October 2007: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard launches with actual support for regular 64-bit apps Universal Binaries can run on 32-bit and 64-bit Intel and PowerPC machines, covering four architectures within a single app.

August 2006: Apple launches the Intel Mac Pro with a 64-bit Woodcrest CPU mainstream 64-bit Core 2 Duo Macs follow shortly afterward.

June 2005: Apple announces that it will begin using Intel processors, which are still primarily 32-bit.

April 2005: Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger allows for 64-bit processes under the hood-they can be spun off from another process or run via the Terminal.

June 2003: The PowerPC G5 CPU is the first 64-bit-capable chip to show up in a Mac, and with Mac OS X 10.3 Panther can theoretically address up to 8GB of RAM.

To recap, here’s the full timeline of macOS’ 32- to 64-bit transition:

That doesn’t change in Mojave, but this is the last version of macOS that will run those 32-bit apps at all.

Still, 32-bit apps run just as well as they did when Snow Leopard shipped on 32-bit Intel Macs back in 2009. Today’s Macs-and any Mac running Mojave or any version of the operating system going all the way back to Mountain Lion-have been all 64-bit, barring a handful of first-party apps and background services and a steadily shrinking list of third-party apps. Mac OS X began life as a 32-bit operating system, but a slow, steady transition to 64-bit hardware and software has been happening for over 15 years.

Mac mojave review october 2018