Which Mac?

For the moment I develop my app on a Windows 10 Desktop PC, and it can olny be used by users of a Window PC.
My app uses a 32 bit dll. This limits the creation of my app to 32 bit.
The dll is not available as a 64 bit version, and I am not in the possibility to create myself a new dll.

I never had a Mac PC.
Which apple PC would be good to develop my app for users of a Mac PC ?
Is it possible to use the 32 bit dll with the newest M1 processor ?
On a M1, can I still build a 32 bit version for older Mac PC’s ?
On a M1, can I still test my 32 bit app ?

Thanks
Regards
Etienne

We have Windows for ARM installed in Parallels on a M1 MacBook. Since Windows for ARM comes with Intel emulation, your 32-bit intel app may run there.

if you need better emulation of Intel Windows version directly, you’d better buy an Mac with Intel CPU.

If you buy a new Mac (not an Apple PC) then you won’t be able to run 32 bit directly. It really depends on what you want to do.

I have an iMac from 2018 running an older version of macOS. There I have enough space to do a VM. High Sierra still can run 32bit apps if necessary.
The other computer I have is a brand new MacBook Air M1. As fast as the iMac. But it has a smaller hard disk.

VMs for the new M1 are still in progress AFAIK. I’d try something like my iMac or an older Mac Mini.

A Mini is a suitable low cost Mac. Otherwise, No, No, and No.

You can build a Windows 32-bit version on your Mac, however.

Note that your 32-bit DLL won’t be usable with anything other than Windows apps, so a Mac version of your app won’t be possible. Also note that modern Mac OSes only run 64-bit apps, so you are even further out of luck…

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Modern macOS:
Starting with Catalina (Mojave ?), your 32 bits macOS applications will not works anymore (rejected by the OS because they are 32 Bits).

This is the right answer. A DLL is not useful to a Mac of any kind.

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Back when I first considered RealBasic for Mac work, my stuff was done in VB5 and I had several DLLs and OCXs in use.
Some things I could use plugins for, some I had to create alternatives in code myself.
Its not impossible.
What exactly does this 32bit DLL do?

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