It's crazy how good these machines are now. Run circles around pretty much anything like it.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MacBook Air M1 base, Im not impressed.
- Thread starter Sledneck52
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Why are people defending this chip? who cares.. LOL
Man.. The stats on CPU progression..
All "I" was saying is, I'm not impressed and if anyone else felt the same.. A few do.. Most don't..
Im with the minority.. ?
I'm not here to debate the topic. My impression.. its a no go.. End of story..
Are opinions allowed here?
Man.. The stats on CPU progression..
All "I" was saying is, I'm not impressed and if anyone else felt the same.. A few do.. Most don't..
Im with the minority.. ?
I'm not here to debate the topic. My impression.. its a no go.. End of story..
Are opinions allowed here?
You’re comparing a 15w chip to a 105w chip, and top of its class at that, which it’s happily outperforming while consuming a fraction of the power, and that’s not impressive?
The M1 is an ultrabook class chip, it never claimed or aspired to be anything else. It just happens to be a very good one.
It's... it's a forum. Debating is what it's for.
Indeed, the same as someone who is very pleased with Apple Silicon.Why are people defending this chip? who cares.. LOL
Are opinions allowed here?
Others can correct me but from what I read some of us were/are trying to provide information for why you may want to re-evaluate your expectations. Not that you need to more so there are reasons why you may be constantly disappointed with computer upgrades.
While all true, as long as Apple continues the current path they are on with the year-to-year increase with the A-chips (and hopefully M-chips), maybe we will see similar performance gains that we used to see 20 year ago.
This was already addressed in the thread.
The performance per watt used is impressive, but not always what one is looking for, especially in something that is not running on a battery.
The lack of performance gains in general is what is disappointing for me, not necessarily just the M1, but with the whole industry.
Just compare a higher end BTO G3 or G4 iMac to the first Intel Core Macs, and it is truly a night and day difference in performance and power consumption.
Sure it is, but power consumption is not the only factor I personally care about.
The M1 is in just as many desktop Macs as mobile Macs, so your above statement is not accurate.
Actually Apple says that M1 was designed for "low-powered systems" and its also used in an iPad Pro.
I suspect the higher end Mac chips will be a lot different to M1.
I am laughing at you comparing a very lightweight laptop to a desktop machine and saying it's only 'marginally faster'? Nothing about the lack of noise? And that iMac is super portable.
I think I smell a troll
I think I smell a troll
Can you play GTA 3, Vice City, San Andreas, Civilizations 4, etc. at 1080p resolution?
I’d like to play GTA 5, but I know you probably can’t do that.
GTA 5 runs under virtualization, but performance is limited by Windows on ARM (there is micro-stuttering that's clearly not related to the GPU performance). Mac ports of games run very well most of the time.
And how much progress has happened in that time? Here is the top of the line Intel CPU of the 2012 iMac:
https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/search?utf8=✓&q=iMac+i7-3770
And the top of the line Intel CPU in the 2019 iMac:
https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/search?q=iMac+9600K+
Seven years of progress, 30% increase in single-threaded performance, 80% increase in multi-core performance (which is really sad considering the fact the the core count has doubled), 20% increase (!!) in power usage.
You're comparing a fanless baseline laptop into a high-specced desktop, and you're not impressed that the fanless baseline laptop can perform as well.
How much did you spend for the iMac? Was it $999?
Troll?? ?
That’s funny.. Maybe even Russian collusion..
I feel like this is a political debate… If I’m not on the side of the majority I will be canceled ?????????
This has been quite comical. Please.. continue…. ?
I wonder if Hunter Biden’s laptop is faster then the new M1.. He got mad and spilled his drink on it because of all that fan noise..
Last edited:
There’s a simple generic answer to all I’m-not-impressed posts.
If you find your new iPhone/iPad/iMac to be not significantly better than your old one, it’s because you’re buying new computers way too often!
If you find your new iPhone/iPad/iMac to be not significantly better than your old one, it’s because you’re buying new computers way too often!
Why don't you wait for a Apple Sillicon SoC that's designed to be more powerful and if the current M1 is not up to standards then return it.
Like like I said above Apple designed the M1 to used in "low-powered" systems where low power consumption is important like the M1 MBA and M1 24" and iPad Pro.
Actually I use an XS Max.. Last generation of the 3D Touch that Apple did away with. I had the 11 pro but hated the Haptic Touch.
Gave it to my wife and bought this. I also needed dual sim. That’s the only reason I got rid of my X.
Android isn’t an option for me. I hate that OS. If your questioning my loyalty to Apple, I waited in line on launch day in 2007 for my first iPhone. Was the now rare 2g 4GB.
Been using Apple products since 2005.
I think we probably ought to all get away from this thread as fast as possible.
We obviously all care.Why are people defending this chip? who cares.. LOL
Man.. The stats on CPU progression..
All "I" was saying is, I'm not impressed and if anyone else felt the same.. A few do.. Most don't..
Im with the minority.. 👍
I'm not here to debate the topic. My impression.. its a no go.. End of story..
Are opinions allowed here?
It isn't a political debate and no one has canceled you (btw - canceling isn't actually a thing, it's just used for manufactured outrage), nor has anyone mentioned Russia, except you.
You are comparing a desktop and a lightweight laptop. People that do that are trolls looking for attention. Your reply makes that even more obvious.
If you want to compare a new iMac with your old iMac, go for it. That would at least be a valid comparison. Otherwise you are comparing apples and oranges.
I really don't get comments like this.
There is absolutely nothing wrong comparing a desktop to a laptop, or and Mac to Mac, or Mac to PC, as long as there is context given to the comparison.
I have been seeing this argument a lot lately, ever since the M1, and it is just silly.
We have been comparing different classes of Macs forever, but with the M1, people on MR suddenly get defensive about it.
How many times have we seen the M1's Geekbench single-core score to other Macs including the 2019 Mac Pro. The M1 Mac Mini has the fastest single-core score of any Mac ever, but somehow that comparison is okay while others are not.
I can't speak for the OP, but I am not a troll. I am a long time Mac user. I am a fan of the M1 Mac Mini, as I have mentioned on this thread and many other threads. I just don't understand this recent auto-defense of anything that could possibly be considered negative of the M1, when the M1 can stand on its own if people let it.
There is nothing wrong with comparing the M1 Macs to older Macs of all classes. Laptops, desktops, pro workstations, PPC, Intels, and even PCs are all fair game when doing a comparison, as long as there is context given for the comparison.
Making the comparison isn't the issue. I have no issue with people making the comparison at all.
With that said, complaining that your heat constrained laptop doesn't match up compared to your iMac with it's cooling ability is a bit silly.
It all depends on context and expectations.
I am in a similar boat as the OP, I expected a little more of a modern Mac when compared to my 9 year old iMac, although I have a Mac Mini, not MBA.
My disappointment is more aim towards the industry in general and not Apple nor the M1 chip, but still, I don't think there is anything wrong with that.
Suddenly with the M1, any comparison that could be considered negative in anyway toward Apple's new chip automatically gets dismissed, and that is what is stilly.
Think of it this way, take the Late 2012 Mac Mini, and look at the performance difference between that and the best iMac from 9 years prior, the iMac G4 (my favorite Apple design, btw). The cheapest Late 2012 Mac Mini would smoke the iMac G4 across the board, let alone an i7 one. It would also smoke the first Intel iMacs as well. I wasn't necessarily expecting that level of performance difference coming from a Late 2012 iMac, but I did expect a more dramatic difference than what I got.
So, again, it is about context and expectations.
It doesn't mean I hate Apple, or hate the M1 Macs, or think they are garbage, etc. I am just disappointed at the lack of progress in the past 9 years.
As for the OP, some of the posts seem a little nutty, so I am not sure if it is a trolling situation, but for me and my complaint with a similar comparison, I am not trolling, and I think it is a perfectly acceptable comparison given the context of the situation and my expectations.
For me at least I think the M1 was meant for the MBA and iPad Pro. They just put in the iMac 24" cause Apple wanted to make a really thin computer.
As for the Mac mini, its a cheap entry to the Mac line up.
I really do think when compared to the 2020 Intel MBA vs 2020 M1 MBA or 2020 Intel MBP vs 2020 M1 MBP there are major improvements.
The battery life improved SO much and so did the performance on the Mac laptops.
On the desktop Macs so far its not that impressive because the M1 was initially made for laptops.
I feel the major improvements you are talking about will come to the M1X Macs.
Also since you tried the M1 mini, battery life was not important as its a desktop. But the M1 does make battery life much better thats something you would notice. The MBP M1 has amazing battery compared to the model it replaced.
Performance per watt is king in Apple Silicon, you will see why Apple talks about that a lot when M1X comes out
I also have a Mid 2012 MBA that my wife uses for her business.
She has been perfectly happy with it, so no need to move on quite yet. I was thinking of getting her the M1 MBA when they popped up on Apple Refurbished Store, but the lack of MagSafe has prevented me so far.
If the next MBA has MagSafe like the rumors say, I am definitely getting it for her. I would just get the cheapest model with MagSafe, as she is still making do with only 64GB of storage on her Mid 2012 MBA, and still has plenty left.
About comparing different classes of devices, she was working two jobs, her business and another job that required her to use their supplied laptop. It was a HP, and much newer than her old Mid 2012 MBA, but she hated it. The battery life was horrible, it always ran slow and locked up, noisy fan, constant updates that would interrupt her work, and she couldn't ever go anywhere without her charging cable.
She loved using her older MBA and would constantly praise the battery life of it.
I think she may have left that second job mostly because she hated the HP laptop.