Apple M1 Chip

[jscowsert]

I jumped in and ordered a new Mac Mini with Apple's M1 chip.  Have you guys been testing PM with the M1, and is it ready to go?

[Kirk Baker]

I jumped in and ordered a new Mac Mini with Apple's M1 chip.  Have you guys been testing PM with the M1, and is it ready to go?

We have one of the development systems from Apple.  Photo Mechanic 6 does run on the new hardware and macOS Big Sur.  I can't tell you if it is perfect in every way though.  Time will tell.  The current release of Photo Mechanic Plus does not fare as well and it crashes on the new M1 chip.  We'll likely be able to solve that crash problem soon.

I hope you enjoy your new Mac.

-Kirk

[jscowsert]

That's great news!  I can't live without my PM.

[Kevin M. Cox]

I was planning to test out a new M1 at college football today but the game got cancelled due to positive COVID tests on the team. Hopefully I'll be able to give it a workout soon!

[schlotz]

It's been a month, how about an update?

[Kirk Baker]

It's been a month, how about an update?

We resolved the crash problem we were having with Photo Mechanic Plus (it was Big Sur related, not M1 specific).  Both app are working well under emulation.

-Kirk

[stefsegers]

Hi Kirk,

I can confirm that PM does work with the M1, but it would be even better when we do not need the emulation and have a Universal binary

[canon400]

Bonsoir,
En tous les cas c'est vraiment beaucoup plus lent avec la puce M1 sous rosetta qu'avec intel, vivement que ce soit operationnel pour la puce M1.

[chris_g]

Any news on the native M1 support?

[Kirk Baker]

Any news on the native M1 support?

Photo Mechanic 6 and Photo Mechanic Plus run very well on the M1 in emulation.  We are not currently working towards a native version but will do so in the future.

-Kirk

[AllGold]

Please get going on this. Photo Mechanic is now (and has been for a while) the only software I use which is not M1 native and it's clear that Apple will be making only Mx/ARM-based machines going forward.

[Kevin M. Cox]

I used an Apple Silicon 13" MacBook Pro for the ten game homestand the Astros just wrapped up. It was the first real photo workout I gave it, but the weird photo positions were a great opportunity.

The battery life was outstanding just as I had hoped. I never dropped below 70% despite editing the entire game, checking the boxscore, setting up code replacements, etc. All the other photogs on Intel Macs were having to bring battery packs or run extension cords.

I feel like the screen isn't as bright as my Intel 15" and the speakers aren't as loud, but otherwise it is a nice little compact machine.

Photo Mechanic (Rosetta 2) and Photoshop (ARM native) ran just as fast as they do on my old Intel Mac. I didn't notice any problems with the emulation, it just worked.

So while native ARM support will be great, it isn't holding up anything that I can tell in my real world deadline testing.

[jose]

Thanks Kevin, I appreciate your observations working with the M1.

Saludos,
jose.

[John Hawkinson]

Photo Mechanic 6 and Photo Mechanic Plus run very well on the M1 in emulation.  We are not currently working towards a native version but will do so in the future.

Hello! Is there a timeline for a Mac arm64 native version of PM?
(I understand it runs fine under Rosetta2.)

Thanks!

[Kirk Baker]

Photo Mechanic 6 and Photo Mechanic Plus run very well on the M1 in emulation.  We are not currently working towards a native version but will do so in the future.

Hello! Is there a timeline for a Mac arm64 native version of PM?
(I understand it runs fine under Rosetta2.)

The status has not changed.  We are not currently working on M1-native version at this time.

-Kirk