As a matter of interest, does anyone know the architectural limit for the number of cores on ARM?
If there are limits they will be in the order of 1000s so the real limit is the dies size. We have already seen 32core ARM cpus. Apple could also do what AMD have done and build a cpu out of multiple smaller dies.
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Right, and it is possible to evolve an architecture - both hardware and software - to support ever more. (It takes some doing but should be transparent to applications.)
I would also add that bug machines use multiple processor core chips and that Apple might well be able to design their own inter-chip communication protocol. (There are some interesting problems, mainly coherency and cache performance, to solve here.) The point is that Apple could scale up as much as they want, with control over the resulting architecture and implementation.
(Which reminds me, I should look up the spec for our SIGP (Signal Processor) instruction as that probably has a 1 byte CPUID field.)
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Iām thinking we neednāt worry if an ARM chip has the goods versus Intel when it comes to computing brawn:
https://www.top500.org/news/japan-captures-top500-crown-arm-powered-supercomputer/
The new top system, Fugaku, turned in a High Performance Linpack (HPL) result of 415.5 petaflops, besting the now second-place Summit system by a factor of 2.8x. Fugaku, is powered by Fujitsuās 48-core A64FX SoC, becoming the first number one system on the list to be powered by ARM processors. In single or further reduced precision, which are often used in machine learning and AI applications, Fugakuās peak performance is over 1,000 petaflops (1 exaflops). The new system is installed at RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS) in Kobe, Japan.
Not an apples-to-apples comparison, of course. But it does indicate great promise for the power of ARM (excuse me, I mean Apple Silicon) chips powering beefy machines like top-of-the-line Macbook Pros and Mac Pros.
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I have absolutely no doubt Apple will make a rip-roaring stellar ARM based Mac Pro.
The question is whether Intel Mac Pros (and all other Macs for that matter) will become prematurely obsolete as a result.
What I suspect will happen is that Apple will indeed āsupportā Intel Macs for almost a decade more. But I bet starting a few years from now, work on improving their capabilities/peripherals will slow to a crawl and new ākillerā features will require an ARM processor - thus pushing āMac power usersā overall to upgrade hardware sooner than might have otherwise been necessary.
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If so then only in the loosest definition of āsupportā. EU rules require hardware support for seven years and Apple will want to start the clock on that ASAP.
And Iām not sure thereās an equivalent EU requirement for software; I researched that a couple of years ago and donāt remember finding it to be true then.
10.11 Snow Leopard was the last OS version to run on PowerPC/Intel; it came out in 2014, eight years after the the last new PowerPC Mac models, and it was updated periodically with minor updates for two more years. So thatās ten years, but the percentage of PowerPC users still around and using that OS was in the single digits for a couple of years by then. And Apple was a different and smaller company. I personally think that under substantially different market circumstances itās unlikely for Apple to give more than token support to Intel-based macOS after 2025-2026.
In the next few years Appleās software support decision will rest largely on the installed base of corporate and edu machines still being used. With the rise of mobile and handheld computing, the the iteration we see there, it will bne interesting to see what kind of turnover those areas will show. (They tend to move slowly because for budget-related reasons.)
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Anything is possible.
I purchased a G5 PowerMac when it came out in 2003, Apple announced the move to Intel in '05 and, as I recall, the last OS upgrade I could use was released in '07. At that point I couldnāt sell the G5 to anyone.
Fortunately, by that time we had started moving our company from Windows to Mac so I was furnished MacBooks & iMacs until my retirement a couple of years.
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I suspect Apple is going to try to make ARM-based Macs as enticing as possible to promote upgrades as much and as quickly as possible; just saw this from a developer after āattendingā some sessions:
So as along as apple provide security updates they will be in good faith they are not require to provide main os updates.
personally i expect they will provide x86 os updates for 5 years after the last x86 mac stops being sold and sec updates for a further 2 to 3 years.
From watching the sessions and reading the new apis I am very sure all Apple Silicon macs will be 120hz variable refresh rate! that will look even better than the switch from non retina to retina (120hz on a large monitor is just so nice and you canāt go back after you get used to it)