I feel like i'm alone to dislike M1/what is it good for (Merged Mega Thread)

[Ethosik]

Try OWC thunderblade. If you need such speed you shouldn’t have an issue paying for it.

How is that system? I have a Synology NAS, I am a bit worried about the Thunderblade as it is software RAID instead of hardware. Is it a big issue?

 

[LonestarOne]

The Studio is not meant to be user serviceable, Apple made no such claims. Of course, as a consumer, you can say this does not meant my requirements, that is fine. THEN DON'T BUY THE MACHINE!

They are the sort of people who’ll sit at the drive-through window demanding that Chick-Fil-A let them have a hamburger patty or throw a hissy fit because their Tesla can’t be upgraded with 4WD and a gasoline engine.

 

[mcnallym]

How is that system? I have a Synology NAS, I am a bit worried about the Thunderblade as it is software RAID instead of hardware. Is it a big issue?

If you want hardware raid then there is space to put a hardware raid card in. PCI-E x16 but only x4 electrically so can fit an x16 card but will operate at x4 speeds.

 

[Ethosik]

If you want hardware raid then there is space to put a hardware raid card in. PCI-E x16 but only x4 electrically so can fit an x16 card but will operate at x4 speeds.

But is the software RAID good? I don't want to spend a lot of cash on it if its not good when I already have my Synology NAS and I just need to upgrade from gigabit to 10gigabit.

 

[zidarko]

Synology is using SW RAID. You can mount it in Linux with mdadm.

 

[Arctic Moose]

Try OWC thunderblade. If you need such speed you shouldn’t have an issue paying for it.

I just checked the specs, advertised maximum read speed is the same as the Samsung X5, and the write speed is only 150 MB/s faster. Both advertised maximum read and write are significantly slower than actual measured speed of Apple internal storage.

Besides, adding 4 TB internal Apple storage is $1200 and a 4 TB Thunderblade is $1379, so it isn’t looking like a great deal from a cost or performance perspective.

(Granted, the OWC price per TB goes down with larger configurations, and the maximum size available is greater than Apple offers.)

 

[Tagbert]

I have; but only in server environments. I’d have thought that technology has progressed to reduce the incidents and provide adequate warnings prior. If I’m going to keep this for 8+ years, which is possible with my Studio configuration, i might not expect the whole thing to survive that long.

If you are using a Mac Studio, remember that it's SSDs are socketed and can be replaced in the unlikely event that they fail.

 

[bobcomer]

If you are using a Mac Studio, remember that it's SSDs are socketed and can be replaced in the unlikely event that they fail.

If we can buy the parts, that's not a given.

 

[ahurst]

I don’t think anyone can predict their storage needs in 5 or more years.

Except for people who unexpectedly get into big data analysis, RAW photography, or video editing, I'd say storage needs of the average user have been pretty stable for the past decade.

In 2000, the mid-range base storage on a Mac was ~8 GB, in 2010 it was ~500 GB, in 2022 it's 512 GB: since the late 2000's we've hit the "useful storage" plateau for most users, especially with the increasing use of streaming and cloud services. Apart from 4K/8K video, media file sizes haven't been getting bigger for a long time thanks to improved compression and diminishing perceptual returns, so storage improvements have focused on speed instead of capacity.

My white 21-year-old G3 iBook still boots, and I can still use the terminal; even the screen is good except for one line of dead pixels. but there is no point to upgrading it, because the processor isn't ever going to be upgradable -- the cooling requirements and power requirements and footprint changes within generations of the same processor, let alone with different processors -- and modern desktop software just won't run on a 500 MHz Power processor. It seems like a terrible waste to recycle something that _seems_ to work, even though it has no real utility. So for now I keep it in a drawer out of nostalgia, and will probably boot it one last time and connect it to the Internet for its 25 anniversary, browse to some low-requirement sites just to leave an Easter egg in their log files, and pull the drive and recycle it.

Don't recycle it! There are plenty of old Apple enthusiasts who would be willing to give it a home and put it to use.

 

[Tagbert]

If we can buy the parts, that's not a given.

You'll certainly be able to get them replaced by Apple servicing. I don't expect third-parties to supply them. the point is, if you have an unusually early failure of the SSD, you can have them replaced and not lose the whole computer.

 

[sigamy]

Except for people who unexpectedly get into big data analysis, RAW photography, or video editing, I'd say storage needs of the average user have been pretty stable for the past decade.

In 2000, the mid-range base storage on a Mac was ~8 GB, in 2010 it was ~500 GB, in 2022 it's 512 GB: since the late 2000's we've hit the "useful storage" plateau for most users, especially with the increasing use of streaming and cloud services. Apart from 4K/8K video, media file sizes haven't been getting bigger for a long time thanks to improved compression and diminishing perceptual returns, so storage improvements have focused on speed instead of capacity.

I completely agree. If you can't predict your storage needs for internal storage to a reasonable level that is on you, not Apple.

I do photography and video as a hobby. This means all the school events for my two kids, who are now in college. I've also made 6 short films over the years, from SD MiniDV to HD MiniDV, to now shooting 4K on mirrorless cameras.

I always keep my photo library on my internal drive, along with all documents, apps, and exports of home movie projects. I have 40k photos from late 90s to today in my photo library. I just checked and it's 309GB. My folder of home movies is 96GB. So right now I'm running with 1TB internal on M1 MBA, which is a temporary machine for me. For everything else (FCP Library, proxies, DVD/BR rips, etc) I use external drives.

I've owned dozens of external enclosures over the years--single drive and many dual-drive, from FW400 to FW800 to a 4-bay Drobo (disaster) to USB 2.0 and now USB-C.

When I upgrade to M2 machine I will go with either 2TB or 4TB for plenty of head room for video projects.

in the case of an emergency you can have an external HD in an hour if you live near a Best Buy, or within a few days via Amazon.

 

[bobcomer]

You'll certainly be able to get them replaced by Apple servicing.

I don't think they'll sell them unless it's part of a self repair program. They've already said it's not accessible for the user.

the point is, if you have an unusually early failure of the SSD, you can have them replaced and not lose the whole computer.

We wont know the answer to that for a very long time. I kind of suspect not.

 

[Zdigital2015]

I completely agree. If you can't predict your storage needs for internal storage to a reasonable level that is on you, not Apple.

I do photography and video as a hobby. This means all the school events for my two kids, who are now in college. I've also made 6 short films over the years, from SD MiniDV to HD MiniDV, to now shooting 4K on mirrorless cameras.

I always keep my photo library on my internal drive, along with all documents, apps, and exports of home movie projects. I have 40k photos from late 90s to today in my photo library. I just checked and it's 309GB. My folder of home movies is 96GB. So right now I'm running with 1TB internal on M1 MBA, which is a temporary machine for me. For everything else (FCP Library, proxies, DVD/BR rips, etc) I use external drives.

I've owned dozens of external enclosures over the years--single drive and many dual-drive, from FW400 to FW800 to a 4-bay Drobo (disaster) to USB 2.0 and now USB-C.

When I upgrade to M2 machine I will go with either 2TB or 4TB for plenty of head room for video projects.

in the case of an emergency you can have an external HD in an hour if you live near a Best Buy, or within a few days via Amazon.

Agree as well. For me, the 256GB SSD was plenty up until 2020, when I just started having to shuffle things around on a semi-continuous basis on my 2015 and 2016 MacBook Pros. At that point I knew I needed more internal storage. I bought a 2020 M1 13” MBP 8/512 and things have been mostly copacetic. I think my next MacBook whatever will have a 1TB storage on it, because even with fairly careful management, it just seems like macOS is using more space than before. I really don’t need 2TB or 4TB, but that’s me. Others might…but I really think that if you’ve been using a Mac for 3-5 years you should know how much you need and if you’re a user who’s been using a Mac longer than 5 years and you don’t know how much you need, well, you’re a potato.

 

[Tagbert]

Agree as well. For me, the 256GB SSD was plenty up until 2020, when I just started having to shuffle things around on a semi-continuous basis on my 2015 and 2016 MacBook Pros. At that point I knew I needed more internal storage. I bought a 2020 M1 13” MBP 8/512 and things have been mostly copacetic. I think my next MacBook whatever will have a 1TB storage on it, because even with fairly careful management, it just seems like macOS is using more space than before. I really don’t need 2TB or 4TB, but that’s me. Others might…but I really think that if you’ve been using a Mac for 3-5 years you should know how much you need and if you’re a user who’s been using a Mac longer than 5 years and you don’t know how much you need, well, you’re a potato.

My work laptop has a 256GB SSD. I was concerned at first that it might be tight but I still have over 100GB free on it. I have the full office suite, slack, 3-4 browsers, Xcode, and several utility programs. For a while I had a 30GB Windows VM, but have decided I don’t need that anymore. Space has not been an issue. Of course this is not my home device and I don’t keep photos and movies on it. For that at home, I have a 1TB M1 Air and I have an external 1TB SSD for “media”. I may go up to 2TB in a couple of years if I upgrade the M1 Air to something else but it is just fine now and we’ll see if there is enough reason to change later.

I don’t see any scenario where I will suddenly need multiple TB of storage and if I do, I would get an external drive/SSD for that.

 

[Tagbert]

I don't think they'll sell them unless it's part of a self repair program. They've already said it's not accessible for the user.

We wont know the answer to that for a very long time. I kind of suspect not.

Apple will certainly stock the Studio SSD as replacement parts. I do doubt that they will just sell them but will make them available to authorized service programs. Just like every other serviceable party. Not sure why you ‘suspect’ that they would not be.

 

[Fomalhaut]

Yes all true. And now that is the past and most users won't care. If it bothers you then there is a whole PC world waiting for you. You are not Apple's use case anymore. Sorry!

Yes, I know this, and was just taking a trip down memory lane when someone mentioned their Mini with Core Duo. Probably my reply was taken out of context as a defence for user upgradeable machines. I realise that this ship has sailed and have moved on....I've had 5 different Macs since that 2007 MBP, and have never felt the need to upgrade any of them...with one exception. That was a dual-core i5 MacBook Pro 13" which I had for work in 2018 - it was just an anaemic machine that suffered from lack of CPU and RAM (only 8GB) for my work usage.

 

[bobcomer]

Apple will certainly stock the Studio SSD as replacement parts. I do doubt that they will just sell them but will make them available to authorized service programs. Just like every other serviceable party. Not sure why you ‘suspect’ that they would not be.

My guess is just as good as yours at this point. Nothing can be assumed until it happens.

I really wasn't counting third party repair, but thinking that we'll be able to buy them -- that's what I suspect not.

I really haven't seen SSD's fail outside the first year (obvious defect), so I suspect I wont have to replace it anyway.

 

[exoticSpice]

How can you achive 800 GB/s of bandwidth with upgradeable RAM?

Answer: you can't(well you can but you would need a LOT of DIMM slots)

 

[alien3dx]

But is the software RAID good? I don't want to spend a lot of cash on it if its not good when I already have my Synology NAS and I just need to upgrade from gigabit to 10gigabit.

just a little word. prepare your raid carefully. One mistake can share to other disk also .
https://www.prepressure.com/library/technology/raid

My conclusion - RAID is not backup. BACKUP is BACKUP . diff .

 

[InlawBiker]

It’s fair to dislike Apple’s strategies for lock-in, pricing, lack of self-repair… but the M1 is fantastic. They still make a great product and they’re generally worth it.

 

[Arctic Moose]

What are you doing that requires more?

Tetris and e-mail.

My point is simply that compared to drives that don't feel slow (unlike for example a more affordable Samsung 870 QVO in a USB 3 enclosure) the price for Apple's internal storage isn't bad, and for many use cases (except sharing data between multiple computers, segmentation or backup) it is much more practical. (And as a bonus, performance is even better.)

 

[George Dawes]

Macs should have never been able to run Windows in the first place. That was mistake #1. While I saw the benefits of it I am glad to be locked out of that option. Makes the Mac feel like a Mac again. The upgrade thing isn't a Mac specific and is the future like it or not.

Couldn't agree more , I've only used windows once , that was more than enough for me thx

 

[Lyndon92]

14 pages just because i shared my disagree with Apple Policy
I'm an Apple Fanboy, but you guys are above everything 🤣

Can't even disagree with M1 policy without getting injured , terrible community.
Btw i'm very happy with my Mac pro 5.1 patched into Big Sur and won't move to M1 anymore it sucks.

 

[tmoerel]

14 pages just because i shared my disagree with Apple Policy
I'm an Apple Fanboy, but you guys are above everything 🤣

Can't even disagree with M1 policy without getting injured , terrible community.
Btw i'm very happy with my Mac pro 5.1 patched into Big Sur and won't move to M1 anymore it sucks.

Ah well, if you sow opinions be prepared to reap comments!

 

[Arctic Moose]

14 pages just because i shared my disagree with Apple Policy
I'm an Apple Fanboy, but you guys are above everything 🤣

Can't even disagree with M1 policy without getting injured , terrible community.

The problem with your statement is that it has nothing to do with policy and everything to do with limitations imposed by technical design choices and of course also by the laws of physics.

You even stated appreciation for the result of these choices in your initial post:

Of course, M1 chips have really very great performances. I was impressed to see a Mac Mini with such perfs.

It may not be right for your particular use case, but I think the practically universally positive reviews prove that the M1 does in fact not suck.

Btw i'm very happy with my Mac pro 5.1 patched into Big Sur and won't move to M1 anymore it sucks.

You know what's great? There are lots of options, so those wishing to run an old release of an OS hacked to run on ancient hardware that doesn't support it are free to do so. Enjoy!