Apple is an existential threat to the PC

[Pressure]

Same. They originally had Jan 7th as order, but I keep getting updates reducing the window, now scheduled for Dec 29th. Going to be my 'main' system now, while I've had several Macbooks/iPads over the years I've always used a PC primarily, so this is a first.

Mine still says January the 5th, so I hope they bring it forward.

It would seem that both Thunderbolt 4 ports have access to full bandwidth and doesn't share a controller, which is nice. I know it is basically a fluff piece from OWC to advertise their new Thunderbolt Hub.

But it means we can get full PCIe v3 x4 lanes from external NVMe drives.

 

[Voxilla]

Mine arrived a couple weeks back, right on time.
I have now to choose, will I switch on the beasty PC or the Mac mini. It boots much faster, so I tend to choose the mini often.
As it sips nearly no power, you can let it on the whole day.
There is an Xcode App I might want to port to the Mac, should have been easy enough, but it doesn't like OpenGL and wants me to port to Metal

 

[frogblast]

Mine arrived a couple weeks back, right on time.
I have now to choose, will I switch on the beasty PC or the Mac mini. It boots much faster, so I tend to choose the mini often.
As it sips nearly no power, you can let it on the whole day.
There is an Xcode App I might want to port to the Mac, should have been easy enough, but it doesn't like OpenGL and wants me to port to Metal

OpenGL is there and works. You can use it, and there is a macro to silence the compiler’s OpenGL depreciation warnings when building.

 

[Voxilla]

OpenGL is there and works. You can use it, and there is a macro to silence the compiler’s OpenGL depreciation warnings when building.

How do I enable this macro ?

 

[Lurkmass]

How do I enable this macro ?

Do you need any GL features above version 4.1 or do you require compatibility profile for your application ?

You can try porting your GL app to GLES 3.0 which will 'hopefully' be less work than Metal provided that you see more upside to working around their bugs rather than using a maintained gfx API ...

 

[Voxilla]

Do you need any GL features above version 4.1 or do you require compatibility profile for your application ?

You can try porting your GL app to GLES 3.0 which will 'hopefully' be less work than Metal provided that you see more upside to working around their bugs rather than using a maintained gfx API ...

Currently it says:
"OpenGLES is deprecated and is not available when building for Mac Catalyst. Consider migrating to Metal instead, or use `#if !TARGET_OS_MACCATALYST` to conditionally import this framework, first importing TargetConditionals.h if necessary."

It's quite an old version of OpenGL I'm using by the look of this code:
#import <OpenGLES/EAGL.h>
_oglContext = [[EAGLContext alloc] initWithAPI:kEAGLRenderingAPIOpenGLES2];

Edit
From what I figured out Catalyst is a framework to be able to compile iOS Apps and run them on Mac unmodified. However OpenGL is not supported on Catalyst, only Metal, so any App making use of OpenGL can not be compiled unmodified to run on Mac, but instead the OpenGL code has to be ported to Metal (or Apple has to add OpenGL to Catalyst)

 

[iMacmatician]

Bloomberg has a new rumor with numerous details on ARM Mac chips across the Mac line.

The company’s next series of chips, planned for release as early as the spring and later in the fall, are destined to be placed across upgraded versions of the MacBook Pro, both entry-level and high-end iMac desktops, and later a new Mac Pro workstation, the people said.

For its next generation chip targeting MacBook Pro and iMac models, Apple is working on designs with as many as 16 power cores and four efficiency cores, the people said. […] Apple could choose to first release variations with only eight or 12 of the high-performance cores enabled depending on production, they said.

For higher-end desktop computers, planned for later in 2021 and a new half-sized Mac Pro planned to launch by 2022, Apple is testing a chip design with as many as 32 high-performance cores.

An upcoming Mac Pro that is around half the size of the current Mac Pro was rumored by Bloomberg last month. This rumored half-size Mac Pro may or may not replace the existing Mac Pro.

I expected an ARM Mac Pro to have more than 32 big cores. While a 32 core ARM Mac Pro will be much more powerful than the current Mac Pro (at least in CPU), AMD already has 64 cores with Rome and I'm assuming that its 2022 successor will have even more cores.

For its future high-end laptops and mid-range desktops, Apple is testing 16-core and 32-core graphics parts.

For later in 2021 or potentially 2022, Apple is working on pricier graphics upgrades with 64 and 128 dedicated cores aimed at its highest-end machines, the people said.

 

[Lurkmass]

Currently it says:
"OpenGLES is deprecated and is not available when building for Mac Catalyst. Consider migrating to Metal instead, or use `#if !TARGET_OS_MACCATALYST` to conditionally import this framework, first importing TargetConditionals.h if necessary."

It's quite an old version of OpenGL I'm using by the look of this code:
#import <OpenGLES/EAGL.h>
_oglContext = [[EAGLContext alloc] initWithAPI:kEAGLRenderingAPIOpenGLES2];

Edit
From what I figured out Catalyst is a framework to be able to compile iOS Apps and run them on Mac unmodified. However OpenGL is not supported on Catalyst, only Metal, so any App making use of OpenGL can not be compiled unmodified to run on Mac, but instead the OpenGL code has to be ported to Metal (or Apple has to add OpenGL to Catalyst)

I don't think you can use OpenGL/ES with Mac Catalyst so you'll have to find some other way ...

 

[Entropy]

I expected an ARM Mac Pro to have more than 32 big cores. While a 32 core ARM Mac Pro will be much more powerful than the current Mac Pro (at least in CPU), AMD already has 64 cores with Rome and I'm assuming that its 2022 successor will have even more cores.

Why?
Honestly, what is the use case in a single user setting?
The CPU manufacturers add cores because they hope they can sell bigger numbers to the unwashed masses, and for AMD it used to be the only way to compete. But what user workload show significant benefit, that isn’t better off running on the GPU, OR run on the NPU, OR utilize beefed up Apple AMX capabilities, OR (and this is important with AS) isn’t better served by having good dedicated silicon which Apple can add with less waste of die space?
In private computing I’ve seen two decades worth of ray-tracing benchmarks, because there simply isn’t a lot of embarrassingly parallell use cases around, particularly now that we have other processing elements outside the CPU to handle the most relevant ones more effectively.

Apple doesn’t need to play the bigger numbers game to compete nor do they target fringe cases unless they have a specific strategic reason to do so. So why should Apple make 64 core Mac Pro CPUs? What is the market? Because it may be ignorance, but I just can’t see it.

(AMD actually makes pretty nice Threadripper Pro systems where they’ve tried to make the cores a bit more useful by adding memory channels to feed them. They suit some professional use cases for my field, where bandwidth is a more common limitation than FLOPS. But they are only sold through Lenovo, and the real world market for them seems quite small. For the life of me, I can’t see MacOS versions of the same concept having a larger audience.)

 

[Pressure]

Finally received the Mac mini (with 16GB LPDDR4).

The only issue is macOS Big Sur isn't quite playing ball with my Dell UP3218K monitor (7680x4320).

 

[PSman1700]

my Dell UP3218K monitor (7680x4320).

Damn that must be some sharp picture that thing provides.

 

[Pressure]

Damn that must be some sharp picture that thing provides.

It looks absolutely bonkers in 4K HiDPI and pictures in Photoshop show in full resolution. 8K video is also quite interesting to watch.

 

[PSman1700]

It looks absolutely bonkers in 4K HiDPI and pictures in Photoshop show in full resolution. 8K video is also quite interesting to watch.

Can imagine that, 8k on a 32'' screen

 

[Pressure]

Can imagine that, 8k on a 32'' screen

It helps you only sit an arms length away from the screen

 

[Entropy]

I wonder what a new "big iMac" screen will be, given the really nice 2560x1440 IPS screen introduced in 2009, and the 5120x2880 screen of 2014 and forward. There were rumours originating at LG (!) that Apple would introduce an 8k iMac a few years ago, but it never materialized, with some faint noise hinting that this was because interfacing internally to the screen from the different iMac configurations was awkward.
If they want 8k 4:4:4 and 30 bits for HDR10, they need DP2.0. Which actually exists now, and Apple doesn’t have to ask its silicon suppliers to support it, they can do it themselves. So the potential is there for a leap in capabilities. They may see that as overshooting their market though.
Still, I’d like to see a step up in display capabilities. HDR by mini-LED would be nice, but an increase in resolution and size along the lines of that 8k monitor would be nice as well. Apple has basically removed "seeing pixels" from their devices, but it would be nice to take it to the level where the output resolution of the screen is not reduced as a consideration, but removed entirely. It’s a bit wasteful, but that might be justified for a desktop system.

(Always had an irrational soft spot for the iMacs - the concept harkens back to the original Macintosh, and was lovingly brought forward with the gumdrop and the lamp mac. The current design is a bit sterile but still OK IMHO.)

 

[Pressure]

I believe they will stick with the 6K resolution with lower specs (lower nits) if they introduce a 32" model.

 

[Entropy]

I believe they will stick with the 6K resolution with lower specs (lower nits) if they introduce a 32" model.

Seems likely, possibly with mini-LED improving contrast over the current 5k iMac screen. And that would be a Really Nice Screen, compared to 99+% of what is out there. That said, I’m envious of your 8k Dell. Each pixel on a display is full RGB in contrast to the way pixels are counted on image sensors, so an 8k screen would comfortably outresolve even my stacked sensor shifted images. I’m typically an optimal compromise kinda guy, but when an issue can be completely removed, well that has a lot of appeal too.

 

[Laurent06]

Finally received the Mac mini (with 16GB LPDDR4).

The only issue is macOS Big Sur isn't quite playing ball with my Dell UP3218K monitor (7680x4320).

Are you sure it's an OS issue? Apple say M1 goes up to 6K. Or do you mean you tried to run your screen at a lower resolution and the OS did not play well with that reduced rez?

EDIT: Just realized you're talking about an 8K monitor...

 

[Malo]

So it turns out there really will be a BMW 7 series priced car with the functionality of a go kart.

 

[BRiT]

I hear Apple has done away with the fuel tank and have switched to using AirPods for disposable power. Just stop at your nearest Apple Store to buy another set then throw them into a small compartment in the AirKart.