It is not only Intel that has been cut from Apple's next generation of Mac computers; AMD has also had its GPUs excluded from future machines. The new Apple Silicon Macs will have pure Apple-designed CPUs and GPUs, while Radeon graphics chips will be lumped in with older Intel-based Macs slated for scrapping.

In a recent WWDC session, Bring your Metal app to Apple Silicon Macs (via Sweclockers), Gokhan Avkarogullari, director of GPU software, explained how developers can move their applications from the current Gokhan Avkarogullari, Director of GPU Software, presents the basic tools and compute APIs that developers can use to migrate their applications from the current x86 ecosystem to Apple's new world order.

Apple not only talks about making Photoshop and Premiere Pro work well with the new ARM-based processors, but also mentions games designed for machines with built-in Intel silicon. He says, "The Apple Silicon Mac has an Apple-designed GPU that is designed to handle desktop gaming and professional application workloads.

At the beginning of the session, Avkarogullari demonstrated an x86 version of Dirt Rally recorded directly from an Apple Silicon Mac, "running an unmodified x86 compiled binary that was translated using Rosetta." And it seems to work beautifully, with geometry, shading, and particle effects as expected. [Apple is using Tile-Based Deferred Rendering (TBDR) technology to match the way mobile GPUs work. Also, according to Apple, the GPU and memory load is much lighter when running with multi-sample anti-aliasing (MSAA). [However, due to the conversion and consistency features of Apple's graphics API, Metal, some performance penalty is inevitable. Therefore, they urge developers to recompile using the new macOS SDK and optimize their code for the new GPUs Apple has designed.

A two-year plan to fully transition to proprietary silicon is now very much underway, and the first fruits of this approach are expected to appear in the new Apple Silicon Mac later this year.

Apple's abandonment of AMD GPUs is not necessarily as big a loss for Dr. Suh's team as Polloneck's cutting Intel processors out of the Mac, but still, seeing a recent significant customer leave its improving graphics architecture It will be disappointing for Radeon devotees to see it leave its improving graphics architecture.

Since there is little or nothing to share between the endless Mac vs. PC debate, it represents a complete departure from the Mac being nothing more than a PC with essentially different software. But no matter how great an online demo "Dirt Rally" looks, "Cyberpunk 2077" would probably still be better off running on a good old x86 gaming PC with Intel, Nvidia, or AMD silicon.