Hi all. So I had the misfortune to purchase the very last intel-based Macbook Air meer months before the announcement of Apple Silicon. I'd like to replace it at some point, but I'm debating between an M4 Macbook Air when they come out or getting one of the new Windows Surface laptops. I'm curious to know, are their any noticable differences in how well VoiceOver works on an Apple Silicon mac, and are there any features for VoiceOver that are available on Apple Silicon but not on Intel? After the Sequoia update I'm feeling somewhat better about Macs for accessibility than I have been in recent years, and I'm wondering if things are even better on Apple Silicon or if it's the exact same experience. I'm mostly curious about this because it seems like VoiceOver on iOS and iPad OS devices is several orders of magnitude better than it is on an intel mac, and the mobile devices have been on Apple Silicon forever. So I'm hoping the transition will make it possible for Vo'iceOver's quality to improve drastically on a Mac.
Comments
As far as added Voiceover…
As far as added Voiceover features, I don't think there is anything really, but you will certainly benefit from all the stuff you get when using one of the M processors instead of Intel. Faster speed, better battery, some iOS apps being able to be run, etc, and while I imagine you will notice the entire experience being more snappy, there's no feature that is Voiceover specific that you will get just because of the upgrade. That being said, I would jump at the chance if I were you. I used a 2018 MB Air, and now have the M1 Air, and while it is even now a few generations behind, it is a great experience, a great machine.
It's still the same…
It's still the same VoiceOver, with the same issues. But if you like it, go for it.
Nothing Really
The same as above, nothing specific to VoiceOver. Unless Apple decides to do something that is specifically taylored to VoiceOver then all the upgrades of the processors won't bring something new to the screen reader users.
Yet one thing I noticed is that Microsoft Word is way faster on my M2 Air in comparison to my older mac that runs Intel processor.
HTH
Unfortunate
That's a real bummer. I was hoping some of the iOS-specific features might make it in there. Screen Recognition in particular would be helpful.
pretty awesome
I don't know what it would be like coming from that particular Mac to the apple processors however I went from a 2017 Intel iMac to an M3 MacBook Air. The VoiceOver experience is light years indifference. I have actually switched to using a Mac as my primary machine now. Because it simply is actually working more efficiently and VoiceOver isn't completely driving me crazy all the time. Especially since they fix the bugs with not responding back in 14.2. Anyway, I certainly would upgrade to the Apple silicon. I don't think I could ever go back to an Intel Mac, hell even most Intel PCs drive me crazy with how slow they are now. LOL.
VoiceOver
I'm running a Windows 11 desktop with an Intel i9-12900K and a 1 TB NVMe drive. I assure you, it isn't slow at all!
Based on the changes I've observed since Big Sur and particularly in Sequoia, I'm strongly considering an M4 Mac Mini. Perhaps this isn't wise, but we'll see. The hardware sounds amazing and if nothing else, I should have a nice little ARM desktop to run Linux on. From what my friend demonstrated with his M1 MacBook Pro, it seems VoiceOver has become significantly more responsive, so I can only imagine it's even better on an M4 chip. Only time will tell if this is a bad purchase. I'm not thrilled about not being able to replace and/or upgrade the storage, but if the SSD lasts at least a decade, I suppose it's all right.
strongly considering a mac
You can't expect to use 5 or 10 old hardware and have it work like new stuff. Technology grows rapidly. so when I get my next computer it may very well be a Mac. I have an iPhone Apple TV iWatch, iPhone so why not complete it?
Great Experience
I've been noticing that the audio quality of VoiceOver is a bit better on my 2020 MacBook Air, and things load a bit faster. But as I often say, the choice is yours to make. I highly recommend going for the new stuff though. Hth and good luck.
Feel free to disagree, but...
As soon as booting windows is supported in the newer chips with bootcamp or another method that does not require virtualizing windows, I'll get it but I ain't touching the newer macs, can't trust apple with all the accessibility downfalls that they're doing with VO. Sorry not sorry. Windows on mac just, works and if I wanna switch to mac I can without moving setups around. It's too much work I've got running up here in the studio.
I Doubt That Will Happen
Since Bootcamp performance on the latest generation of Macs is sketchy at best, I highly doubt they will be providing bootcamp on Apple Silicon macs. Because of that Apple will likely no longer be creating any kind of drivers for their proprietary hardware. In short, I think it's very likely that the days of Windows on a Mac are dead and gone, unless you use virtualization software. Also with Windows 10 support officially ending next year and Windows 11 requiring TPM 2 modules, there wouldn't be an official way to run Windows 11 through an Apple Silicon version of Bootcamp. Since Windows doesn't officially support installing without TPM 2, I highly doubt that Apple will make any kind of official way to install it. I could be wrong, but it really looks like we've moved back to the days where the companies are using incompatible hardware.
Silicon vs. Intel
I just switched to an M3 Pro MacBook Pro from an Intel 2020 MacBook Pro a couple months ago. I feel like VoiceOver is definitely faster, but then the whole experience is just smoother and faster on the M chips, not just accessibility-wise. Plus, you'll need Apple Silicon if you care about Apple Intelligence. The screen where you can go and pick your startup disk is actually accessible on them, too.
I run Windows 11 on my Mac with Vmware Fusion, and I gotta say, it runs a thousand times better than Windows 10 did on my Intel Mac, whether it was a VM or via bootcamp. Adding to that the insane battery life, no loud fan, accessible recovery...I'd say if you're into Mac and you can afford it, definitely consider the switch.
M4
I know I've said it before, but I really think I'm going to pull the trigger and get the base M4 Mini this time around. I'll get to keep tabs on macOS developments for a while, and I expect it would make a very good Linux machine as well. Maybe once Qualcomm's exclusivity deal with Microsoft is finally over, someone will make drivers to let Windows natively boot on the hardware. I'd be very curious to compare the performance of M4 to the Snapdragon X Plus in my Surface Laptop 7. We can only hope the VoiceOver improvements made in Sequoia will continue, but there's a little part of me that's afraid I'll be back here in a few years as upset as I was with my 2013 Air. Still, at least I'll have some really nice hardware that isn't totally locked down.