Ed Hardy at Cult of Mac writes:
It’s past time Macs stopped depending on Intel processors. There’s new evidence to show they’ve outlived their usefulness. A switch to Apple-designed chips will make macOS devices better for a variety of reasons …
It’s an opinion piece, but the author’s opinions are, in my parallel view, well-founded.
Check It Out: Lots of Good Reasons for Apple to Dump the Mac’s Intel CPUs
Lack if Intel x86 microprocessors in Mac is a deal breaker for us. We love the Mac and hate Windows interface. But much more important than that is our workflow. And for that we need full Intel x86 compatibility.
For instance, when we use Microsoft Office for Mac (including track changes in documentes when collaborating for manuscripts, PhD dissertations, PowerPoint presentations with animations, video, special protein fonts, transitions, etc), Clarivate Analytics EndNote for bibliographic management or other applications like DNAStar Lasergene or Molecular Biology Insights Oligo, among many others.
I am not talking here only about Boot Camp or VMware Fusion to run Windows (which is also a must for us to electronically sign some documents for research project grant application, etc), but mainly for working on Mac with Mac native applications that are fully native with 90% of the world that use Windows in x86. We also need the power of Mac desktops, including Mac Pro on x86 for bioinformatics. If Apple switches Mac to ARM, we will be forced to switch to PC with Windows. A shame for all!
I have already decided I shan’t be returning to Apple hardware until they dump Intel and go with their own chips. I’m sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting… and I say this being a Hackintosher.
Well if speed and versatility counts – and for pros using Mac Pros as opposed to toy pads it does – let me know when an A series Apple chip is close to being as fast as a 2017 4 core Intel i5 chip for example.,never mind the 8 core puppies. 📺
And one good reason not to: many of us need Boot Camp!
Frankly I don’t care what chips Apple uses, BUT Intel-native performance and compatibility need to be there. Boot Camp is outstanding in that regard.
If it’s ever announced “Boot Camp is gone, use Marzipan apps instead”… it’d hurt.
Please no….. Returning to the days of virtualization like we had on PowerPC would be a nightmare.
Parallels
Given a head start, I’d bet that the gurus at Parallels could make it work. That assumes the A-series chip used would have virtual machine hardware. Not hard to do.
Unfortunately, emulation does not work (remember the old days with PowerPC). Virtualization does work, but it does require the same microprocessor (for instance, VMWare Fusion now). Yet, albeit being critical, that is not the most important problem (see my other post):