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Apple continues to insist that 8GB is more than enough RAM for most people
In a new interview, Apple's executives have continued to emphasize that 8GB of RAM is enough in a Mac when it comes to handling most daily tasks.
Apple's next WWDC is just around the corner, and the company is quite likely to announce a refresh for its Mac lineup during the event. Ahead of that, the Cupertino firm is hard at work building hype around its upcoming hardware launches. Now, in a new interview, some of its executives have continued to emphasize that 8GB of RAM in its upcoming Mac devices is enough for most tasks that are required by its customers.
Hackers can pull secret encryption keys from all Apple Silicon chips
If you have an Apple Silicon Mac, be aware that hackers can now pull secret encryption keys on-device.
A new research paper has uncovered a significant security vulnerability in Apple's M-series chips, and one that is unpatchable from a hardware standpoint. The flaw stems from a hardware feature called a data memory-dependent prefetcher (DMP), which is designed to speed up program execution by predicting and preloading data that may be needed in the future. However, researchers have found that these DMPs can inadvertently leak sensitive information and that it's a fundamental hardware flaw that leads to their leakage.
I used a Mac with 8GB memory in 2024. Here's how it went.
Is the starting amount of unified memory enough on Apple Silicon in 2024? We tested it.
Memory and storage are in a really strange place as we begin 2024. Some devices have more RAM available than others have in storage, offering mind-boggling amounts of memory. The OnePlus 12, one of the best smartphones right now, offers up to 24GB of RAM, which puts many low and mid-tier computers to shame.
3 reasons Qualcomm will need more than speed to beat Apple
Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite looks to be quick, perhaps even quicker than Apple Silicon. But it'll need more than just speed to with the SoC wars.
Qualcomm recently unveiled its Snapdragon X Elite system-on-a-chip, which is the first Arm processor for Windows that features custom-designed cores, called Oryon cores. Up until now, manufacturers building Arm chips made use of pre-existing cores licensed by Arm. The only brand that made custom cores was Apple, and that's part of the reason its M-series chips have blown away the competition. But with Snapdragon X Elite, Qualcomm is now designing its cores, and early results show that this makes a big impact.
Apple M3 vs. M2: Major changes, upgrades, and downgrades
Apple's M3 chips are pretty powerful, but what are the actual changes when compared to the M2 series?
Apple's latest M3 chipsets were announced at the company's "Scary Fast" launch event on the evening of Oct. 30, alongside new MacBooks and a new iMac. The M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max all arrived at the same time for the first time and are very likely to be fabricated on TSMC's N3B 3nm process, a first for the computing market. With the M2 for example, Apple announced the base-level M SoC first followed by the Pro and the Max at another, later event, though that's not the case here.
Why it's past time for Apple to refresh the 24-inch iMac
With rumors swirling of a new lineup of M3 Macs, it's time to look at the M1 24-inch iMac and why it desperately needs a refresh.
As one of the first Mac computers to get a fresh redesign with Apple Silicon back in April 2021, the 24-inch M1 iMac still looks great in 2023. While Apple's first batch of M1 computers — including the Mac mini, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro — only got internal upgrades to Apple Silicon, the company overhauled the 24-inch iMac for the first time in years. However, Apple Silicon has gotten significantly better since the M1 system-on-a-chip first debuted, and it's time for a refresh. It's unclear whether Apple will unveil new Macs or iPads this month, as trusted insiders have opposite opinions. But without speculating on whether an M2 or M3 iMac will actually debut, let's go over why one should.
How to run an Ubuntu virtual machine on Apple Silicon for free
You can run a Ubuntu Virtual Machine on Apple Silicon for free, and here's one of the ways to do so.
If you have an M1 or M2 MacBook Pro, then you probably love it as much as I do. The performance is excellent, the battery life is phenomenal, and I even use my M1 Pro MacBook over my PC most of the time. However, there are some things that it's not quite as good at, and one of those things is running virtual machines. Turns out there's a pretty neat way to run an Ubuntu virtual machine for free on an Apple Silicon Mac, though.
Apple Watch X with blood pressure monitoring reportedly coming next year
The Apple Watch X is expected to mark the tenth anniversary of the Apple Watch.
Apple is reportedly developing a completely redesigned smartwatch to mark the tenth anniversary of its first-gen Apple Watch. Dubbed Apple Watch X, it could be released as early as next year, and have a new magnetic attachment system for bands instead of the existing locking mechanism. The report comes from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who also claimed that the device could have a slimmer chassis than the existing Apple Watch models, as well as a microLED display and blood measure monitoring.
Apple's M3 Max chip for the 2024 MacBook Pro could have 16 CPU cores & 40 GPU cores
Apple's M3-series chips are tipped to come in three iterations, led by the super powerful M3 Max.
Having launched the 16-inch MacBook Pro powered by the M2 Max chip earlier this year, Apple is now reportedly working on its successor. The next-gen MacBook Pro is expected to be launched in 2024, powered by the super powerful M3 Max. The chip reportedly includes 16 CPU cores, 40 GPU cores and up to 48GB of unified memory, and is likely to be significantly faster that the M2 Max in most applications. The 16 CPU cores are said to have a hybrid configuration with 12 high-performance cores and 4 efficiency cores.
Apple's M2 Ultra could be slower than the Intel Core i9-13900KS
The M2 Ultra powers the all-new Mac Studio and the pricey Mac Pro.
At its WWDC event last week, Apple launched the all-new Mac Studio and Mac Pro powered by the company's latest custom desktop processor, the M2 Ultra. A week later, the first benchmarks for the new chip have emerged, giving us an idea about its raw performance potential. Interestingly, multiple Geekbench listings suggest that the M2 Ultra is clocked at two different speeds for different devices. While one set of results show the chip clocked at around 3GHz or less, another set of benchmarks suggest that it's clocked much higher, at around 3.6GHz.
Microsoft finally documents how to run Windows 11 on an Arm Mac
It's official. You can finally run Windows 11 on an Apple Silicon Mac, but nothing has changed.
Today, Microsoft is publishing documentation about running Windows 11 on an Apple Silicon Mac, such as one using its custom M1 or M2 chipsets. That's it; that's the story.
Check if your favorite programs are optimized for Apple Silicon using this website
If you're unsure whether your programs will work on Apple Silicon, this website may help.
If you're considering picking up one of the new MacBooks, you may be like me and have concerns over software compatibility. Part of what makes the M1 and M2 chipsets unique is their architecture: they're Arm chipsets, meaning that they understand entirely different instructions to most conventional PCs and laptops. Software has to be specifically built for them, and it's not guaranteed that the company's Rosetta translation environment will be able to make your favorite programs run regardless. That's why the "Is Apple Silicon Ready?" website can help you figure out if your programs will be optimized for — or even run on — Apple Silicon chipsets.
TSMC prepares for production of Apple's 3nm chips slated to arrive in 2023
Reportedly, in the next few days, TSMC will begin production of Apple's 3nm chips at its factories, which are slated to arrive in 2023.
As 2022 comes to a close, we're getting new information about Apple's next-generation products that are set to arrive sometime in 2023. According to a new report, one of Apple's largest partners, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will hold an event in the next few days, celebrating the start of commercial production of 3nm chips at its factory. This is important because it will be the start of the company building a new 3nm process, a technology that Apple has never relied on before.
OBS Studio now offers native support for Apple silicon
A new version of OBS Studio has been released, version 28, offering native support for computers with Apple silicon.
A new version of OBS Studio has been released, bringing many new changes to the software. OBS Studio 28 is a significant upgrade compared to previous versions, bringing HDR 10-bit color support, a UI framework using Qt6, support for ScreenCaptureKit, and more. While there are a lot of improvements and changes, it comes at a cost, with some older operating systems losing support.
Interview: Arm SVP talks about Windows on Arm, competing with Apple, and making more powerful devices
Arm processors are dominating the entire computing landscape, and we got to sit down with the company at MWC to talk about it.
Anyone that knows me knows that if you put me in a room with someone to talk about Windows on Arm, or computing on Arm processors in general, I can talk until the sun goes down. When Arm reached out and asked if I wanted to speak to Paul Williamson, its SVP and General Manager of Client Line of Business, I knew it would be the highlight of my Mobile World Congress.
Apple is really making Qualcomm and Windows on Arm look bad
Qualcomm has been in the PC space for over five years now, and while Apple is new at Arm chips, it's already setting the trends.
I'm a Windows on Arm fan. In fact, I'm a Windows fan. I've spent the bulk of my career writing about Windows, Microsoft, laptops, and the whole ecosystem. When Qualcomm and Microsoft announced Windows on Arm in 2016 with actual x86 emulation, I was excited. I wasn't excited because of the benefits that Arm processors promised.