Continuing on the Apple Silicon Sidelines

[ZipZilla]

Apple user since the 70's...been with OS X/macOS since the Public Beta.

Anybody else still waiting on the Apple Silicon product for you? I think what I am waiting for is the M2, to see where Apple goes with their thermals, screen size on the iMac and expansion, etc.

 

[BeatCrazy]

Come on in, the water's fine.

It's when I use my Intel Macs that I get frustrated/impatient with their performance.

 

[ZipZilla]

Come on in, the water's fine.

It's when I use my Intel Macs that I get frustrated/impatient with their performance.

I have an Intel Mini with 16GB of RAM and a Dell monitor. Would I miss anything?

 

[BootLoxes]

Mac user since the 70's...been with OS X/macOS since the Public Beta.

Anybody else still waiting on the Apple Silicon product for you? I think what I am waiting for is the M2, to see where Apple goes with their thermals, screen size on the iMac and expansion, etc.

From the rumors I have seen, M2 is only going to be a small revision while M3 is the one thats going to be the huge change. I have an M1 Air now but waiting for M3 to get a desktop.

 

[BeatCrazy]

I have an Intel Mini with 16GB of RAM and a Dell monitor. Would I miss anything?

Unlikely you'd miss anything from your Intel mini. Rosetta 2 is very, very good. Actually I only have a few apps that are not native Apple Silicon. The responsiveness is a magnitude greater with Apple Silicon.

For work, I have a 2019 MacBook Pro with 16GB/512GB SSD. Should be a top-tier machine, right? It absolutely drags compared to even my base model M1 MacBook Air 8GB/256GB. Just last week I tried to do a video conference with Google Meet (no disrespect, it could have been any collaboration app) and the fans spun up to 100% and the MacBook started locking up.

Fortunately in the next few months I'm eligible to trade this one in for an Apple Silicon Mac, and I'll be nearly done 'relying' on them to get any real work done.

 

[subjonas]

As a long time Mac user, I wanted to upgrade to an AS Mac, but circumstances actually forced me go the opposite direction and switch from Mac to Windows. I needed to upgrade my old Intel Mac that I’ve been using for work, but at the time my work software was not yet able to run on AS (with no ETA given), so I pretty much had no choice but to get a PC. To my surprise, my work software was just announced to be compatible with AS, so now I could sell my PC and get an AS Mac, but for a number of reasons I’m going to stick it out with the PC for awhile.
Reasons:
- I don’t think PCs have good resale value and mine was pretty expensive. So if I’m going to lose a lot trying to resell it, then I think the longer I get good use out of it the better. Though I did intend this PC to be a stop gap until I go back to Mac, so I do expect to sell it at some point and lose whatever I lose, so this is a minor point. Or maybe I’ll find a good reason to keep it around on the side. I dunno.
- Like many people, I prefer to get non-1st gen products so that major kinks can get worked out. This is especially because I don’t like upgrading, I like to stretch my devices as long as possible. So I’d prefer an M2-or later-based Mac.
- I want to wait for my work software running on AS to prove its reliability. I appreciate early adopter colleagues who do this for me.
- this PC has a somewhat unique form factor—a particular type of laptop convertible—that I’m finding indispensable for my particular situation. I may be able to reproduce it to some extent with a MacBook plus some kind of tablet plus some extra modification, but I’d need to look into it more. (Details of this would probably need its own thread which I’m thinking of making at some point.)

My PC has been doing a good job for me, even better than Mac in a few regards, but overall I still much prefer Mac. And now with AS, the benefits are looking to be that much more. Looking forward to eventually joining the AS club.

 

[ZipZilla]

I would have fancied an M1 Pro Mini, if it came out. I just want 32GB of RAM, but without the studio price tag as it would be overkill for my needs.

 

[Basic75]

M3 is the one thats going to be the huge change

That's just speculation at best and wishful thinking at worst. Those that know about the M3 don't speak, those that speak about it don't know ****.

 

[BootLoxes]

That's just speculation at best and wishful thinking at worst. Those that know about the M3 don't speak, those that speak about it don't know ****.

Well, regardless the timing would line up with a tick-tock cycle. Like I said I already have an M1 air so I am in no rush to wait and see what M3 offers.

 

[BellSystem]

There is a fine selection of Macs right now. The pro is probably going to start no lower than $3k and more likely higher. So if that is in your budget, sure wait. But if not, all the other products are probably done being released. I jumped on the Studio because that is the most Mac like Mac they’ve had in a while IMO. No matter how long you wait. 5 minutes after you buy something there will be something new out. At least with the Macs you can resell them and not lose a ton. Who knows how long Apple will stretch out the M1.

 

[bobcomer]

Apple user since the 70's...been with OS X/macOS since the Public Beta.

Anybody else still waiting on the Apple Silicon product for you? I think what I am waiting for is the M2, to see where Apple goes with their thermals, screen size on the iMac and expansion, etc.

I really didn't like my M1 MBA, it totally didn't fit what I wanted in a mobile computer. Too many external monitor problems, it ran too hot, and I really needed some windows compatibility in a mobile, and that's a big problem.

However, I will be receiving my M1 Studio Max in a few days and I think I'll like it a *lot*. Faster, better cooling, and stays at home. I have other Windows machines at home, and I can remote desktop into them. Sadly the monitor problems are still there if a new thread in the Studio forum is right. But at least I've found a good monitor/cable combo for it to be good.

 

[romanof]

Yep. I have been trying to find an excuse to buy a Studio, but... My only use would be bragging rights. My M1 Mini is used for lots of technical stuff, and I usually have the CPU usage open in on a desktop, but the only time a core ever gets off top dead zero is when spotlight is running.

It took a while, but then I realized that an M1 is an M1 is an M1. My Mini is just as fast as a Studio in single thread mode (Well mostly - obviously I don't have 800Gb memory) and I have very little software that uses multicore.

All those ports would be nice, however.

 

[spiderman0616]

I jumped in to M1 without hesitation and haven't regretted it so far. I will get the M2 Air though, whenever that launches.

 

[donawalt]

I waited on the initial M1 release, but jumped in on a MacBook Pro 2021/M1 Max. I can't imagine a better laptop for me.

 

[GSWForever8]

I have an Intel Mini with 16GB of RAM and a Dell monitor. Would I miss anything?

The only thing you’ll miss is boot camp. Aside from that, you get many more befits, and you also get to install iOS apps on M1 macs.

 

[TechRunner]

I grabbed a base model M1 Mini in November of 2020, and it's been fast and reliable. I'm debating at this point whether I want to change monitors or sell the Mini setup and go iMac, but either way, I'm sold on AS given how well my Mini has performed for me.

 

[throAU]

Apple user since the 70's...been with OS X/macOS since the Public Beta.

Anybody else still waiting on the Apple Silicon product for you? I think what I am waiting for is the M2, to see where Apple goes with their thermals, screen size on the iMac and expansion, etc.

Took the plunge with m1 pro.

No regrets.

I'm sure m2 will be great, but any m1 series machine is a massive leap from an intel portable. Desktops may differ, but anything running on battery is night/day.

It's the biggest performance jump I've seen in mobile performance since at least the core based machines (from prior p3 or ppc) and probably bigger than that. I've been using laptops since the mid 90s. Macs only for 15 years, but irrespective of platform, the hardware performance gain here vs. battery and heat/noise is HUGE.

Intel binary performance is good enough that you genuinely don't notice if something is rosetta2 or not aside from maybe a delay the first time the app runs (as the first run is where rosetta does binary translation if it didn't happen during install; second run will be basically same as native on intel only probably faster).

Seriously, even non native apps are faster than on intel as far as my experience goes.

Especially if you're going from a 13" machine to a 14". The leap is totally ridiculous.

 

[throAU]

I have an Intel Mini with 16GB of RAM and a Dell monitor. Would I miss anything?

Bootcamp if you use it.

otherwise nothing outside of maybe noise.

 

[macacam]

M1s aren't really panning out for 3d so I'll probably just wait a couple years and try again as far as a computer I work on. I'll probably get a mini to consume media.

 

[Boil]

I was super gung-ho for a M1 Max Mac mini, but Apple decided to place that SoC in the more expensive Mac Studio chassis...

I have also been somewhat hesitant on the M1-series because of it being first gen hardware in a platform transition...

Now I am of the mind to wait for the M2-series of SoCs to jump into the Apple silicon ecosystem...

While a M2 SoC would serve my needs (general Internet usage, WoW gaming, & Swift/SwiftUI/Xcode learning) the extra CPU/GPU cores, media engine, 32GB RAM, & faster UMA bandwidth provided by the M2 Pro SoC would be nice...

So I will also wait on the sidelines for a M2 Pro-powered Mac mini, hopefully by WWDC...?!? ;^p

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

In terms of performance, M1 is more than enough for a good majority of people.
I believe it's easy to get lost in all the benchmarks and even Apple's own branding - yet the truth is that, beyond M1 Pro, you're really looking at more specific video editing needs. This is why I believe the Pro chip is the sweet spot.

As for the hardware itself, I would say it's only worth waiting on new devices if you're actually in the market for something specific and, again, have those needs.

Mini-LED is a great example. Studio Display has been incredibly divisive not because the hardware itself is poor (although the camera remains to be seen), but because many people expected Apple to bring technologies from a $5,000 product to something a fraction of the price, despite this not making any business sense.

This does not excuse the ridiculous RRP, but Apple is in the unfortunate position of being able to dictate such a price since there are next to no alternatives with identical specs.

In terms of the performance, the 5K panel in the Studio Display is best in class for an LCD - proven to be better than that of the 27" iMac - and in suitable lighting conditions (that being, not a pitch black room with the display brightness set to max, like YouTube reviewers "real world tests") the lack of mini-LED would not compromise a content creator's workflow.

So the question remains; do you wait until Apple can get a decent margin on 27" 5K mini-LED panels, or buy a new product that will satisfy all but the most demanding creators?

 

[jz0309]

Got a spec’s out M1 MBA to replace my 15MBP and this thing rocks, couldn’t be happier with that move.
As for my 2017 iMac, I think it will be good for me for another year or so, so monitoring what Apple will release this year as a suitable replacement. I do use LR/PS and what really would be beneficial for my needs now is the SSD speed, but as I said, I’m patient

 

[JMacHack]

Having finally received my M1 Max MBP, I can safely say that I won’t be looking back. I’m still experimenting with things but from my initial impressions this switch is a slam dunk.

However, I don’t have any critical x86/Windows software to use. So I’m the perfect candidate for the switch. Take my experience with a grain of salt.

 

[bobcomer]

I got a Studio Max with 64G RAM, and I love it for my main home machine, but it's not my only machine. I also have an i9 desktop sitting right next to it for my Windows needs. I can finally say both machines are extremely well fitted for what they do and they are a pleasure to use, and other than the Windows stuff I need for work, I can use either machine for anything.

 

[Boil]

In terms of performance, M1 is more than enough for a good majority of people.
I believe it's easy to get lost in all the benchmarks and even Apple's own branding - yet the truth is that, beyond M1 Pro, you're really looking at more specific video editing needs. This is why I believe the Pro chip is the sweet spot.

I agree, the Mn Pro SoC is the Sweet Spot between the entry-level Mn SoCs and the higher-end Mn Max SoCs...!

Studio Display...

Apple kinda effed up with the studio Display, in regards to the assorted stands...

Apple should have just had one stand, a smaller variant on the Pro Display XDR stand (without the ridiculous $999 price tag)...

A stand that has tilt, height, AND rotation for landscape/portrait orientations all built in...