Macs with Apple Silicon
for its A-series chips in the iphone and ipad.
For years, those chips have been optimized and tweaked for the next-generation of performance, and the latest A12 and A13 chips are amongst the most advanced on the market. The A12X and A12Z chips on the ipad Pro, for example, offer similar performance to a highend macos device, and many of the lessons that Apple has learned with the iphone can be utilized on the Mac, building custom GPUS, memory and storage controllers, encryption, and more, all leading to a seamless transition.
COMPARING INTEL VS CUSTOM SILICON
Right now, Apple uses X86 chips from Intel, and because Apple’s custom silicon chip is built on a different architecture, the move towards ARM won’t happen overnight. In fact, Apple offered a two-year roadmap for the transition during its keynote presentation and unusually confirmed the release of more Intel-based Macs coming this year. That’s led many to ask whether to upgrade their Mac or hold off until the new Arm-based Macs arrive, and the truth is that it’s hard to answer that question just yet.
When Apple moved from Powerpc processors to Intel chips in 2006, the transition was slow and caused release issues. This time, the company wants to simplify the process as far as possible, hence launching the Developer Transition Kit to allow macos developers to prepare their software in advance. And work has already begun at Apple - all of its native apps, as well as professional tools such as Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, are running natively on Apple Silicon, and teams are working with
Adobe, Microsoft, and others to update their apps for Silicon. Developers who want to prepare can take advantage of the Xcode beta to get their apps ready for the new platform, and Apple says that the transition should take just a day or two. That’s thanks to a Universal 2 binary that works on both Intel-based Macs and Arm-based Macs, which should mean that current Mac users won’t need to upgrade their devices immediately to take advantage of new features. The Quickstart Program, allowing developers to create apps for Arm-based Macs, offers the Developer Transition Kit, a Mac mini that features an A12Z chip, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD, ideal for testing new features and preparing for future ARM Macs.
According to Geekbench benchmarks of the Developer Transition Kit, Apple’s new hardware offers single-core and multi-core scores of 811 and 2,781 respectively, though we should note that Geekbench runs through Apple’s Rosetta 2 transition layer which results in slower performance. However, the chip already outperforms the Surface Pro X, which is promising.
In the years ahead, Apple will continue to offer support for Intel-based Macs, and users who purchase a new Arm-based Macs can run Intel apps on day one, even if those apps haven’t been updated or optimized for Apple Silicon. Windows won’t operate in Boot Camp mode on new Silicon Macs, and Microsoft has said that there are “no current plans” to support Silicon. Craig Federighi, too, said that Apple won’t support Boot Camp on future Macs, telling developers that “virtualization is the route” for those wanting Windows.
SILICON-BASED MACS ARE COMING
Whilst current Intel-based Macs have recovery options available at boot-up, on Apple Silicon Macs, there’ll be a dedicated Startup Manager Interface, allowing for recovery options like reinstalling macos, shutting down, restarting, and booting up. Startup Disk will allow users to select different security modes for startup volumes, and reduced security offers users more flexibility, disabling System Integrity Protection to run any version of macos.
Target Disk Mode, on the other hand, will be replaced by Mac Sharing Mode, which turns the new Silicon Mac into an SMB file sharing server, offering enhanced security and easier transfers.
Other noteworthy features include the inclusion of Thunderbolt support. Apple worked with Intel more than a decade ago to work on the tech, and Thunderbolt 3, a USB-C adapter, will be supported out-of-the-box. We don’t know for certain whether Apple will add Thunderbolt connectors to its Macs, or instead encourage users to purchase a Thunderbolt dongle.
Though we don’t have an exact date for the first Silicon Mac, we do know that the company is working on at least three Mac processors, and at least one of those will be much faster than the A-series chips featured in iphones, perhaps for the imac Pro and Mac Pro. The firm is also working on second-generation Mac processors which will be based on the A15 chip. Apple confirmed at WWDC that the first Apple Silicon Mac will launch before the end of the year, though transitioning its entire range will take two years, to around June 2022. According to insider Ming-chi Kuo, Apple’s first Silicon Mac will be the 13-inch Macbook Pro and Macbook Air, before the firm moves to 14.1 and 16-inch Macbook Pro models with Silicon chips in 2021. imacs, Mac Pros, and Mac minis will then follow in 2021 and 2022, though this timeline could change. All that we can do until then is follow progress of the Apple Silicon transition online, and prepare for macos Big Sur, set for release in September.