Apple Introduces New MacBook Air and Mac Mini

[Ecchi Nutuano]

Though that Apple T2 Security chip worries me, for us Hackintoshers going forward. What else could it be used for?

Typically T2(an A10 variant) was for Secure Enclave(Flash storage encryption and drive management). Touch Bar control too I think on the MBP's. Today confirmed that all macOS products going forward will feature a T2 chip.

What is rather surprising, was the mention of HEVC encoding via T2 (I assume decoding as well). There was interesting wording about the MBA's 13 hours of "iTunes video playback". Looks like Apple is outright saying their own low-power T2 chips can hardware (decode)/encode better than their intel silicon.

First it was Secure Enclave, then it was Camera-facetime magic, then it was Hey Siri, now it's video decoding/encoding. Most of these can be excused to be in the realm of security, by keeping them separate from the core operating system. But now they are outright leveraging it for efficiency. There is a large amount of marketing surrounding the A12X in the new iPad Pro, with claims of being more powerful than 92% of ultrabooks(or game as well as an Xbox One S). Anandtech had done an article on the iPhone's A12, and found it in certain circumstances approaching desktop-level performance.

I'm speculating out of my ass.. but Apple is going forward with Apple-chip-Hybrid-Intel for the immediate future, and obviously back-support the older standard intel hardware. But your concerns are starting to add weight as it appears Apple is leveraging more controls in their low-power T2 chips. For the Apple customer, this is a benefit. For the hackintosh scene - immediately not a problem.. but.. who knows? I'd say they'd need a good few years of T2(and whatever succeeds it) in all products to drop intel-only macOS support. macOS 10.18 maybe? They have set the precedent in the past for dropping old hardware (32bit EFI GPU, non-metal-compatible GPU's).

 

[chippo911]

I think the problem with dGPUs in laptops is that Apple uses a proprietary switching technique to switch between IGPU and dGPU. So, even if there is support for M Vega, it probably won't be a very good experience. Using dGPU all the time would seriously degrade battery life. Using IGPU all the time would render the dGPU useless.

Sorry if my bad english makes you confused. I am talking about intel Hades Canyon NUC with integtated Vega M graphic. At the moment the graphic doesn’t work properly because of the lack of MacOS support for Vega M. IMO the intel NUC is much more compelling compare to what apple has to offer with the new Mini.

 

[ICULikeMac]

It's not so much that I "like" the T2. I "fear" the T2. Once all shipping Macs use T2, it's just a matter of time before it's something that will become mandatory for macOS to boot and PCs don't have a T2.

Yeah so true, fingers crossed that doesn't happen but does seem very likely.

 

[poles]

View attachment 361589​

Today at their Fall Event in New York Apple updated the MacBook Air and Mac Mini. Both Macs received 8th generation Intel CPUs. The MacBook Air got a complete redesign with a retina display, better speakers, new keyboard and Thunderbolt 3 ports. It also comes in 3 different colors.

View attachment 361591​

The Mac Mini, which had not been updated since 2014 was updated with space grey exterior, four Thunderbolt 3 ports, up to 64GB RAM (on removeable SO-DIMMs), up to 2TB solid state drive, HDMI port, and optional 10 Gigabit ethernet.

View attachment 361588​

What do you think of the new Macs?

Related:
Apple Special Event Scheduled for October 30th

I think Apple understands why people are moving to hackintosh.

So they tried every possible way to make them like a hackintosh for mid budget people.

1. Upgraded their CPU with 8th generation
2. RAM became configurable again
3. 5K display
4. External eGPU (That means Apple have to enable support for CUDA for Mojave and we can have our Nvidia web driver hopefully soon )

Surprisingly they unveiled a new i3 8th gen based mac mini which also means i3's UHD graphics will be natively supported. Previously it was a little bit difficult https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ntel-core-i3-8100-uhd-630-corsair-8gb.251625/


But will it stop people from building budget hackintosh?

 

[poles]

What I didn't understand that how i3 & i5 is configurable to i7. Does that mean we can upgrade CPU?

 

[UtterDisbelief]

You know, we've all mentioned the high price of the new Mac Mini here, but it has just occurred to me, hey it's cheaper than most new iPhones! And seriously, I like iPhones but if push came to shove I'd prefer an Apple desktop to an Apple mobile phone.

 

[Boil]

If hackintoshing didn't exist, I would probably go for a Mac Mini and stack it on top of an eGPU box.

Se below for more detail on stacking an eGPU...

Won't the t2 chip stop us from adding a cheaper second 8gig stick or replace both slots with 16gb?

I do not think the T2 chip will stop one from upgrading RAM (which I believe comes in a pair, so you would pull two 4GB SO-DIMMs to upgrade your RAM), but there is the issue where the proper Apple Diagnostics need to be run after any internal system upgrade...?

All the sales they get to Mac server farms probably pointed them in the right direction. An Intel chip and the option to go up to 64GB of ram.

I am sure the 64GB RAM capacity (32GB sticks are not easy SO-DIMMS to find, so they are probably pretty expensive even before any Apple Tax) & the 10Gb Ethernet are a direct request from Mac Stadium (formerly MacColo), where they have 8.5K units running in three facilities around the world...

What you don't get with that is flawless Thunderbolt 3 which gives you the option of eGPU and 5K monitor.

Yep, find me a single ITX motherboard that has a TB3 port that actually functions as a Hackintosh (let alone four TB3 ports), I'll wait...! ;^p

Also warranty (Up to 3 years), a piece of mind that all future updates will work, etc.

I can't wait for a 2019 Mac Pro.

The 3 year warranty (with AppleCare) & piece of mind regarding macOS updates is a huge plus...

I really wanted a new Mac mini, but I may also wait for the new modular Mac Pro, see below for more...

Thoughts/downside of getting the base model & these two, then move the user home folder to it?

I've done the Hackintosh route for years but it's getting to be more of a struggle and for $799, it's getting hard to justify a new hack build.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147691&ignorebbr=1
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6PF6RJ8939&ignorebbr=1

Well, you have a SATA enclosure for a NVMe SSD...

New Vega 56 eGPU

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HMQT2VC/A/blackmagic-egpu-pro

$1,200 enclosure housing a $400 GPU...

And it is not what I want sitting next to my new little SG mini... See more on this below...

It's not so much that I "like" the T2. I "fear" the T2. Once all shipping Macs use T2, it's just a matter of time before it's something that will become mandatory for macOS to boot and PCs don't have a T2.

I do think it will come to a point where the T2 chip is a requirement to boot (the new Mac ROM) & just may kill of the Hackintosh movement... Thanks, AppleBama...

4. External eGPU (That means Apple have to enable support for CUDA for Mojave and we can have our Nvidia web driver hopefully soon...

I do not see how having support for eGPUs means we need support for CUDA...

What I didn't understand that how i3 & i5 is configurable to i7. Does that mean we can upgrade CPU?

You can upgrade, at the time of purchase, but you cannot change the CPU later unless your are a real whiz with the soldering iron...!

*********************************************************

Okay, I feel Apple dropped the ball by not offering the SG mini with an assortment of the Kaby Lake G CPU/GPU packages...

And their upgrade pricing is ridiculous...

As for a SG mini suitable eGPU, Apple needs to do two things...

1 - Make an enclosure that matches the SG mini footprint/housing (it can be taller if needed for proper airflow) that houses...

2 - Apple needs to produce MXM GPUs (RX5xx series & Vega 56) for above housings...

They could also make a housing for a four slot M.2 NVMe RAID, again stackable under the SG mini...

 

[poles]

I do not see how having support for eGPUs means we need support for CUDA...

Right...but they also didn't mention its exclusively for AMD.

 

[pastrychef]

I think Apple understands why people are moving to hackintosh.

So they tried every possible way to make them like a hackintosh for mid budget people.

1. Upgraded their CPU with 8th generation
2. RAM became configurable again
3. 5K display
4. External eGPU (That means Apple have to enable support for CUDA for Mojave and we can have our Nvidia web driver hopefully soon )

Surprisingly they unveiled a new i3 8th gen based mac mini which also means i3's UHD graphics will be natively supported. Previously it was a little bit difficult https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/...ntel-core-i3-8100-uhd-630-corsair-8gb.251625/


But will it stop people from building budget hackintosh?

Apple doesn't enable or disable Cuda. Cuda needs Nvidia web drivers which only Nvidia ever made.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Typically T2(an A10 variant) was for Secure Enclave(Flash storage encryption and drive management). Touch Bar control too I think on the MBP's. Today confirmed that all macOS products going forward will feature a T2 chip.

What is rather surprising, was the mention of HEVC encoding via T2 (I assume decoding as well). There was interesting wording about the MBA's 13 hours of "iTunes video playback". Looks like Apple is outright saying their own low-power T2 chips can hardware (decode)/encode better than their intel silicon.

First it was Secure Enclave, then it was Camera-facetime magic, then it was Hey Siri, now it's video decoding/encoding. Most of these can be excused to be in the realm of security, by keeping them separate from the core operating system. But now they are outright leveraging it for efficiency. There is a large amount of marketing surrounding the A12X in the new iPad Pro, with claims of being more powerful than 92% of ultrabooks(or game as well as an Xbox One S). Anandtech had done an article on the iPhone's A12, and found it in certain circumstances approaching desktop-level performance.

I'm speculating out of my ass.. but Apple is going forward with Apple-chip-Hybrid-Intel for the immediate future, and obviously back-support the older standard intel hardware. But your concerns are starting to add weight as it appears Apple is leveraging more controls in their low-power T2 chips. For the Apple customer, this is a benefit. For the hackintosh scene - immediately not a problem.. but.. who knows? I'd say they'd need a good few years of T2(and whatever succeeds it) in all products to drop intel-only macOS support. macOS 10.18 maybe? They have set the precedent in the past for dropping old hardware (32bit EFI GPU, non-metal-compatible GPU's).

Maybe Apple will quantify it in a similar way to the old co-processor chips added alongside Intel's CPUs to handle math-intensive operations. (8086+8087 etc) That way the core machine retains compatibility with all the current software out there, but adds improvements to specific areas.

The worry is, that is just one step away from "requirement".