How many people really need M1 Pro or M1 Max

[Puonti]

Side note: Did anyone else notice that the presenter (Ms. Haldea) said "we are adding ports to the new MacBook Pro." But then there was an intentional change of verbiage to "And yes, MagSafe is coming back to the MacBook Pro." My memory isn't that bad... I remember five years ago when all of these ports that are being "add[ed] to the new MacBook Pro" were already there and got ripped away from us. Seems like they should have used "coming back" for that entire segment instead of trying to cover up their enormous mistake and act like ports on a laptop are a whole new frontier Apple is pushing ?

I'd say that's just standard operating procedure when it comes to any marketing; the conversation here just happens to revolve around Apple because, well, it's MacRumors.

For instance, you don't show a graph where the M1 Max GPU performance falls short of the most powerful discrete mobile GPU in any currently available laptop and say "M1 Max delivers 95% of the performance of the leading discrete mobile GPU". That leaves the viewer thinking they're missing out on something. You don't want that, so you don't advertise in negatives.

Instead you say "M1 Max delivers similar performance while using a 100 watts less power." 'Similar' can mean both "just a bit worse" and "just a bit better" depending on the point you're trying to make, and when qualified with the highlighted power efficiency, the viewer is more likely to be left with a favorable recollection of what was said *

* Does not apply to viewers who are pre-disposed to think negatively about the advertised product or company delivering the message.

 

[ice29]

I don't need the power, I just want the bigger screen, so I ordered a base 16 inch. Had the previous 16 inch but it got stupid hot doing simple stuff, so I sold it. And I bought the base M1 air just to see if the cooling was really that much better, and it truly is. I expect the new 16 inch one to be a bit worse due to higher power consumption and having fans, but not so much that my palms sweat when typing.

My case as well... Bought M1 Air last year to try out the new chipset and was blow away by the performance, fine for anything I do. But I work a lot off-site without external screen so this was the only reason I ordered 16" one... Though I am not 100% I will keep it, I fear it will be a bit too big to carry around (14inch would also be a step-up but as mentioned already, the battery life seems to be a bit bad...)

 

[darthbane2k]

Need and want are two very different things. Also there is the addiction of self assurance in knowing you have the latest shiny.

 

[MrGunny94]

M1 Pro is more than enough for me, I love the M1 Mac but sometimes I need a bit more CPU and RAM for my VMs. Plus I need the 3 external displays support.

 

[altaic]

This thread title could have read: How many people NEED what they want; Who really needs what they NEED; How many people need WHAT they need; WANT something, check out this LIFE HACK; How am I NOT myself; How am I not MYSELF. We’re all suckers for responding.

 

[Lt69oX]

First let me say I’ve been in IT/Telcom over 35 years. The processors Apple announced today are truly amazing. BUT… BUT… lets face it. How many people really need that much power in a laptop? Im an IT Pro and my Itel 2020 MacBook Pro and M1 Macbook air are sufficient. Really, think about it, what, aside from creative pros who needs that much power. Im disappointed a 14” MacBook Pro (M1) for the masses was not introduced today. Awesome technology for a very small percentage of users.

Musicians. People that load in massive sound libraries. They started the presentation off with a musician. Video editing on the go as well. The people that supported Apple in the beginning. If you have used the Powerbook (yes Powerbooks) then you know these kinds of computers is what we always wanted. Throw in an M1 powered MacBook 12" for portability and it could be crazy.

 

[jaggunothing]

I was in the same dilemma, the additional GPU core really does not make dent for my personal use, plus some MS office and photo editing. So from a longevity perspective I decided I will go with this. Max number of core within Pro chip and upgraded memory.

I had a 2011 MBP which I used till 2020, I could upgrade it with SSD and additional memory mid way. Since the newer ones are not replaceable will go with the upgraded spec. Again from the longevity perspective.

 

[Veridium]

First let me say I’ve been in IT/Telcom over 35 years. The processors Apple announced today are truly amazing. BUT… BUT… lets face it. How many people really need that much power in a laptop? Im an IT Pro and my Itel 2020 MacBook Pro and M1 Macbook air are sufficient. Really, think about it, what, aside from creative pros who needs that much power. Im disappointed a 14” MacBook Pro (M1) for the masses was not introduced today. Awesome technology for a very small percentage of users.

I've been in tech over 30 years myself professionally and honestly, I've heard this same kind of thing repeatedly, down through different eras of tech stretching back even to when I was a kid in the 8 bit era. "Who needs 128K of RAM? 64K is fine" <- I heard someone say that once with regards to the C-128. There's always some truth to it at the time, but, eventually the excess resources get gobbled up by new applications those excess resources enabled and what was once seen as overkill, eventually can't run the new generation of applications.

Something people aren't talking much about, but which will prove pivotal in the coming years... the neural processing capabilities on these machines. There are a whole slew of applications coming that will take advantage of those things, including things at the operating system level and even as relatively well endowed as these systems are for this era, they will prove insufficient in the long run to realize the bigger benefits that are in the works. What seems like excess power today, will be dogs in years to come.

 

[altaic]

I was in the same dilemma, the additional GPU core really does not make dent for my personal use, plus some MS office and photo editing. So from a longevity perspective I decided I will go with this. Max number of core within Pro chip and upgraded memory.

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I had a 2011 MBP which I used till 2020, I could upgrade it with SSD and additional memory mid way. Since the newer ones are not replaceable will go with the upgraded spec. Again from the longevity perspective.

From a machine capability vs longevity standpoint, and with your use case, the lowest cost machine with enough storage to transfer to an external SSD without getting close to the limit during your expected organizational time seems like a good approach. If you’re a blogger or a dad, then you might need a bit more storage space. If you do weddings, then you probably have your system down.

 

[Reggaenald]

Well. One purchase, 7-10 years of performance. I mean, for the money they ask for it better do that and nothing else. Replace the battery once in 5 years and you’ll be good. I just really really hope that the durability has finally been improved, too. No more breaking flex cables, no display discoloration and flex, no filthy keyboard that’s part of the top case that rubs against the display…!
Let’s see what it’s actually gonna be like. I’d definitely buy one could I afford one… The next one, that is let’s do really see how they’ll perform in the real world.

 

[GrumpyCoder]

It's a tax write off. Look at the people they showed off as Pro users in the presentation.

Indeed. But even if it isn't, these things are made to be faster, to get more things done. So looking at the $6k MBP, in a year that's $500 per month. So is the new MBP so much faster that you can make an additional $500 per month? If so, grab it. Alternatively $250 per month for two years and so on.

If the answer to the above is no, well, then skip it.

It's really amusing to consider the group Apple considers "pros". Apparently, to them, HPC extends to just editing video and photos and maybe 3D animation for entertainment purposes. Definitely a change from the introduction of OS X.... where Apple pushed the Unix angle to interest scientific computing users.

I know exactly what you mean. I used to do a lot of projects with Apple in the PPC and early Intel days for scientific computing. They've completely lost interest. Their target market is YouTubers, musicians and photographers these days and of course trying to tell everyone else they need the power to read emails and browse the web. They have pretty much abandoned the scientific market, which is a shame.

So until there is a viable windows solution for the MacBook M1 im keeping it.

Then you're going to keep it a loooong time.
MS already said no ARM Windows for redistribution. Not only did Apple move the design back over a decade, they moved the software compatibility back to the PPC days with the M-series SoCs. Good for them, bad for everyone else.

A 14-16” Air has long been on People’s wish lists here, but it doesn’t seem to be on Apple’s radar.

Wouldn't be so sure. Wait for the redesigned MBA next year. Wouldn't surprise me if that's 14". Maybe in addition to a 12". MBA-Pro? -Max? -Mini?

Some rumors out there Apple is testing 15"+ iPads. Could be specifically for artists (hello Wacom), could be for everyone. I wouldn't rule out a "slim" larger MBA just yet or maybe the return of the MacBook. With less power than the new MBPs of course, maybe up to a M1 Pro chip, probably a little less.

 

[lordhamster]

I haven't owned a computer in over 10 years. I have two firm owned machines (one mac & one pc) in my home office. I decided I wanted to get back to having my own machine as now remote computing is available for work tasks, and I don't like the idea of doing personal things (like posting here) on a work owned machine.

I could probably have gotten away with an M1 Macbook air, but wanted more ram... and why not get the cutting edge performance as this mac will likely need to last me for 6-8 years at least. Went for an M1 Max 10/32 with 32gb ram and 1TB drive. Lowkey regretting not opting for 64gb ram, but I decided to cheap out a bit there. As for the drive, with everything in the cloud now, I have less need for on-device storage. On my work mac I'm only up to 305gb used out of the 512 drive.

Bottom line... I probably don't "need" the M1 Pro or M1 Max, but I WANT it. Let a man have his vices!

 

[EuroChilli]

Not me I consume content, not make it.

This.

There is now a very distinct gap between the required laptop for either task.

So which one are you? It's that simple when looking for a new Apple laptop.

When I finally decided I wanted an Apple laptop back in 2011, the Air at the time didn't appeal to me at all. So the MacBook 'Pro' 13" was what I got. Now in 2021, the M1 Air truly is the entry level Apple laptop for the masses, and the MacBook Pro is just that, for pro's.

 

[kappaknight]

life would be so much simpler if we lived with the "need" philosophy...

Well, in that case I need it because I don't want to deal with the jet engine fans of the existing MBP.

It's a 1st world problem I know, but still...

 

[jaggunothing]

From a machine capability vs longevity standpoint, and with your use case, the lowest cost machine with enough storage to transfer to an external SSD without getting close to the limit during your expected organizational time seems like a good approach. If you’re a blogger or a dad, then you might need a bit more storage space. If you do weddings, then you probably have your system down.

Thanks. What I meant by longevity is the support to newer OS over a period of time and overall machine performance. With the 2011 MBP it slowed down in couple of years with the HDD and standard 8GB RAM, so this time I thought I should go for atleast the top spec processor with highest memory that is available for now. Apple was easy to pick earlier but now they have complicated it by having too many variants in processors and non replaceable memory.

Pricing also they have kept it in a way that they can stick to the same price point for few years, while reducing price of the older models as newer ones come lol. Just my theory.

 

[EuroChilli]

Well, in that case I need it because I don't want to deal with the jet engine fans of the existing MBP.

It's a 1st world problem I know, but still...

Noise cancelling headphones solves that problem, but you still need an asbestos mat on your legs to stop it from burning a hole through your jeans, because the fans did just that, made noise.

Wife says to me this morning she needs a blanket, her M1 Air is too cold to put on her bare legs. We each have the same laptop, I've been actively trying to warm mine up, no such luck.

 

[Adarna]

Base model 16" is good for me. Waiting for a deal that will reduce the price to $2,150

Other people may want to spend more but given 1/3rd are upgrading from any Intel Mac then any base model would be faster than anything they used previously.

 

[nightfox818]

Wife says to me this morning she needs a blanket, her M1 Air is too cold to put on her bare legs. We each have the same laptop, I've been actively trying to warm mine up, no such luck.

Earlier in the summer, I got a M1 MBP to test out. In the entire 14 days I had it, I could not make the thing warm up. I never heard the fans once. Not even sure they ever turned on. I had Chrome open with like 20 tabs, playing a YouTube video, running PhotoShop, compiling a project in Xcode, Discord, Slack, Outlook all running... the thing was still cold to the touch, even after sitting for a few hours on a blanket. It even had a Big Sur update and that makes my Intel MBP get nice and toasty and the fans usually blow out air hot enough to toast a marshmallow. But not the M1. It was maybe a little warmer, but still cold and the fans never turned on once during the update.

 

[jterp7]

Base model 16" is good for me. Waiting for a deal that will reduce the price to $2,150

Other people may want to spend more but given 1/3rd are upgrading from any Intel Mac then any base model would be faster than anything they used previously.

hmm thinking about it, with edu discount (2299) the base 16 gets close to the 2012 price of $2199 when it was first released

 

[darthbane2k]

Wife says to me this morning she needs a blanket, her M1 Air is too cold to put on her bare legs. We each have the same laptop, I've been actively trying to warm mine up, no such luck.

The reality distortion field that is the macrumors forums tells you that the M1 MBP is slow, noisy, runs hot and is a glorified Chromebook judging by some of the comments. None of these flaws of course were noticed this time last year when people's minds were being blown.

 

[EuroChilli]

The reality distortion field that is the macrumors forums tells you that the M1 MBP is slow, noisy, runs hot and is a glorified Chromebook judging by some of the comments. None of these flaws of course were noticed this time last year when people's minds were being blown.

So the cycle continues...

And in other news, I think I need to charge my Air, it's been a few days.

 

[Adarna]

hmm thinking about it, with edu discount (2299) the base 16 gets close to the 2012 price of $2199 when it was first released

I am selling my base model 2019 MBP 16" Core i7 base model for the 2021 MBP 16" M1 Pro base model.

If I knew Apple Silicon was this good I would not have upgraded from my 2011 MBP 13" until this month.

But I am glad I kept to my 2012 iMac 27" Core i7 BTO until now. When the 2020 iMac 27" replacement comes out in 2022 I'll be upgrading to the base model as well. My sole regret is that I did not replace my 1TB Fusion Drive in 2017 with a 2TB SSD to eek out 5 years of use.

 

[HackMacDaddy]

For my music production I can always make use of more CPU power, less of GPU, but most important for me are the ports! I would probably still go with an almost maxed out version and just keep the Laptop forever. I can't imagine a scenario where it EVER might become not powerful enough.

 

[CrazyForCashews]

No more breaking flex cables, no display discoloration and flex, no filthy keyboard that’s part of the top case that rubs against the display…!

Agree, and considering how the MacBook Pro reliability has been shoddy for the last 6 years, I'm reluctant to even consider one of the new Pros. There's just something in my head that's telling me to always avoid the first generation of products.

 

[vel0city]

I'm in pro 3D and VFX. There will never be enough GPU cores, RAM or bandwidth. I will take it all and more.