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Apple M1, a revolution in the making?

Jorgen Udvang

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
The new Apple processing architecture is possibly the biggest upgrade for personal computing since..... xx86? It's not a minute too early. Many modern entry level computers struggle with the increasingly advanced online applications, and with the terrifying volumes of data that will be allowed by fast wireless internet, think 5G and beyond, something better, faster and not least more energy efficient will be needed.

There are a couple of initial reports available online, and the processor itself seems to be blazingly fast. The current version of the unit "only" offers an onboard GPU, but with the information available from Apple so far, there's reason to believe that this GPU will run circles around any current onboard unit, and probably a few dedicated GPUs as well.

The big question is why they offer maximum 16GB RAM on this version. Later, more advanced versions will most probably offer more, but even an entry level MacBook Pro 13" would typically need more for many of the tasks they will be used for, like 4K video editing. Unless there are things going on with the M1 that reduces the need for RAM.

I'm very happy that I haven't bought any new computers lately (except a MacBook 12" that I use for travel). This is clearly the future, and I wonder what Intel will do to counter this. And answer they must. The new Macs are reasonably priced considering what they offer.
 
Knorp

Knorp

Well-known member
The promise of this new architecture is the main reason why I'm still holding off replacing my 'late 2013' iMac.
Hope it keeps going till the iMac M1 materialises ... 🤞
 
Jorgen Udvang

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Here's a review by Maksim Yuryev, testing the cheapest model new MacBook Air, and the results are fantastic.


 
Last edited:
Mexecutioner

Mexecutioner

Well-known member
Knorp said:
The promise of this new architecture is the main reason why I'm still holding off replacing my 'late 2013' iMac.
Hope it keeps going till the iMac M1 materialises ... 🤞
Click to expand...
I was about to pull the trigger on a 7,1 MacPro a few weeks ago, but it is now non hold as I don;t want to spend $13K on it now and have it be replaced in less than 2 years by an apple silicon one that will be faster and perhaps even cost less. So I will stretch the life of what i have for a year or 2.
 
T

tcdeveau

Well-known member
I'm excited to see what they can do with this.

I have a mid-2018 15" MBP (6-core 2.9ghz/32gb RAM/1tb/Vega 20) and have not been terribly happy with it. First time in 15+ years of buying apple products I've been unhappy with an Apple product I've purchased (had 3 other gen 15" MBPs and a 2013 Mac Pro previously, among numerous iphones/ipads/etc).

It gets really hot, and I get maybe 2 or 3 hours (max) out of the battery when I'm doing relatively normal editing tasks with Lightroom (a few brushes and using sliders). Even just sitting here messing around on the internet and excel I've watched the battery drop from 92% to 55% in only an hour and a half...which is pathetic IMHO.

Had considered upgrading to the 16" or getting another desktop but think I'll see what happens with apple silicon first. By the time they've got a bigger laptop or a mac pro with it hopefully software developers will be caught up too.
 
Jack

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Yeah but...

I notice in the new 13" MBP, they've limited TB ports to 2 -- so I would need to schlep around a port hub since I often have 3 things plugged my current 13" MBP. Yet you can still buy the pumped up Intel version...

In the M1 Mini, they have limited available RAM to 16GB (and it's unified, so no 3rd party upgrading), and again limited TB ports to 2 -- one has to wonder why they've limited tech in both cases? I can only assume they are dumbing the new mini down because they don't want it competing with whatever new "pro version" Mac(s) they put it into.

Will be interesting to see what gets dumbed down in the 16" M1 MBP...
 
Jorgen Udvang

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
The 2 TB ports on an entry level MBP is nothing new. It was the same on the previous model, and previously on the entry level MBP 15 if I remember correctly. It's a bit annoying for the MBP. For the Mini, which is the one I will probably buy, it doesn't really matter, and for the Air, it's the nature of the beast.

I suppose the RAM offers will increase on more powerful versions later. However, initial reviews indicate strongly that these machines utilise RAM better, and 16 GB doesn't seem to limit them much, even when editing video. My guess is that the architecture allows for extremely fast paging/swapping to the SSD, making RAM size much less critical. Also, the GPU seems to be much more powerful than previous models, even compared to machines with dedicated GPU.

From what I've seen of 4K and even 8K video editing on these machines so far, I have no worries. All of them seem to be much faster than my 2014 MBP 15 with max specs at less than a third of the price.
 
Jan

Jan

Member
For those considering a switch, better look at your software dependency. There was a reason why Apple went Intel silicon years ago.
 
rayyan

rayyan

Well-known member
Thanks Jorgen for the links.

I have learnt through experience not to get overly excited or be the first in line to get cameras or new generation computers.

This link provides a different perspective..

I watch n wait

It shouldn’t escape notice that further locking oneself into one hardware/software ecosystem does have its pros and cons.

Jorgen Udvang said:
Here's a review by Maksim Yuryev, testing the cheapest model new MacBook Air, and the results are fantastic.
.....
Click to expand...
 
k-hawinkler

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
Some links I found interesting

On PS:

On ARM and M1:


In response to Jorgen's memory question, the answer seems to be for right now, the current M1 systems have tremendous memory bandwidth and an incredibly fast internal SSD, so they can afford to swap a lot. But of course 8 or 16 GB of unified memory is nevertheless still limiting for extremely large images or data sets. So future Apple silicon machines will have to and will offer more memory, no doubt.

I am currently still using my late 2013 "trashcan" Mac Pro (6 cores, 64 GB memory, 1 TB internal SSD) that unfortunately only features TB2. So I am considering getting an M1 Mac mini with 16 GB of memory and 2 TB SSD to take advantage of its Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports.

I should be able to use the M1 Mac mini once SoftRaid 6 and Capture One 21 have been successfully ported to the M1 systems and are available.

I also have to replace my more than a decade old Firmtek 3G RAID enclosures with new 6G ones that can handle the new 18 TB SATA 6G Seagate IronWolf NAS hard drives...

Oh well, so much fun. :cool:

PS: I am not particularly concerned about current Bluetooth issues with the M1, as I don't rely on that feature.

 
A

Alan

Active member
I just did a quick C1 v20 export bake-off between my 16" MBP (64GB 5500M 8GB 8 core i9) vs a friend's M1 (8GB) Mini.
MBP 1:13
M1 Mini 2:11

I'm perfectly happy sitting out the first gen while all the software & hardware support catches up!
 
A

Adam L

Member
Most of the published benchmarkings are tested using applications where the architecture shines. It hasn't been tested for tasks like video editing.
 
Godfrey

Godfrey

Well-known member
All reports I see point to this being a stunning new processor, with pretty darn excellent compatibility to existing software, given the emulation it provides. It'll be a while before I need another new computer, but I look forward to it.
 
Bill Caulfeild-Browne

Bill Caulfeild-Browne

Well-known member
I'm not rushing. Having just upgraded to Mojave on both my MBPro and MacPro, and thus losing several apps (including PS CS6) I really don't want to line software sellers pockets any more. As long as C1 20/21 run OK, I'm OK.
 
k-hawinkler

k-hawinkler

Well-known member
On my "trashcan" under Mojave, PS CS6 and the old Nik are working just fine.
However the installer for CS6 is defunct. :-(

On 64 bit Catalina CS6 is no longer supported as parts of CS6 are 32 bit code.
 
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