What is this, 1968? Apple likely would have to rewrite nothing as they already have the kernel running on ARM (iOS) and their software is written in C/C++/Objective C, which is highly portable and very efficiently compiled due to the LLVM project which they are active contributors to.
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WWDC14 Thread of iOS 8 and Mac OSX 10.10
- Thread starter celebi23
- Start date
What is this, 1968? Apple likely would have to rewrite nothing as they already have the kernel running on ARM (iOS) and their software is written in C/C++/Objective C, which is highly portable and very efficiently compiled due to the LLVM project which they are active contributors to.
Just go external provided you have a Thunderbolt port. Slightly slower than internal SSD but will still smoke an HDD.
Yeah but TB drives have ridiculous prices compared to USB3.
Hatty
Member
Isn't the problem with this that the drive may not be available right away at start up causing problems? Or is thunderbolt different?
smokeandmirrors
Banned
but everything would need to be recompiled. I know Apple would probably do it but how many companies and people are going to do that just to support a shitty arm chip.
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
who cares lets just leave it all behind.
You have to recompile with every update and whenever Apple releases a new version of OS X, this isn't really any different to the developer.
smokeandmirrors
Banned
Meh, I don't care either way. I just think going to arm chips is a shitty idea.
no you don't.
apps will work across different versions unless apple changes or adds anything. Some of the stuff I've used was made for Snow Leopard.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
Let's stop talking about the silly ARM rumor. Even if it does come true, I highly doubt it'll be this year or even next. In fact it might be for some machines that Apple hasn't even shown off yet. Or they're just experimenting like they always do. Either way, it has nothing to do with WWDC and shouldn't even have been mentioned in here.
Let's just continue talking about the more likely stuff like OS X 10.10, iOS 8, Home Automation, possibly AppleTV with App Store (My wishful thinking of course) and the silly iWatch.
Let's just continue talking about the more likely stuff like OS X 10.10, iOS 8, Home Automation, possibly AppleTV with App Store (My wishful thinking of course) and the silly iWatch.
badcrumble
Member
I suspect that a seriously new Apple TV or an iWatch would need their own event.
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
Never say never. They're getting faster and I'm still just posting on gaf and browsing found.
infiniteloop
Member
Steve Jobs talking about past Mac transitions at WWDC 2005, announcing the Intel transition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=K0KNLCbzZUw#t=1309
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=K0KNLCbzZUw#t=1309
the home automation stuff just feels like another thing that already exists - perhaps in an ad-hoc or janky way - that Apple can scoop up, polish, and claim as their own.
Although I'd like to see it, it is just frustrating that nobody else has managed to consolidate this area into a decent standard.
Although I'd like to see it, it is just frustrating that nobody else has managed to consolidate this area into a decent standard.
Interesting...
I'm actually super psyched to use Healthbook, I think it could be a game changer if it's integrated correctly with iWatch (or the other way around).
I've been using the Fitbit app with my 5S, and it has made me walk more. Having all my steps measured and graphed has pushed me to try to beat myself.
This situation expanded onto other areas could be very interesting.
CrudeDiatribe
Member
It's available. Macs can boot off USB/TB/SD/FW and even storage attached to PCI-E cards that have the right chipset(s)/firmware.
... we've already done this going from 68k to PPC, and PPC to Intel, not to mention OS9 to OS X. It's annoying at the time but not the end of the world.
My biggest concern is how slow the amd64 emulation layer would be running on ARM, assuming they do so.
Is it possible to have co-processors? In the '90s there was a Mac with a "DOS card" which was a 286 or 386 on an expansion card while the CPU on the motherboard was a 68k.
I think an ARM MacBook Air with double the current battery life is coming in the next years.
Smaller architecture means passive cooling, less die etc, which equals bigger room for batteries. It's like when they removed the optical drives.
It's like if they ever do a transition to ARM they could just play this, the reasons haven't changed.
I would imagine Apple would use the opportunity to make a thinner laptop instead of a same size laptop with a crazy battery life.
Even if they make them thinner they have removed a whole active cooling system with fans that take up a lot of room, along with removing an insanely amount of die.
We are talking about essentially removing the top third of that.
For the Air, sure.
Because Windows 8 RT is working out so great for Microsoft.
Windows RT doesn't even allow you to run third party desktop apps. Microsoft has bigger issues.
Well RT doesn't even really have a desktop. Their biggest mistake was that weird almost desktop because they didn't have office available as a metro app and it confused everyone. Nobody confuses an iPad for an iMac and complains they can't run their OSX applications.
badcrumble
Member
I do think that the current MacBook Air very clearly has "good enough" battery life - in that I can use it insanely heavily for an entire day and not worry about running out of battery, then plug it in at night. Double that would be great, but it's "good enough" in the sense that I never need to worry about battery as long as I plug it in every night (or, more realistically, every other night).
So yeah, I could see Apple wanting to take the opportunity to make the laptop even thinner/cooler. But it's also absolutely "good enough" in those respects too, so it's hard to say what happens there.
So yeah, I could see Apple wanting to take the opportunity to make the laptop even thinner/cooler. But it's also absolutely "good enough" in those respects too, so it's hard to say what happens there.
moniker
Member
There are also other factors to consider. Apple would control more of the supply chain and wouldn't be tied to Intel's release schedule. There would probably be cost savings involved as well.
I like x86 macs because they're really well built PCs I can do whatever I want with, frankly I buy mbps because I can run windows on it and that's what I use mostly on them. Switching to ARM, chances are it just runs iOS or what iOS will turn into by then, not exactly thrilled by that.
If they made an ARM notebook it would not run iOS, I highly doubt it would even have a touch screen. As to running x86 code, there are lots of options, maybe a coprocessor to translate some of the CISC on the GPU (AMD has an x86_64 license, they did create it, and AMD is very flexible about licensing to SoCs). They could do it all software, etc. I like the idea of running Windows if I need to, but I so rarely find myself doing it, I think most people if they were honest with themselves would realize the same.
Considering how much they've talked about recently how they don't see OS X and iOS merging, I don't think that switching to ARM is particularly what they *want* to do. Will they if they feel they have no other choice with Intel's processor selection? Perhaps, but we're some ways away from that, I suspect.
(Look at how long they held to PPC even though it was pretty clear with the G5's introduction that it was not the leap forward everyone was hoping for, hence the "3GHz" remarks that couldn't actually be fulfilled.)
Yep. Apple sells products. The guts inside are just a means to an ends. If other guts would produce a product that's closer than what they want then they'll use that.
Mr. Wonderful
Member
Right. And Broadwell's lower power consumption while in use is going to push that 12-hour battery life probably closer to 15-18 hours, at which point, we don't really need better battery life.
It'll be live streamed: https://www.apple.com/apple-events/june-2014/
Streaming video requires Safari 4 or later on Mac OS X v10.6 or later; Safari on iOS 4.2 or later; or QuickTime 7 on Windows. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 5.0.2 or later.
Streaming video requires Safari 4 or later on Mac OS X v10.6 or later; Safari on iOS 4.2 or later; or QuickTime 7 on Windows. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 5.0.2 or later.
Huzzah!
I think we're still aways from that eventuality, but I do think at some point they're going to stop advertising battery life for mobile devices and crotchety old man me will have his mind blown that we don't really care that much about power needs anymore.
edgefusion
Member
I hope with iOS 8 they actually put some thought into the iPad version of the interface. I'm fed up of so much of the interface feeling clunky and awkward. It was clearly designed as iPhone first, shoe-horned onto iPad second. It's about time they put as much care and thought into the interface as they do their other platforms.
Liu Kang Baking A Pie
Member
Do you know why?
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
So, I use a Macbook Air and an iPhone 5 and my Windows computers have QuickTime and I have AppleTVs that meet the requirements, so obviously I'm not negatively impacted by this... but I really have no idea why Apple doesn't use more standardized Streaming tech for this stuff. I mean, I guess I do know, it's a mix of technical reasons and stubbornness, but still, it's always sort of made me raise my eyebrow.
I wonder how much of it is because it's Google (Youtube and soon Twitch I presume).
infiniteloop
Member
BANNERZ
Yes! I don't have an apple tv, was going to ask my Uncle whose coming on Sunday if I could borrow his but i'll just watch on my laptop now
Iacobellis
Junior Member
And today I learned that the news is slower in the summer.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
I miss when Spotlight's results looked like that. With the groups and the sidebar full of options. It was so much better. So goddamn fast. So awesome. But it only lasted for one version. Then it was gone. The grouping we have now is nothing compared to it. Bah. I loved that Spotlight.
Oh, and when image file thumbnails didn't have that ugly-ass thick white "photograph" border on them. Fucking hell I hate that. When you had a transparent PNG or GIF in the Finder it blended in with the background and photos had a slight shadow. Now they all get bordered with a fugly thick white border. Goddammit I hope that's one of the things 10.10 gets rid of as part of its UI unification.
What I don't miss however is brushed metal and thick separators between sidebar and content and thick borders around the window in iTunes, iCal, iPhoto and the Finder. Those can gladly die in a fire.
Oh, and Widgets are amazingly still around. I haven't used them in 8 years. As long as 10.10 still lets me disable them I don't care.
And dat Mr. and Mrs. Smith trailer. lol "Alright, enough of that!"
infiniteloop
Member
I kinda feel like it's time for Dashboard to go, it's 10 years old now. Does anybody really use it anymore? Maybe move the weather, calendar etc. into notification center or something.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
I agree. Let it go. All the stuff that Widgets do is done better with other services. And many could be put into the OS with some tweaks to Notification Center. (Imagine "Today" with its own sidebar on the left side showing weather, time and upcoming events and stuff.) I'm sad Notification Center Widgets never took off. They'd be a perfect replacement on OS X for regular Widgets. Hell, I'd love a gesture where you drag two fingers from the top of the pad down and it would bring down "Today" with all that stuff.
The Wolfram Alpha stuff was the best part though. Like a stand-up routine. "Oh not to worry, cuz there's this little checkbox and you'll click the little checkbox and it'll be fine." "So I said okay, I'll send out our crack team of emergency Macintosh developers that we keep on standby... that'll be Rob." "And I'd especially like to thank the Apple Engineering team for freeing up my weekend."