From Intel to Apple Silicon

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 06:00:00 +0000

The transition is complete: since a few days, all the computers I use for work are running on Apple Silicon ARM processors. This includes a Mac Studio M2 Ultra, which I’ve already talked about extensively and which sits on my office desk; a Mac Mini M1 with 16 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD – previously neglected on a shelf for reasons I won’t go into here – now in my home office; and a very basic MacBook Air M1 (just 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD, half the specs of my wife’s) for light use and when I’m on the go.

Oh, and let’s not forget: since last summer, I’ve also been using an 11" iPad Pro M1, which is an absolute gem and deserves a post of its own.

The Mac Studio and Mini are running Sonoma, which I’m not thrilled about, but it’s here to stay. Meanwhile, the Air is still on Monterey. I’ll update it to Sonoma soon to ensure consistency across all my machines.

Needless to say, compared to the Intel models I’ve used up until now, the performance is on another level. The benchmarks already say a lot, but the daily experience speaks volumes more: programs that open instantly, the fluidity of even the most resource-hungry applications, Python or R scripts that used to take minutes now finishing almost before I can blink.

Another clear indication of the speed of these machines is the time it takes to install (as usual) the operating system and all the applications I need from scratch (and there are quite a few).

With the Mini, I completed everything in a single day (around 100 applications to download, register, and configure one by one). I spent a second day on finer details, such as transferring files between Macs, tweaking system settings (a rather complicated process that, thankfully, most users can skip), and installing essential command-line tools like homebrew and conda for my work.

Rosetta installed itself automatically the first time I opened an Intel-only application, and so far, all the apps I’ve installed run without issue – even the more niche ones that require specialized libraries. After all, it’s been over three years since the introduction of the first M1 Macs, and the early challenges should have been resolved long ago.

In short, the transition from Intel to Apple Silicon has been smooth – easier than I initially expected and perhaps even simpler than the previous switch from PowerPC to Intel. And in any case, much easier than crossing a busy street in Rome in the 1960s.

P.S. What about my old Macs? As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I have a new project in mind to repurpose them effectively. The initial tests look very promising, but I’d rather be sure about certain details before writing about it. Stay tuned!

Jony Ive quits Apple: a tragedy or a blessing?

Wed, 10 Jul 2019 06:00:00 +0000

– Source: The London Standard.

Jonathan “Jony” Ive, after thirty years, is leaving Apple to start his own company, LoveFrom, which will have Apple as its first client. The news has filled tech (and non-tech) headlines worldwide for days (as you can read here, here, and here). Almost everyone, after overcoming the surprise of the announcement, expressed hope that the collaboration between the English knight¹ and the California-based company could continue just as before.

I know this might be an unpopular opinion, but I think that would be a mistake. Jony Ive was overdoing it.

Jony Ive is (or was?) a great designer, and over the course of his long career, he created outstanding products. I’m thinking of the various iMacs, from the G3 that marked Apple’s revival to the lamp-like G4 and the all-in-one G5. I’m thinking of the iPod, the iPhone, and iOS 7. But, like many star designers, at some point, he went overboard, embracing an anorexic aesthetic that prioritized design over functionality. Everything became too thin and minimalist, with zero accessibility and repairability.

This gave us the ultra-thin MacBook Pro, aesthetically perfect but technically incomprehensible – a laptop that forces you to carry around a plethora of adapters just to connect a basic USB stick. Or the horrendous butterfly keyboard, whose keys feel like tapping on glass and can be rendered unusable by a speck of dust, forcing you to replace the entire top case (and sometimes the whole laptop!) for a single malfunctioning key.

Then there are the AirPods, which, when their battery dies (two years if you’re lucky), have to be thrown away because even Apple can’t replace the battery without destroying them. Or the iMacs, Mac Minis, and MacBook Airs with soldered RAM that can’t be upgraded. Whatever configuration you choose at purchase is what you’re stuck with forever.²

And let’s not forget the most spectacular flop of all: the Mac Pro, now good only as a (very expensive) trash can. A professional computer so minimal that, to truly use it, you need a bunch of external accessories, all precariously connected via cables. A professional computer that’s not upgradeable (it’s still stuck in 2013), a true contradiction for anyone wanting to preserve the hefty investment it requires. A professional computer that overheats, overheats a hell of a lot!, making it unsuitable for the heavy workloads it’s supposed to handle. Is this the fault of engineers who can’t do thermal calculations or a designer who cares little about the actual function of the product?

Is it just a coincidence that the latest Mac Mini once again offers easily upgradable RAM? Or that the new Mac Pro has returned to its old design — a large, perforated metal case for better heat dissipation, easy to open, with plenty of space for adding drives, RAM, and interface cards? Or that the MacBook Pro keyboard is being redesigned for the umpteenth time in three years?

Perhaps Tim Cook and Apple’s board concluded that Jony Ive had gone too far and decided to finally get rid of him, despite the narrative of a mutual agreement.

It was about time. As Apple users, we deserve better.

– Source: The London Standard.

Jony Ive was knighted in 2012. ↩︎
A technical absurdity: the amount of RAM needed to keep a computer running optimally increases over time with advancements in operating systems and applications. Upgrading RAM is one of the most effective ways to significantly extend the life of any computer. ↩︎

Macbook Air on Melabit

From Intel to Apple Silicon

Jony Ive quits Apple: a tragedy or a blessing?