Reader Mac M1 Silicon

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
January 24, 2021
3 replies
2715 views

I've searched for this, but haven't found a clear answer. Will there eventually be a free version of Acrobat Reader for Silicon Macs with the M1 processor, or will Mac users who don't want to use Preview to view PDFs be required to subscribe to Acrobat Pro? I'm not asking for guesses, but maybe there was an announcement that I missed.

Mac

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Dov Isaacs

Legend

All current Adobe applications including Adobe Acrobat Reader supporting MacOS are currently developing versions that run with Apple's ARM-based M1 computer-on-a-chip and future versions of that chip developed for higher end Macintosh systems.

Regrettably, the Intel emulator supplied by Apple that this supposed to allow existing Intel x64-based applications to run without modification leaves a bit to be desired. And making an “M1-compatible” version of applications does entail more than simply recompiling the existing code. (Some of you will remember similar problems when Apple went from their last RISC chip-based systems using the PowerPC chips to the Intel x86 chips what sort of havoc ensured!)

Generally speaking, when Apple changes architectures, unless you are a glutton for punishment, it is prudent to wait a while for the hardware, the operating system (i.e., MacOS), and the applications get into equilibrium before committing to use such new systems for production work.

- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

M

MigintoshAuthor

Legend

I understand that it's a big job, and I can't fault you for taking time to port over your programs, and I agree that early-adopters take their own risks. I hadn't planned to do much heavy lifting with my Macbook Air off-the-bat, so I chose early adoption as a way to lengthen the life of my machine, as I tend to keep them longer than most. I'm replacing a 2007 Macbook Pro. I bought one of the last G3's in the late 90s just before USB was a standard, and I regretted having to put a USB card in when I wanted to keep up. I don't mind waiting a bit, and while Preview is not what I'd like to use, it will serve me for now.

And thanks for chiming in, Dov. It's always nice to hear from you because I know that you know your stuff.

T

Test Screen Name

Legend

There will have to be one eventually, but what is stopping you from using the existing one? Doesn't it download and run as (I would have) expected? Certainly I wouldn't want to use Preview.

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MigintoshAuthor

Legend

When I went to the download page, the only choices were Windows and Intel Mac, so I hadn't tried it before, but I gave it a try. It got about 3/4 through and froze. After about 15 minutes of nothing, I tried to quit the installer, but it wouldn't quit, so I force-quit and tried to restart the computer. It wouldn't restart because it said it was in the middle of an installation, but I had already quit the installer. I eventually did a force shutdown and then I could start the computer again. I think I'll wait until they have a Silicon version available.