> I bought a non-M1 Macbook a decade ago and there were absolutely zero issues ... How did things progress so far backwards in stability?
We are talking about a system which just underwent a huge architectural change as well as a new major release of the operating system. I think it is unreasonable to expect the same level of stability as a decades-old architecture only a couple months after release.
You can see in this case the issue is apparently already patched. It seems only with the very first software to have ever shipped on the device would you experience a bug such as this.
On the contrary, given the huge risks being taken here, you would think that the recovery/reimage solution would be the thing that they would test the most!
On the other hand, downloading 3 gb to wipe doesn't really sound that bad concidering the way to do that used to be to download the entire OS and format the disk
Why would you download anything? It seems possible to have a DVD/BluRay or USB disk with the golden copy on it, or the OS itself should be able to restore itself to factory settings.
Apple leaks talked about how they maintained a “Marklar” x86/x64 release branch for MacOS for years leading up to the official launch. I was hearing about them during the G4 desktop era.
The M1 benefits from its relation to the silicon in iPhone and iOS being based on MacOS but there are major differences. It’s a revolutionary mobile computing platform. So far the biggest problems have been a few software glitches that can quickly be patched over the internet. This is a trivial set of issues to trade for the power / performance gains.
I’m looking forward to the newer 16” models coming out. I still need Windows on my computer for my workflows though so if the virtualization isn’t even beta quality I’ll need to be an Intel holdout for a while longer.
> I still need Windows on my computer for my workflows though so if the virtualization isn’t even beta quality I’ll need to be an Intel holdout for a while longer.
I’m running the beta of Parallels on M1. Windows works fine, though Parallels itself is still a work in progress. The issue is only licensing with MS, who currently don’t license Win for ARM independently. Then it’s just a question of whether you’re willing to enter a licensing grey area, similar to when you want to pay for content but it isn’t available in a legal format (thus, a person turns to a torrent). This is not an endorsement, just an observation.
Apple mentioned the secret x86 build of OS X during the keynote when they announced that transition [1], I think they alluded to it in one of last year’s keynotes too. That said, you would expect them to have booting, installation, and wiping as one of the first things built in the macOS-on-ARM porting process.
We are talking about a system which just underwent a huge architectural change as well as a new major release of the operating system. I think it is unreasonable to expect the same level of stability as a decades-old architecture only a couple months after release.
You can see in this case the issue is apparently already patched. It seems only with the very first software to have ever shipped on the device would you experience a bug such as this.