Apple Silicon - finally an alternative to x86 on desktop

[Blackmist]

The primary problem comes in translating all the code and apps they have for x86 right now into ARM-compatible code. That's going to be a huge undertaking that even Microsoft failed at. Granted, Apple does do a better job on their OS than Microsoft, and care a lot more about the user experience, but it's not going to be easy, cheap, or fast.

Apple have nuked a processor family before. They'll do it again.

"Make your applications work under our new processor, or lose our customer base" tends to be how they do it. I'm sure they'll try some automated fudging as well, but at the end of the day it's going to require Mac software devs to at least recompile for the new CPU, and probably changing any hand optimised assembly bits to make it work. They've got two years to do it, so I'd imagine any active devs have plans already. I'd expect the likes of Unreal and Unity to just add an option for the new architecture. If you're one of the dozen people playing WoW on a Mac, you can probably say goodbye to that...

[Temp name]

Why are people having discussions about iOS v Android, Alfa Romeo vs Volkswagen, etc, is beyond me.

iOS V Android is pretty easy. They offer different features and experiences. Android is built on being open and customizable, iOS is built around being tightly controlled and "just working" (Ugh, I hate that phrasing, but it is apt). Some prefer one, some prefer the other.
As for car fights.. I don't get that either. Is it comfy to sit in and drive? Cool, good enough, get the cheaper one.

Apple have nuked a processor family before. They'll do it again.

"Make your applications work under our new processor, or lose our customer base" tends to be how they do it. I'm sure they'll try some automated fudging as well, but at the end of the day it's going to require Mac software devs to at least recompile for the new CPU, and probably changing any hand optimised assembly bits to make it work. They've got two years to do it, so I'd imagine any active devs have plans already. I'd expect the likes of Unreal and Unity to just add an option for the new architecture. If you're one of the dozen people playing WoW on a Mac, you can probably say goodbye to that...

Any Mac-exclusives will do it in a heartbeat, obviously. Unreal and Unity might add support, but I very much doubt it'll be as supported or optimized as x86, probably just a straight recompile and if it works, good enough. Same with EA and Frostbite, and most of the big engines really. Maybe if there's one where for some reason 90% of the install base is on Mac, it'll be flipped so x86 gets fuck all, but I doubt that, at least for game engines. Any small, or custom engines will likely get shafted. WoW might get a port, but I'm not sure how quick it will be, or even if it will at all. Depends on how many players play on Mac vs Windows/Linux

[ldev]

I'm going to need a source on that 27%, because there's no possible way that the performance penalty is the same hard number for every single app. Even 27% is too much, especially for workloads that push the specs to the absolute maximum.

I'm sorry, what? You quote stuff out of your ass, then I tell you how leaked developer's kit performs with geekbench x86 version vs geekbench arm version on ipad pro (same cpu, same tests), then you ask for source on said leaks that are fucking posted on every tech news website?..

I'm out. First CPUs might not be the best, but... I thought Intel was the shit with best CPUs and no one could touch them, but then AMD without money (compared to intel) quite easily catched up with Intel after a decade of sucking. If poor AMD can do it, certainly a 1.5 trillion company can do that easily too (intel is worth only 0.24 trillion, amd only 0.006 trillion).

Regarding GPUs - they will most likely continue to bundle AMD ones, I doubt Apple will dabble in desktop GPUs... For now.

[iindigo]

iOS + Android native dev here, chiming in with some thoughts…

For most reasonably built small-to-medium size apps, the transition to ARM on Apple platforms will be dead simple. Like tick a checkbox and submit an update simple. Practically all iOS and Mac apps that are known for being well made will run natively on Apple Silicon right away. Most command line developer tools and IDEs will also make the jump to ARM native pretty easily/quickly.

The remaining question marks are:
• Spaghetti code behemoth-horrors like Photoshop
• Bizarrely built small-to-medium size apps

For the first, Adobe and Microsoft have already committed, so the rest will likely follow.

The second consists of oddball devs who either have severe "not in house" syndrome (e.g. doing whacky things like building a UI framework from scratch). I haven no sympathy for this group — by not using either OS provided SDKs or third party cross platform frameworks, they're making life harder for themselves.

There's also a few devs who expect the code they originally wrote for Windows 95 and System 7.5 to work forever with practically no work, adaptation, or other modifications which is frankly unrealistic and places a massive burden on OS vendors and all users of the OS. The absence of these apps will leave a hole for a little bit, but someone else will come to fill them pretty quickly.

[Hollycakes]

I didn't reread thread again so sorry if this was posted before but I just noticed it in the SL strings they posted on front page:
"An ARM64_BUILD string was added"