If you're using it for work I would go with an M1 Pro as the minimum, because you may want to use two external monitors down the track, and 16GB of RAM would be the minimum/sweet spot. I would go a base model M1 Pro if you can find one (Apple refurbished has them all the time). It gets you a Pro chip, 512GB storage, and 16GB RAM without gouging you with upgrade costs like a base M1/M2 system upgraded would.
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Best M series chip for mixed office use
- Thread starter dj95
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Yes, except if it is needed for some of those GPU areas that Apple provided in the new M3 chips. Though, it doesn't sound like he needs those ... not a content creator.
Chiming in very late, but any M-series Mac will make light work of your stated needs. 8GB will be fine too but that's an unpopular opinion around these parts so buy more RAM if your budget allows and sleep soundly.
I have an M1Pro that I've had for over 2-years now and slices through my daily work of heavy MS Office use, a gazillion emails, too many other apps, PDFs and spreadsheets open, MS Teams, Zoom, a huge Devonthink database, some light coding, elentysomethingstupid number of browser windows and tabs. It never gets slow or unresponsive.
What's funny is that I've run this same workload on the base M2 Air and it's similarly fast and capable. Apple silicon is amazing.
I have an M1Pro that I've had for over 2-years now and slices through my daily work of heavy MS Office use, a gazillion emails, too many other apps, PDFs and spreadsheets open, MS Teams, Zoom, a huge Devonthink database, some light coding, elentysomethingstupid number of browser windows and tabs. It never gets slow or unresponsive.
What's funny is that I've run this same workload on the base M2 Air and it's similarly fast and capable. Apple silicon is amazing.
Late to the party. If the OP is still in search for a machine, then according to the presented needs/requirements, I would suggest a machine with M3 SoC (because it is still fast enough in multi-core speed, almost on par with the binned M2 Pro with 10 cores, yet noticeable faster than M1 in single-core speed), 24 GB of memory (the max available for M3, because some applications like Chrome are memory-hungry and you would like to ensure a smooth, not-holding-you back operation of the machine and as little disk swapping as possible), and 512 GB of storage (for larger capacity space, faster read/write speed, and probably slower wear compared to the base 256 GB, which, however, could be an option as well if, for example, the OP is tight on budget - you can always find workarounds such as cloud storage or external storage, which is not the case with the memory).
If you prefer a laptop, personally, I would not go for a M3 MBP. IMHO (and this is only me), it is overpriced for what it offers. In my view, M3 fits better an MBA. Therefore, I would wait for M3 MBA (probably 15" for your workflow). However, I should mention that the MBP provides better screen and more connectivity options (although the MBA screen is very nice as well), so if these are important for you, than there is nothing wrong with the M3 MBP besides the price. Also, in general, MBP has better thermal management than MBA (1 fan in 14" MBP and 2 fans in 16" MBP vs. no fans/passive cooling in MBA), i.e., under heavy workload, there is a higher probability for throttling when it comes to MBA than to MBP (that doesn't mean that the MBA *will* throttle, only that it is more probable).
If you are up for a desktop, an M3 iMac with the aforementioned specs could be the way to go - the specs you need, as argued above, plus a fantastic (IMHO) monitor. Unless you want something bigger than 24", it is a very good deal (and it frees you from the search of a monitor). Personally, I don't see a reason to wait for an M3 MM, besides the flexibility to buy the monitor you like. I would go for a MM only if I wanted the Pro version of the M3 SoC, which, as of now, is not available in an iMac.
These are my two cents, i.e., my recommendations and the reasoning behind them. Of course, opinions vary extremely and other recommendations are as valid as those - or even more.
If you prefer a laptop, personally, I would not go for a M3 MBP. IMHO (and this is only me), it is overpriced for what it offers. In my view, M3 fits better an MBA. Therefore, I would wait for M3 MBA (probably 15" for your workflow). However, I should mention that the MBP provides better screen and more connectivity options (although the MBA screen is very nice as well), so if these are important for you, than there is nothing wrong with the M3 MBP besides the price. Also, in general, MBP has better thermal management than MBA (1 fan in 14" MBP and 2 fans in 16" MBP vs. no fans/passive cooling in MBA), i.e., under heavy workload, there is a higher probability for throttling when it comes to MBA than to MBP (that doesn't mean that the MBA *will* throttle, only that it is more probable).
If you are up for a desktop, an M3 iMac with the aforementioned specs could be the way to go - the specs you need, as argued above, plus a fantastic (IMHO) monitor. Unless you want something bigger than 24", it is a very good deal (and it frees you from the search of a monitor). Personally, I don't see a reason to wait for an M3 MM, besides the flexibility to buy the monitor you like. I would go for a MM only if I wanted the Pro version of the M3 SoC, which, as of now, is not available in an iMac.
These are my two cents, i.e., my recommendations and the reasoning behind them. Of course, opinions vary extremely and other recommendations are as valid as those - or even more.
This statement is factually wrong, M2 pro beats M2 max in price. Moreover, M2 Max is overkill for the uses OP mentioned. Probably "office use" mean different things to you, but typical "office use" does not typically include any scenarios making use of that many cpu and gpu cores, like compiling or video rendering.
To OP, really, any M1 or M2 chip will do. Better opt for 16gb ram, which probably limits you in finding used lower models, so in this sense an M1 or M2 pro chip is probably more easy to find. Also, the base chips are limited to 2 monitors (so 1 external monitor if a laptop) while the pro chips to 4 monitors.
An m2 pro mac mini will be perfect. Even an m1 mac mini with 16gb ram will be pretty much fine if you can find one, except if you want the option for more monitors. Maybe when the M3 mac minis will be out soon there will be more M1/M2 mac minis out there.
I’m in IT (systems analyst/integrations) and my work Mac is a 14” M2 pro with 32gb ram and it’s a workhorse. I’d say I typically have 20-40 chrome tabs, teams, outlook, occasional MS document or two, and occasionally remote management software and it handles the load beautifully. If your allowances are there in the budget I would easily recommend 32gb of ram. I think any M series processor will do what you’re needing and would focus on giving yourself as much ram overhead as you can for all the multitasking.
I know browser and SaaS platforms aren’t equivalent to like heavy editing software, but they do add up and it sounds like you have a role like me where you’re bouncing around a lot. I think you’d appreciate the overhead breathing room. 16 bare minimum for sure.
I know browser and SaaS platforms aren’t equivalent to like heavy editing software, but they do add up and it sounds like you have a role like me where you’re bouncing around a lot. I think you’d appreciate the overhead breathing room. 16 bare minimum for sure.
Any M1, the only time I really so any real hiccups is much more intensive task like video stuff, editing stuff, Xcode, Visual Studio, certain higher end games like the Resident Evil series and it still works just fine for the most part in those situations. I will say the biggest hog on the computer seems to be Safari which from my understanding is better at memory management than Edge or Chrome, but I don't really use Edge and Chrome all to much.
Maybe since I first got it certain apps bounce more than once on the dock, but I can't really think of to many times I've seen the spinning beach ball maybe every so often and its briefly.
Maybe since I first got it certain apps bounce more than once on the dock, but I can't really think of to many times I've seen the spinning beach ball maybe every so often and its briefly.
Waiting on the M4 chip.
Oh, didn't really check which thread I was on ... I am assuming the M4 machines and Sequoia will run some of the lite AI stuff. The mixed office work to me is just using the included Apple applications that came with the operating system ... Mac Mail, Numbers, and Pages applications most of the time and sharing with others. I do pdf or convert some work to other PC people if needed.
Oh, didn't really check which thread I was on ... I am assuming the M4 machines and Sequoia will run some of the lite AI stuff. The mixed office work to me is just using the included Apple applications that came with the operating system ... Mac Mail, Numbers, and Pages applications most of the time and sharing with others. I do pdf or convert some work to other PC people if needed.
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Pure fearmongering. If that’s what worries you then don’t use your x86 Mac/PC either. It’s also has Intel black box IME and if you have an AMD PC you either have pluton or have PSP.
Pure dissembling, and, since you're doing it, I'll straight-dump the relevant portion of the article:
_____
It turns out that in the current (2020+) version of the macOS, the OS sends to Apple a hash (unique identifier) of each and every program you run, when you run it. Lots of people didn’t realize this, because it’s silent and invisible and it fails instantly and gracefully when you’re offline, but today the server got really slow and it didn’t hit the fail-fast code path, and everyone’s apps failed to open if they were connected to the internet.
Because it does this using the internet, the server sees your IP, of course, and knows what time the request came in. An IP address allows for coarse, city-level and ISP-level geolocation, and allows for a table that has the following headings:
Date, Time, Computer, ISP, City, State, Application Hash
Apple (or anyone else) can, of course, calculate these hashes for common programs: everything in the App Store, the Creative Cloud, Tor Browser, cracking or reverse engineering tools, whatever.
This means that Apple knows when you’re at home. When you’re at work. What apps you open there, and how often. They know when you open Premiere over at a friend’s house on their Wi-Fi, and they know when you open Tor Browser in a hotel on a trip to another city.
“Who cares?” I hear you asking.
Well, it’s not just Apple. This information doesn’t stay with them:
- These OCSP requests are transmitted unencrypted. Everyone who can see the network can see these, including your ISP and anyone who has tapped their cables.
- These requests go to a third-party CDN run by another company, Akamai.
- Since October of 2012, Apple is a partner in the US military intelligence community’s PRISM spying program, which grants the US federal police and military unfettered access to this data without a warrant, any time they ask for it. In the first half of 2019 they did this over 18,000 times, and another 17,500+ times in the second half of 2019.
This data amounts to a tremendous trove of data about your life and habits, and allows someone possessing all of it to identify your movement and activity patterns. For some people, this can even pose a physical danger to them.
Now, it’s been possible up until today to block this sort of stuff on your Mac using a program called Little Snitch (really, the only thing keeping me using macOS at this point). In the default configuration, it blanket allows all of this computer-to-Apple communication, but you can disable those default rules and go on to approve or deny each of these connections, and your computer will continue to work fine without snitching on you to Apple.
The version of macOS that was released today, 11.0, also known as Big Sur, has new APIs that prevent Little Snitch from working the same way. The new APIs don’t permit Little Snitch to inspect or block any OS level processes. Additionally, the new rules in macOS 11 even hobble VPNs so that Apple apps will simply bypass them.
@patrickwardle lets us know that trustd, the daemon responsible for these requests, is in the new ContentFilterExclusionList in macOS 11, which means it can’t be blocked by any user-controlled firewall or VPN. In his screenshot, it also shows that CommCenter (used for making phone calls from your Mac) and Maps will also leak past your firewall/VPN, potentially compromising your voice traffic and future/planned location information.
Those shiny new Apple Silicon macs that Apple just announced, three times faster and 50% more battery life? They won’t run any OS before Big Sur.
These machines are the first general purpose computers ever where you have to make an exclusive choice: you can have a fast and efficient machine, or you can have a private one. (Apple mobile devices have already been this way for several years.) Short of using an external network filtering device like a travel/vpn router that you can totally control, there will be no way to boot any OS on the new Apple Silicon macs that won’t phone home, and you can’t modify the OS to prevent this (or they won’t boot at all, due to hardware-based cryptographic protections).
A proctological relationship with Leviathan's spy agencies and potentially every other bad actor under the sun (since the garbage isn't even encrypted) doesn't worry you? Some Xfinity fussbudget knowing your XVIDEO viewing tastes is the least of problems.
The title of this thread contains "mixed office use", meaning that corporate security is pertinent to the discussion.
While also troublesome, IME appears to lack the ability to track the user's second-by-second activities (or at least Intel isn't acquiescing to Apple's patron's demands with sufficient alacrity). I can't speak for bleeding-edgeware, but I vaguely recall that the AMD stuff can be turned off.
Corpos don’t care, they use iPhones and Androids too.
If they did we would still be using pen and paper and Linux would be mandated instead of Microsoft junk.
It’s even worse. IME is very bad.
This closed source non-auditable subsystem can:
- Access all areas of your computer's memory, without the CPU’s knowledge.
- Access every peripheral attached to your computer.
- Set up a TCP/IP server on your network interface that can send and receive traffic, regardless of whether the OS is running a firewall or not.
- Run remotely even when your computer is turned off.
- Enable a remote user to power on, power off, view information about, and otherwise manage your PC.
- ME firmware versions 4.0 and later (Intel 4 Series and later chipsets) include a DRM application called "Protected Audio Video Path" (PAVP). This allows a remote user to access everything that is shown on your screen.
The Intel Management Engine – a Privacy Nightmare
Every modern Intel contains a backdoor known as the Intel Management Engine (IME). This very scary, but a new script can disable it.
No computer is safe but Apple Sillicon doesn’t have IME or PSP. While macOS is not fully private you can at least boot Linux onto a Apple Sillicon Mac and still enjoy security and privacy.
You are cherry-picking a singular interpretation of an incident that occurred four years ago. This has been analyzed from all possible angles, and most points raised in the article your link has been debunked. You are also failing to mention that OCSP is an open, industry-standard protocol that has been used by browsers to verify certificates for many years. Or that Apple has acknowledged the concerns and has pledged to improve the privacy aspect of their malware detection, moving to encrypt OCSP messages and improving their server architecture.
If that kind of stuff scares you, stop using the Internet immediately. Did you know that most of DNS (web address lookup) traffic is unencrypted? In principle, anyone can track which websites you follow. And even if it were encrypted, the requests still go out to the Web - there is no technical detail preventing a DNS server from logging and selling your information.
Your ISP, for instance, could certainly be collecting that info.
However, you should be able to prevent that using Tor:
....or a VPN, if you think you can trust the VPN.
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Don't use Chrome. That's the best advice I can give you.
Use any other Chromium-based browser, if you must. Edge, Vivaldi, Brave, etc, etc.
Not at all; I cheerfully gripe about each and every instance of Apple corporate malfeasance. (Let's see what the first random Louis Rossmann video I'm greeted with is about...)
Chrome definitely won't handle 200 tabs with any alacrity whatsoever. (Pic is Basilisk browser in Windows 8.1)
Cursory search reveals "...The Intel Core i5-1035G1 is a mobile processor with 4 cores, launched in August 2019...."
You don't have a hardware problem, you have a software problem (I'm supposing Windows 11 with every default set just the way Microsoft wants and every piece of HP bloatware also still intact). Your PC laptop is crying out for a "Tiny11" distro while your splendiferous 15.4" 2015 MBP (I'll buy that off you) screams for a Pop_OS! + Mojave/HFS dual-boot.
For the time being, run Tron on your Win11 machine. Also install OpenShell (so you can actually get at the old control-panel), and Basilisk (above) and Waterfox (Firefox fork) web-browsers. Install the uBlock Origin, Adblocker Ultimate, and FB Purity extensions in all of your browsers.) And for heck's sake, turn off drive-encryption if that's been set (Microsoft tries to breeze you on by that in a single screen with the "Yes" defaulted); that could represent a fat chunk of performance issue right there.
No, the absolute bare minimum is 128GB RAM and at least eight 4K monitors for intensive, heavy-duty computing tasks like running a web browser and Microsoft Office. Personally, I’m sticking with pencil and paper until the M6 chip comes out with a 512GB RAM configuration to drive my twelve 8K monitors, but that’s because I’m a power user who runs Chrome and Firefox at the same time!
I think the key in the original question is the numbers of documents and windows needed to be open. This sounds like a question about the number of monitors needed. Maybe a new Mac mini with at least two monitors?? For me, my use with my iMac is 'manageable' with Stage Manager plus a couple of full screen windows. Typically I only have 5-10 tabs open in my Safari browser, I use Preview for reading PDFs, lots of Messages, Keynote for a couple of presentations, Numbers for my spreadsheets, and, of course, Mail. My News app is in a full screen mode. I manage things pretty well without the extra monitor ... but I can understand the need for a multi-monitor set-up.
Are you running at native 4K resolutions or one of the virtual resolutions? I find 2540x1440 a good size on 27”. (You still get the 4K resolution its just the sizing that changes.)
Damn! Now I’ve triggered a post war about integer scaling vs fractional scaling. Sorry. 😗
Base model M1 or at most M1 Pro will handle this easily. Obviously better machine is better but your workflow isn't that demanding.
I run more than that on the machine in my sig (M1 Pro, 16GB) - whilst running a VM of Windows 11 for Windows admin stuff. CPU wise it doesn't break a sweat, fan never comes on.
If I may say, I thought your post about chip marketing in the M4 speculation thread was excellent.
However, I think you may be wrong to wait for the M6. If you had a z16 A01, you could have a processor drawer with 10TB. That should be enough to have several tabs simultaneously open in Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
(As an aside, I wonder if the M5 will be Multitronic? )
With usual apologies for going just a tiny bit off-topic …. 😬