![]() Since Microsoft has a version of Windows that runs on ARM64, we will see virtualisation solutions such as Parallels or VMWare that run virtual machines, but for ARM64 guests. That leaves the problem of running Windows as a guest operating system, or emulating Intel code well enough to run other operating systems. I imagine that Apple is working on GPUs that are at least twice as powerful as the M1, and on support for eGPUs of course. The next system will almost certainly support 3 monitors, maybe four. CPUĪll that RAM needs something to use it, so a bigger chip is likely to have more high performance cores, probably retain the 4 high efficiency cores, but with 6, 8 or 12 high performance cores GPU Not bad, but still not up to the 1.5TB supported by the current Mac Pro. ![]() So the next system will probably support 32GB, with 64GB and 128GB a possibility. Or even eight times, with the RAM entirely encircling the CPU. Or quadrupling with RAM top and bottom as well, You can easily see the RAM doubling (RAM on both sides, with the processor chip a sandwich in the middle), However, given that half (⅔) the M1 is RAM, The latency and bandwidth advantages are just too big. There won’t be any Apple Silicon models released with support for SIMMs, not even on the MacPro. There may be more laptop releases in 2021 using an M1 or ‘M1X’ with better specs, but they won’t support more displays, more memory, or more CPU cores. So, any future M1 upgrades might be a little faster (higher clock rate, or other internal tweaks), in an M1X or similar, but are unlikely to have more cores or a vastly faster GPU. I’m also betting the current M1 SoC chip design doesn’t allow for more memory. The eGPU support is almost certainly simply a lack of ARM64 drivers, and so can be fixed with a software upgrade, which I’m betting will happen. An 8 core GPU that matches bottom end discrete GPUs. ![]() Thunderbolt & USB with dedicated controllers per port (current Mac models share a controller between two ports).So, let’s look a little closer at the M1 SoC and see what its strengths and weaknesses are: Strengths: It’s been years since the last Apple TV upgrade, so arguably it’s due a refresh, but there is probably no hurry compared to the iMac and Mac Pro. The Apple TV already uses an ARM chip, so it’s really an iPhone without a screen (more nearly, an iPod without a screen). That makes sense, since the Mac mini is essentially a laptop without a screen, so really the M1 was released for Apple’s laptops with the Mac mini coming along for the ride. Of those, only the first two categories were released with Apple Silicon. The Shape of Things to Comeįirstly, let’s consider the Apple product line, excluding iPhones, wearables and HomePods. The other is plain old memory.Īnd thinking about that leads to speculation about the next systems to come from Apple, and what capabilities they might have. One half (well, closer to ⅔) is what I’ll call the CPUs, for simplicity’s sake. The SoC is not one chip, it’s two silicon chips joined together on a carrier. Then, I saw photographs of the SoC and the penny dropped. This sounds fine, but creating a chip with lots of specialised units (CPUs, Neural engine, GPUs, Networking) and lots of plain old memory (a memory cell, multiplied by several billion) sounds a bit problematic. Normally, using shared graphics memory is a performance compromise, lower cost but lower performance-not so with Unified Memory. Putting the memory on the main chip leads to much greater bandwidth, and much lower latency, which obviates the need for dedicated graphics memory. However, this “Unified Memory” as Apple refers to it, has considerable advantages over DIMM memory. As computer memory is a highly commoditised item, this means you pay more-sometimes considerably more-for memory. The memory looks at first rather like an “Apple Tax”, with the memory soldered to the motherboard. Doesn’t run other Intel operating systems in a virtual machine. ![]() Either the built-in display, plus one external for laptops, or two external monitors for the Mac Mini (cf 3 monitors in current systems) Only built-in graphics, no support for external graphics.Maximum of 16GB of memory, with no upgrades possible.There are some things the current M1 SoC doesn’t do as well as the old systems: Now, there are some caveats on all of the above. And, because of Rosetta 2, it even ran existing Intel 64bit code-and astonishingly, did so as fast, or even faster than equivalent Apple Intel models. Here was a system that matched or exceeded the current Apple MacBook Pro and MacBook Air capabilities, but with vastly superior battery life. When Apple Silicon was released, it impressed with both its power, and its power efficiency. Some musings on what we might see from Apple in 2021.
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