Ok. I fully punted and am returning the M1 MBA and M1 Mini I have been trialing.
I’m having too much Bluetooth weirdness, as others have reported here and there, and a bunch of “not waking my monitor from sleep” that is annoying as hell.
No other Mac, Hack or PC I have has ever had issues with this (the monitor been around here for a decade).
I love the performance and the roadmap of where these Apple will go, but I’m not ready to have issues like these. Way too annoying and constant.
The MBA is great in its own, but I need to dock it all the time and thus these issues are showstoppers.
So close. Just not yet ready for prime time, for me anyhow.
I mean, anyone buying an Apple Silicon Mac at this particular point in the transition is doing so before they're ready for prime time. Like, I won't say that it's a public beta test as I'm pretty sure that the hardware is stable enough (especially considering that it's similar enough to each M1 Mac's respective direct Intel predecessor to not entail any differences in components that aren't related to the SoC itself). But as far as there being rough edges with regards to the OS, apps, and firmware, I'd say we're definitely in early territory. I don't say that with the goal of making you feel stupid. More to say that there's no harm in coming to the conclusion that you've come to.
That said, I might stick it out a little longer. The hardware is probably fine. All that means is that software and/or firmware will eventually improve things.
My one beef with the Mac platform is that the quality control for the operating system has gone way downhill in the past decade compared to what it was in the one that preceded it. I don't know that Apple Silicon will improve upon this over Intel (my guess is that it really won't). But certainly, from the standpoint of this being a big processor architecture transition (and then some!), things will eventually get smoother.
Perhaps time to upgrade? Sometimes retro hardware doesn't play well with modern computers.
10 years isn't SO old for a monitor that it won't play with current hardware. Worst case scenario, the OP is rocking a monitor with VGA (which is still included on the vast majority of consumer monitors for some reason) and DVI. DVI may not be as common today, but it's the video component of HDMI and HDMI is a contender for the poster child of the word "ubiquity". All that to say, it's still a heavily used video output standard even if it's an uncommon port. A far cry from "retro".
That's all modern hardware. I think the OP might be having trouble with some older stuff. From personal experience I know it can be a PITA. I try to match up my older stuff with other older stuff to avoid some issues like this.
Again, a ten year old monitor isn't THAT different from a current monitor. Monitors don't evolve as drastically as the computers they typically attach to.
great to hear!
Wish I’d been so lucky.
I really really really was into these in terms of performance but I can’t have niggling issues
Do you have a magic trackpad?
That was where most of my Bluetooth issues were - very odd.
I thought maybe it was Big Sur but now I’m not so sure because my hackintosh on Big Sur with the same magic trackpad has no issues at all
The first generation Magic Trackpads (and Magic Mice and the first couple generations of battery-replacable Bluetooth keyboards for that matter) are notoriously annoying when it comes to dropping connection and requiring re-pairing. My first ever IT gig entailed tickets where I'd have to go upstairs to the design department to basically re-pair all the Apple wireless devices. It was a pain, but decent exercise.
This is still a really nice Dell monitor that has no issues with anything else I’ve ever plugged into it.
That said, I would consider upgrading if Apple would make a nice first party display below the XDR. I really want that 5k panel on its own.
You shouldn't have to upgrade your monitor. Again, unless we're talking about an old square VGA-only monitor, there shouldn't be any reason why it's causing you issues unless it is dying on its own.
As for first-party displays that are below the price realm of the Pro XDR, the LG Ultrafine displays are effectively the same resolutions as both sizes of current Retina iMac. They may not be first-party outright, but Apple was using them in their stores to attach to display model Mac minis and 2013 Mac Pros for a good while. It was their official recommended third party monitor during the weird period of time where they weren't producing their own monitor (but still had Thunderbolt 3 Macs that could drive it). Plus, they have built-in webcams and USB-C ports for expansion!
Come. On.
I like Apple as much as the next, but let's not pretend like that webcam is great for 2020
I'm not going to pretend that webcam is awesome for 2020. However, I will say that there aren't many (if any) 13" laptops in that price category with cams that beat 720p. If anything, the M1's image post-processing DOES help. But due to how thin the displays are (especially compared to that of the iPhone or iPad where there's usually more thickness to allow for a nicer camera), it's probably the best we're going to get on a notebook for a while. The 27" iMac and the iMac Pro both got beefier cameras because the thickness allows for it. Why the 21.5" iMac is still 720p is beyond me. But that machine is so clearly getting an imminent upgrade to Apple Silicon, it's not even funny.
