cores can handle MacOS with ease and Apple must have spent some years with some special side development process trying MacOS on its various A series cores in the lab even before Apple made the final decision to make the switch from Intel’s x86 to Apple’s ARM ISA in-house custom Apple silicon. That WWDC 2020 Keynote presentation with that 12Z Based Mac Mini Development Platform’s performance showcased was just too polished for Apple to have not been, as a side project, testing out MacOS on its A Series Apple Silicon for some years now in the lab. And Apple are not afraid to switch to a different ISA and appear to have been well prepared in advance to make that transition to the ARM ISA.

I’ve made up my mind there as Apple’s integrated Graphics is already a fair bit better than what Intel’s offerings on the low end Macbooks. But I do now want to purchase an Apple silicon based Mac Mini as soon as Apple makes an A14 based Variant available for the Mac Mini form factor and really that’s going to make for a nice low end 3D graphics(Blender 3D) based Mini Desktop based system that can even have the Linux Kernel running if needed.

I’m sure there will still be folks using the x86 based MacBooks/other Apple/x86 based hardware and Apple will be updating that as well for probably one or 2 more Hardware release cycles. But maybe MS had better look at getting Windows/64 bit ARM ISA support fully worked out for folks that will be developing Windows on ARM ISA and Apple Silicon(ARM ISA Based) MacOS/iPadOS/iOS applications that target the ARM ISA. Once Apple makes up its mind to switch Apple does just that as they have proven in the past but x86 on Apple Hardware is on borrowed time just as PowerPC was back when Apple switched to x86 ISA.

 

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Nathan Parker

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On the iPad Air 2, while it won’t receive iPadOS 14, it will receive security updates to iPadOS 13 for a bit, so while you won’t get new features, you’ll still receive security patches.

True on OpenComputer and Hackintoshes. Going to be much harder once Apple Silicon becomes mainstream.

I am also impressed with Rosetta 2’s performance on Apple Silicon Macs from the demo. From the demos of Rosetta during the PowerPC to Intel, only light apps ran decently and intense apps ran much more slowly. This time around, with Apple being able to tune the performance of Rosetta 2 to their own chips (plus the PowerPC to Intel Rosetta was basically just licensed software), Apple has been able to make performance shine even on apps running in Rosetta 2. Just think of how well native apps and macOS will run on Apple Silicon. And Apple has certainly been testing and optimizing macOS on Apple Silicon for years. We’re seeing the real benefit of the integration of Apple’s hardware and OS taken to a whole new level.

I do believe Apple’s SoC GPU’s are as good or possibly better than Intel’s offerings. I’m especially curious as to how this will work in pro offerings (Mac Pro, iMac Pro, iPad Pro, etc) when Apple gets around to transitioning them.

It is true that Apple will eventually phase out support for Intel Macs (by the time they do, I’ll finally be ready for a new Mac). I wouldn’t drop $$$$ on an Intel Mac at the moment. I am recommending a friend of mine who wants to switch to Mac and needs a new machine now (his old PC is about dead) to go ahead and purchase a low-end iMac. This way he isn’t investing heavily in an Intel Mac, gets a functional machine now, and he can wade out the Apple Silicon transition and later invest in a higher-end iMac down the road when the Apple Silicon transition’s dust settles and he needs a new machine.

Nathan Parker

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OscarCP, Myst

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Nathan Parker wrote:

I wouldn’t drop $$$$ on an Intel Mac at the moment

Why not? Supported for at least 5 years, all apps you are likely to need are available and will remain so. You may even get a deal with the new stuff on it’s way.

If your friend needs a new machine I see little point in buying something less than capable than you want / can afford.

cheers, Paul

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Nathan Parker

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I believe that is prudent not to be a first adopter and that a friend may not encourage a friend to be one, particularly when there is no pressing need to have the latest while the tried and tested will do, it is not particularly expensive, often unlike the latest, and it is readily available.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Forbes recently published a clickbait title that told users, loudly, not to buy an Intel Mac.

The whole article was based on the assumption that Apple would dump the devices soon after purchase.

There is no evidence to suggest this will happen. Apple is committed to continuing to support Intel Macs purchased today until the end of their lifecycle. When Apple announced Intel Macs in 2005, PowerPC Macs still got support from Apple until 2012, seven years later.

It is likely that Apple will support Intel Macs for longer, given x86’s prominence even today. Currently the trend is for Apple to provide seven years of macOS upgrades. After seven years, you still get security updates for the last supported version of macOS on your device for another three years. With this calculation, an Intel Mac purchased in 2020 will receive mainstream support until 2027, and security updates until 2030. That’s time aplenty. The world will be a completely different place by then.

In short: if you need a Mac, get a Mac. Apple is not giving their Intel Mac users the cold-shoulder. And while Apple is aiming to make the transition to Arm as smooth as possible, there will still be hiccups along the way. If you have an Intel Mac, you don’t need to throw it away for Arm right away. Stay with your Intel Mac until the time comes for you to buy a new one. And if you take good care of your machine, that may be seven, ten years down the line.

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Nathan Parker

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Nathan Parker wrote:

True on OpenComputer and Hackintoshes. Going to be much harder once Apple Silicon becomes mainstream.

It would be impossible as no OEM makes ARM motherboards.

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Nathan Parker

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On my friend needing a new machine, he doesn’t have a ton of money to spend at the moment. He was going to purchase a PC, but the price was close to at least a low-end iMac for the model he was looking at, and he doesn’t want to deal with Windows 10 updates. If he can afford it, I told him he could look at a mid-range iMac so he gets more performance, but he’s a pretty light user. Mainly he uses a web browser and email, but he also wants a desktop form factor. All of his real estate stuff runs in the cloud.

If it wasn’t for the desktop form factor, he could probably get by with an iPad plus use an Apple Pencil for forms. I guess it could be rigged to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

True on OEM ARM motherboards.

Nathan Parker

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The new iOS 14 call notification at the top of the screen replacing a full screen notification.

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Nathan Parker

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ps This screen shot has been taken by double-tapping the back of my iPhone.

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Nathan Parker

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Geekbench 5 on Apple’s A12Z chipset ARM64 macOS development kit. Geekbench 5 running in emulation and utilizing only 4 cores (out of 8 cores).

Results : ~835 on single-core and ~2,800 on multi-core.

iPad Pro results : 1,120 on single-core and about 4,650 on multi-core.

Surface Pro X (Windows 10 on Snapdragon 8cx ): 765 on single-core and 2,985 on multi-core.

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Nathan Parker

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iOS 14 Beta – 250+ Top Features/Changes!

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Nathan Parker

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The new call notifications are going to be really nice, especially when an incoming call comes to my iPad and interrupts my work.

Nathan Parker

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