Apple really seem to be shaking up the tech world at the moment. But could this be too much for a veteran Apple user such as myself?
With the WWDC announcement of Big Sur the latest version of macOS due for release in the fall being one of them.
Then there is the switch from Intel to ARM for its new Macs, Big Sur being the first macOS 11 – dropping the X or 10 moniker, a strong possibility of Apple merging macOS with iOS (a rumour they have strong denied for years) and even the possibility of selling their next iPhone without a charger.
For me all these changes are too much. A platform switch seals the doom for Intel Macs – just as the transition from PowerPC did to Intel two decades ago, which means we should see a few more Intel compatible versions of macOS before it becomes ARM only. Remember Mac OSX 10.4 ‘Tiger’ and 10.5 ‘Leopard’, both ran on PowerPC and Intel before 10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’ became the first to drop PowerPC and be Intel only.
My current Mac is a 2012 MacBook Air 11”, will sadly be dropped by Big Sur as it requires a 2013 MacBook Air onwards, so for me the line stops at Catalina. The decision I have now (or in the near future) is do I buy a newer Intel Mac and hope it gets a few more years before Intel are cut entirely or do I leave the Apple world altogether.
Its a big decision but one that doesn’t seem so difficult. I cut ties with iOS a few years back switch from iPhone to Android – one of the best choices I ever made. And with a side interest in Linux over the years – getting fairly comfortable with LinuxMint – perhaps this is the time for me to make the leap from macOS and Apple altogether.
Over 20 years of using a Mac, once a diehard Apple fan I am now just a user out of habit. Don’t get me wrong I love macOS, I know it inside and out and it works a dream, but without the possibility of a buying a new Mac in the future, my computing life could take a new direction.
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Back with the PPC to Intel switch, I really regret buying a G5 iMac in the fall of 2005. But I needed a new Mac, and a refurbed model was the best deal. And of course the computer worked fine for years, and I upgraded it. But by 2007 it was apparent that I’d bought something that wouldn’t last. Playing HD video was the most glaring problem, as was software.
I’m in a better spot now- using a 2011 iMac upgraded with 20 Gb of RAM and a 1 Tb SSD, and a 2014 MacBook Pro. These two machines meet all my current needs and I anticipate using them for at least a few more years.