Apple Announces "3rd Transition" for macOS: From Intel CPUs to Apple Silicon

[tedyun]

I remember my college roommates with their fancy Mac Pluses; my college girlfriend with her hand-me-down Lisa that her father gave her because it was too old compared to his Mac SE/30; my very first Mac of my own, a Macintosh LC; my PowerBook 1400; my PowerMac G4 that was stolen when my house was robbed (but they left my home built PC which eventually became my first Hackintosh). My last Apple computer was a Titanium PowerBook 17" G4 that work bought for me. Currently, I have a MacBook Air 2011 that I got for free. Right now, I am swearing off any ARM based Mac computer, but I know eventually I will come around. That's the spell that Apple has over me.

I've been Hackintoshing for a while, and I think the community is stronger than ever. Getting a working system was easier than ever, then tweaking it to a nearly 100% stable and functional system was achievable thanks to the good folks here, especially pastrychef, CaseySJ and UtterDisbelief for EFI's, guides and advice. I built a system faster than the stock iMac for 1/3 the cost. And much more tailored to my needs.

It's sad to see this era coming to an end. But as they say, "all good things..."

Lovely collection

People are getting so upset about the present shift, but this post highlights a history that a lot weren't aware of or a part of.

 

[drmyk]

So, I'm running an older hack, still on 10.13.6 because of my nvidia graphics card. Been planning a new machine, probably going to try an opencore AMD system once Zen3 comes out. And even with the update from apple on moving to Apple Silicon I'm still going to do it. First, because its fun to build a new system. Second, because when I get my gazillion cores on my 4900x or whatever they call it, it will blow the doors off my old machine and do everything I want it to for years. And even if apple stops supporting it while I'm still using it, it isn't like they're going to send a van over, knock on my door and say 'hey, our latest system software doesn't support your machine, I'm afraid we have to take it'. I can keep using it as a mac with system software that is .1 off from current for as long as I want to. Or I can change it over to being primarily a windows or Linux box. But by that time I'll know what the new ARM apples are doing, what their price/performance is, how they are for games, and I can decide if I want to get one or not.
So, I'm buying what I want today knowing that there is no future proof in computers. Well, not today but whenever I can zen3, you know.

 

[CaseySJ]

Hats off to CaseySJ for really taking good care of his computers. Amazing condition.

Alas I didn't show the PowerBook G4 powered on...

(Bad hard drive)

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I remember my college roommates with their fancy Mac Pluses; my college girlfriend with her hand-me-down Lisa that her father gave her because it was too old compared to his Mac SE/30; my very first Mac of my own, a Macintosh LC; my PowerBook 1400; my PowerMac G4 that was stolen when my house was robbed (but they left my home built PC which eventually became my first Hackintosh). My last Apple computer was a Titanium PowerBook 17" G4 that work bought for me. Currently, I have a MacBook Air 2011 that I got for free. Right now, I am swearing off any ARM based Mac computer, but I know eventually I will come around. That's the spell that Apple has over me.

I've been Hackintoshing for a while, and I think the community is stronger than ever. Getting a working system was easier than ever, then tweaking it to a nearly 100% stable and functional system was achievable thanks to the good folks here, especially pastrychef, CaseySJ and UtterDisbelief for EFI's, guides and advice. I built a system faster than the stock iMac for 1/3 the cost. And much more tailored to my needs.

It's sad to see this era coming to an end. But as they say, "all good things..."

There's a glorious history just in that one post. And it includes the spirit of Hackintoshing - taking the Apple philosophy and extending it way beyond the range they offer us. Some do it for one particular purpose, one job, others for the enjoyment of making the best a little bit better

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Alas I didn't show the PowerBook G4 powered on...

(Bad hard drive)

The screen was alive tho'. The PowerPC "IBM Silicon" was still working

 

[CaseySJ]

The screen was alive tho'. The PowerPC "IBM Silicon" was still working

To re-quote @mm2margaret "missed it by that much"...

 

[trs96]

Look at how much the trackpad has grown in size on current Mac laptops compared to that PowerBook.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Look at how much the trackpad has grown in size on current Mac laptops compared to that PowerBook.

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View attachment 477867

And a separate keyboard, not an embedded one. I remember removing the keyboard of my iBook G3 "Snow" because the first job on my list was to put in a wireless network card (PCMCIA) as it didn't come with one. Two half-turn screws in dummy keys top left and right of the keyboard, release and the keyboard hinged up and out revealing the innards ...

Can't do that two transitions later ...

 

[Ecchi Nutuano]

MHz? Performance per watt or single-core speeds are the least of my concerns. I only care about multicore performance and how fast it runs Metal. I run an overclocked 14 core CPU on water with a Vega Frontier Air in my desktop system. It's connected to a 1150w UPS because it throws the breaker without it. Its the least power-efficient machine I think I've ever had but its faster than an iPad Pro by a wide margin.

I was addressing the claim your 6 year old MBP could be just as powerful as the A12Z. And faster by a wide margin with your current rig? As you said, Apple hasn't released any specs or performance metrics, but a 7w 8MB 8-core big.Little(4big, 4 small) ARM chip is not going to outperform a full 14-core 165w+ 19MB+ cache chip. But all we've seen is Apple target a very restricted TDP because of form factor restrictions. Nobody wants a heavy heatsink and fan on their phone or tablet. But laptops have a larger thermal and power envelope. Desktops and workstations likewise also have different targets.

 

[mm2margaret]

So, I spent the entire day working on my X299 system on Windows 10. It was fine. I actually did some renders with the latest version of Resolve and that went swimmingly......very fast, and faster than the same renders on Catalina or Mojave.

The programs I use the most, Resolve, the Adobe suite, Media Composer, the Office suite, etc, all run just fine on Windows 10. I don't care about the Apple only stuff like FCPX, Motion, Compressor, et al. They're fine, but just not that important to me.

I like macOS, but I'm not married to it and I won't have a big cry if I can't run the latest version of macOS, Big Sur, or whatever it is, I don't care that much. I really don't.

I care about the work I do, and not the OS I run on.