Hi all. So I had the misfortune to purchase the very last intel-based Macbook Air meer months before the announcement of Apple Silicon. I'd like to replace it at some point, but I'm debating between an M4 Macbook Air when they come out or getting one of the new Windows Surface laptops. I'm curious to know, are their any noticable differences in how well VoiceOver works on an Apple Silicon mac, and are there any features for VoiceOver that are available on Apple Silicon but not on Intel? After the Sequoia update I'm feeling somewhat better about Macs for accessibility than I have been in recent years, and I'm wondering if things are even better on Apple Silicon or if it's the exact same experience. I'm mostly curious about this because it seems like VoiceOver on iOS and iPad OS devices is several orders of magnitude better than it is on an intel mac, and the mobile devices have been on Apple Silicon forever. So I'm hoping the transition will make it possible for Vo'iceOver's quality to improve drastically on a Mac.
Comments
As far as added Voiceover…
As far as added Voiceover features, I don't think there is anything really, but you will certainly benefit from all the stuff you get when using one of the M processors instead of Intel. Faster speed, better battery, some iOS apps being able to be run, etc, and while I imagine you will notice the entire experience being more snappy, there's no feature that is Voiceover specific that you will get just because of the upgrade. That being said, I would jump at the chance if I were you. I used a 2018 MB Air, and now have the M1 Air, and while it is even now a few generations behind, it is a great experience, a great machine.
It's still the same…
It's still the same VoiceOver, with the same issues. But if you like it, go for it.
Nothing Really
The same as above, nothing specific to VoiceOver. Unless Apple decides to do something that is specifically taylored to VoiceOver then all the upgrades of the processors won't bring something new to the screen reader users.
Yet one thing I noticed is that Microsoft Word is way faster on my M2 Air in comparison to my older mac that runs Intel processor.
HTH