Intel-Based Mac | What Is Intel Mac and Why Differs from Apple Silicon


Are you thinking of an Intel Mac, its utility, and more? A Mac PC, which an Intel x86 CPU drives, is called an Intel-based Mac. Apple transitioned from IBM and Freescale PowerPC CPUs to Intel x86 CPUs in 2006. It also released Boot Camp, which enables an Intel Mac to start either as a Mac or a Windows PC if Windows OS is preinstalled.

Intel Macs enable the movement of information across PCs and Macs. Specific formats, such as TIFF photos, necessitated a transformation between Mac and Windows before the transfer.

However, Apple again started switching the Mac series from Intel to ARM CPUs in 2020 to converge on a single CPU architecture for all its desktop and mobile platforms. Let's discuss more things in detail!

How Do I Know if My Mac Is Intel-Based

Apple started converting its Macs from Intel CPUs to its M1 Apple silicon chips in early 2020, and it subsequently released a second, enhanced chip known as the M2 chip. Several Intel and Apple silicon Mac models, appear almost indistinguishable, rendering them difficult to distinguish amid significant changes in processor performance.

However, it's possible to identify intel-based Macs by utilizing the "About this Mac" feature. Follow the steps below to determine if your Mac is intel-based:

Step 1. Hit the Apple icon, which is located at the top-left edge of the menu bar.

Step 2. Opt for the "About This Mac" option.

choose about this mac

Step 3. The Intel Macs will have "Processor: Intel Core i5/i7."

the intel mac shows the processor i5 or i7

To summarize, if an Intel chip drives your Mac, About This Mac displays an item named "Processor," followed by the official title and model number of the Intel processor operating the device.

Pros and Cons of Apple Silicon VS. Intel Mac

In this part, we will assess the pros and cons of Intel Mac and Apple Silicon to let you know the different aspects of these MacBooks.

Pros

Apple will have a more significant influence when new Macs are released. Intel's flaws and inefficiencies will no longer irritate Apple (for example, the cancellation of the Cannon Lake processor generation).

Cons

Because ARM is incompatible with x86 or x64 software, most Windows programs will not work without an emulator; nonetheless, this is anticipated to be a massive problem for Mac users.

Final Verdict

In a nutshell, these are all about intel mac, and everything is described precisely apple silicon vs. Intel Mac, its pros and cons, and how to check if your Mac is intel-based. Hopefully, you understand everything about Intel Mac, and let's hope it could be the onset of the subsequent migration in computing.

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