Not only Hackintosh users, almost everybody would embrace them. Damn, I'd love to have a Windows PC with that baby.
If you take out high end gamers and perhaps heavy video FX users it targets 90% of the market.
And if you use network slave machines like several of us who use Audiogridder/Vienna... that only leaves gamers.
Apple currently doesn't offer solutions for some use cases so it's only early guessing now but perhaps the change of mindset would include that.

They do will improve performance until 32 cores in the next years. I'm hoping non-Apple chip makers will follow. As you said, it's much more complex for the PC ecosystem but the advantages are there. That Linus video shows how far the competence is right now, so they're pushed to improve their game.

 

Microsoft Surface Pro X second gen with SQ2 arm cpu already exists and it sucks

 

It surely sucks, no doubt. With that said, it's easy to criticize. Imho, shifting Windows to ARM cpus will take ages to run flawlessly, if it ever will without a complete re-write, with the latter taking eons if the first would take ages lol.
For Apple the transition -at least theoretically- should have been much easier, Unix and its derivatives have been known to run on ARM cpus since forever. And since macOS is a Unix core afterall..., i'm sure you know the rest.
For me, MS should refrain from such commercial releases as the ARM Surface. They should try the transition but keep it to themselves instead of bringing out products that do nothing but embarass and smear the whatever rep they have left. I 've had one in my hands briefly for a couple of hours last year. Does it work? Sort of. It brings to mind the same kind of embarrassment as a Windows RT device did. Remember those? But in that pricetag, it's much more humiliating to be so bad that practically can't do anything well or just can't-period.
But then of course, there is this undying MS desire to become Apple so bad that they will do anything to blur the hardware/software scenery thinking that it's to their favour. Well.. it's not, hehehe.
Laters mate

 

I don't even think Microsoft is sure where to go from this,
their revenue is not coming from Windows, but various server solutions and services, Office, Azure, Exchange etc...,
I believe it's really hard to decide whether to jump onto ARM wagon, or just sell Office for Mac and iPad and keep just the enterprise area and perhaps build own ARM designs for server farms they would rent as a service;
I mean, this whole handheld and portable market is completely changing past years - laptops and phones are loosing physical control, going touchscreen more or less, prioritizing battery over performance - if I were buying casual Joe computer right now, I'd even consider something like iPad because it can do what most casual Joes need....

 

That's true but it has a reason you already stated. Microsoft failed miserably the battle of smartphones/tablets OSes. So they tried to create a new product sitting between super-tablets and micro-laptops. Kind of the miserable bastard of the mobile devices family.

Of course they are failing too and being raped by iPad, Samsung and MBook Air, but that's not a bad thing for us PC users.
We have a Windows 10 which doesn't try to behave like an smartphone OS like the infamous Windows 8.

If we talk about the M1 I'd say is more of a problem of Qualcomm and other high-end ARM processor companies.

 

yeah, it is a bit easier to do such transitions for unix, no doubt.

then again, MacOS8 ran on pentium III, atari TOS runs on PPC G4, there are quite some examples.

and windows? already runs on ARM processors since many years - including an x86 emulation, which we mac users do not have.

since a while the former missing x64 emulator is also available for windows 10 ARM, and with similar decent perfomance than rosetta2 on the apple ARM hardware.

when i think about it, i might switch to windows i never wrote that.

 

I see you quite suspiciously educated on Windows for Mac user hahaha. Jus' kiddin of course.
https://blogs.windows.com/windows-i...10-on-arm-pcs-to-the-windows-insider-program/
Oh btw, Atari's TOS was an unashamed macOS ripoff hehe. Actually those of us who bought the Atari ST and its offsprings in the mid to late 80s, was because it was something like a small Mac but at a fraction of what Macs cost and it also sported a MIDI port and was fast enough too (twice as fast than what pcs were back then), so it was a win win (lol). So no wonder how it was emu'd/ported later on.
Oh and the only way i would switch back to mac ever again is if my softies were ported to macOS which hasn't happened for 20+ years, but hey, you never know, never say never and so on
@Xupito
I don't consider myself a Windows user. Although i have more than 10 Win comps, i do come from Macs and Ataris in the 80s and 90s. God be my witness i prefer doing MIDI on my Roland and MPC sequencers better than any Cubase, Logic or whatever DAW. I can operate those machines fkn blindfolded and make music without ever looking at any screen whatsoever. But this is another story of course, so excuse me for digressing.
To me comps are about open end architecture, building your machine the way you want it, and most of all about the software you like to use. More than anything i ever used, i like Acid Pro, SoundForge, Vegas, Cakewalk... I also do Cubase and Wavelab and many more, you can say as an dam old sod i am nifty with pretty much any DAW but i prefer those Windows only apps. May sound funny but i switched to Windows back in 98 because of Acid and SoundForge. Peak on the Mac never cut it for me anyway and Logic always felt the most illogical sequencer lol.
Laters mate

 

back on the topic, here's some Kontakt testing with 16GB ram M1 Mac Mini:

 

interesting thread :
https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/partially-fixed-m1-macs-are-still-buggy.308759

 

I have had none of these issues.. NADA..Zip. Bluetooth has been fine. I am running more stuff connected than these guys could ever dream of.. no issue whatsoever.

 

Then you are one of the lucky.

 

It's all about Battery

 

I’ve had zero issues as well.

 

Theses guys over there not : https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252078550

 

until the main audio software works on arm (natively), i think we don't even have to mind to make the switch to arm because i saw that thread about the updated apps that support m1 and things like cubase don't work well even under rosetta2

 

I use an late 2012 mini. I'm toying with the idea of getting a 2018 mini with mojave loaded in the theory I can keep using all the software I have now. I mean, for over the past 15 years computers have been more than adequate to make any music I would create. A 2018 machine, if lasting as long as Apple machines tend to do (hell, even my macs from 1997 will still run. My '07 macbook I still use), it would pretty much be my last one to use at my age.

Reasoning is that with the new apple processors, am I gonna have to basically spend a lot of money having to upgrade all the software and plugins I have?

 

Are you running Mojave now?
If so, upgrading the hardware to the 2018 model would give you a pretty good performance bump with minimal investment. As you probably know, that’s the last OS that will run 32-bit apps, so you’ll be able to keep running without upgrading those, while also being able to run 64-bit apps. However, if you’re running an older OS, you may find you need to upgrade some things anyway.

In general, I’m a fan of this strategy, as it usually results in good stability, minimal maintenance, and a favorable cost/performance ratio.
There are some caveats, however, as you’re buying hardware that is already actively obsoleted by Apple.

-You’re likely to have more difficulty if you use newer iOS devices, as Apple tends to force upgrades on those and create incompatibility with older MacOSes in the process.
-In the past, critical updates have not been available for older OSes. This can be problematic if for example, a big security hole is discovered, and your web browsers suddenly become incompatible with a large number of websites. There are typically workarounds, but it can be a nuisance.
-In general, you won't have many of the security updates that have been implemented in later versions of MacOS
-If you need to do a reinstallation of some software, legacy versions may not be readily available. It’s a good idea to archive your critical installers just in case.
-Should some groundbreaking new software arrive on the scene, you’re likely SOL, as in the not-too-distant future, there won’t be Intel versions available.

 

Last edited: Mar 5, 2021

Thanks for your input.

I'm on High Sierra. Was about to move to Mojave and have already created a test system to boot from on an external drive. Outside of about 4 or 5 Waves plugs not working, seems pretty much everything else is fine. However I hesitated to commit internally as Mojave doesn't give an option (well, at least apparently not without some convoluted method I don't want to mess with) to stay with HSF+. As my mini has the 5400rpm hdd...although fastest cpu and 16gb ram.... I did read something about the new file format giving slower performance on spinners, so have not yet committed. However internal drive is system and software. All my sample libraries for everything are on externals.
Don't use anything I'm aware of that's 32 bit anymore.

Don't use any iOS devices, phones. Don't ever really plan to, but who knows.

What I've been doing for years, is that I'll buy inexpensive pc laptops for just internet use (like now) to download tv, movies and hooked up to a tv to watch and grab stuff from sister site. Only internet I do on mac is taking care of personal finances, updating software... things mac software specific.
I get you about eventual browsers becoming obsolete. Pretty much using browsers on my '07 macbook is useless. However, an option to keep up to date on the mac side for security doing personal business would be to buy the most inexpensive mac available when it becomes necessary.

Oh yeah. Keep two archives of everything.... if I want to go back to Reaktor v1.0, I can, heh. Plus I keep two clone copies of my current and the previous system each. The eternal sample drives I use for all my software and synths have a backup copy.

True but afaic, computer power to allow me pretty much do anything I want has been around for nearly 15 years already. As of now I have Logic and Live, shitload plugs, Top synths...omnisphere, falcon, NI ultimate, etc. There ain't nothing more musically I (or anyone else imo) couldn't make right now with the power/software currently available. Embarrassment of riches really. What could possibly be next that isn't here already.... sit back while letting some AI do everything from the sound design, playing, singing and writing for you? heh.

 

Last edited: Mar 5, 2021