Adobe Intel processor requirement unclear?

[Alan Houser]

I've been working to get FrameMaker (Win11) and RoboHelp (MacOS version) to run on an ARM-based processor. (FrameMaker works, except for PDF workflows, with some system hacks covered elsewhere in this forum. RoboHelp for MacOS churns at the initialization screen).

Adobe has communicated on this forum that these products are not supported on ARM-based processors. But I've been a bit mystified trying interpret this from the product system requirements. For FrameMaker, Adobe says (https://helpx.adobe.com/framemaker/help/fm_system_requirements.html😞

• Core i5 or faster processor

RoboHelp says (https://helpx.adobe.com/robohelp/using/rh_system_requirements.html😞

• Intel Core i5 or faster processor (recommended)

I think there's a discrepancy between what Adobe means and what they say (certainly ARM processors are faster than Intel Core i5s). Should Adobe consider specifying the Intel requirement as "Intel processor, Core i5 or faster recommended"?

-Alan Houser

[Bob_Niland · Accepted solution]

Having been completely satisfied with AMD CPUs for the last two+ decades, I don't even know how to read that Core i5 spec.

What is Adobe trying to say?
Need ≥2 GHz?
Need ≥4 cores?
Also, the max screen supported might need to include a min screen supported, unless the MS requirement of 800×600 for Win10 is thought to cover it.

And questions about ARM support get even murkier. Windows 10+, being on or emulating x86-64, should be invisible to an FM and/or RH version expecting Win-x86, and not need any mods for ARM.

When ARM gets deployed, it needs to be specific about both the hardware platform and the OS. otherwise people may presume anyone's ARM implementation, running various operating systems (MacOS, Android, Linux, Windows).

[Alan Houser]

Thanks, @Bob_Niland! I hadn't even considered AMD processors.

I marked your answer as "Correct" to give you some Community Expert juice.