wizard69

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  • High Sierra runs on all Sierra-capable hardware, starts process to kill 32-bit apps

    wizard69wizard69

    rezwits said:
    Man the OS after High Sierra is going to be sketchy. How can they make sure every unix executible in the system is 64-bit? and reliable? Seems like quite a bit of work... The "ability" tho to at least run a 32-bit app was/is a great "feature" of our OS as it stands right now :( I got stuff I know I am not going to be able to run...
    I would have to say that most UNIX executables have been 64 bit clean for a decade or more now.   At least the core system software would be 64 bit clean.   Now third party apps and deamons are another thing but the writing has been on the wall for a long time here, if your software vendor can't do a 64 clean app it really is time to change vendors.  

    Personally I'm happy with this move from Apple.    What bothers me though is that some supplied "UNIX" software such as Python is a bit outdated, Apple needs to ditch the Python 2 series for Python 3.
    rezwitslolliver

  • New 5K iMac GPU configurations at least double best performance of MacBook Pro

    wizard69wizard69
    xzu said:
    All great points! I did not mean to confuse the argument with the use of Hacintosh. First its not legal, second I would not use one for anything that is important or work related. It was just an observation that a PC(Hacintosh) that is 5 years old is faster than my 2013 trashcan Mac Pro which Apple still sells, for a lot of $$. Additionally I find MacOSX far faster and more stable than Windows on the exact same PC hardware.

    I was trying to make the point that we have only reached 60% of the graphics power of a year old consumer card. I understand there is another iMac coming in December and new Mac Pro next Spring. The iMac is beautiful machine, MacOS is far better for almost everything I do, but when you run in a multi-platform environment you see how underpowered Macs are at the moment. In my opinion, The iMac has too nice of screen for the graphics hardware they are putting behind it. The egpu will help, but it is not an elegant solution for a desktop, it is very nice for a portable. 

    I think Apples pre-announcing future hardware is the most exciting thing of the entire event, it means they may understand the need of SOME people, and really goes to prove my point. As far of iMac being a consumer machine, its really the only desktop machine they make. The Trashcan Pros, which honestly I love and wish they kept updating, are for a very very very small amount of people. I wish they had updated the Mac Mini. 

    Finally, it just bugs me that Apples marketing always starts out with "New graphics 200% faster than last years model" when it is so dreadful. As most people here have said, graphics speed doesn't mean that much to the most users.
    Thee are all good points but there is more to choosing a GPU solution for Apple than just TFlops.    For example the quality and performance of the video decode/encode until are very important now days.   Power usage, especially in the iMac is a factor, in fact we are seeing that power is a limiting parameter in the current iMac GPU implementations.   

    As for consumers I suspect that many DO care and DO understand how a GPU impact performance.    Apple has been feeling the heat so to speak with rather pathetic desktop releases so I see they WWDC as an admission from them that they have to be more responsive to consumer needs.   Hopefully this isa trend that they will keep up in the future.

    As for the Mini and MacPro, yep a disappointment that they haven't updated either.   I actually see potential here for Apple to offer 3 different "desktop" solutions.   First the Mini could be replaced by a single board solutions 1/2" thick and maybe 4" square.   Then they need a midrange solution which is hopefully the rumored machine that they are supposedly working on.    This machine would be big enough to take a single GPU card and support RAM expansion, frankly a cut down Mac Pro would be perfect.   Then we need to see the delivery of a Mac Pro replacement that is a true "Pro" machine.   Wishful thinking I know.
    xzufirelock

  • Tim Cook talks HomePod's philosophy, ARKit's potential market impact

    wizard69wizard69
    techprod1gy said:
    AR isn't new. Nintendo did that stuff with the DS. What is profound to me is Apple is giving the capability to many developers and will be able to incorporate it into most of their products...I think the time is right for AR to be applied.
    What is missed here is Apples dive into machine learning which has the potential to dramatically alter software in the future.    While many will disagree I suspect that the next releases of iOS and Mac OS are are the launching points for a new run of innovation for Apple and the developers the tux-port them.   ARKit is just one of many new technologies that welcome this year and breed innovation in the software space.

    What really interests me is where Apples new GPU fits in this future.    I really have to believe that the GPU will be highly optimized for AR, ML and other technologies that are coming.    In fact I suspect that we will see a different emphasis on what is important in a GPU.    IPhone will hopefully be the reveal of this new GPU this year.

    Speaking of GPU's I'm a bit surprised that Apple is using the A10X or A8 in some of its new products.    If they expect to discontinue royalties to Imagination in two years then most of the products revealed yesterday will need to be phased out by then.   
    cornchipradarthekat

  • Apple 'Files' app for iOS 11 appears on App Store ahead of WWDC

    wizard69wizard69
    That would be absolute evil.    Having a couple of data bases at work that I have to work with I can easily say that nobody constantly uses keywords.   Further database searches for keywords are far more difficult that browsing a directory structure.
    williamlondonmike1SpamSandwichdavidmalcolmilovemompscooter63zoetmbdoozydozen

  • Apple developing dedicated AI chip called Apple Neural Engine

    wizard69wizard69

    ericthehalfbee said:
    I bet they already have it. It'll be part of their new GPU coming out in the next iPhone this fall.
    Exactly!   Now maybe not in the first iteration but I'm absolutely certain that Apples move to an in house GPU has a lot to do with extensions to the GPU to facilitate AI type calculations.    In a cell phone sized device you simply can't afford to have a discrete chip for AI even with the next process shrink and board space doesn't permit discreet chips.

    The only other option Apple would have is a stacked arrangement of chips but that would dismiss the value of the all those computational units in a GPU.    What I'm expecting is a GPU from Apple with resources that can be easily allocated to different processes.    Instead of the vary wide computational resources you will see many smaller units that can run their own threads as needed.   

    Exciting times are coming it is just a question of how "good" the first implementation will be.    Considering the direction Apple gave Imagination I suspect that we will see the first example of Apple AI hardware this year.
    watto_cobrabigpics