Quote:
Originally Posted by chucker
The Mac Pro is still a big question mark.
As for RAM, I dunno. I still think a heterogenous approach is a possibility — you get built-in fast RAM, and then you get expandable, but slower RAM. You need to decide at app launch which one you want.
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^ This, but automatic and managed by the kernel.
(though the notion of manually choosing an app's memory config, at launch, is so very Classic!)
If the new Mac Pro adds socketed, 'slow' RAM to Apple Silicon it will be yet another storage tier. Apple already has several. The MX SoCs have very large pools of
on-die memory, known as 'System-Level Cache', which is much faster than the on-package RAM. Movement between RAM and SLC is entirely managed by the system; it follows that any new storage tiers would be handled similarly.
Apple might flex by choosing to manage 'slow' RAM as a kind of virtual memory, thus providing multiple tiers for swap. (SSD < Socketed RAM < On-Package RAM). But some apps, like very large databases or HPC datasets, need full control and Apple will want to accommodate them. I suspect any default, 'automatic' policy would be opt-out for the apps that demand, and explicitly code for, full control.
No inside knowledge here, just educated speculation. Cheers.