jAlbum welcomes M1

With the introduction of jAlbum 29, we now offer a version that runs natively on Apple’s M-series chips. This boosts performance significantly. Earlier versions of jAlbum have been relying on Apple’s “Rosetta 2” emulation to convert Intel code to the ARM64 / AArch64 code that Apple’s M-series chips use. If it wasn’t for the impressive performance of this chipset, the emulation would cause usability to suffer. Instead, even an entry-level M1 MacBook Air has been performing better than a 2015 MacBook Pro, but why stop there? Now with the introduction of direct M1 support, we’re boosting both startup performance and overall performance by a factor of 3:

 On an entry-level M1 MacBook Air, this corresponds to a startup time of less than 2 seconds!

 The same goes for image processing time:

We’re mightily impressed how Apple has been able to combine such performance increase with lower energy consumption. I predict a great future for the ARM architecture, not only among small embedded devices and Linux servers but also on desktop and laptop computers.

Our M1 version of jAlbum currently has one drawback: We haven’t ported the native code RAW support yet. If this support is critical, I suggest installing jAlbum 29 in parallel with v28.1 until RAW support is implemented.

I’ve never been a fan of Intel, to be honest. In the ’80s I was proud that my Amiga computer featured a full-blown 32-bit Motorola 68000 series CPU. It was a decade ahead of Intel from an architectural stand point. I even had an “Intel outside” sticker on that computer. I’m eager to put that sticker back on my next laptop 🙂