Will Matlab work on ARM based MacBook stated to launch in the fall of 2020?

Well Apple is stated to launch their own silicon by the end of this year and I am curious if matlab will be instantly supported or if there will be a transition time for that.

[Walter Roberson]

I would expect a transition time.

[Hiroaki Yamamoto]

I installed Big Sur, up to 3rd release, on MacBook Pro 2017. It seems MATLAB work OK with Big Sur, except that MATLAB 100% crashes if you copy text when editing files. I confirmed this for MATLAB 2018b, 2020a and 2020b prereliese. Sigh.

[Mudassar Rauf]

Big Sur is not a problem . Problem is the support for x86 or arm.

[Niklas Karlsson]

I'm having this problem withj R2021A + MacBok Pro Big Sur 11.4; i.e., when I copy and paste text in my m-file, then VERY soon matlab freezes ands hangs for 1.5-2.5 minutes before it snapps back. Did anyone find a resolution to this??

Answer 1

[Walter Roberson]

R2020b pre-releases is already out, and was out before the Apple announcement. In order for Mathworks to support the new system at the time that R2020b comes out, Mathworks would already have had to build in support in R2020b pre-release, and would have had to have released that support before the Apple announcement. That is not something that Apple would have permitted.

As far as Apple is concerned, "sometime in the fall" means any day before the Winter solstice near the end of December, and when Apple says "fall", they do not mean "before the autumn equinox" in late September. Mathworks release cycle is traditionally before the autumn equinox for the *b releases. It is rather unlikely that upon release, R2020b would support a computer that would not even have been released yet.

Without even looking at the specifications, just by knowing the history of the two companies involved, we can be almost certain that when R2020b is officially released, it will not include support for the new systems.

The more realistic question is whether R2021a will have support for the computer. R2021a pre-release will be sent out at close to the time-frame we can expect for the new Apple hardware to be released.

As far as I can gather, Apple does not consider Mathworks to be a big enough customer that Mathworks is likely to get access to pre-released Apple hardware. I could be wrong, but historically Mathworks has not been able to influence Apple much. I am not confident that R2021a will have support for the device, whereas I am confident that R2020b will not have support for the device.

[Rik]

I still find it a bit strange that Apple doesn't send at least a reviewers' sample to Mathworks. I would have imagined fast support would be good PR. I haven't seen a thread with 'does Matlab work on this Windows 10 big update', while the Catalina one generates many comments.

[Pranjal Bhatia]

I think Matlab just might work on Big Sur on the MacBook with Apple silicon. They did a demo of Rosetta 2 on MacBook based on ARM that can run apps that natively run on intel.

[Walter Roberson]

R2020b will not support Big Sur. Big Sur will not be released until very close to the time that R2020b will be released.

[Walter Roberson]

 I haven't seen a thread with 'does Matlab work on this Windows 10 big update'

There have been a number of those, just phrased a different way.

[Sam Schott]

All developers, however small, can apply for a Developer Transition Kit from Apple which consists of a Mac Mini with ARM an processor to prepare for "Apple Silicon", Mathworks will be no exception.

[Walter Roberson]

Interesting. But it will not make it into R2020b. It would be contrary to Mathworks internal processes to add a completely new feature after R2020b prerelease had already been sent out.

R2021a, perhaps. But not R2020b.

[Peter Somhorst]

You're assuming they won't release another update just for this. Mathworks has been on a regular release schedule, but who stops them from just releasing 2020c with, as the only change, Apple Silicon support?

That being said, I trust most of Matlab will work via the translation layer Rosetta. Multiple people have already stated most of Matlab just works.

[Walter Roberson]

I would be astonished if Mathworks released another update just for the new Mac systems. It would be contrary to their established patterns. They also haven't asked me to beta-test (or alpha-test) anything like that, when I have been nagging them publicly and privately for years on the Apple hardware transition.

[Pranjal Bhatia]

Now that we have apple macs about to be shipped and the M1 chip out and we also have Mathworks saying that a native support for apple silicon is in the works and also a version that will run via rosetta 2 (though without simulink), do you think that the base version of Macbook air with 8 GB of Ram and no fan will be able to run matlab?

I mean I have been using Matlab 2020a on my windows desktop wih 8 GB of ram and i5 8th Gen HQ processor and a geforce 1050 and even then when I have to run some simulink tasks Matlab gets incredibly slow.

if Mathworks can optimize Matlab specifically for the M1 chip, then running it on a laptop with no Fan will be a huge win! I mean with the leaked benchmarks already the base version is far ahead in competition.

Also the version of matlab that will run natively on M1 chip, will it be a different version altogether? I mean a different release cycle or will Mathworks just add support ARM based Chips. I ask this because currently I get access to Matlab via my institution so will they have to buy a different licensce or something?

I am really tempted to buy the base version of Macbook air

[Rik]

It will be the same version for R2020b, and a completely new version for a newer release (they have promised to update the answer linked below, so just click follow on that thread to get updates). Because we're talking about a high level language like Matlab, it doesn't matter to the end user if it is a completely different version.

[Richard]

When I run MATLAB on my Intel MacBook Air, purchased Feb 2020, it's none too fast & drains the battery in just around 3hrs. I get a lot of power outages where I am, so this is a real pain (to put it mildly). This new MBA with Apple silicon looks just great.... I really hope Mathworks will support it for 2021a release! In my estimation, many Windows laptop users will now want to transition to Mac, so this will be a big win for Mathworks.

[Walter Roberson]

Mathworks believes that they will have an update in December for Apple M1 support for most things (probably not Polyspace though.) This will be by Rosetta 2.

Answer 2

[Arthur Goldsipe]

Please see this MATLAB Answers post for the latest news on running MATLAB on Apple Silicon: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/641925-is-matlab-supported-on-apple-silicon-macs