All About Apple

Update 3 Apr, 2018: I published this article first time on: Oct 30, 2016. Claiming that Apple is moving away from using Intel CPUs in their computers. Now, a few years later Bloomberg publishes this article: Apple Plans to Use Its Own Chips in Macs From 2020, Replacing Intel. You heard it at All About Apple first! 😉

Original post:

Just think about it for a second. Apple really like their end-to-end control of everything. Nowadays they are dependant of Intel to release CPUs before they can update their computer lineup. What if Apple could make their own CPU instead? If so, they could tailor macOS to work as efficiently as possible on that architecture. They already do this with CPUs in iOS devices and this is what they will use as an argument when they “sell in” this new transition. When they control everything down to the chips in their computers they can do whatever they want.

The lines that define a desktop and a portable computer is already fading. Especially considering the latest notebook release where they again included iOS features in their Macs. (Touch ID, Retina Touchbar, Apple Pay, iMessage etc.). The performance you get from a laptop is enough for 95% of users out there and those are the ones Apple is catering for.

Apple have done this before. When they switched from PowerPC to Intel. The reason for switching according to Steve Jobs was that Intel had the strongest CPU roadmap for Apple to make personal computers for the next ten years. This happened in 2005, as of this writing its over ten years ago.

I think the computers Apple just recently released are the latest one carrying an Intel CPU. If Apple could get their own silicon in there they wouldn’t be so dependant on Intel or AMD to get their CPUs and GPUs ready.

As time progresses the technology just get better and better. It is just a matter of time until Intel gets some competition again.

With macOS 10.13.4 Apple introduced official support for eGPUs. A eGPU is a box that contains an graphics card, making it possible to do graphic intensive tasks on your Mac (For example a low power laptop). You can compare it to an external hard drive that you use to increase the storage capacity, but this increase the graphic capabilities instead of storage.

The support document HT208544 from Apple gives more details into what types of graphic cards you can use. It appears that no cards from nvidia have official support.

So what can you do with an eGPU? (external graphics card)

• Connect more displays
• Accelerate apps / games that use metal and or OpenGL
• Use VR headsets.
• Charge your MacBook Pro
• And more!

For more eGPU goodness check out the site https://egpu.io it has tons of info about this exciting field.

Are you buying an eGPU for your Mac, or have you already tried one?

So everyone probably knows that Apple throttle their CPUs to save power and battery. They have done this on their Macs for as long as I can remember. They drive the temperatures right to the TDP limit to keep the fan noise to a minimum. That is why you can game the first half hour on an iMac but after the silicon warms up it starts to throttle. This has been proven in several benchmarks, even I saw it a few times when I owned one of their iMacs.

Apple also perform this practice on their iOS devices, as batteries age the capacity and amount of charge the battery is capable of holding gets lower. To prevent unexpected shutdowns during work-load spikes Apple may throttle down CPU performance to save power.

In a technical way this is just fine, but the problem here is that Apple doesn’t tell you about this. At least not in an easy customer accessible way. Maybe they have written something deep-down in some release notes somewhere but that doesn’t really count.

When the news from reddit broke Apple was quick to offer cheap battery replacements, as a new battery solves the problem. This also indicates that they knew this was as issue but gambled on that customers wouldn’t find out, or care about it.

Apple will soon release their new version of macOS called High Sierra. This update will mostly focus on under the hood improvements and new / updated technologies.

The most interesting features in this update in my opinion is support for external GPUs and the new filesystem.

Although the update process through App Store is pretty much straight forward it is wise to make some preparations beforehand. Here I list some articles that will help clean up, and make your current system ready for the high Sierra update.

1. Backup your data

You didn’t see this one coming?

Plug in an external drive to your Mac and answer yes to the question if Time Machine can use this drive as a backup drive. Then let it sit for a while. Depending on how much data you have it can take several hours. Let it sit overnight if you have to. If you are impatient try this: Time Machine Slow? Speed it up With This Terminal Hack!

2. Clean your system

A clean system is a system that often runs well. Take care of it and clean out old stuff. Remove software and applications you dont need anymore. Check out: 9 Ways To Free Up Space And Clean Macs.

3. Try Clean My Mac

macOS High Sierra: Getting ready in 3 steps

4. Solve problems before updating

If you suspect your device is having some issues I recommend to check out Slow Mac Performance? 12 Great Tips! and 5 Ways to Fix MacBook Overheating.

Doing some of the steps above should prepare your computer for macOS High Sierra. Good luck!