I am not aware of any change of swap use on Apple Silicon. At least on my 16GB M1 I see very little, if any, use of swap and it matches very well what my Intel machines would use. My 8GB old air uses a lot more swap, while my 24GB with discrete vram never use swap.
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So ... 6 months on are you Happy with your M1 Mac ?
- Thread starter hungryghosty
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I upgraded from a POS Windows box that I built years ago when I had less money. Let's just say that the M1ini is night and day. It's fast, silent, efficient. I also have an i7 NUC that I use for virtualization and I often hears the fans, even when not much is going on. The M1ni, on the other hand, is perfectly silent. Amazing.
I wish there was more USB ports, either A to C. Nothing that couldn't be fixed by a hub, but still.
I wish there was more USB ports, either A to C. Nothing that couldn't be fixed by a hub, but still.
Incredibly satisfied with my MacBook Air. May be the first time I've ever thought "doesn't need to be any faster." Everything happens virtually instantly. UI doesn't drop any frames, even on my big 4K display.
I very much understand it, and the Apple way is not good utilization. When I quit a program I don't immediately reload it again, or even in the near future. It might help the people that reload the same few programs every time. I don't do that, and Apple shouldn't assume that. If OS X was able to launch or load as fast as Windows, then they probably wouldn't even bother with the way they manage it.
I quit programs so I can have resources for something else. But it doesn't give me that. That is wasted time and energy. Just release it correctly in the first place. In fact I would never need swap if it worked correctly.
Why put something in swap if your swap drive is the same as your hard drive? That was a great idea when swap was ssd and your hard drive was mechanical. Things have changed.
I don't need the os to cache something, then put it into swap when I load something else that exceeds the memory. Why put it in swap, if you aren't using it. Loading from swap or the hard drive takes the same amount of time because it's the same drive and interface, all you did was move crap around temporarily for no reason. Caching and swapping takes far more resources and battery drain, then just releasing the memory in the first place, and having it available instantly for use with no calculations to consider.
I use Photoshop and Capture One. I can't run both smoothly on this Mac at the same time. Do they run? Sure, but nowhere close to what can be done on Windows. Why? Because of memory management. Rarely do I see myself hitting 16GB with both programs open on Windows, along with web pages, mail, etc. On Mac, it will fill up just with Photoshop open. I then hit the hard drive and that's 10x slower then memory.
Re swap etc.: I think users just need to stop worrying. Apple is slowly switching to the iOS model in keeping things in RAM and swapping for efficiency. If you are using apps like Mail, Safari, Music, Calendar, do not quit! Let the system handle it. It will be easier on resources and the battery. The disk will last long past when the system will be really outdated.
Upgraded from a 2018 i7 Mac Mini to an M1 Mac Mini (with 512GB + 16GB)
I use it for music production and it's amazing!
Because I prepared my switch to Apple Silicon for months, when I actually got my M1, the transition was painless.
Don't think too easy about making the switch though. Especially if you use a lot of legacy software.
I use it for music production and it's amazing!
Because I prepared my switch to Apple Silicon for months, when I actually got my M1, the transition was painless.
Don't think too easy about making the switch though. Especially if you use a lot of legacy software.
I have both the 1T/16Gb Mini and the 1T/16Gb MBA. Love both of them. Implemented the suggestions for minimizing unnecessary swapping to the SSD on both machines. I could not imagine going back to an Intel machine or recommending one to any of my friends who do not have very specialized needs for Windows software. The M1 is a homerun for Apple.
I have only had my M1 MBA 512/8 2 months now... I love it.... I have had no issues except one time Safari crashed while loading a video off Youtube. That was when it was on 11.2.3. I love this thing. After several years on windows machines, I forgot just how wonderful Apples laptops are.
Just as a laptop, it is terrific. But if I could go back, I wouldn't upgrade from Intel for the 1st gen Apple Silicon
| Pros | Cons |
| Battery. Lasts long | Apps don't launch instantly as claimed by many youtubers |
| Keyboard is a huge upgrade from my previous macbook | Doesn't work well with my 1440p monitor |
| No noise. How did they do it? | Many apps I use (esp Adobe) aren't ready yet |
| Battery. Lasts really long | Having both ports on the left is a hassle |
| Quite fast in certain applications | |
| Screen is great | |
| Gets warm at max, never hot | |
| Battery. Last I charged was four days ago | |
Mine has been great! I'm still amazed at how cool it runs (M1 MBA). I've had mine since late November, and have yet to have any issues with it.
Base M1 Air since end of December
immensely happy, way nicer machine than my quad core i5 2020 Air.
Dealing with BT issues was annoying for a while, but they've been resolved since 11.2, and that was my only ever gripe.
immensely happy, way nicer machine than my quad core i5 2020 Air.
Dealing with BT issues was annoying for a while, but they've been resolved since 11.2, and that was my only ever gripe.
My M1 MBA practically sings, and is making me increasingly dissatisfied with my 5k iMac’s fusion drive. That M1 iMac is looking increasingly sexier by the day…
its a disgrace they made SSD a BTO on iMac for so long and made the stock models Fusion drive. absolute disgrace.
When spec'ing either a 27" retina iMac for a parent over a year or so ago, I insisted they go the SSD config'd refurb route.
This may be a really really stupid question so I apologize if you know this, but are you actually quitting the application or just closing the windows?
I only ask this because when I first used a Mac coming from a windows machine, I assumed closing the app window closed the application like it does on windows, but it doesn’t. Again maybe you know this.
I don’t own an M1, but I don’t have that problem on my Intel macs. Logic, Premiere Pro, photoshop, etc. will use 24-30gb of ram, but once I quit the apps, it shows almost no memory being used.
Lightroom classic and Photoshop run absolutely horrendos on my windows i7 6700k with 32gb of ram. Just slow and awful. I do blame Adobe though, not the machine.
Lightroom on my iPad Pro on the other hand? A very nice experience!
5 months in and still loving my MBA 8 16 512. So many positives about day-to-day performance, eg FCPX, PPT, Excel, Word, Outlook, 30+ Safari tabs, SnagIt, Notion, Monday, Teams, Gimp and more. Works great with LG 27" 4k too.
Started trialling Parallels last week and haven't yet figured out optimum settings. It's certainly not slow, but it's also not quick, and definitely way off the snappiness I experienced with my 16" 32Gb behemoth.
The only thing I've become disappointed with now is the brightness. It's fine 80% of the time but really lacking the other 20%. I knew that would be the case from the start but it didn't seem an issue at the beginning. Maybe it's because we're coming into spring/summer and the extra natural light is where it 'struggles'.
Keen to see what the next gen is like and may consider upgrading.
Started trialling Parallels last week and haven't yet figured out optimum settings. It's certainly not slow, but it's also not quick, and definitely way off the snappiness I experienced with my 16" 32Gb behemoth.
The only thing I've become disappointed with now is the brightness. It's fine 80% of the time but really lacking the other 20%. I knew that would be the case from the start but it didn't seem an issue at the beginning. Maybe it's because we're coming into spring/summer and the extra natural light is where it 'struggles'.
Keen to see what the next gen is like and may consider upgrading.
Because it's not only apps in use that stay in RAM. macOS keeps RAM full of useful stuff for obvious reasons. I don't know the exact recipe, but I'd expect pages with binaries of most used apps, maybe memory mapped pages of most used files, things like that. Unused RAM is literally wasted RAM, and having all kinds of pages cached in RAM doesn't slow anything down, they get evicted as usual when a different process needs that RAM.
Go ask Microsoft, Mail.app launches in a second.
Again, go ask Microsoft -- Pages, Keynote, Numbers all launch in around three seconds from cold.
Chrome is a bloated borderline malware piece of crap, both Safari and Firefox launch in a second. That's also why Spotify takes forever to launch -- because there is an instance of Chromium to start underneath.
The red button doesn't quit a program because its function is not and never has been to quit a program, but to close a window, simple as that. There even used to be a bright line instead of the more subtle dot to indicate very clearly that the app is still running.
Some people dislike the acceleration curve of macOS, some people like it. Most people seem to like it, as they continue using macOS without 3rd party mouse apps.
Some people like macOS' window management and rely heavily on gestures, mission control and running apps in fullscreen. Some people prefer tiling window managers or staying in the CLI all day, and they can achieve that on macOS through 3rd party tools, no problem.
Oh I bet you do. Doesn't have to immediatly just before some other use has claimed the memory. Also it is just the sensible thing to do, since absolut no work needs to be done. Why you want empty memory over memory which can be reclaimed, but might serve a purpose till then.
You are quite focused on launch speed, which is not a thing I have noticed. Maybe you are running rosetta apps 🤷♂️
Also macOS has som online malware and certificate check, which might cause it. Read under Privacy protections:
Safely open apps on your Mac - Apple Support
macOS includes a technology called Gatekeeper, that's designed to ensure that only trusted software runs on your Mac.
Sure it does
Apple has some documentation about virtual memory. It has some priorities, but I am pretty sure swap is low on that list.
I don't use those app's but make sure you are running a arm version if possible. Capture one doesn't yet have a native arm version, but is comming:
https://support.captureone.com/hc/e...pture-One-run-on-my-ARM-based-Apple-computer-
According to adobe, the marts version of Photoshop is available as native arm. You can check in activity monitor by enabling the kind column under cpu (right click headers to enable it).
Again look at the memory pressure, not free memory. As long as memory pressure is green, you don't have an actual problem.
Check if your Mac needs more RAM in Activity Monitor
Use Activity Monitor on your Mac to see if memory is being used efficiently and if you need more memory (RAM).
support.apple.com
Not gonna lie, that with 24GB in my iMac, I would have prefered 32GB if an option, but I don't have an actual problem and just as you, I should stop worrying unless it becomes a problem.
What's the issue with connecting a display to your M1 Mac as I also have a 1440p monitor (34" ultrawide 3440x1440) I'd need to use with mine via displayport or HDMI?
Just as an aside, the MacBook that the M1 replaced also has its ports just on the left, so this isn’t necessarily a comparable issue. I agree, as someone who came from a higher spec intel one, the ports being on the left is a bit of a pain, especially as the power point is to the right of where I often sit.
If I do upgrade to a newer model then this would be one of the attractions (although it would potentially be a lot to spend for that).
If I didn’t bork my 2013 iMac, I would not have bothered. The Airs had issues with memory pressure and swaps and the Pro isn’t so great with that either.
One of USB-C/Thunderbolt ports went out, but I got the I/O board replaced under warranty. Other than that I'm happy with my MacBook Air M1.