Microsoft brings official Apple silicon support to Visual Studio Code

News
By Stephen Warwick
published

Macbook Air M1
Macbook Air M1 (Image credit: Daniel Bader / iMore)

What you need to know

  • A new version of Microsoft's Visual Studio Code brings official Apple silicon support.
  • The version now offers a stable Apple silicon build without Rosetta.
  • It also promises much better performance and longer battery life.

A new version of Microsoft's Visual Studio Code will bring official support for Apple silicon, its first stable iteration.

It means users will be able to use VS Code on Apple's M1 MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini, three of the best Macs in recent memory.

From Microsoft:

We are happy to announce our first release of stable Apple Silicon builds this iteration. Users on Macs with M1 chips can now use VS Code without emulation with Rosetta and will notice better performance and longer battery life when running VS Code. Thanks to the community for self-hosting with the Insiders build and reporting issues early in the iteration.The default download of VS Code for macOS is now a Universal build that runs natively on all Macs. On the Downloads page, you can find more links to architecture-specific builds for Intel or Apple Silicon, which are smaller downloads compared to the Universal package.

As the release notes state, the new build is the first release of a stable Apple silicon build, so it will run without using emulation from Rosetta. Native support will also mean much better performance, taking advantage of the M1 chip. On Apple's mobile M1 Macs that will also mean better battery life. The new download is also a universal one, meaning there is one version for Apple silicon or Intel Macs that will work regardless of machine from the same set of files.

Away from Apple silicon, Microsoft has also added timeline view improvements, and more!

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Stephen Warwick
Stephen Warwick
News Editor

Stephen Warwick has written about Apple for five years at iMore and previously elsewhere. He covers all of iMore's latest breaking news regarding all of Apple's products and services, both hardware and software. Stephen has interviewed industry experts in a range of fields including finance, litigation, security, and more. He also specializes in curating and reviewing audio hardware and has experience beyond journalism in sound engineering, production, and design.

Before becoming a writer Stephen studied Ancient History at University and also worked at Apple for more than two years. Stephen is also a host on the iMore show, a weekly podcast recorded live that discusses the latest in breaking Apple news, as well as featuring fun trivia about all things Apple. Follow him on Twitter @stephenwarwick9