I understand the move from a business perspective. This will probably drastically lower their support costs (no more unknown hardware), increase their licensing revenue (no more compatible peripherals without Apple taking a cut) and drastically increase lock-in.
However, I am now watching from the sidelines, as Apple computers are no longer an option for me. I cut my teeth on DOS (3.1 maybe?), then Windows, and started using Linux occasionally in 1996. As I was weaning myself off of Microsoft platforms towards Linux full-time, Apple introduced the x86 Mac (2006).
At that time, it felt like Apple cared about the "engineers" again. (Whether that be software development, scientific computing, etc.). Previously, all of the designers I knew swore by Apple, but serious computing happened on Windows or Linux.
But finally, this was Unix, with a beautiful GUI, on the open platform I cared about. (I've written in assembly, written an assembler, my own boot sector, gui toolkit in the VGA/MCGA days, so I care about x86). From 2006-2019 my primary computer has always been a Mac of some kind (always Linux on the server, Mac on the desktop). The last couple of years, I've felt pushed away from the Mac (hardware limitations, keyboard issues, locking down of hardware/software) and started experimenting off-platform again.
Apple seems to have forgotten lessons from it's own history (whether that be the initial problems with the Lisa, or the great success of the first open/unix version of its OS, or how iPhone usage exploded with the comparative opening up of the platform for development).
Don't get me wrong, this isn't anti-ARM sentiment, I now run an ARM linux server alongside my x86 server cluster. If Apple releases an open ARM Macbook, I'll be truly surprised, because I think Apple has been saying for awhile now that it no longer cares about an open computing platform.
So, goodbye Apple, thank you for the good years. I hope that this is just another wave, and you'll come back to open computing in my lifetime.
But finally, this was Unix, with a beautiful GUI, on the open platform I cared about. (I've written in assembly, written an assembler, my own boot sector, gui toolkit in the VGA/MCGA days, so I care about x86).
Why do you think x86 is a more open platform than ARM?
All this whinging about Apple on HN is getting a bit tiring, there is rarely any substance to it.
> Why do you think x86 is a more open platform than ARM?
It's measurable. Whether in total number of computers sold with an unlocked bootloader on that platform, or percentage of computers with unlocked bootloaders on that platform.
Or, if not in terms of devices, measure in terms of drivers. The number of board types with working open source drivers (or, lacking that, at least open specifications on the hardware) is much higher on x86.
And the, finally, look at Apple hardware specifically. They started x86 with a completely open platform (w/ Windows drivers shipped), and have slowly been addiing proprietary hardware (and software) to the platform to lock it down. Since the x86 launch, Apple has shipped many ARM platforms, not one of which was open.
I heard people say the same stuff about Apple slowing down performance on iOS. People complained about it for months and years, and Apple fans and “Geniuses” gaslighted everybody by saying they were just imagining it, until we found out that Apple was actually doing it. The reason they did it was not bad, but the lack of transparency was.
We also saw the same thing with the keyboards. People complained about the terrible reliability and how it was overall just worse for years, and not until later, esp when Casey Johnston I believe documented her keyboard experience, people kept telling others it was a matter of preference and anecdote != data, to the point that Apple, after 3 revisions, basically went back to the earlier design.
The anti-Apple sentiment can be tiring, but a lot of it is driven by the rabid pro Apple sentiment that assumes nothing Apple does can be wrong.
Specifically, even if x86 is not more open than ARM, if you believe that Apples implementation of ARM would be more open than what they have right now, then you are clearly relying on faith that is not backed up by any evidence at all. Apple for the past decade or so has been on a steady and consistent path of locking things down on both iOS and MacOS and they will proudly tell you about it as well.
Again, I don’t even entirely disagree with their locking things down (I’ve seen how much more comfortable novices can be with iOS than MacOS, although, at the same time, I’ve seen the same novices grow with MacOS in terms of stuff they can do in ways I haven’t with iOS), but that doesn’t change the fact that it is entirely reasonable to assume that if Apple changes from 3rd party processors to in house ones they will likely lock things down further.
Right, and the picture of the "new MacBook Air" is of the previous generation (with full-height left/right arrows keys). And they talk about "the consumer focused iMac and iMac Pro": the iMac Pro is not in the price range of a consumer.
So two errors in the article, obvious to anyone who knows the slightest bit about Apple's product line, doesn't lead me to trust that the author knows what they're talking about.
That’s pretty much like saying “I don’t trust any blog hosted in blogger.com on Apple because I can find an Apple article every day”.
People should start realizing that this things are just blogs with the Forbes logo on top, there’s no editor or anything, is just like some random Medium post.
Very poor article and nothing really new here certainly nothing radical, also seemingly the author doesn't know or discuss ARM chips which have already shipped on the Windows side.
As I just bought a 16" 2019 the difference in performance with the i7 2015 I came from is shockingly small. The only thing I really feel day-by-day is the 1TB SSD versus the 512GB one in the 2015.
I regret spending the money on upgrading even while I like the hardware in general. I enjoy extra screen real estate, especially after turning my Touch Bar into the dock using Pock. Sound is better. USB-C / TB3 is amazing, bought a cheap $50 dock with a card reader I need about once a month. Keyboard is good.
But when I go back to my 2015 I'm just as happy.
ARM chips could enable it to have better battery life while having a larger and longer sustaining peak performance. Who wouldn't want a machine that lasts 15 hours on a full battery while outperforming the last Mac Pro when working in Final Cut Pro?
If true, this would be another big hit to Intel in the near future and possibly start a broader move away from x86. My question is whether or not a dual boot setup would work on an ARM MacBook. From what I understand, the current ARM support version of Windows 10 has some limitations still.
Thus would be my biggest concern, I’ve used a dual boot setup on macbook pros for more than a decade now.
My guess would be that it will be better to use a windows VM (I have to admit that nowadays I don’t even boot windows natively most of the time, I just use parallels).
I’m still holding to a mid 2015, so I’m due to an upgrade in the next years, but I’m stalling it pretty hard because I’m very unimpressed with the new macbooks. To go macbook again I need to see the ARM pros having enough performance to run a windows VM nicely, otherwise I will have to consider moving back to an x86/64 laptop with linux
However, I am now watching from the sidelines, as Apple computers are no longer an option for me. I cut my teeth on DOS (3.1 maybe?), then Windows, and started using Linux occasionally in 1996. As I was weaning myself off of Microsoft platforms towards Linux full-time, Apple introduced the x86 Mac (2006).
At that time, it felt like Apple cared about the "engineers" again. (Whether that be software development, scientific computing, etc.). Previously, all of the designers I knew swore by Apple, but serious computing happened on Windows or Linux.
But finally, this was Unix, with a beautiful GUI, on the open platform I cared about. (I've written in assembly, written an assembler, my own boot sector, gui toolkit in the VGA/MCGA days, so I care about x86). From 2006-2019 my primary computer has always been a Mac of some kind (always Linux on the server, Mac on the desktop). The last couple of years, I've felt pushed away from the Mac (hardware limitations, keyboard issues, locking down of hardware/software) and started experimenting off-platform again.
Apple seems to have forgotten lessons from it's own history (whether that be the initial problems with the Lisa, or the great success of the first open/unix version of its OS, or how iPhone usage exploded with the comparative opening up of the platform for development).
Don't get me wrong, this isn't anti-ARM sentiment, I now run an ARM linux server alongside my x86 server cluster. If Apple releases an open ARM Macbook, I'll be truly surprised, because I think Apple has been saying for awhile now that it no longer cares about an open computing platform.
So, goodbye Apple, thank you for the good years. I hope that this is just another wave, and you'll come back to open computing in my lifetime.