Apple M1, a revolution in the making?

[k-hawinkler]

WRONG About M1 Mac Speed — Apple Silicon Explained!

Ignoring the hype, he offers interesting details.

 

[rayyan]

Bill, I am running CS6 fine on my iMac ( late 2012 ) under Mojave.
And also my Mcbook Pro ( 2018 ) under Mojave.

I aint going to upgrade no more!

Stay safe.

p.s so is Nik which I upgrade early this year.

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.

 

[buildbot]

I got a M1 Macbook Pro yesterday, and have been using it with the C1 21 Beta and some IQ3 Achromatic Files - it feels as responsive or perhaps even faster to zoom in, adjust sliders, or apply corrections than my Desktop with a AMD 3600x and 2080ti...

I've also tried Fusion 360 and some other manufacturing software that is very slow on my 2015 Macbook Pro 15in, and it's noticeably faster. These are all running under Rosetta 2.

 

[k-hawinkler]

I got a M1 Macbook Pro yesterday, and have been using it with the C1 21 Beta and some IQ3 Achromatic Files - it feels as responsive or perhaps even faster to zoom in, adjust sliders, or apply corrections than my Desktop with a AMD 3600x and 2080ti...

I've also tried Fusion 360 and some other manufacturing software that is very slow on my 2015 Macbook Pro 15in, and it's noticeably faster. These are all running under Rosetta 2.

Congratulations for your M1 and success!
How stable is C1 21 Beta? TIA.

 

[buildbot]

Congratulations for your M1 and success!
How stable is C1 21 Beta? TIA.

It's pretty stable! (I think I'm allowed to say that?)

 

[k-hawinkler]

SOFTRAID, BIG SUR, AND THE NEW M1 MACS

OWC TimOWC NewsTech Talk

SoftRAID, Big Sur, and the New M1 Macs

Rather than preventing users from upgrading to Big Sur, we decided to open the beta release of SoftRAID version 6 to everyone. Here's why...

eshop.macsales.com

Illuminating information I wasn’t aware of before reading this article.
Based on this info, I plan to install OS “Big Sur” on an external bootable SSD on my late 2013 “trashcan” Mac Pro and see what happens, hopefully something good.

IMHO Thunderbolt 2 on the “trashcan“ is rather limiting in performance and I would like ASAP to take advantage of Thunderbolt / USB 4 of an M1 Mac mini with 16 GB and 2 TB internal SSD.

SoftRAID, Big Sur, and the New M1 Macs

Rather than preventing users from upgrading to Big Sur, we decided to open the beta release of SoftRAID version 6 to everyone. Here's why...

www.softraid.com

 

[k-hawinkler]

Currently when ordering an M1 Mac mini 16GB, 2TB one has to wait 6 weeks before the item is delivered.

 

[k-hawinkler]

This page https://www.softraid.com/raid/which-raid/ has an interactive RAID calculator. Enter the number of disks in a RAID, but leave size of each disk at 1TB (buggy results otherwise).

For 8 1TB disks in a RAID, let's examine the READ/WRITE performance for RAID 0 and RAID 5. These two RAIDs seem to work correctly under OS Big Sur and SoftRAID version 6 beta on my late 2013 "trashcan" Mac Pro and OWC enclosures.

RAID 0, i.e. disk striping, offers no data protection when a disks fails, but in our example above increases both READ and WRITE performance by 8x.

RAID 5 results in 7x read speed, but write speed is unaffected, so 1x. Data survives loss of 1 disk. However, the WRITE speed is also affected by the computational speed of calculating the distributed Parity information that is required to protect/recover the stored data when one disk fails. READ/WRITE speeds are also even more greatly affected by the size of files being copied. The smaller the files are, the worse the performance.

In my experience the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test results don't reflect properly the copying performance in particular for small files.

So going from my "trashcan" with Thunderbolt 2 to an M1 Mac mini with Thunderbolt / USB 4 will improve data transmission speeds, but it will be interesting to see in which way the other factors discussed above will be affected.

At the moment I have in use these 3 OSs, namely Mojave, Catalina, and Big Sur, on 3 separate SSDs. One can easily switch back and forth between Big Sur and Catalina. However, in the Mojave System Preferences panel Startup Disk of Big Sur is not listed. However pressing the option key when starting up reveals all 3 OSs.

One more thing. Carbon Copy Cloner CCC can incrementally backup the Mojave and Catalina boot partitions by transferring only those files that have changed.

In contrast because of the increased security features of Big Sur one has to copy all data in order to get a bootable backup.

My more than a decade old Firmtek RAID enclosures require a Driver that has been kept up to date until Mac OS X 10.13.x, but kept correctly working until Mac OS X 10.15.x. i.e. Catalina. No such luck for macOS Big Sur 11.0.x.

 

[Jack]

I gave up cloning my boot drive back with Mojave because Time Machine can do the job pretty easily if/when needed. The downside is it's not instantly available and need to wait for it to build the new drive.

 

[k-hawinkler]

I gave up cloning my boot drive back with Mojave because Time Machine can do the job pretty easily if/when needed. The downside is it's not instantly available and need to wait for it to build the new drive.

Understood. Thanks.
Early on I tried Time Machine but it was slow and buggy. I am sure it's excellent now.
However I got used to CCC and like it a lot, so keep using it.

 

[Jack]

Understood -- I use it and love it too, primarily for backing up my data drives, but just no longer bother with using to create a bootable BU becauseT-M works so well. Another benefit of T-M over CCC for a migration, is it allows you to start at the root level of whatever system you're backing up to. So in the event you say buy a new desktop or a second laptop, you can useT-M to migrate everything, and the system knows to not import the old machine's dedicated drivers, so in the end, you end up with a cleaner system drive.

 

[k-hawinkler]

Understood -- I use it and love it too, primarily for backing up my data drives, but just no longer bother with using to create a bootable BU becauseT-M works so well. Another benefit of T-M over CCC for a migration, is it allows you to start at the root level of whatever system you're backing up to. So in the event you say buy a new desktop or a second laptop, you can useT-M to migrate everything, and the system knows to not import the old machine's dedicated drivers, so in the end, you end up with a cleaner system drive.

Many thanks Jack for the excellent advice.
I will do exactly as you say when my M1 Mac mini arrives in February.

 

[MGrayson]

A CCC bootable backup is great when you spill coffee on your laptop, it fries, and you need to be up and running on another laptop instantly. This happened to my daughter in the middle of an (at home) exam, and I was able to let her use my laptop looking like a clone of hers in very little time. Still - multiple methods and locations of backup is best.

 

[k-hawinkler]

A CCC bootable backup is great when you spill coffee on your laptop, it fries, and you need to be up and running on another laptop instantly. This happened to my daughter in the middle of an (at home) exam, and I was able to let her use my laptop looking like a clone of hers in very little time. Still - multiple methods and locations of backup is best.

Many thanks. Just updated to Big Sur 11.1.

Update took less than ½ hour on my late 2013 trashcan.
No problems. Driver for SoftRAID seems improved.
Now in addition to SoftRAID volume names also the volume icons/labels are displayed. Wonderful.
The original update to Big Sur from Catalina took about 3x that long.

I am beginning to like the new OS.

 

[k-hawinkler]

IT'S BIG, SIR —
macOS 11.0 Big Sur: The Ars Technica review
Yes, you read that right—Mac OS X (or macOS 10?) is no more.
ANDREW CUNNINGHAM - 11/12/2020, 11:00 AM

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/11/macos-11-0-big-sur-the-ars-technica-review/

 

[iiiNelson]

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.

I think the answer to your RAM question lies in a combination of software and hardware optimization. If you consider that an iPad Pro going back from 2018 to now does a better job of editing multiple streams of 4K60p footage than say most computers that aren’t workstations despite only having 6GB of unified RAM then you sorta have your answer. I think these Apple Silicon style ARM SOOC are the future for productivity and perhaps even gaming. That’s not to say that there aren’t going to be Windows users that prefer to tinker with dedicated cards... but when you think about the dedicated higher end GPU’s start at $500 and go up to well over $1000 when you’re actually able to find and buy them. Well if this style of computer can fit the bill, run apps designed for both mobile/home, and do it at relatively affordable prices; then there’s little concern for the long term success of thisdecision by Apple considering all of the issues Intel has had over the years.

Honestly, if Apple didn’t go this way I would’ve hoped they struck a deal with AMD so that they could drop the reliance on Intel to get their act together. I bought a 16” MBO at the beginning of the year after a squeezing everything I could out of a 10+ year old MBP and it’s a fine machine... but it also doesn’t feel as stable as say my 10 year old one that it replaced. I had the same concern when Apple moved from PowerPC to Intel... I understood the software benefit of Intel but I definitely preferred the reliability and real world speed of the IBM chipsets.

 

[k-hawinkler]

Ordered on 12/12/20: M1 Mac mini, 16GB, 2TB.
Ships: 6 weeks, Delivers: Feb 3 by Express Delivery.

My Mac mini actually was delivered to my house on 01/12/21!
I am extremely impressed by it, seems pretty solid, came with Big Sur 11.1 already installed.

Had a couple of hick ups.
1.) SoftRAID 6 beta won’t mount RAID 0 or 5 volumes on OWC 8-bay Thunderbolt 3 enclosure.
2.) Had one kernel panic when trying to boot with above RAID attached.
I solved the problem with using RAID 0 volumes created by Disk Utility.
Of course I use multiple backups!

Successfully I can use boot volume on external OWC Envoy Pro EX SSD.
3.) Preferences/Startup Disk setting can select external boot drive, but fails to boot from it.
Solution is to continue holding down ON/OFF switch when booting up, then selecting external boot drive.
M1 Mac mini boots up then just fine from external Envoy Pro EX SSD.

My keyboard and mouse are attached to the 2 available M1 USB-A ports.
M1 also boots up and works fine when 38” LG 38WN95C-W monitor and external SSDs are attached via new OWC Thunderbolt 3 Dock with 4 TB3 and 3 USB-A ports. So in principle one should be able to attach 6 TB3 and 6 USB-A devices via 2 OWC Docks from the 2 M1 Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports. I have to try that next.

 

[Knorp]

Looking forward to the M1 iMac ...

 

[k-hawinkler]

Looking forward to the M1 iMac ...

Thanks Bart. I am sure that will be a beauty.
I am looking forward to replacing my 2009 17" MacBook Pro with an 16" M1X MacBook Pro.

 

[scho]

Have there been any issues with printing from the new mini? I need to replace my late 2014 mini that does not run well with 11.1 and has serious issues with Lightroom classic. I print to an Epson P800 using ImagePrint Black and this requires a USB dongle that will consume one of the USB-A ports on the mini.