The dawn of Apple’s switch of macOS to run on Arm processors is finally almost here, at least if the leaks are correct, and I’m hoping it gives one
The dawn of Apple’s switch of macOS to run on Arm processors is finally almost here, at least if the leaks are correct, and I’m hoping it gives one misunderstood Mac product another chance to prove its merit. Rumored for years, it’s a blow to Intel and potentially some work for developers between WWDC 2020 and the arrival of the first hardware come 2021.
This is no new speculation, of course. Chatter of an Arm-based Mac, using the same chip design know-how that Apple has honed over the past years for iPhone, iPad, and custom chips such as the T2 in the iMac Pro, Mac Pro, and others, has circulated for a long time now. If the leaks are to be believed, Intel’s slowing pace of processor development grew too great a concern within Apple, and the company decided to take matters into its own hands.
We’ll see the first public fruits of those efforts at WWDC 2020 later this month, reports today suggested. There won’t be actual hardware to buy yet, mind: developers need to have time to bring their apps over to Arm. Still, I’m hoping that when new Arm-based Macs finally do arrive, it’s a next-generation 12-inch MacBook that’s leading the charge.
I’ll admit, I’m probably not in the majority when it comes to my affection for the 12-inch MacBook. Even Apple didn’t seem entirely keen on fighting its corner toward the end, more interested in pushing the idea of an iPad Pro with a keyboard cover. And I concede, there’s a lot to be said for that arrangement.
We’ve seen this year that the iPad Pro, combined with the Magic Keyboard, and the latest version of iPadOS, makes for a compelling work machine. The transition from iOS to iPadOS and all of Apple’s efforts around multitasking, not to mention the raw power of the iPad Pro’s CPU and GPU, mean it’s simply no longer true that you can’t do “real” work on an iPad.
