Forbes goes in hard with damming review on M1 Pro

[djrm]

Apple MacBook Pro 13” M1 Review- Why You Might Want To Pass

#1-ranked tech analyst Patrick Moorhead reviews the new Apple MacBook Pro 13" M1 processor.

www.forbes.com

Forbes goes in hard with damming review on M1 Pro.

 

[Kung gu]

“1#-ranked tech analyst” should be an indication that this review is not to taken seriously

 

[workerbee]

Thanks for that link, it brightened my morning. It felt exactly like reading some Windows publication testing an Apple PowerBook or MacBook, ca. 2008 or so.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

Meh. It's total click bait.

 

[NJRonbo]

This review is the first out of dozens I have read that says anything negative about these new M1 machines.

I can't believe any of what is written there is true. And that's not fanboy talk. That's just looking at a needle in a haystack.

 

[aleni]

They’re trying to stand out against good reviews and get people to click. Ain’t clicking that link.

 

[Henk van Ess]

He started his actual review with this , geez.

 

[SlCKB0Y]

His "use case" to me seems like a Windows user from 10 years ago, pre cloud and SaaS who was given a Mac and then downloaded all the desktop apps he would have used on Windows.

He also comes across as a totally arrogant arsehole. "All the Apple chosen reviewers are basically lying shills and I'm the only voice of integrity to speak out" kind of thing.

 

[Henk van Ess]

wow .. MICROSOFT is in disclaimer at end of review

Moor Insights & Strategy, like all research and analyst firms, provides or has provided paid research, analysis, advising, or consulting to many high-tech companies in the industry, including 8x8, Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, Applied Micro, ARM, Aruba Networks, AT&T, AWS, A-10 Strategies, Bitfusion, Blaize, Box, Broadcom, Calix, Cisco Systems, Clear Software, Cloudera, Clumio, Cognitive Systems, CompuCom, Dell, Dell EMC, Dell Technologies, Diablo Technologies, Digital Optics, Dreamchain, Echelon, Ericsson, Extreme Networks, Flex, Foxconn, Frame (now VMware), Fujitsu, Gen Z Consortium, Glue Networks, GlobalFoundries, Google (Nest-Revolve), Google Cloud, HP Inc., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Honeywell, Huawei Technologies, IBM, Ion VR, Inseego, Infosys, Intel, Interdigital, Jabil Circuit, Konica Minolta, Lattice Semiconductor, Lenovo, Linux Foundation, MapBox, Marvell, Mavenir, Marseille Inc, Mayfair Equity, Meraki (Cisco), Mesophere, Microsoft, Mojo Networks, National Instruments, NetApp, Nightwatch, NOKIA (Alcatel-Lucent), Nortek, Novumind, NVIDIA, Nuvia, ON Semiconductor, ONUG, OpenStack Foundation, Oracle, Poly, Panasas, Peraso, Pexip, Pixelworks, Plume Design, Poly, Portworx, Pure Storage, Qualcomm, Rackspace, Rambus, Rayvolt E-Bikes, Red Hat, Residio, Samsung Electronics, SAP, SAS, Scale Computing, Schneider Electric, Silver Peak, SONY, Springpath, Spirent, Splunk, Sprint, Stratus Technologies, Symantec, Synaptics, Syniverse, Synopsys, Tanium, TE Connectivity, TensTorrent, Tobii Technology, T-Mobile, Twitter, Unity Technologies, UiPath, Verizon Communications, Vidyo, VMware, Wave Computing, Wellsmith, Xilinx, Zebra, Zededa, and Zoho which may be cited in blogs and research.

 

[workerbee]

His "use case" to me seems like a Windows user from 10 years ago, pre cloud and SaaS who was given a Mac and then downloaded all the desktop apps he would have used on Windows.

100% this.

 

[dolbinau]

This review is the first out of dozens I have read that says anything negative about these new M1 machines.

I can't believe any of what is written there is true. And that's not fanboy talk. That's just looking at a needle in a haystack.

I would say most if it is 'true' but it's completely irrelevant and not important. If this guy and 2 of his followers think it's a big deal they can't run Microsoft Edge then 'cool' - go and work on the computers they want to. The rest of us are moving forward into the future with M1 and not looking back.

 

[thettareddast]

First to preface that I'm not "defending" Apple - i dont care.

But just wanted to add:
* Forbes is trash. It's a blogger-contributor model. It is not a reputable source.
* What the hell does "#1-ranked tech analyst" even mean. LOL. Who's out there ranking tech analysts... JD Powers?

 

[SlCKB0Y]

View attachment 1676477 He started his actual review with this , geez.

I wonder what fraction of 1% of Mac users use MS Edge instead of Safari, Chrome or Firefox?

Also does he know his Mac has builtin screen shot shortcuts?

 

[David Hassholehoff]

To be perfectly fair though, who shouldn't buy is just as important as who should.
And if your software demands are limited to Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, Microsoft OneNote and Microsoft Skype for Business then maybe a Mac isn't for you. Perhaps Microsoft Windows is more suited to you.
To quote the "analyst" himself; "I think the new MacBook Pro 13” M1 will be fine for users who use 100% Apple software[...]".
I think the guy should stick to his Microsoft Surface which is fine for users who use 100% Microsoft software.

 

[Booji]

Does not run Edge? I'm cool.

 

[mcnallym]

Hardly a hard negative review. Would call it pretty balanced as does the author.

advice in their is pretty much common sense.

test that the apps that YOU use work properly.
enterprise test suitability before add to supported client list. (Pretty sure any enterprise worth of the name tests machines before adding to list)

Noise/battery life hardly surprising when using apps that already said have problems running as will be working the machine harder. Some such as
zoom already known to drain battery as it does on intel macs.

cannot answer for all of the apps but certainly chrome has a new m1 specific release this week. Expect that most other software vendors will start to release new/updated apps, so software compatibility is something that will resolve but is down to software vendors to do.

just like before upgrading to big sur then people should be checking that the apps that they use daily basis work before upgrading.

so nothing hard negative in there, simply pointing out the obvious which is new Apple silicon out may not run all of your existing software/hardware

2 port connection not an issue either. Replacing 2 port devices in the case of air and even the 13” pro that replaced had only 2 ports. The 4 port pro is still intel based.

in terms of mini then the 2018 has known issues with usb over it’s tb ports. Am hoping that the m1 solves those issues on the mini. Don’t believe that the intel 2020 model fixes those issues. Was only two buses so whilst had the ports was no extra bandwidth. again is the i3 version replacing the i5/i7 higher versions still being available.

there is a reason why certain intel macs pulled and others still there in the

touchscreen is a non issue. Intel macs also have that issue with iOS apps So nothing to do with the new Apple silicon. Apple not shown any interest publicly in putting touch screen into Mac OS.

lte is also another non Apple silicon issue. Intel macs have’t had this and again Apple not seem to be interested in adding in.

so touchscreen and lte are Apple and nothing to do with Apple silicon as intel macs would’ve have those either.

would agree the 1 external display could be an issue though. Could understand why only 1 external 6k display (intel the same) but would be nice to be able to run 2 monitors at lower res.

so basically the report says

check that the new Apple silicon boxes meet ‘your’ requirements in terms of apps compatibility and connectivity before you buy one. Plenty of people already stated that in threads on this forum.

may as well be written by captain obvious but certainly not a hard negative, simply saying check before you buy an Apple silicon Mac that meets your needs in terms of apps and connectiviy, otherwise you may want to stick with an intel Mac for now.

 

[MacBookGamer]

“In the Windows ecosystem, you can get lighter and more diverse designs, higher resolution displays, touch-displays, LTE and 5G, software and peripheral compatibility, and you’ll pay less.”

Except none of those Windows laptops run MacOS. Windows still feels horrible to use with their early 20s touchpads and gestures.

 

[ArPe]

Forbes and other such news sites that allow any random contributor have decayed to such a point that all they care about is click bait and ad revenue. This pay per view and pay per click ad revenue system has turned much of journalism (and politics) into a mud slinging cesspool of junk news and fake news. We see society being torn apart just so journos and writers can roll in money and laugh at you all. Do it Gandhi style. Don’t take part. Try your best to get direct feedback from regular hard working people.

 

[mr_jomo]

I wonder what fraction of 1% of Mac users use MS Edge instead of Safari, Chrome or Firefox?

Also does he know his Mac has builtin screen shot shortcuts?

And, disregarding his ranting Microsoft Edge works perfectly under Big Sur, on M1 through Rosetta 2 at least on SharePoint and Microsofts Office online applications including Teams with screen sharing etc during calls.

 

[zkap]

I didn't mind the review as you'd usually want to hear from the other side, as well. It's unfortunate for the reviewer that he cannot resist showing his antagonism towards the platform he's reviewing with the "Apple and Apple-chosen reviewers", as if these computers are highly rated only in a closed circle of people who have an agenda.

It's fair enough that Microsoft software performance was not great for his use case, but this just goes to reaffirm my decision to buy the M1 laptop because apparently the only way to get hiccups even at this very early stage is to use software that I don't and would never use.

So really, the review was not bad in that it told me enough information to know that I should ignore the reviewer's issues as it isn't pertinent for me, and it also probably told people who use a lot of Microsoft applications to hold off for now, which is just as well, it's not like they'll be late to buy it or anything, plenty of these to go around for years.
It's just that he let himself down with the bitterness as he's less likely to get his point across.

 

[David Hassholehoff]

I found the most hilarious part to be about Tomb Raider making use of "Apple's proprietary Metal API instead of an open one", you know, like every DirectX game in existance. ?‍♂️

 

[Joe Dohn]

I think the biggest problem with fan sites and communities is that they create an echo chamber of positive opinions, and this has the potential to drive any brand to the abyss.

Here's the problem: because people in fan communities tend to only talk positively of brand products, the brand will not easily see what's wrong with their own products, thinking that everything is all right when it's not.

The M1 Mac does have flaws. Remember, it's an M1 generation product to begin with. Many programs will simply not work out of the box. There is no good alternative for virtualization yet. You can run 32-bit and 64-bit Windows apps with Crossover, but you have no good alternative for 32-bit MacOS apps. Apple has discontinued support for external GPUs.

Those are flaws that Apple must be aware of and address if they want a larger userbase (and they do). For example, Crossover has proved that legacy compatility at a reasonable speed CAN be attained, and it doesn't have to be integrated into the operating system. It can be developed and sold as a separate component. If Crossover can create separate software to run legacy software, so can Apple.

Also, another flaw of communities is that they lead to the thinking that everyone that doesn't like a brand's products is misguided, wrong, or flat out dishonest, which is not true. There are perfectly valid reasons not to like a product even if it's well-designed for its purpose.

 

[alien3dx]

nice review , as being linux,windows and mac user would said its normal thing.

 

[ArPe]

I found the most hilarious part to be about Tomb Raider making use of "Apple's proprietary Metal API instead of an open one", you know, like every DirectX game in existance. ?‍♂️

I imagine he wants iPadOS and iOS to dump Metal too. Genius.

 

[ArPe]

I think the biggest problem with fan sites and communities is that they create an echo chamber of positive opinions, and this has the potential to drive any brand to the abyss.

Here's the problem: because people in fan communities tend to only talk positively of brand products, the brand will not easily see what's wrong with their own products, thinking that everything is all right when it's not.

The M1 Mac does have flaws. Remember, it's an M1 generation product to begin with. Many programs will simply not work out of the box. There is no good alternative for virtualization yet. You can run 32-bit and 64-bit Windows apps with Crossover, but you have no good alternative for 32-bit MacOS apps. Apple has discontinued support for external GPUs.

Those are flaws that Apple must be aware of and address if they want a larger userbase (and they do). For example, Crossover has proved that legacy compatility at a reasonable speed CAN be attained, and it doesn't have to be integrated into the operating system. It can be developed and sold as a separate component. If Crossover can create separate software to run legacy software, so can Apple.

Also, another flaw of communities is that they lead to the thinking that everyone that doesn't like a brand's products is misguided, wrong, or flat out dishonest, which is not true. There are perfectly valid reasons not to like a product even if it's well-designed for its purpose.

This forum is hardly an echo chamber. Literally 95% of the discussions are users helping each other with bugs and most of them understand that software development is really hard and will never be perfect. So no, I don’t buy this idea that there is some brainless cult who jump thoughtlessly to defend these products.