New Apple M1 range

stickyfiddle

RaymondLin said:

Tempted to get the MBA and add ram to 16G and 512SSD.  It will be fine for 5 years + for travel.

That's pretty much where I am. But currently thinking I want to hold on until they release 14" LED MBP, then decide.

octatonic

guitarmangler said:

octatonic said:

Benchmarks are out.

I've just bought the top spec 13" MBP and will run it in parallel with my 2017 MBP.

Noice. Do you use logic? If so, let us know how it gets on. All the reviews are using video as the benchmark (and everyone is saying its amazing), but no audio editing yet. I suspect it will be great. I might get an air, if it is.

Yes I do.

Will do.

stratology

guitarmangler said:

Noice. Do you use logic? If so, let us know how it gets on. All the reviews are using video as the benchmark (and everyone is saying its amazing), but no audio editing yet. I suspect it will be great. I might get an air, if it is.

The first generic Logic test is here.  Over twice as many instances of Space Designer as with the i9 MBP. Without the fan kicking in.

guitarmangler

Check out this video os a studio guy running logic on the 8gb ram Mac mini

https://youtu.be/KIAUiFoYPtQ

990 plug ins, 288 of which were space designer. Yikes! That’s more than I’ll ever need. 

Danny1969

The only thing that would put me off getting one now is at the moment the new tech is installed very much in the old frames as far as I can see in terms of the Air. Remember when the first Intel Macbook Pro board was put in the old G4 chassis for less than 2 years and then they announced the unibody which was different in just about every way. Likewise the first Intel iMac was put in the G5 chassis and then 2 years later the lovely alloy model came out with the flush screen cover and a shedload of improvements. 
I would expect a facelift in a year or so to distinguish between the older intel machines and the M1 models which could well be M2 by then. I would certainly expect them to be 5G as well. Also the newer thermals mean they can implement a faster charge on the Air if they wanted to. 

Have to say though I've watched a few vids and the benchmarks are stunning even running in Rosetta and IO aside the Mini is a lot of performance for the money. 

SteveF

Yeah, I got cold feet and cancelled mine for that reason.  I figured I'd give it 6 months and see what comes out in the next event in the spring.  Maybe an M1 iMac or something with an updated shell, or a higher spec mini, memory and I/O wise?  I didn't really need to upgrade yet anyway, my 2015 MBP is still going strong.  Aside from the annoying occasional sticky key that a blast from some compressed air has always solved (stupid butterfly design), it's been problem free. 

terada

Danny1969 said:

The only thing that would put me off getting one now is at the moment the new tech is installed very much in the old frames as far as I can see in terms of the Air. Remember when the first Intel Macbook Pro board was put in the old G4 chassis for less than 2 years and then they announced the unibody which was different in just about every way. Likewise the first Intel iMac was put in the G5 chassis and then 2 years later the lovely alloy model came out with the flush screen cover and a shedload of improvements. 
I would expect a facelift in a year or so to distinguish between the older intel machines and the M1 models which could well be M2 by then. I would certainly expect them to be 5G as well. Also the newer thermals mean they can implement a faster charge on the Air if they wanted to. 

Have to say though I've watched a few vids and the benchmarks are stunning even running in Rosetta and IO aside the Mini is a lot of performance for the money. 

In fairness that first core duo mbp was an updated design: thinner case/MagSafe/webcam/remote control/better screen etc. I remember feeling they were quite the upgrade over my G4

that said I totally get your point, this time they are exactly the same on the outside, and from the rumours the updated iMac and 14” pro will be as big a step up as the first unibodies. 

monquixote

Danny1969 said:

The only thing that would put me off getting one now is at the moment the new tech is installed very much in the old frames as far as I can see in terms of the Air. Remember when the first Intel Macbook Pro board was put in the old G4 chassis for less than 2 years and then they announced the unibody which was different in just about every way. Likewise the first Intel iMac was put in the G5 chassis and then 2 years later the lovely alloy model came out with the flush screen cover and a shedload of improvements. 
I would expect a facelift in a year or so to distinguish between the older intel machines and the M1 models which could well be M2 by then. I would certainly expect them to be 5G as well. Also the newer thermals mean they can implement a faster charge on the Air if they wanted to. 

Have to say though I've watched a few vids and the benchmarks are stunning even running in Rosetta and IO aside the Mini is a lot of performance for the money. 

Yep iFixit have confirmed they are essentially the old model with the new chips shoehorned in:
https://www.ifixit.com/News/46884/m1-macbook-teardowns-something-old-something-new

Given the 14" MPB is due to be released in a few months which will presumably be a bespoke design for the needs of the M1 I'd be inclined to hold off.

octatonic

monquixote said:

Given the 14" MPB is due to be released in a few months which will presumably be a bespoke design for the needs of the M1 I'd be inclined to hold off.

That isn't certain.
I've learned with Apple that relying on rumours for purchasing decisions is a good way to end up in perpetual limbo.
A 14" might well be on the way but look at how long the Mac Pro tower took to be released.

monquixote

octatonic said:

monquixote said:

Given the 14" MPB is due to be released in a few months which will presumably be a bespoke design for the needs of the M1 I'd be inclined to hold off.

That isn't certain.
I've learned with Apple that relying on rumours for purchasing decisions is a good way to end up in perpetual limbo.
A 14" might well be on the way but look at how long the Mac Pro tower took to be released.

I don't think there was much speculation about that was there?

They totally fucked up and had to start again from scratch so there was as expected a huge delay.

I suppose it is at the whim of when the Mini LED screens become available.

stratology

guitarmangler said:

Check out this video os a studio guy running logic on the 8gb ram Mac mini

https://youtu.be/KIAUiFoYPtQ

990 plug ins, 288 of which were space designer. Yikes! That’s more than I’ll ever need. 

Good video.

Millennium bug - haha, I do remember that. Companies spent millions to avoid disaster. There was a whole cottage industry of IT guys working on computer systems to try to keep them from failing, because years were coded with just two digits (99 for year 1999, 1899, 2099) instead of 4 (1999 for 1999, 2099 for 2099). The cost for users of Apple products was exactly zero, because they used the 4 digit year coding...

Anyway, good points regarding 3rd party plugins and hardware being not yet compatible with Big Sur - compatibility lists from Protools Expert and Sweetwater can be found here and here.

monquixote

stratology said:

Good video.

Millennium bug - haha, I do remember that. Companies spent millions to avoid disaster. There was a whole cottage industry of IT guys working on computer systems to try to keep them from failing, because years were coded with just two digits (99 for year 1999, 1899, 2099) instead of 4 (1999 for 1999, 2099 for 2099). The cost for users of Apple products was exactly zero, because they used the 4 digit year coding...

Anyway, good points regarding 3rd party plugins and hardware being not yet compatible with Big Sur - compatibility lists from Protools Expert and Sweetwater can be found here and here.

Wait until you get to 2038

That's going to be the biggy anything using 32 bit Unix timestamps is going to go bang.

My expectation is that because it's not a catchy round number like the "millennium bug" and not much happened before people won't take it seriously, but the impact will be much greater.

octatonic

monquixote said:

octatonic said:

monquixote said:

Given the 14" MPB is due to be released in a few months which will presumably be a bespoke design for the needs of the M1 I'd be inclined to hold off.

That isn't certain.
I've learned with Apple that relying on rumours for purchasing decisions is a good way to end up in perpetual limbo.
A 14" might well be on the way but look at how long the Mac Pro tower took to be released.

I don't think there was much speculation about that was there?

They totally fucked up and had to start again from scratch so there was as expected a huge delay.

I suppose it is at the whim of when the Mini LED screens become available.

There was in pro audio and video circles.
People were hanging out for years with either the non-Thunderbolt towers or the Thunderbolt capable trashcan for years.

monquixote

octatonic said:

monquixote said:

octatonic said:

monquixote said:

Given the 14" MPB is due to be released in a few months which will presumably be a bespoke design for the needs of the M1 I'd be inclined to hold off.

That isn't certain.
I've learned with Apple that relying on rumours for purchasing decisions is a good way to end up in perpetual limbo.
A 14" might well be on the way but look at how long the Mac Pro tower took to be released.

I don't think there was much speculation about that was there?

They totally fucked up and had to start again from scratch so there was as expected a huge delay.

I suppose it is at the whim of when the Mini LED screens become available.

There was in pro audio and video circles.
People were hanging out for years with either the non-Thunderbolt towers or the Thunderbolt capable trashcan for years.

That sounds more like wishful thinking

I remember reading an article about how they were going back to square one and workshopping what people wanted out of a Mac Pro at a specially built facility because they'd abandoned the whole product roadmap. No one who was paying attention should have been surprised by the wait.

The 14" Mac pro is all, but confirmed and is waiting on mass production of the screen tech so I'd be surprised if it didn't appear in the next 12 months.

goldtop

Another comparison. M1 Mac Mini 8GB against an i9 iMac with 64GB with two tracks, one of which has 144 tracks and more plugins (inc Varispeed - never used it, is that a big deal?).

Not a lot to see, but the M1's performance meters only get busy on the second.

John_A

I’m now seriously kicking myself for buying a new iMac 6 weeks ago!

Danny1969

John_A said:

I’m now seriously kicking myself for buying a new iMac 6 weeks ago!

Well I still think the iMac is a good buy because it's such a good computer. The new M1 machines might be able to run more tracks and plugins than the older Intel kit but the Intel models can still run more audio tracks and plugins than most people will need. A 14 year old Macpro can run 80 odd tracks in Protools all with plugins. A professional score producer working strictly with nothing but Vi's might really need more audio processing but most home users don't .... they just think they do

I have 3 iMac's, one for electronics repair, one for Protools  and one as a home entertainment machine and I rarely find myself wishing any of them were faster 

John_A

@Danny1969   I agree, I’ll probably not exceed the capabilities of my iMac, and the 5k screen is lovely, it just stings a bit that I could have bought a £800 mini that was more powerful albeit without the screen, but I do have a very nice big monitor 

LooseMoose

Ordered and returned.

My brief review, if using a native app? Hella fast. Safari in particular flies but otherwise it was much slower than my 2020 Air when running via Rosetta 2.

I’ve no doubt this is the future but not quite worth making the leap for me yet.

WiresDreamDisasters

Any comparisons to Ryzen Zen3 5900X or 5950X yet?? That would interest me.