In this article, we are covering more developments that have come to light including news that Apple Silicon Macs will not be using 3rd party graphics processing, Arm processing will be coming to the Windows platform, progress on audio software running on Apple Silicon using Rosetta 2 and when and what Apple Silicon Mac computers we will see coming onto the market.
The Story So Far…
There is no doubt that Apple’s announcement to switch their Mac range of desktop and laptop computers from Intel to their own Arm-based Apple Silicon, is going to have a huge impact on all Mac computer users.
Here at Production Expert, we are focusing on how this change will impact pro audio users. In our article Apple Silicon - A Developer Helps To Explain The Impact we looked at some of the implications of moving from Intel to Apple Silicon for pro audio users. Since we published that article we have learnt that Apple Silicon Computers Will Support Thunderbolt and that it is expected that this will be Thunderbolt 4 together with USB4.
Apple Silicon Mac Computers May Not Support 3rd Party Graphics Processors
In a WWDC 2020 developer session focused on porting Metal apps to the new architecture, Apple made it clear that it’s Apple Silicon Macs will have custom Apple GPUs and consequently may not depend on graphics processor solutions from the likes of Intel, Nvidia or AMD. Gokhan Avkarogullari, Apple's director of GPU software said…
“Apple Silicon Mac contains an Apple-designed GPU, whereas Intel-based Macs contain GPUs from Intel, AMD and NVIDIA”.
In this session, Apple introduced something known as Tile Based Deferred Rendering (TBDR).
“Meet the Tile Based Deferred Rendering (TBDR) GPU architecture for Apple Silicon Macs — the heart of your Metal app or game’s graphics performance. Learn how you can translate or port your graphics-intensive app over to Apple Silicon, and how to take advantage of TBDR and Metal when building natively for the platform.
We’ll look at how TBDR compares with the Immediate Mode Rendering pipeline of older Macs, go through common issues you may face when bringing an app or game over, and explore how to offer incredible performance when building with the native SDK”.
As we understand it, TBDR captures the entire scene and then splits it up into a number of smaller sections, or tiles, each of which can then be processed more quickly and needs less memory to do the job. Once it has processed all the tiles and decided what pixels are not needed, TBDR then renders out the entire scene.
Compare this to Immediate Mode Rendering which is what Intel, AMD and Nvidia use, which does the opposite by capturing and then rendering the entire scene before deciding what pixels are not needed. Even though this is the way GPUs work at the moment, it needs a lot of bandwidth and memory all of which makes it much less efficient.
TBDR matches the deign principle that we are seeing emerge from Apple in that Apple Silicon-based GPUs will be faster and use less power as well as being on the same chip as the CPU, hence the term System on a Chip (SoC).
Even though it is looking like built-in graphics processing will be on Apple Silicon rather than a 3rd party chip, it is not clear whether Apple will continue to support 3rd party graphics processing in external graphics Processors (eGPU) and it understood that this may be more dependent on Thunderbolt 3 and 4 and driver compatibility.
Coming back to internal graphics processors in an Apple Silicon powered Mac computer Apple is already giving developers hints at what's to come. In a developer support document, Apple advises developers not to underestimate the power and capability of the new integrated Apple GPU…
"Don't assume a discrete GPU means better performance. The integrated GPU in Apple processors is optimized for high performance graphics tasks."
More good news is that Apple is not new to designing GPUs. they have been developing them for years with the iPhone 8 and iPhone X smartphones having Apple-designed GPU from as far back as 2017.
Take a look at what can already be done. wccftech has reported that taking the A12Z Bionic running in the ARM-based Mac mini the A12Z Bionic’s GPU beat both Ryzen 5 4500U and Core i7-1065G7 iGPUs in OpenCL tests. So it can only get better.
Coming To A Windows Computer Near You Soon Too
Windows users, don’t feel left out as there are already discussions that especially for portable devices there will be a push to move over to Arm processors too.
Apple’s former head of Mac development, Jean-Louis Gassée, left Apple in 1990 but played an extremely influential role in the future of the Mac at the time has posted on his blog…
“We’re about to enter an exciting, messy transition. Not only will Apple Silicon make better Macs, it will force Microsoft to polish its Windows on ARM act, both hardware and software. In turn, this will cause PC OEMs to reconsider their allegiance to x86 silicon…and that will have serious consequences for the old Wintel partnership”.
He goes on…
“This leaves Microsoft with a choice: Either forget Windows on ARM and cede modern PCs to Apple, or forge ahead, fix app compatibility problems and offer an ARM-based alternative to Apple’s new Macs. It’s a false dilemma, of course. Microsoft will forge ahead… with repercussions for the rest of the Windows PC industry. Specifically, what are Dell, HP, Asus, and others going to do if Apple offers materially better laptops and desktops and Microsoft continues to improve Windows on ARM Surface devices? In order to compete, PC manufacturers will have to follow suit, they’ll “go ARM” because, all defensive rhetoric aside, Apple and Microsoft will have made the x86 architecture feel like what it actually is: old”.
In fact, there is already an Arm powered Microsoft Surface Pro X. The Surface runs Windows, although we understand that getting Windows running on ARM was a challenge in itself, all is not rosy with the Surface X as there is a shortage of apps that run on the ARM-based processor. Unfortunately, Microsoft chose not to even release Arm native versions of their own Microsoft Office suite of applications for this Arm Surface Pro Instead, they provided an emulator to convert 32-bit Windows apps to run on the Arm powered Surface Pro, but that can't convert current 64-bit apps meaning that any current Windows app can't run on the Surface Pro X.
As Apple has had experience with processor changeovers when they went from PowerPC to Intel they have made sure that a shortage of native apps will not hit the new Arm-based Apple Silicon Macs when they come out. As well as Apple’s own apps, we know that any iOS and iPadOS apps will run natively on Apple Silicon and Adobe is committed to getting its apps up and running on Apple Silicon initially using Rosetta 2.
Apple actually showed Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom running on Apple Silicon as well as the computer game Shadow of the Tomb Raider as well as Maxon’s Cinema 4D all running smoothly under Rosetta 2 during its WWDC keynote presentation.
Some Audio Software Already Working On Apple Silicon Using Rosetta 2
Seeing demos of Photoshop and Shadow of the Tomb Raider is all very well, but what about audio applications, how will they run under Rosetta 2? Well, the good news is that so far 2 developers, Blue Cat Audio and Flux:: have posted on social media showing their software working on an Apple Silicon Developer Transition Kit. Check out their posts below…
Apple Silicon Mac, here we come! #bluecataudio #macosbigsur #appledeveloper #applesilicon pic.twitter.com/2YjICUgd6M
— Blue Cat Audio (@bluecataudio) July 1, 2020
“Some impressive SPAT REVOLUTION automation on the new macOS Big Sur Dev Kit from Apple”.
Our plug-ins are running fine "as is" on the new Apple Silicon Macs, thanks to Rosetta2! #bluecataudio #applesilicon #rosetta2 #macosbigsur pic.twitter.com/aLuLynkeeB
— Blue Cat Audio (@bluecataudio) July 2, 2020
Exciting times... @Apple's Developer Transition Kit received and installed today! 🤩
— Flux:: (@FluxImmersive) July 7, 2020
From our #FLUXANALYZER, to our #SPATREVOLUTION and ofc the plugins too, everything seems to work just fine!#fluximmersive #gearporn #developer #apple #bigsur #mac #arm #A12z #bionicprocessor pic.twitter.com/m5XrqoWBXj
When Do We Expect To Start Seeing Arm Based Apple Silicon Mac Computers?
As of late July 2020, this is what is being suggested as a timetable for the new Arm-based Apple Silicon Mac computers.
These predictions are based on a report by DigiTimes last week which reported…
“As Apple is set to release 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, powered by Apple Silicon, by the end of this year, total shipments of MacBook lineup are expected to reach 16-17 million units in 2020 compared to 14.5-15.5 million units shipped a year earlier, the sources estimated”.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who is a renowned Apple analyst, with over 10 years of experience reporting on Apple with data from the supply chain. In a research note with TF International Securities today, which we understand has been seen by MacRumors, Ming-Chi said he expects the Apple Silicon 13.3-inch MacBook Pro to go into mass production in the fourth quarter of this year, but he also now predicts we will see an Arm-based MacBook Air either in the same quarter or in the first quarter of next year.
Kuo has also gone on record that he believes that Apple intends to launch a mini-LED 16-inch MacBook Pro and a 14.1-inch MacBook Pro, also with a mini-LED display, but these will likely arrive in the second or third quarter of 2021, and intriguingly, both will have an "all-new form factor design."
In the same report, the analyst predicts that MacBook shipments in 2020 are expected to go up to 16–17 million units and that if Apple reduced the price of the new MacBook Air to reflect the reduction in the cost to make them, and if the demand was high for the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, that next year Apple could ship between 18 and 20 million units.
So here is a summary of the predicted timetable as of late July 2020…
13-inch MacBook Pro Late 2020 Or Early 2021
Apple Silicon with 12 cores...😎
— Apple RUMORs (LEAKS) (@a_rumors0000) July 18, 2020
This may have a similar physical design to the current 13-inch MacBook Pro but with Apple’s new silicon, which would make it the first MacBook to get Apple’s new A-Series processors designed specifically for the Mac. The MBP 13 is predicted to go into mass production in the fourth quarter of this year, according to reports.
There are rumours that this will be a new apple A-series processor with 12 cores. However, Apple Silicon processors have 2 types of cores, performance and efficiency and it not clear from the tweet from ‘a_rumors0000’ how may of each will be in this 12 core chip. Another report has suggested it will feature eight performance cores, and four efficiency cores and will be used in this new MBP.
13-inch MacBook Air Late 2020 Or Early 2021
The Apple MacBook Air may stand to benefit the most from the new Apple silicon because it’s the thinnest and lightest MacBook, especially as the Air has been considered to have never been a good fit for Intel processors.
14-inch MacBook Pro By Q3 In 2021
It is being predicted that this MBP would boast a mini-LED display and an "all-new form factor” and be Apple’s first 14-inch MBP.
16-inch MacBook Pro By Q3 In 2021
This is being rumoured to be coming with a mini-LED display and an all-new design. That said, other rumours have claimed an updated 16-inch MacBook Pro would arrive in October or November of this year and it’s not impossible that both could happen.
More To Come…
That is what we know as of the end of July 2020. As more information comes to light we will bring it to you…