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baummer

macrumors 65816
Jan 18, 2005
1,296
396
Southern California
I thought I'd take a minute to do a breakdown of the "make or break" features for the the M1X MBP for me.

FeatureWill I still buy on day 1 without it?
120Hz Displayyes
SD Card slotyes
HDMI portyes
MagSafe chargeryes
2x Retina screenyes
1080p webcamyes
Physical function keysyes
Matte black coloryes
Sierra blue coloryes but 😢

Tough choice!
I really don’t think they’ll reuse the Sierra Blue on these. 🤷‍♂️
 
I thought I'd take a minute to do a breakdown of the "make or break" features for the the M1X MBP for me.

FeatureWill I still buy on day 1 without it?
120Hz Displayyes
SD Card slotyes
HDMI portyes
MagSafe chargeryes
2x Retina screenyes
1080p webcamyes
Physical function keysyes
Matte black coloryes
Sierra blue coloryes but 😢

Tough choice!
What about the pre-ordering time/date?
 
Looking at the current shipping status it seems like the 16” will definitely be available for preorder immediately after the announcement. I just hope the 14” won’t be pushed to a later date to prioritize 16”.
Apple had plenty of time to catch up though. They were suppose to be release in the summer but they had 2-3 more months to catch up.
 

baummer

macrumors 65816
Jan 18, 2005
1,296
396
Southern California
Looking at the current shipping status it seems like the 16” will definitely be available for preorder immediately after the announcement. I just hope the 14” won’t be pushed to a later date to prioritize 16”.
I don't think the 14" will be pushed later. If anything, I'd argue the 16" would be impacted due to the screen size and supply constraints for larger panels. But, we don't really know anything, and won't until the announcement Monday.
 

TimothyJohn

macrumors regular
Mar 30, 2013
179
108
Md.
I made up my mind a year ago that whenever the redesigned MBP would be released I'd BTO a 32GB RAM and 1TB 16" M1X for music production. But reading your post made me think of how nice it would be to actually have a 2TB SSD internally. Not having to worry about having a fast enough external ssd to carry my sample libraries and not having it plugged in at all times would be insane. I'd only have to carry a normal HDD for backing up stuff. It's an expensive upgrade to an already expensive laptop but I'd probably end up spending the same amount on LaCies as you mentioned.

So many decisions before Monday holy **** haha... ?
I also do quite a bit of music. I used an M1 air til school started when my daughter took possession of it. I was really disappointed in June when they quashed the release. I'm borrowing my wife's now. The speed of the internal drive is insane! I agree. Why spent $400 for the Lacie, which is the only one that doesn't seem to heat up under stress? I spent quite a bit of time on the air. Very familiar. I use Pro Tools, UA Apollo, and generally record and import audio files. However, with this setup being noiseless? Everything changes!!

Now that I've convinced myself on the 2rb SSD, convince me on the 32gb ram.

Can't wait!! Incredible times ahead!!
 
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Jdhommert

macrumors regular
Sep 8, 2016
179
165
What kind of workflow would one need to justify 32GB of ram? I'm just starting out my career in marketing and design and sometimes i notice some laggy behavior when working in photoshop and After Effects on my M1 Air (8gb). Would 16GB cover me or should I go to 32GB?
A stupid amount of browser tabs.
 
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Arctic Moose

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2017
1,599
2,133
Gothenburg, Sweden
I thought I'd take a minute to do a breakdown of the "make or break" features for the the M1X MBP for me.

I'll add to that.

FeatureWill I still buy on day 1 without it?
More than one external displaysYes, I guess ?
More than two Thunderbolt portsYes
Decent keyboardYes
Decent speakersYes
FaceIDYes
Semi-reasonable priceYes
Sierra blue colorYes but ???❤️‍?
 
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businessnumbersmoneypeopl

macrumors regular
Nov 24, 2020
144
297
Any informed opinions here about which memory size to choose if I want to future-proof the machine? Given that it looks like Apple is finally getting its act together with MBPs after a long while, I would like to use the new computer as long as possible. I don't do video editing or other heavy stuff. Mostly I "need" to have dozens of browser tabs, pdfs and word files simultaneously open. 8gb is clearly too little for this, as I've noted with my current machine, and the new MBPs seem to come with 16gb as default. However, I'm wondering if even that will be too little after 5-7 years of technical development. Should I go with 32gb even if it's ridiculously expensive (and I'm hardly a millionaire, but could afford it if I really want to).
 
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PeterJP

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2012
1,136
896
Leuven, Belgium
Any informed opinions here about which memory size to choose if I want to future-proof the machine?
I bought my late 2013 with 8gb of RAM and it lasted me for 6 years. I actually did VMs on it (4gb for Windows!) and development. 16gb should go a long way except if you're seeing huge datasets or heavy video editing in your future.
 

stuffx

macrumors member
Feb 3, 2020
57
38
Any informed opinions here about which memory size to choose if I want to future-proof the machine? Given that it looks like Apple is finally getting its act together with MBPs after a long while, I would like to use the new computer as long as possible. I don't do video editing or other heavy stuff. Mostly I "need" to have dozens of browser tabs, pdfs and word files simultaneously open. 8gb is clearly too little for this, as I've noted with my current machine, and the new MBPs seem to come with 16gb as default. However, I'm wondering if even that will be too little after 5-7 years of technical development. Should I go with 32gb even if it's ridiculously expensive (and I'm hardly a millionaire, but could afford it if I really want to).
If you’re planning to use it for more than 5 years then maxing out the RAM is the first thing that you should consider. I’ll say go for 32GB.
 

Arctic Moose

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2017
1,599
2,133
Gothenburg, Sweden
Any informed opinions here about which memory size to choose if I want to future-proof the machine?

This MacBook will become my primary computing device, replacing my 2017 5K iMac. I bought the largest SSD I could, which was 2 TB at the time, so if it is not insanely expensive (i.e. significantly more than the $1000 it costs to upgrade the Intel equivalent now) I will choose 4 TB this time, or possibly even 8 TB if it is offered on the 14".

My iMac has 64 GB of RAM, but of course I didn't pay Apple tax on it, I bought it separately and sold the 8 GB that was in it. Do I need this much? No, I do not, although I do run a VM or two from time to time. It is just really nice to never ever have to think about RAM. That is why I'll probably go for 32 GB if it is "only" $400. I don't want to have to replace a computer I have spent a lot on to get the SSD space I need because I bump into a RAM limit sometime down the road.

However, were I only getting the base storage, or a small upgrade, I would probably start with 16 GB since this machine would be easier to sell without much of a sting.
 

elephantstone

macrumors member
Oct 28, 2016
83
48
Any informed opinions here about which memory size to choose if I want to future-proof the machine? Given that it looks like Apple is finally getting its act together with MBPs after a long while, I would like to use the new computer as long as possible. I don't do video editing or other heavy stuff. Mostly I "need" to have dozens of browser tabs, pdfs and word files simultaneously open. 8gb is clearly too little for this, as I've noted with my current machine, and the new MBPs seem to come with 16gb as default. However, I'm wondering if even that will be too little after 5-7 years of technical development. Should I go with 32gb even if it's ridiculously expensive (and I'm hardly a millionaire, but could afford it if I really want to).
To be honest I said this when the last MBP’s came out with the Touch Bar and got criticised a bit, but I think people on here overestimate how much RAM you need on these machines. Obviously if you’re video editing and the like it’s different, but for your work I’d argue that 32gb RAM is not just too much, it’s complete overkill. I’ll be sticking with 16. Tbh even 8gb would probably do you fine for that.

The only thing tempting me above 16 is the fact that these machines might well play some Windows games quite well, so it might be handy to have plenty of RAM for a VM. But if the likes of GTA IV and V run acceptably on an M1 Air then logic dictates it should run very smoothly on even a base M1X machine.
 

businessnumbersmoneypeopl

macrumors regular
Nov 24, 2020
144
297
To be honest I said this when the last MBP’s came out with the Touch Bar and got criticised a bit, but I think people on here overestimate how much RAM you need on these machines. Obviously if you’re video editing and the like it’s different, but for your work I’d argue that 32gb RAM is not just too much, it’s complete overkill. I’ll be sticking with 16. Tbh even 8gb would probably do you fine for that.

The only thing tempting me above 16 is the fact that these machines might well play some Windows games quite well, so it might be handy to have plenty of RAM for a VM. But if the likes of GTA IV and V run acceptably on an M1 Air then logic dictates it should run very smoothly on even a base M1X machine.
It's surprising how much memory pdfs and Safari tabs take. It's normal for me to have, say, 20-30 pdfs and about the same number of tabs open for one project, in addition to maybe a couple of Word docs, one Powerpoint and one Excel file. That alone easily fills up 8gb and drags down the 2020 MBP, in addition to starting the fans. Earlier at work I had an older Air with 16gb and had no issues whatsoever.
 

elephantstone

macrumors member
Oct 28, 2016
83
48
It's surprising how much memory pdfs and Safari tabs take. It's normal for me to have, say, 20-30 pdfs and about the same number of tabs open for one project, in addition to maybe a couple of Word docs, one Powerpoint and one Excel file. That alone easily fills up 8gb and drags down the 2020 MBP, in addition to starting the fans. Earlier at work I had an older Air with 16gb and had no issues whatsoever.
Fair enough that’s what people said last time too, I can’t honestly say I’ve ever had slow down in my life purely from t as and PDFs and the like, not even too many programs, just heavy ones. But maybe it’s just our own styles of usage I guess.
 

PeterJP

macrumors 65816
Feb 2, 2012
1,136
896
Leuven, Belgium
I think people on here overestimate how much RAM you need on these machines
Exactly. When I worked as a consultant, I arrived with my 8GB MBP in a software development company that had all 16GB Linux desktops. They gave me a VM to do the compilations. I ran it with 4GB RAM allocated and it beat the pants out of their machines. Their idea was that they needed lots of RAM, but they used spinning disks whereas my tiny laptop had a decent SSD for the time.

It's surprising how much memory pdfs and Safari tabs take.
PDFs - not so much, really. Safari - it's Chrome based. Use Firefox, it uses 1/4th the memory.
 
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_alxmac

macrumors newbie
Sep 24, 2021
15
12
I also do quite a bit of music. I used an M1 air til school started when my daughter took possession of it. I was really disappointed in June when they quashed the release. I'm borrowing my wife's now. The speed of the internal drive is insane! I agree. Why spent $400 for the Lacie, which is the only one that doesn't seem to heat up under stress? I spent quite a bit of time on the air. Very familiar. I use Pro Tools, UA Apollo, and generally record and import audio files. However, with this setup being noiseless? Everything changes!!

Now that I've convinced myself on the 2rb SSD, convince me on the 32gb ram.

Can't wait!! Incredible times ahead!!
If you're mostly recording instruments and using audio files I suppose you could make do with 16gb of ram. Also the UA Apollo means you're probably well into the UAD ecosystem so the majority of your plugins are probably taken care of by the apollo? The reason I need 32gb of ram is because I mostly use heavy duty VST-plugins like Omnisphere and a ton of plugins and tracks in a single project. Not having to freeze tracks when you're doing music for film is is an absolute necessity and having 32gb of ram pushes the phobia of having to freeze tracks further away!
 

businessnumbersmoneypeopl

macrumors regular
Nov 24, 2020
144
297
Exactly. When I worked as a consultant, I arrived with my 8GB MBP in a software development company that had all 16GB Linux desktops. They gave me a VM to do the compilations. I ran it with 4GB RAM allocated and it beat the pants out of their machines. Their idea was that they needed lots of RAM, but they used spinning disks whereas my tiny laptop had a decent SSD for the time.


PDFs - not so much, really. Safari - it's Chrome based. Use Firefox, it uses 1/4th the memory.

Fair enough about trying out Firefox. I've been too lazy to migrate my iPhone/Mac/iPad workflow from Safari to Firefox. With pdfs it really depends on what kinds of pdfs one works with. For example scanned books can take a lot of memory even on the background. The memory optimization of pdf viewers has progressed really poorly, especially compared to browsers (this problem is related to both Preview and third-party solutions such as Acrobat etc.). I kind of understand this "feature" given how few people operate with a lot of pdfs compared to a heavy use of browsers. But still, it would be nice to have something done about it after all these years.
 

UltimateSyn

macrumors 601
Mar 3, 2008
4,970
9,207
Massachusetts
If high-resolution, high-refresh-rate gaming becomes "a thing" on Macs over the next few years will it be recommended to have the 32GB RAM? I thought about going 16GB / 32-core GPU but I don't want to have an unbalanced machine. If it has ProMotion I'm going to spec out a machine that can last me ten years.
 
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elephantstone

macrumors member
Oct 28, 2016
83
48
My personal opinion is that any games that are unable to run on the M1X, will be inhibited by the graphics before it becomes inhibited by the 16gb of RAM. But that's my personal opinion, others may disagree. I can't really foresee a game requiring 32gb of RAM to run smoothly in this generation.
 
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Falhófnir

macrumors 603
Aug 19, 2017
6,146
7,001
If high-resolution, high-refresh-rate gaming becomes "a thing" on Macs over the next few years will it be recommended to have the 32GB RAM? I thought about going 16GB / 32-core GPU but I don't want to have an unbalanced machine. If it has ProMotion I'm going to spec out a machine that can last me ten years.
Maybe given the system will presumably be using it as VRAM as well? A Windows gaming system with 16GB RAM will have an extra 4-6-8GB VRAM with the dGPU. If you don't absolutely have to have textures on ultra it might not be such an issue though?

Maybe Apple will even offer these systems with like 24GB and 40GB RAM options in recognition of this or something?
 

3Rock

macrumors 6502a
Aug 25, 2021
733
799
My personal opinion is that any games that are unable to run on the M1X, will be inhibited by the graphics before it becomes inhibited by the 16gb of RAM. But that's my personal opinion, others may disagree. I can't really foresee a game requiring 32gb of RAM to run smoothly in this generation.
I would like to play the latest flight Sim from Microsoft and tomb raider. I’m wondering if I should get the 32 core GPU and 32 GB memory In order to play at least mid-level if not on high. Anyone know?
 
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