Disappointed in Apple Silicon: Apple Marketing vs. Reality / Intel

[StellarVixen]

I have few problems with Apple Silicon devices, none of them are performance related

We got M1 Pro MacBooks at work in January this year, those things are very good. Almost makes me go and buy one myself

 

[unrigestered]

Why, specifically? And how do you use them?

silent (dead silent in case of the MBA, but i usually also don't make the fans on my 16" MBP ramp up)
great OS
incredible battery life

using both for music production (no 100+ track counts though 😂 )
even the 8GB RAM on my MBA are good, as long as you don't overdo it as i'm not using large sample libraries.
sometimes photo editing and of course the usual office work, or browsing the interwebz, which of course take next to no resources

coming from a 2010 i7 dual core though, the jump was mind blowing (it was still great for office work, but loud at even for just that, music production has been a PITA for the past couple of years on that thing, but i always delayed the purchase of a new system. Apple Silicon came at the right time for me to make the jump)

 

[Juuro]

I will be interested to see how Mac OS 16 fairs.

I'm also already beaming of excitement for macOS 16 in 2025.

Perhaps there are optimizations for Apple silicon as well as the advancement of software optimizations for Apple silicon.

There will be, of course. But they will be minor. The transition from Intel to Apple Silicon is definitely the largest performance and efficiency increase we will witness for a long time. For the foreseeing future new Apple Silicon will not have such a big increase.

I voted Yes because M1 Mac mini audio subsystem is locked at 48KHz over HDMI, vs up to 192KHz on the Intel Mac mini. Also M1 has only 2 USB C ports vs 4 on the Intel. And only up to 16GB RAM vs up to 64 on the Intel.

Okay, you are comparing the old Pro Mac mini to the new entry-level Mac mini. Yes, they should have released a successor to that old Intel Mac mini with a M1 Pro, probably. But these are two different kind of devices.

What I stated was that my experience is resigned to the M1 MBPs regarding my experience, NOT the M2 MBA.

Okay, but the MacBook Pros are in almost every case superior to the MacBook Air, despite the obvious weight and thickness.

I came from the most recent Intel MBP mostly maxed out. I do find that there is much less fan noise on my M1 MBPs, that is very much welcomed and no complaints there. Thing is, I keep using my newly acquired MBA M2 and I can't put it down. I like it better than my MBPs... so light and thin and silent and a good performer. Battery life is very good.

Nobody keeps you from using the M2 Air all the time. Go for it. 🙂 But if you do hammer it the same way as you did the MacBook Pro(s) it will get as hot as them while being much slower.

 

[Jack Neill]

My M1 Air is much faster and cooler than the 2020 i5 I was using. Its the best Mac I have ever owned.

 

[gerlitzappel]

M1 Pro 14" MBP arriving tomorrow, will let you know.

 

[Slartibart]

Stop. It is not a troll thread. Anybody can vote and express their opinion here. My experience is what it is as stated.

Show us. Videos are adequate. “Vote” doesn’t equal proof.

EDIT: you’re making sure not to run the programs in Rosetta 2, please? And: no doubt that there are tasks where the old models are faster… noisier too 😀

 

[theotherphil]

Is this a joke? My 2019 Intel MBP would spin up the fans on boot and they would continue indefinitely from that point on.

I have had a 14” M1 Max (32Gb & 32C) since preorders opened. Yes, it can get warm when it’s working hard but 95% of the time, they are off….even editing multi-track videos. Yes, the 14” Max has the worst battery life of the M1 MBP’s…it is still way better than every Intel MBP that came before it….and I’ve had many and generally the fully loaded models. My 14” blows away my Intel MBP’s when it comes to performance.

I can’t see me selling my 14” for at least another 4yrs, possibly longer as it’s been that good. I was updating the Intel MBP’s at every iteration hoping for the smallest quality of life improvement.

Apple Silicon Macs have been a breath of fresh air.

 

[terminator-jq]

I owned a 2019 16" MacBook Pro from launch day until October 2021. Compared to that, in my use, the Apple Silicon has been everything Apple said it would be. My 2019 16" would get hot to the point of being uncomfortable with almost any usage beyond simple web browsing (and even then it would get quite warm). I push my computers pretty hard (developing mobile games, editing 4K video, 3D rendering at high resolutions, architectural design). With those types of task being done on a regular basis, my 2019 16" spent the majority of its life plugged in. The laptop would only last for max 2 hours whenever a "Pro" level task was being done.

Then comes the M1 Max...

This laptop has been my best Apple purchase in years! I can do 3D modeling in Blender for 4-5 hours straight without the computer heating up (unless I'm rendering) and still have some juice left to surf the web for a bit. When it comes to video editing, my old 2019 16" could only go max 2-3 hours before it had to be plugged in (and by then the laptop would be hot enough to cook off of). With my 16" M1 Max, I have on multiple occasions edited a 15-20 minute 4K video with several effects layers, rendered the video, uploaded the video to Youtube and STILL had some power left...

The only area I wish Apple stepped things up is the graphics. Might have to wait for M3 for GPU rendering.

 

[januarydrive7]

I had a 16" 2019 MBP, which regularly throttled with fans blazing, that recently died due to water damage. I purchased a 14" M1 Pro and was amazed by the battery life, screen, thermals, and speakers, but returned it due to compatibility issues in my dev chain.

By the time I'm ready to move on from my current role, I may be serviced fine by a MBA instead of a MBP, but will likely still go MBP due to the incredible screen.

 

[booksbooks]

I'm also already beaming of excitement for macOS 16 in 2025.

There will be, of course. But they will be minor. The transition from Intel to Apple Silicon is definitely the largest performance and efficiency increase we will witness for a long time. For the foreseeing future new Apple Silicon will not have such a big increase.

Okay, you are comparing the old Pro Mac mini to the new entry-level Mac mini. Yes, they should have released a successor to that old Intel Mac mini with a M1 Pro, probably. But these are two different kind of devices.

Okay, but the MacBook Pros are in almost every case superior to the MacBook Air, despite the obvious weight and thickness.

Nobody keeps you from using the M2 Air all the time. Go for it. 🙂 But if you do hammer it the same way as you did the MacBook Pro(s) it will get as hot as them while being much slower.

My benchmarks on my MacBook Pros are significantly better than my M2 MBA. However, in real world operation, I am so far preferring my MBA. The extra battery life alone is great.

So far my MBA HAS NOT gotten as hot as my MBPs. I did edit a similar 4k video clip on it and it did not get as hot.

 

[booksbooks]

Show us. Videos are adequate. “Vote” doesn’t equal proof.

EDIT: you’re making sure not to run the programs in Rosetta 2, please? And: no doubt that there are tasks where the old models are faster… noisier too 😀

Sure, I'm going to spend a bunch of time putting videos together because a random Internet person has some sort of built in bias about a for profit company and its products.

 

[Coochie Boogs]

M1 Pro 14 is by far the best computer I have ever had. I’m very satisfied and impressed with what Apple has done with their architecture.

 

[booksbooks]

First, it's not like I'm the only one discussing these issues (lots of reddit posts about it).

Attached, a screenshot of my battery dump. I was noting the actual time working on it vs. idle time when I was not actively in iMovie. The work in iMovie dumped the battery life. I worked in it about 30 minutes, the other 15-30 minutes was more idle (iMovie not exporting, not actively being used, etc.).

 

[anthonyjr]

Not sure about your experience on power and battery life... Although, I'm primarily shoot and edit RED RAW video natively in Davinci Resolve. My 2018 MacBook Pro i9 would die in about 35-45 minutes of decoding the RED files for 1/8th resolution playback, even after an Apple Authorized battery swap. My new MacBook Pro Max can not only get about 3+ hours out of editing RED RAW files, but can also play them back 2x - 3x as well.

 

[evertjr]

I have no Idea why your Mac is misbehaving but its certenaly not the experience other users are having. I don't think you're being fair by calling Apple a liar or implying a marketing stunt just because of this. How come everybody is lying and you owns the truth?. There's not a single possible scenario where a Intel laptop can beat the AS in battery life under the same task with the same performance, in fact not a single laptop reach anywhere close the M1 performance while unplugged.

You can be 100% sure there's something wrong with your macOS installation or some sort of hardware defect. Use the Activity Monitor to check for any misbehaving process or some app leaking memory. Contact Apple Support for assistance.

 

[Slartibart]

Sure, I'm going to spend a bunch of time putting videos together because a random Internet person has some sort of built in bias about a for profit company and its products.

Yes. Right. Extraordinary claims don’t require extraordinary - if any - proof.

The burden of proof lies clearly with the commenters… btw. I am Thor. Mjölnir and I demand you to present facts. Otherwise you won’t be able to leave Midgard and enter Wahalla when Ragnarök happens….

 

[Bobbuilds69]

Apples M series are the best thing that happened to Laptops. My main reason is battery life! It’s a night and day difference.

 

[MacRail]

Ok, that's good for you. How do you use your machine?

Why, specifically? And how do you use them?

I'm not sure of the value of cross-examining everyone. I also don't understand what the goal is here of this exercise. Are you genuinely trying to figure out if this is a larger problem? I think if your experience (and I totally believe your experience is real) is the norm, there'd be a whole lot more noise on these message boards. I'm sorry your results thus far are disappointing. Nobody likes to spend money like that and have their expectations fall short. But again - your particular use case seems unique.

 

[booksbooks]

Not sure about your experience on power and battery life... Although, I'm primarily shoot and edit RED RAW video natively in Davinci Resolve. My 2018 MacBook Pro i9 would die in about 35-45 minutes of decoding the RED files for 1/8th resolution playback, even after an Apple Authorized battery swap. My new MacBook Pro Max can not only get about 3+ hours out of editing RED RAW files, but can also play them back 2x - 3x as well.

My god (e.g., i9).

 

[booksbooks]

I have no Idea why your Mac is misbehaving but its certenaly not the experience other users are having. I don't think you're being fair by calling Apple a liar or implying a marketing stunt just because of this. How come everybody is lying and you owns the truth?. There's not a single possible scenario where a Intel laptop can beat the AS in battery life under the same task with the same performance, in fact not a single laptop reach anywhere close the M1 performance while unplugged.

You can be 100% sure there's something wrong with your macOS installation or some sort of hardware defect. Use the Activity Monitor to check for any misbehaving process or some app leaking memory. Contact Apple Support for assistance.

Dude stop. I'm not calling Apple outright a liar. This is my experience. The bias on this forum just never ends. Yes, of course I've reviewed Activity Monitor. I'm not not alone:

https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/comments/qq6due
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/qqm2r0
https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/qoxfyc
And yes, there are also posts about how great the battery life is. The problem is I am not getting the impressive battery life on either of my MBPs and this is after months of use. I continue to investigate as well.

 

[chikorita157]

I disagree. I own a 2018 MacBook Pro with a Core I7 and that thing would run it's fans when I used a dual monitor setup with a Thunderbolt 3 dock. Not to mention, it beach balls sometimes and runs hot. Also, it's a lot less responsive compared to my 2021 M1 Pro MacBook Pro in everyday activities, including software development. Not to mention, the T2 crashes sometimes, which wake me up in the middle of the night on the 2018 Intel MacBook Pro.

Switching from Intel was the right move.

 

[Ultron]

Apart from monitor scaling issues and HDMI ports being 2.0 instead of 2.1, I've been very happy with my M1 Mac mini. My favorite part of owning this generation of Mac mini has been: (1) silent operation, (2) small form factor, (3) sufficient performance to cover my needs

 

[leman]

Sorry to hear about your lackluster experience. My M1 machine builds software and runs data analysis workloads 2-3x faster than my i9 laptop and I easily get 10 hours on a single charge. So no, it’s not just hype. The CPU in particular is extremely fast and draws very little power.

Under load it will obviously get as hot as Intel, they have comparable system TDP. Anything else would be throwing performance away. But it takes much more to make the Apple Silicon sweat - Intel draws 10x as much power on most trivial tasks like opening files or doing background processing.

 

[Chinch07]

Stop. It is not a troll thread. Anybody can vote and express their opinion here. My experience is what it is as stated.

Maybe your Mac is a lemon. I upgraded from a fully spec’d out i9 16” MacBook Pro to a full spec’d out 16” M1 Max and the difference is incredible. There is not a single thing I miss about my i9.

 

[booksbooks]

I'm not sure of the value of cross-examining everyone. I also don't understand what the goal is here of this exercise. Are you genuinely trying to figure out if this is a larger problem? I think if your experience (and I totally believe your experience is real) is the norm, there'd be a whole lot more noise on these message boards. I'm sorry your results thus far are disappointing. Nobody likes to spend money like that and have their expectations fall short. But again - your particular use case seems unique.

It may be unique, and I'm cool with that, but as I've posted I'm not exactly alone. Yes of course I am trying to understand this after being out over $7000 on 2 MBPs and having to actually work in the field.