Do you really need more than base M1?

[Bodhitree]

I was watching this Rene Ritchie video on youtube

And I thought he actually makes a really good point about the performance of the different types of M1 chip that Apple has released. Single-threaded performance is very similar, and 4P + 4E cores gives you good and balanced multicore performance which gives near-instant responsiveness in most Mac OS scenarios for the base M1. So for most people, the base M1 is the sweet spot of price vs performance, if you are at all price-sensitive.

The professional crowd who need more memory or more speed or specialised subprocessing know who they are, and will be able to evaluate M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra without too much trouble. They know who they are and what they need. And those people who are not price-sensitive will just buy what they like.

But the mere fact that the base M1 is out there powering laptops, tablets and desktops is kind of mind-blowing. It’s powerful enough to do all three, and has low-enough energy usage that it can do even very constrained thermal envelopes. It stays a very impressive chip.

 

[leman]

Yes, and I find this approach to building computers refreshing and honest. Apple is actually focusing on real-world needs and delivers in a way that is consistent and predictable. Compare it to the mainstream market where its all about performance (which you are not likely to get anyway) at the expense of everything else.

 

[subjonas]

I like his ship analogy.
My particular work does benefit from more cores, but I imagine base M1 is plenty fast for most people, assuming most people use their computer for office work, consumption, and light hobby content creation.
I think most people only make use of more powerful computers when doing serious gaming, but serious gaming isn’t big on Mac for whatever reason. Until then, I think the bigger AS chips are mainly for more serious content creator types.

 

[satcomer]

Like I said at first release of the new chip! That new ultra Ultra was made for professionals audio guys/girls and artist and video producers! It wasn’t made to YouTubers that don’t make money with Macs!

 

[Lihp8270]

M1 has enough performance for me, but doesn’t have the monitor support I need

 

[satcomer]

Yes you can’t drive two 5K monitors with m1 Mac Mini! That Mini can only do one monitor if you want do anything else with the Mini! So if you want more that three monitors then get studio display or Professional Display!

 

[Mr.Blacky]

I like his ship analogy.
My particular work does benefit from more cores, but I imagine base M1 is plenty fast for most people, assuming most people use their computer for office work, consumption, and light hobby content creation.
I think most people only make use of more powerful computers when doing serious gaming, but serious gaming isn’t big on Mac for whatever reason. Until then, I think the bigger AS chips are mainly for more serious content creator types.

Do you really think the M1 is only suitable for office work, consumption and light content creation? You act like, this is a Intel Celeron. ?

 

[throAU]

BUT ALDER LAKE WINS SINGLE THERAD BENCHMARKSSS at 300 watts...!!11



But yes, I agree with the OP. The m1 is very impressive in the real world.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

I have a heavy professional workload, but the heavy loads are on my head, not on my computer Mostly word processing and working in browser-based tools. Base M1 excels in handling that, much better than my Intel MBP and my Intel office PC.

Nevertheless, the I/O situation could be better on M1 (cf. @Lihp8270 above). I personally do not need i.e. dual monitors, but the old Intel ones could manage more than one external display. This was one step back by compared with many steps forward regarding M1.

 

[eyetic]

For normal office workers is more than enough the base M1, I was crazy enough to get the 8gb version wich was a mistake because now that I'm diving into some gaming and virtualization I'd like to have 16gb at least.

Anyway its been almost one year and a half so I guess I'd jump into the M2 base model with 16 gb as soon as its released

 

[subjonas]

Do you really think the M1 is only suitable for office work, consumption and light content creation? You act like, this is a Intel Celeron. ?

Where did you get “only suitable”? I said it’s plenty fast for these things, meaning it can easily do those things and implying it can be pushed to do more.
But if you’re saying the base M1 is good for heavy content creation, then I do disagree. But we could have different definitions of heavy. These are subjective words so not a lot of sense in debating.

 

[MrGunny94]

Until M2 comes along and allows for Dual Display and more ports for sure.

 

[Random_Matt]

For basic stuff, sure.

 

[leifp]

photography editing, (light) video editing, (tiny) game building/coding. I have dual 4K monitors, which I would love to upgrade (but only Apple's XDR qualifies for me, at present... the price does not)

I had the M1 mini, now I have the M1Max MBPro. M1 was less than required; the M1Max is (presently) more. We'll see how I feel in five years...

 

[bcortens]

I would have gone for an M1 MacBook Pro if the ram ceiling was higher - my work regularly sees me working with datasets that are over 10 GB that I need to keep in memory, I expect that by the time I need to replace the M1 Pro in my MBP 32GB will be available in the mainstream M series.

 

[Mr.Blacky]

Where did you get “only suitable”? I said it’s plenty fast for these things, meaning it can easily do those things and implying it can be pushed to do more.
But if you’re saying the base M1 is good for heavy content creation, then I do disagree. But we could have different definitions of heavy. These are subjective words so not a lot of sense in debating.

You wrote "... assuming most people use their computer for office work, consumption, and light hobby content creation.", which I read as "if you do more, it's not suitable. Also, is there only "light" and "heavy" content creation? And what even is light content creation?

 

[Danfango]

I've had a bottom end M1 Air. For general day to day tasks it's absolutely spot on. Battery life is insane and it just works perfectly.

The only workload issues I had were running virtual machines on it in UTM which pushed memory a little hard. I got around this by spinning up a VM on Linode when I needed one for $10 a month which was "meh" money. The other one was Lightroom causing memory pressure issues, which was solved by just taking better photos and using Photos app 🤔

The only annoyance was the lack of SD slot.

I bought a bottom end 14" MBP in the end because my daughter needed a new laptop to replace her 3 year old thinkpad so I gave her the Air. And why the hell not - it annoys my ex wife when I buy stuff

Honestly the absolute ass end M1 MBA or iMac machines are amazing!

 

[subjonas]

You wrote "... assuming most people use their computer for office work, consumption, and light hobby content creation.", which I read as "if you do more, it's not suitable. Also, is there only "light" and "heavy" content creation? And what even is light content creation?

…
In other words, it’s plenty fast for what most people do. I think we agree on that so let’s leave it be.

 

[pianostar9]

And what even is light content creation?

Probably something that wouldn’t need 32GB of RAM

Anyways, I’m going to go work on some ultra dark light heavy pro max content creation/s

 

[Lihp8270]

I want an Air that supports 2 external display plus built in.

As soon as that arrives I’ll jump back over to apple silicon

 

[Lihp8270]

And what even is light content creation?

Videos for people who don’t use dark mode?

 

[onlyforbo]

Chrome books have proven that a vast majority of people require literally nothing more than a core 2 duo with 4gb of ram for all of the computing task in their life. Creatives and pros on the other hand.

 

[darngooddesign]

Until M2 comes along and allows for Dual Display and more ports for sure.

It won't. The M2 Mini will be faster version of the M1 Mini; same assortment of cores, same display support, same amount of RAM, and the same ports.

 

[Beavix]

I’m a professional graphic designer. I work on an M1 Mac mini w. 16GB or RAM and two 4k displays. Honestly I’ve never felt the need for something faster or better. I don’t do video or 3D, so I don’t need the ultimate speed for rendering stuff. For web and print graphics it works very well.

As a bonus, because the power consumption of the M1 Mac Mini is so low, I can run it and a 4k display on a 30Ah LiFePO4 battery (with an inverter) all day long. Very useful when I stay at my summer house outside the city (there’s no electric power network there).

 

[leman]

It won't. The M2 Mini will be faster version of the M1 Mini; same assortment of cores, same display support, same amount of RAM, and the same ports.

Wanna bet? I’m fairly sure M2 will support more displays.