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Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

9to5mac.com

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Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#391

Post by sixstringtheory »

91edec wrote: post #192
greenpresident wrote: post #89

Max 16GB of RAM on these new machines is really not that great to be honest. The mini supported up to 64GB before.

I bought a Mac mini 2 weeks ago and I was sweating when they announced the new Mac mini, not anymore now that its only max 16GB. Apple has effectively killed expandable storage and memory in all of their line up. No doubt in the future they will offer larger memory options when they release the 16" Macbook pro. Need 32GB a year later down the road for your mini? Just buy a new one!

I'm with you on the sweat factor as I just bought a new iMac 5K, but FYI it has a purpose-built expansion slot for RAM that surprised and pleased me. I bought it with the least RAM possible from Apple and maxed it out via an upgrade I bought from Newegg for like 40% of the price.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#392

Post by mortenjorck »

modeless wrote: post #121
greenpresident wrote: post #89

Max 16GB of RAM on these new machines is really not that great to be honest. The mini supported up to 64GB before.

Wow, that's actually a pretty big limitation. I guess it's tough to do 64 GB with their on-package unified memory. I wonder if they're working on a version with discrete memory and GPU for the high end? They'll need it if they ever want to get Intel out of the Mac Pro.

This would seem to point toward a tiered RAM configuration that acts somewhat like Apple's old Fusion Drives: On-package RAM would be reserved for rapid and frequent read/write, while the OS would page to discrete RAM for lower priority. Discrete RAM would act as a sort of middle ground between on-package RAM and paging to the SSD.

Then again, maybe their in-house SSD controller is so blazing fast that the performance gains from this would, for most applications, be minimal.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#393

Post by varispeed »

If you can't buy it on Mouser or digi-key then it is another attempt at expanding the walled garden. If for some reason you CPU dies in your PC you can just buy a new CPU without having to replace an entire computer. I bet that it will not be possible with Apple product. They are focusing on forcing consumers to buy new products instead.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#394

Post by ebg13 »

0x53 wrote: post #263
Jtsummers wrote: post #218

Out of curiosity, how many people are actually constrained by 16GB of RAM? What applications are you using it for that 16GB vs 32GB is actually a deal breaker for you? Thinking about your average end-users, like most of my family, 8 to 16GB is about all they need for their systems (and if software were better written they'd probably need less). So is this specific work like machine learning? Video and image processin…

I often use more than 16 GB of RAM. Generally, I have 3-4 Windows 10 VMs running which each take at least 4GB to be stable. So if I have 4 running that is all the RAM already.

> Generally, I have 3-4 Windows 10 VMs running

What are you doing that needs them all actually running simultaneously? Disk-backed VM pause/resume is extremely fast when your SSD's sequential read/write performance is measured in GBps.

I have a hard time imagining a workflow that actually uses multiple systems all at once, so to me what you're saying sounds like "Well of course my RAM gets filled if I fill it on purpose."

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#395

Post by ogre_codes »

greenpresident wrote: post #190
itake wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is their 13" model. Their 15" model is targeted for professionals.

There is no 15" model anymore and the 16" model has not been announced with an M1 yet.

> ... 16" model has not been announced with an M1 yet.

That's the point the above poster was making.

This is Apple's first CPU, there is a reason Apple said the transition will take 2 years. More powerful CPUs with more RAM for the 16" MacBook, the iMac, and the Mac Pro lines will be coming later. Some of those CPUs will likely be available for the 13" and the Mini.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#396

Post by Rebelgecko »

hidd wrote: post #365

Seems there are two variants of the M1 chip in the MacBook Air, one with 7 GPU cores and one with 8. Wonder why that is the case. https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/specs/

Maybe they only manufacture the 8-core version and bin the ones that have defects?

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#397

Post by jmnicolas »

dschuler wrote: post #254
bnt wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it costs an extra €224 to go from 8 to 16gb. This is ridiculously expensive.

Any option in Euros is about 30% more expensive than buying the same in the US or Hong Kong (which is pretty crummy, but possibly related to taxes and the cost of doing business in the EU). EDIT: I don't mean VAT/sales tax, I've considered sales taxes in the comparison, but also exchange rates of $1.18/1€. The difference is almost exactly 30%. It looks like the cost of doing business in the EU is much higher, and/or…

Don't forget VAT. I think US prices don't include taxes as it's state dependent.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#398

Post by WoodenChair »

taf2 wrote: post #349

Amazing when Steve announced the transition to Intel, he also mentioned the transition to Mac OS X and how that should set up up for at least the next 20 years... That was almost 20 years ago... I can see a new OS for Mac soon that maybe brings OSX even closer to iOS?

> Amazing when Steve announced the transition to Intel, he also mentioned the transition to Mac OS X and how that should set up up for at least the next 20 years... That was almost 20 years ago... I can see a new OS for Mac soon that maybe brings OSX even closer to iOS?

You're a little confused. Those were two very separate transitions. Mac OS X came out in 2001. Intel Macs came out in 2006.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#399

Post by john_minsk »

linuxhansl wrote: post #366

Do I need to worry now that a walled-garden company - with all its advantages - pulls ahead of open ecosystems? I only use Linux at home. Will I be doomed to inferior H/W going forward? This is not a rhetorical question or a flame... It's an honest question... Is Apple pulling ahead of everybody else and soon going to be our only option?

I doubt it. When they talk about performance - they always said it in terms of compute/watt. In absolute numbers these CPUs and GPUs will still be less performant - just my guess.

On top of it for a foreseeable future I think a lot of professional software will stay on x86 architecture simply because most of it must be also available on Windows.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#400

Post by ValentineC »

noncoml wrote: post #273
rewtraw wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you compare the M1 Air and Pro, the only difference seems to be the addition of the Touchbar, 10% better battery life, and a "studio" speaker/mic on the Pro. https://www.apple.com/mac/compare/ I assume the addition of a fan on the Pro gives it better performance under load, but there doesn't seem to be a hugely compelling reason to not just get the Air.

I think they got it wrong. I would pay money to NOT have the touchbar.

The touchbar is probably why I'm probably getting the Air for my next upgrade, and not a Pro.
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