The Apple Silicon discussion and experience thread

Submitted an order ticket to our IT for a new work laptop: 16", M1 Pro, 32GB. Apparently they'll be available next week... gimme :p

Would've loved the full-stop M1 Max/64GB option, but that seems a bit pointless for the dev work I do tbh - I don't work with anything graphic intensive, and the CPU part is the same. More external displays and moar GPU power is neat, but the Pro already supports two external screens, and the extra cost is stupid high - I think the IT would've put up a fight :) Realistically the M1 Pro is the correct choice for me here, I think, and 32GB will do nicely for a while still, especially since the native apps tend to be less memory-hungry on ARM, and even 8GB base M1 models appear to be perfectly usable in day-to-day.

Looking forward to this thing. A lot.
 
Badass performance. They axed the Touch Bar. Magsafe is back. Finally a decent webcam. Also, it looks like a Powerbook G4. :D

I was hoping that the rumors about the camera notch wouldn't turn out to be true, through. It looks ridiculous.
 
For those who missed the presentation, the press release is here.

Looking a the configurator there are a couple of bin specs of both M1 Pro (3) and M1 Max (2) All of them regardless of whether you go for 14” og 16” screen size. The cpu and npu are the same regardless of spec, except the very base M1 Pro, which only has an 8 core cpu, with I guess 6 performance and 2 efficiency cores.

M1 Pro: (up to 32 gb ram)
8c cpu, 14c gpu
10c cpu, 14c gpu
10c cpu, 16c gpu

M1 Max: (up to 64 gb ram)
10c cpu, 24c gpu
10c cpu, 32c gpu

When it comes to the notch, I think there are two ways to see that. One of them is to see it as a notch that is bothersome. The other is to see the areas on both sides as screen extensions which would otherwise be the top bezel, that can now house the top row of function icons/widgets/buttons.
 
One small detail: the 8/14 and 10/14 variants of the M1 Pro are only available on the 14". The 16" comes with the 10/16 M1 Pro only. Both M1 Max variants are available across both sizes though.
 
One small detail: the 8/14 and 10/14 variants of the M1 Pro are only available on the 14". The 16" comes with the 10/16 M1 Pro only. Both M1 Max variants are available across both sizes though.
Oh, I only looked at the 14” in the configurator… ?
 
SSD upgrade $$$$ are insane
 
I'm repeating myself but I'm currently typing this on a MacBook Air that hasn't been connected to a charger since October 13th. 36% left right now.

I use it every day, although not that much.
 
Damn, our IT has updated the available laptop list... the Max/64GB model is on there (albeit "only" with the smaller 24-GPU-core version of the Max, but still)... I might rethink my selection :D More RAM is more better, and it'll have to hold up for work for the next 3 years at least.
 
Installed the new beta of Logi Options.

Seriously?

Skärmavbild 2021-10-25 kl. 23.31.28.png
 
Speaking of Logitech, I gave my MX Master 2S another try in Bluetooth after installing Monterey on my Mac mini and it's been working flawlessly so far (~ 1 week since I switched)! It was completely unusable on Big Sur.
 
Installed the new beta of Logi Options.

Seriously?

View attachment 3562827
Logitech being slow with bringing the software over to M1? :rolleyes:

My MX Keys and MX Master 3 works fine, neither of them are the Mac-versions, and they are running with the Logi Options app, so I guess Rosetta is doing a decent job still, so not overly troubled about it.

Test of a base 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro:

Base 16" M1 Pro MacBook Pro:
 
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Direct comparison between the 13" MacBook Pro (high end with 4 T3 ports) and it's direct successor, the base 14" MacBook Pro with the binned M1 Pro. (8-core CPU and 14 core GPU)


TLDW: For 200$ more you get way more performance, much better for pretty much everything.
 
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Base M1 Pro 16" MacBook Pro vs. base Intel (Core i7) 16" MacBook Pro:


M1 Max 16" MacBook Pro vs. maxed out Intel (Core i9) 16" MacBokk Pro (w/ Radeon 5600M):

 
Not surprising. I’m guessing that Apple has sold about half a dozen high-end intel macbooks after the first reviews of the original M1 hit the web, so there‘s probably a huge pent-up demand.
 
Our IT ordered my 16“ Max (64GB, 24 GPU cores) back on the 22nd. I configured the same thing that day, estimated delivery was end of November. So yeah, they are backed up for a little while there.
 
Looks like the M1 Max is not really worth it over the M1 Pro, unless you have to have the best and money is of no concern, also you get more fan noise and much worse battery life:

 
Yeah it really comes down to needing to drive more displays and more GPU intensive applications.
 
Or needing those 64GB RAM that you can't have with the Pro.

Also, I think the battery life "comparison" they had in the video is a bit unfair - while yes, after the same amount of max performance testing the Max sat at 9% vs 35% for the Pro, but in the same testing it delivered a lot more GPU and slightly more CPU performance beforehand, so using more charge from the same battery is kinda expected. In "normal" usage without maxing out the GPU cores, I expect the Max 16" to be mostly equivalent to the Pro battery life-wise.

But then again, I'm talking from a "company provided work laptop" perspective. For my own money... yeah no, it would've been the Pro, and probably the 14" as well :D
 
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