As I’m due for a Mac replacement and Apple is about to announce new Macs powered by Apple’s own ARM-based processors, I’d really like to see DxO quickly make available a native version of PhotoLab for these new Macs.
FWIW, if, as Apple claims, the new M1 chip is roughly 6x faster than the Mac mini or 13" MBP’s integrated Intel GPUs, that would put it about on par with the 16" MBP’s Radeon Pro 5500M, which is a bit shy of an AMD RX580 but still not too shabby and probably way beyond my 2013 Mac Pro’s FirePro D500 for DeepPRIME processing. Can’t wait for DP benchmarks of the M1…
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It would also be helpful to hear from DxO about plans to to port PL4 to Apple Silicon and whether/how well PL4 runs on Rosetta2 in the meantime.
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I bought a new Mac should be with me next week. My current device is from 2019 I let you know how good it is
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I just ordered a mini and an MBA. I’ll post reports ASAP. The MBA will be here in 2 weeks, the mini in 4.
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Me too… but…
I prefer that DxO take the needed time to bring us a seriously optimized version vs a quickly version for the new M1 CPU.
I am thrilled by this new technology but at the same time I decided I will wait for the Apple hardware and Apple software to mature and also the App developers to do their work without (too much) stress.
That is why I bought I Macbook Pro 16" this year, it will make a great second hand laptop in 2 or 3 years.
The thing is, when asked for an ipad version of Photolab, they were quite reluctant to think of it / put effort on it as they were busy enough with the current personnal computer versions… (one should not forget that the DXO company was on the verge of collapsing for bankruptcy…)…
This means that they had until recently zero intentions to anticipate the ARM Macs… and I guess it will take them time to port it (if they decide to do it…)… I was considering buying PL4, but completely forgot of the Apple switch of platform… and - as a Mac user (I also have windows computers, but primarly using a mac) won’t invest in DXO software (updates) as long as they remain silent on that topic…
I am not convinced that one follows from the other.
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We are making suppositions because nor you nor I know what DxO is really thinking and doing. And this is part of a strategy too. For example DxO never talked about DeepPrime before it’s release.
If DxO want to continu to exist on the Mac platform, I bet they want, they have no other choice but supporting Apple Silicon. Simple like this. Because in a few years (3 ? 5 ? 10 ?) Apple will abandon Intel support for their new macOS.
Until the release of the M1 CPU building an App for iPad was way different then an App for a Mac. Now and in the future the technologies will get closer and closer and the job should get easier for the developers to make macOS and iOS versions of their Apps.
I too would love to have a complete PhotoLab suite for macOS with Apple Silicon and iPadOS in 2 years maximum but hey… We as customers will have to be patient or help them to code to make it happen faster. We all know what happen when we want to play faster then the music… wrongs notes, bad rhythm, tired players… epic result 
Now good luck and good work to DxO.
DxO’s silence on Apple Silicon support is killing me. I’ve to an M1 mini on order, but with no word about this I’m contemplating cancelling the order and getting an i5/i7 mini with eGPU instead. If PhotoLab runs slow-ish but OK on Rosetta, I’ll stick with the M1. But, if it doesn’t and a native binary won’t be available for, say six months or more, I’ll go for the i5/i7 mini instead. I can live without Lightroom until Adobe makes it native, so my decision now rests entirely on info from DxO.
DxO staff - PLEASE TALK TO US ABOUT THIS!
We’ve done initial testing and it looks to work fine through Rosetta. However this is only initial testing. There’s no official support, you may find issues. If Rosetta works as expected it may just work as good as on an Intel Mac. We hope it does but cannot guarantee it at this point.
As for native Apple Silicon support, we would like to do it, just like so many other features. We need to make choices as we don’t have unlimited bandwidth. M1 Mac sales will play a role in this, as well as votes here.
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At this time the M1 mini seems to be a replacement for the low end mini.
I am still happy with my i7 mini with eGPU.
You’re quite mistaken. Geekbench benchmarks indicate CPU performance beats even the high-end 16” MBP. GPU scores are on par with the 16” MBP’s discrete Radeon Pro 5300M.
It sounds like, despite Apple’s announcement about Apple Silicon at the last DevCon, DxO hasn’t given much thought to this, which makes me fear a native version may be a long way off…
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Maybe so but I am comparing Minis.
This will be an entry-level device in the mini line, more and better are coming.
Description from the event; “High performance, general purpose computing”
It also will not take an eGPU.
Yes, but TODAY, the M1 mini is by far the fastest mini you can buy. Suggesting that these new M1 Macs are “entry-level” in current terms seems misleading. They will be “entry-level” models when Apple offers faster M2 versions (hopefully with four TB ports again), but it would be a mistake to write them off now as somehow less than fantastically powerful.
In any case, the benchmarks I’ve seen lead me to believe that an M1 mini may be only slightly behind an i7 mini with RX 580 eGPU in terms of DeepPRIME processing, for roughly HALF the cost. If DxO would assure us that a native binary will be coming in 6 months, I’d feel much better about switching to M1 right now. But, PhotoLab is such an important part of my workflow that the apparent indifference of DxO to new Mac users is making me reconsider switching to M1 and exploring alternatives to PhotoLab in case DxO never delivers. Many, many Mac users will be moving to Apple Silicon in the next few years, and it would be really sad if DxO didn’t come with us.
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Hello. Although I’ve not yet ordered an M1 machine (hesitating between MBP and Mini) , I’m as anxious as you are to listen to DXO official statement. If I’m not mistaken:
- Apple has a pretty large market share in the photo world.
- The M1 looks too promising, performance wise for the price, to not grow quickly.
DXO cannot neglect these factors and not show quickly how they will support us.
Unless of course, their intentions are hampered by lack of funds.
Thank you Lucas for this update. 
My M1 MacBook Air arrived yesterday. Based on my own PL4 test and others’ benchmarks, it looks to be about as fast as a 16" MacBook Pro with Radeon Pro 5300M, with the M1 GPU perhaps a bit behind the 5300M and on par with an RX 560, and the M1 CPU slightly outpacing even the 16" MBP’s 8-core. This is running under emulation, though, so it’s anyone’s guess how much faster the M1 will be with native apps.
What I can report first-hand is that the new MBA is as fast in CPU performance and twice as fast in GPU performance as my 8-core 3.3GHz 2013 Mac Pro with FirePro D500 GPUs.
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The question was more “when will PL be natively compatible with Apple Silicon?” rather than “will it even be?”
But from Lucas’ answer, I’m quite shocked that the move to Apple Silicon is still actually conditionned, therefore not a certainty.
So, for those hoping for an universal app iPad/Mac, better just give up on the idea…