Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryson
Have we discussed what this move might mean for Boot Camp / Parallels? I rely on them to do my day to day work, now that BlueBeam have discontinued the Mac version. It would suck to have to buy a work PC to go alongside my Mac.
|
It's hard to say.
Assuming Mac on ARM is a thing at all, the next question is: will it be a thing only for low-end models, or also for ones where some people use Boot Camp or virtualization?
If they only do the low end, I think they'll just throw the entire subject under the rug.
If they also do the high end, I don't think that's an option (and if it is, I'm probably outta here).
Here's one thing they could do. Windows does run on ARM, and includes an emulator, albeit only for 32-bit apps. Apple might go into some kind of licensing agreement to make the A14M compatible enough with Qualcomm's Windows chips (e.g., the Microsoft collaboration 'SQ1') that Windows boots. (I'm told people have managed to boot it without Qualcomm's help, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Qualcomm agrees in terms of licensing…)
That would mean ARM apps on Windows would just work, and fairly fast at that, but they're kind of far and few between (MS Office? nope!). Other apps would run in emulation. But presumably, that's also the case on macOS: either Apple ships an emulator, or you'll find yourself waiting for apps to be ported. It's just that Apple is far better at convincing third parties (and their own teams, DEAR MICROSOFT OFFICE TEAM) that, hey, seriously, we're transitioning, and you're with us or go to hell. Microsoft doesn't do that.