Macbook Pro M1 disappointment.. Is it really fast ?!?

[mi7chy]

i have issue with some of the app launch time from app store on my intel...there is rumour, that the delay is caused with apple validating if the app is genuine...

If apps are properly signed then they don't need to be checked. Even if they're checked, it would make more sense to compute the hash once, phone home to Apple to check then whitelist locally so it doesn't explain why it's slow after a boot/reboot. Windows 10 does app signing and SmartScreen hash check but apps launch fast.

The constant app spying is suspect.

https://sneak.berlin/20201112/your-computer-isnt-yours/

 

[leman]

I kind of agree but this is also sort of a "holding it wrong" argument. Fast launches delight users, even if they're not something that happens regularly.

In terms of priorities, I do sympathize with engineers choosing to optimize runtime performance first, launch performance later.

Well, they have optimized resume from sleep (it's practically instantaneous with M1 machines) — surely that is more useful than fast cold boot to the majority of users? In the end, it is up to every user to decide whether they turn their machines on or put them to sleep — but one also has to understand that each choice entails practical consequence. So in this specific case "you are holding it wrong" is actually not completely arbitrary — usage habits come with objective advantages and disadvantages. And as we have been discussing, there is very little advantage to turning off your Mac computer (unless you do not plan to use it for a prolonged period of time, or it has to go into storage).

 

[bobcomer]

surely that is more useful than fast cold boot to the majority of users?

Only if they allow sleep to begin with. Sometimes I might be running something that needs to stay running, so I disable sleep. I also never sleep my desktop machines... (they have server type tasks that would be pretty useless otherwise) So yeah, optimizing cold start would be much better for that type of machine...

 

[profcutter]

Turning off a modern Mac every day is like putting a car in cold storage every night. I mean, I remember my father disconnecting the battery and oiling the parts every evening on our old Soviet ZAZ Zaporozhets (if you didn’t, that heap of junk would be dead in the morning), but that is thankfully not nessedsry with modern technology.

Whoa, any pics of the Zaprozhets? What did you have to oil to get it started? Many of us car people in the US are fascinated by cobbled-together ZAZ, VAZ, Tatra, Lada, etc.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I just want to echo the Original Poster.

We have an M1 MBA and I've run through and returned several M1 Mini's (all with BT issues) and I found it can be a bit hit or miss on performance, almost in a way that "the rules have changed" about what/why causes some slowdowns at times.

 

[Taco1933]

Seems pretty quick to me but I'm not a power user nor am I using a stopwatch. Most of my apps open on one bounce (though most of them are apple apps). Office takes maybe 4 the first time. 1 after. It's not a fair fight, but it sure does smoke my 3 year old work laptop (Dell, Windows 10)

Reboot probably takes a bit longer than I expected. But it's also something I only do when I have to. My work laptop I shut down every time I'm on the go because A. it gets hot and B. once the VPN is severed, everything basically errors out anyway. If I don't restart that one once a day, I start to get app crashes anyway. With my Mac, I basically treat it like an iPad. It's always on. So for practical purposes, everything always is instant.

 

[Jorbanead]

Apps that run through Rosetta will take longer to startup. That’s why many of your apps bounce several more times than usual. This will al get fixed as more and more apps get native support.

 

[jerryk]

This may be correct, but:
1. I have a late 2009 iMac (not exactly "modern") and...
2. I have one of those power strips, where you can switch on/off the power. So my Mac is (or should be) really off.

Doesn't an iMac hibernate? I don't power off my desktop systems (Windows, Linux, or Macs) unless I need to do maintenance. According to a kill-a-watt meter they draw very little power when sleeping. I don't remember the exact number but sure it was under 4 watts/hour.

 

[mi7chy]

Apps that run through Rosetta will take longer to startup. That’s why many of your apps bounce several more times than usual. This will al get fixed as more and more apps get native support.

Chrome, for example, is a native app but takes a long time to launch if not cached in memory. Suspect it's a hardware limitation since ARM SoCs usually have limited PCIe channels if any. If it was MacOS issue it would've been fixed by now since it's been slow since 11.0.1 and still slow with 11.2.3 five updates later.

 

[leman]

Whoa, any pics of the Zaprozhets? What did you have to oil to get it started? Many of us car people in the US are fascinated by cobbled-together ZAZ, VAZ, Tatra, Lada, etc.

That was over 30 years ago and I was just a little kid... don't think that any pictures from those times have survived unfortunately (the 90-ties were turbulent times for my family and a lot of things were lost). All I remember is that he was messing with the engine a lot and in particular the carburetor was very picky, especially in cold weather.

 

[leman]

Chrome, for example, is a native app but takes a long time to launch if not cached in memory. Suspect it's a hardware limitation since ARM SoCs usually have limited PCIe channels if any. If it was MacOS issue it would've been fixed by now since it's been slow since 11.0.1 and still slow with 11.2.3 five updates later.

What are you even talking about. What does it have to do with PCIe channels? If Chrome takes a long time to launch it's because of Chrome, and nothing else. Complain to google and have them fix their software.

 

[Jorbanead]

Chrome, for example, is a native app but takes a long time to launch if not cached in memory. Suspect it's a hardware limitation since ARM SoCs usually have limited PCIe channels if any. If it was MacOS issue it would've been fixed by now since it's been slow since 11.0.1 and still slow with 11.2.3 five updates later.

This is either a limitation on Google’s implementation on arm, or it’s an issue connecting with Apple’s OCSP service which is used for validation of digital certificates for third-party software on the Mac. Not sure how that has anything to do with PCIe slots though?

 

[Qorne]

I use my MBP M1 with 16bg very heavily. I have over 40 chrome tabs open, I run FileMaker ( not universal) , safari , Apple mail, calendar, notes, photoshop all at the same time. I use a 5K LG external screen and I have never a performance drop.

I also have a MBP 16” full options and when the fans spin the performance will drop. Last summer my MBP 16” got extremely slow due heating problems. I think the MBP M1 wil have overall beter performance because there is not heating and throttle issue.

 

[Matrix1776]

I’m an i9 PC, 3090 GTX user and M1 13” owner. I have no complaints moving from my $8K workstation to my $1K MBP after work.

First, why are you shutting down?! Since Win10 I don’t think I’ve ever shut down for OS reasons, only restarted for OS updates. Plus the natural hardware upgrade. It can run 24:7 perfectly. Not once have I got a BSOD on Win10. The same goes for MacOS, why shut down?

Second, it’s their very first, M1 model. Not everything is optimized perfectly. Give it some time, it will only get better. I think it’s performance with the price and 20 hour battery (ideal) is a game changer.

 

[Octopuss]

I have MBP Pro M1 8G, 512

Is that machine (M1) really that fast ? Instantly, blazing fast, incredible speed ?!? Definitely NO !!!

Major apps not start until at least 5-6 bouncing. Sometimes,even bouncing not start instantly.

I pretty sure that limited RAM is actual bottleneck.
RAM is relatively cheap (less in case of Apple but still), and taking in account next to 0 optimization in modern software - 32GB is minimum comfortable size for professionals, 64GB gives a little bit of future proofing, 16GB is absolute minimum for everyday tasks - thanks to hungry web pages bloated with garbage.

In my "old" MBP 2015 16GB it usually takes 0-3 bounces for most apps. GIMP is worst (~20+ bounces), just because its loading routine is crap itself.

 

[Kung gu]

@mi7chy and @turbineseaplane, take a look at this

The M1 starts photoshop (M1 native) faster than a Ryzen 9 5900HX. Just look at speed.
oh and as for Chrome not opening thats definitely google's fault as Firefox opens quicker than Chrome.

Google needs to optimise their M1 Chrome better.

@mi7chy u seem to complain a lot but would you look that M1 beating an AMD's BEST laptop processor at opening photoshop.

At the end Adobe has really optimised Photoshop for the M1, where as Google has not for M1 as seen in Chrome for Mac M1.

 

[turbineseaplane]

@Kung gu

Not sure why you're mentioning me specifically.

I don't need videos -- I have ample in-hand experience with multiple M1's and that is the source of my impressions.

 

[Kung gu]

@Kung gu

Not sure why you're mentioning me specifically.

I don't need videos -- I have ample in-hand experience with multiple M1's and that is the source of my impressions.

well your experience shows that its not everyone's case regarding M1's usage. It also depends on the applications running. The M1 is basically beta product.

 

[turbineseaplane]

well your experience shows that its not everyone's case regarding M1's usage. It also depends on the applications running.

Yes - that's true of essentially everything in this space...
Very subjective and case specific

 

[mi7chy]

@Kung gu Reading comprehension is key. Whole thread is about storage I/O.

 

[Kung gu]

Amount of BS is over the top.

It takes 12 seconds on a $500 Lenovo Yoga 6 to boot up and log into Windows 10 with fingerprint and two seconds to launch Chrome.

Compared to 26 seconds for MBA M1 (20 seconds to be able to input password plus about 6 seconds to type in password) since not all the services are running at login such as no fingerprint authentication, no touch to click or double-touch to hold drag, etc. and 9 seconds to launch Chrome the first time but does launch faster after it's cached in memory (yet another reason to get 16GB vs 8GB).

M1 storage is even slower than cheap $80 Android tablet with eMMC that takes 3 seconds to launch Chrome.

Its clear that Apple did not optimise to boot faster from cold boot but to Wake up from Sleep faster.

I have used countless Windows laptops but none of them Wake up from Sleep as fast as the M1.

MS optimised Windows 10 to boot up quick. Apple optimised macOS mainly M1 to wake up from Sleep quicker
than all Windows laptops.

 

[Kung gu]

@Kung gu Reading comprehension is key. Whole thread is about storage I/O.

No its not its about app launching and how fast it takes to launch an App.

 

[Kung gu]

Is that machine (M1) really that fast ? Instantly, blazing fast, incredible speed ?!? Definitely NO !!!

OPs own words and I have shown him proof that yes the M1 is quick that compared to other laptops where single thread pref is king to determine how snappy the OS is and how quickly the apps open.

 

[iLog.Genius]

I thought when initial customer got their hands on the M1 Macs, it was already stated that if you're using it for basic tasks, like office, internet browsing, etc., you may notice a slight speed increase in I/O but you only really take advantage of it if you're doing more taxing tasks like gaming or rendering?

 

[eltoslightfoot]

I’m an i9 PC, 3090 GTX user and M1 13” owner. I have no complaints moving from my $8K workstation to my $1K MBP after work.

First, why are you shutting down?! Since Win10 I don’t think I’ve ever shut down for OS reasons, only restarted for OS updates. Plus the natural hardware upgrade. It can run 24:7 perfectly. Not once have I got a BSOD on Win10. The same goes for MacOS, why shut down?

Second, it’s their very first, M1 model. Not everything is optimized perfectly. Give it some time, it will only get better. I think it’s performance with the price and 20 hour battery (ideal) is a game changer.

This is a good point. I rarely restart my windows machines either. Practically never on my macs.