Do you really need more than base M1?

[06tb06]

I began giving this topic more thought recently. I purchased my 2019 16" MBP in early 2020 just prior to Apple introducing the Developer Transition Kit in June of the same year. The first M1 chips didn't arrive until November.

I know the M1 chip is sufficient for my daily needs. My brother owns the 2020 13" MBP with M1 and he's doing fine with similar workloads to mine. I know in synthetic tests the M1 beats even the high-end prior-gen 16" Intel MBPs.

Aside from basic tasks, I do a bit of video work and photography using Final Cut Pro and Pixelmator Pro, both of which offer native M1 support and hardware-specific optimizations, such as utilizing the Neural Engine for certain tasks (something I'm sure my Intel Mac can't do). I'm sure the M1 would be just as capable in these apps.

I don't regret buying my Intel MBP when I did but if I was shopping for a new Mac today, I would choose the M1 MBA with a memory bump to 16GB. After the tests came out, I was surprised how the fanless Mac performed so well.

 

[Howard Brazee]

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

It's funny that my M1 iMac worked with two external monitors despite its specs—until MacOS 12.3 came out (with its universal control). I have ordered https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/CADPDL2HDMI/, and hope it will work, but that's a lot of money.

 

[Tagbert]

It's funny that my M1 iMac worked with two external monitors despite its specs—until MacOS 12.3 came out (with its universal control). I have ordered https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/CADPDL2HDMI/, and hope it will work, but that's a lot of money.

The reason those kind of adaptors work with the M1’s is that they make it look like one monitor to the M1. It’s all going through one i/o channel so you don’t hit the display channel limits of the M1.

 

[kevcube]

The only thing stopping me from recommending my elderly parents buy an M1 iMac is knowing that an M2 iMac is just around the corner... at least in Australia, unless you're buying very early in product lifecycle (with the usual 10% off sales at various retailers + discounted gift cards), then there's not much savings to be had until the model is about to be replaced or recently superseded.

You can get >10% off around the introduction of a new product? Wow. We pay full price in the states, the iMac is like a year old and we’re just now starting to get 10% drops.

Also a lot of retailers specifically exclude apple products from certain promotions

 

[PsykX]

I have an M1 iMac right now, and I am always doing some very intensive tasks :
Sketch, Pixelmator, Final Cut, Xcode, 3-4 Office apps, Teams (as long as it's not native, it's a resource hog), etc.

The processor is fast, although I want more speed, and my biggest concern is the memory.
An M1 Pro with 16GB of memory could probably be perfect.

So yes, I will clearly need more than M1. But that being said, not many people with computers do everything I do with it. The performance of the M1 will be enough for 70% of the population I'd say.

 

[Warped9]

I have an M1 iMac right now, and I am always doing some very intensive tasks :
Sketch, Pixelmator, Final Cut, Xcode, 3-4 Office apps, Teams (as long as it's not native, it's a resource hog), etc.

The processor is fast, although I want more speed, and my biggest concern is the memory.
An M1 Pro with 16GB of memory could probably be perfect.

So yes, I will clearly need more than M1. But that being said, not many people with computers do everything I do with it. The performance of the M1 will be enough for 70% of the population I'd say.

This makes me think that me doing SketchUp with Maxwell Render and Photoshop would be fine with an M1 iMac with 16GB RAM and 512GB or 1TB SSD.

 

[PsykX]

This makes me think that me doing SketchUp with Maxwell Render and Photoshop would be fine with an M1 iMac with 16GB RAM and 512GB or 1TB SSD.

Yes, 16GB of RAM is a no brainer (although I am surprised by the 8 GB configuration to be honest), and at least 512 GB of storage are my recommendations if you go with M1.

I chose 256 GB and it's a nightmare to manage with all these Xcode Simulatirs and derived data and whatnot, even though I have an external 2TB SSD and I aliased most of my user folders to point towards the SSD.

 

[wabisabizo]

My use case is very basic: Productivity apps (MSFT), Browsing and Streaming. Thats it. And I own a Base MacBook Air M1. Plenty enough for me ??

 

[MacheadSK]

Like many other people here, basic M1 would be enough for me. But it sucks it has very limited PCIe lanes and thus, low bandwidth to allow more monitors and fast external nvme usb 3.2/4 drives at the same time.

for web development, office etc. you really don’t need many cores as you are on single thread only, as well as one don’t need the powerful GPU and fancy stuff like video encoders.

Give me nice Mac mini with 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD and M1 Pro for 1400 USD and I’m in.

 

[Lioness~]

I don't buy Macs every year for what I need in only this moment. But also for what I estimate I will need in the coming ~5 yrs.

My latest iMac that have been traded in now, I had for 8 yrs. I could use it at all the latest year, because of the 32 GB RAM. Never regretted that I maxed the RAM at purchase a second. The processor was however not sufficient the latest year at all.

So no M1 only is not by far enough for me.
Maybe could be for the most things today, but not tomorrow. I haven’t tried it for my workflow so I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter as I don't buy a Mac that way anyway. It's an investment for some coming years ahead too.

 

[ondert]

M1 is real snappy but I need more GPU power and still play games too.

 

[bobcomer]

I need more RAM and cores, I do a lot at the same time. (I have an M1 Max)

I tried an M1 MBA, it didn't work well for me. So even other than video people sometimes need more, but I'm very happy with my Studio!

 

[satcomer]

I have an M1 iMac right now, and I am always doing some very intensive tasks :
Sketch, Pixelmator, Final Cut, Xcode, 3-4 Office apps, Teams (as long as it's not native, it's a resource hog), etc.

The processor is fast, although I want more speed, and my biggest concern is the memory.
An M1 Pro with 16GB of memory could probably be perfect.

So yes, I will clearly need more than M1. But that being said, not many people with computers do everything I do with it. The performance of the M1 will be enough for 70% of the population I'd say.

With the limited space in M1 internal drive look at the thread Thunderbolt 2 NVMe SSD Enclosures and read through that thread to make a cool NVMe external that is ⅔ as fast as your internal! The only space is limit of budget!

 

[UltimateSyn]

Nope, not me. M1 with 16GB RAM is all I need. I’ll take that in a 15” MacBook Air chassis, please.

 

[engbren]

I certainly didn’t - I have MacBook Air M1 with 16gb RAM and haven’t ever really taxed it. I regularly run virtual machines so needed the extra RAM but not any more CPU or GPU power. For the occasional times I do creative work flows like editing photos or video there’s still plenty of power there. For other workflows there would be the need.

 

[GuruZac]

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.

Excellent summation. ?

 

[TJ82]

Sometimes it’s the simple things that produce real world benefits above their weight. The SD and other ports on the Studio have been that way for me. Amazed how much I love having an SD slot again. Would love one on my iPad Pro now and do away with that annoying dongle.

 

[MysticCow]

Sometimes it’s the simple things that produce real world benefits above their weight. The SD and other ports on the Studio have been that way for me. Amazed how much I love having an SD slot again. Would love one on my iPad Pro now and do away with that annoying dongle.

But why have the lot when you can buy the official Apple Lightning SD Thingamabob for the low low price of $2000 USD! (This post is sarcasm)

 

[SebCohen]

I’m waiting for the Mini M1 “2.0” come July. I want a Studio, yes, but no. And price isn’t just why, I don’t need to save 5 minutes here and there. I’m a hobbyists. Pics and editing some personal 4K phone videos, I don’t need more. But I’m not getting the current Mini because it’s too late in the tooth.

I’d spec it with 32GB ram and 1TB SSD. I’d take current port selection, but I’d like 4 USB-C…and USB-A.

So Apple will get my money, just not yet.

 

[JahBoolean]

Yes, because I run 4k + 5k2k monitors. The chip is overkill in it of itself, although it is nice to be able to fiddle with blender on the go.

 

[spiderman0616]

Base $999 M1 Air was actually doing great for me. It was a secondary machine for my work machine, which was a 2019 Intel 15" MacBook. Even hooked up to my 4K monitor running games here and there. The problem is that the newest model MacBook Pros are SO INCREDIBLY GOOD. As soon as I laid eyes and ears on them in real life, I wanted that to be my computing experience every day. No, I don't need the nicer, bigger screen or speakers to do my computing. All my projects would get done either way. And the M1 Pro as a CPU? Truly wasted on me. Even the photo/video editing and graphic design projects I do are small potatoes for just about any modern device, yes, even if it's not an Apple one.

So, I'm not a professional graphic designer or Pixar animator or audio engineer or anything like that. But I am a professional, and I am a heavy Mac user. I do notice when the experience itself is significantly nicer on once machine vs. the other. The improvement between the base Air and the new Pro models is vast, and there's no requirement that says you have to peg the CPU and RAM every day in order to be approved to buy a MacBook Pro.

"Pro" doesn't usually mean what it implies when it comes to Apple. Sometimes it means more raw power, and sometimes it just means "the nicer model". These MBPs are both, so there's a little something for everyone. Whether you just like the crazy awesome screen, speakers, and whatever else has been improved, or you really do need all that horsepower for your crazy Excel setups or 1,000 layer design projects, you're covered. It's literally just "pick a size" at this point.

 

[sahni130]

Base $999 M1 Air was actually doing great for me. It was a secondary machine for my work machine, which was a 2019 Intel 15" MacBook. Even hooked up to my 4K monitor running games here and there. The problem is that the newest model MacBook Pros are SO INCREDIBLY GOOD. As soon as I laid eyes and ears on them in real life, I wanted that to be my computing experience every day. No, I don't need the nicer, bigger screen or speakers to do my computing. All my projects would get done either way. And the M1 Pro as a CPU? Truly wasted on me. Even the photo/video editing and graphic design projects I do are small potatoes for just about any modern device, yes, even if it's not an Apple one.

So, I'm not a professional graphic designer or Pixar animator or audio engineer or anything like that. But I am a professional, and I am a heavy Mac user. I do notice when the experience itself is significantly nicer on once machine vs. the other. The improvement between the base Air and the new Pro models is vast, and there's no requirement that says you have to peg the CPU and RAM every day in order to be approved to buy a MacBook Pro.

"Pro" doesn't usually mean what it implies when it comes to Apple. Sometimes it means more raw power, and sometimes it just means "the nicer model". These MBPs are both, so there's a little something for everyone. Whether you just like the crazy awesome screen, speakers, and whatever else has been improved, or you really do need all that horsepower for your crazy Excel setups or 1,000 layer design projects, you're covered. It's literally just "pick a size" at this point.

This. Base MacBook Air did everything I needed for “non-work”, really. Even ran the ol excel models nicely, But dang is it nice to have that screen and speakers on the new MacBook Pro. Oh, and MagSafe. Screen and MagSafe sold me.

 

[satcomer]

To me a old Network Engineer I came back and was minority when Steve brought Bill back on Stage via Internet! I knew Microsoft 200s2 server when DNS server started could natively support Mac ands Linux machines onto the Domain in beta form! then natively support that change in Server 2010 natively out of the box and smelled ear to ear! That means when we started Linux Servers for VOIP services were were setting up on 4 different networks from Internet to Secret VOIP phone, NA Phones and Top Secret VOIP phones too as well as Army Internet network the next year too!

 

[spiderman0616]

This. Base MacBook Air did everything I needed for “non-work”, really. Even ran the ol excel models nicely, But dang is it nice to have that screen and speakers on the new MacBook Pro. Oh, and MagSafe. Screen and MagSafe sold me.

Nobody yell at me, but I haven't even used the MagSafe charger yet. I didn't even take it out of the wrapping. It's in my laptop bag at the moment.

 

[djbeav]

Depends on the use case. I just ordered a second Studio based on the SSD speed alone. A Mac Mini M1 would have enough cores to handle the application (FileMaker Server), but the read/write speed of the Studio is double what the Mini can do.

Unfortunately, we won't be utilizing the video encoders and extra ML capabilities of the Max chip, but the application will still work far better on the Studio than the Mini.

It's nice to finally have more options in the Mac line.