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Onboarding with an M1

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141–150 of 165 posts

Re: Onboarding with an M1

#141

As mentioned in the epilogue regarding single monitors, I feel that Apple was a little too silent regarding that limitation. It also caught me off guard especially as I purchased the LG 4K thunderbolt/usb-c monitors from the Apple website with the hope of connecting everything via daisy chain. I haven’t yet definitively found a DisplayLink hub that can output its video via thunderbolt and/or USB-C so whenever I see a…

I understand the lack of multi-monitor support in the M1s is an issue. But just after the launch of the M1, I came across a video that demonstrated an M1 Mac mini driving six monitors. [0] There is also a short write up about that workaround, for those who don’t want the video. [1] There are similar workarounds for the M1 MacBoooks. [2] Is this a reasonable workaround until Apple provides M1 hardware that can run mor…

I've seen these too, but the LG 4k monitors that Apple sells on their website, and suggests as a display purchase along with the M1, have only Thunderbolt and USB-c IO. All these example setups use monitors with HDMI, etc.

Re: Onboarding with an M1

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HDMI, at least in the Mac mini 2018, is lossy compressed which shows itself in bleeding colors / slightly blurry 4K.

I believe HDMI can only send uncompressed video data. It can support compressed audio but not compressed video.

HDMI supports chroma subsampling which is a form of lossy compression.

Re: Onboarding with an M1

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not aware of anyone (except those using VMs) who are complaining about the memory. I personally went from 16gb to 8 and don’t miss it. Do you actually own/use an m1 Mac?

I have an M1 Macbook Air with 8 gigs of memory, and it's definitely a bottleneck for me. I haven't even thought about trying a VM on it...

In what way? I run xcode, firefox, safari, gimp, mail and a few other things. It is so much better than my last 16gb macbook pro. And this is an air.

Re: Onboarding with an M1

#144

Also commenting on single monitor support - a key note I missed from original reviews and maybe a reason to wait till more pro models come out?

If it's important to you, I'd say wait. Something that's been missed a lot, I think, is that the Intel-based 13" MacBook Pro actually came in two versions -- a two-port one with a less-capable, low-power processor and a lot of limitations that made it more like a juiced-up Air, and a four-port one which was much more like the 15" MBP. The current M1-based MBP is direct replacement for that two-port model, and is now…

Given that it's basically the same machine in a larger case, the Pro should be renamed the Air since it actually contains more air.

Re: Onboarding with an M1

#145
post #14

I just got a new System76 laptop for work. I have used to Lenovo P Series in the past. The System76 laptop has a Nvidia GPU. For ports it has HDMI and Mini DisplayPort. I was expecting dual 4k@60hz to work, but instead got 4k@60hz via the Mini DisplayPort and 40@30hz via the HDMI. The reason is the HDMI is tied to the Intel GPU, not the Nvidia GPU. The laptop also lacks Thunderbolt, which would provide more port opti…

Wrong window?

Re: Onboarding with an M1

#146
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suffered more about having to trash my perfectly fine fullhd monitor(s) that worked great with linux until the day before, just because they decided to drop subpixel hinting with latest macos versions. Now I need 5-6 times more pixels to get comparable font rendering

I’m also still mourning the loss of subpixel AA with my primary display being 4k@1x. For several versions of macOS it was removed from the System Preferences UI but still available with a defaults command, but I’m pretty sure that’s gone now too.

right, you're not even supposed to use those 4k at native resolution if you want good fonts! some sources still list a couple of manual commands that supposedly enable antialiasing again but I don't think they do anything anymore.

Re: Onboarding with an M1

#147
post #59

I am looking forward to the hopefully near term arrival of an “M2” based iMac. I use an M1 Air and it has been a dream to use, but fundamentally I prefer the power that you can tap from a properly ventilated desktop.

The M1 Macbook Pro has active ventilation, FWIW.

I knew someone would point that out. A large slab of aluminum like the iMac has far greater capacity to get rid of waste heat than any laptop. I suppose that is what I am keen to get my hands on.

Re: Onboarding with an M1

#148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HDMI, at least in the Mac mini 2018, is lossy compressed which shows itself in bleeding colors / slightly blurry 4K.

I believe HDMI can only send uncompressed video data. It can support compressed audio but not compressed video.

I own a Mac mini 2018 and could see the difference between HDMI and Thunderbolt. There are threads on MacRumors complaining about it. It’s subtly but noticeable enough to be annoying.

Re: Onboarding with an M1

#149
post #30
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, as an M1 user and usual multi monitor user this is a big limitation! Realistically I’ll look at investing in an ultra wide soon to offer similar screen real estate. We also have a Lenovo laptop that we bought two of for our admin staff in our office to only find out afterwards multi monitor support was missing (despite having enough ports for it)... it’s a shame that this isn’t considered standard.

That is why I think Dell XPS 13 is top: three external monitors via a Thunderbolt TB16 and a desktop experience only plugging a single cable. This is not to say that the XPS 13 is perfect (need to change battery every two years in all the notebooks at the office and the notebook gets hot) but the notebook is great in many other factors.

I have given up on 13" laptops for performance demanding work, you just can't stuff cooling into that package.

Re: Onboarding with an M1

#150

I always wonder why ppl do not use MacPorts? There was a great article on HN which basically drew a pretty clear picture how brew can easily mess your system up. Yet, being a new Mac user, wherever I go, I only see a reference to brew installs. I am using M1 for a over a month and it’s been a very smooth ride so far. Installing everything via MacPorts where I only had an issue with rabbitmqd which failed to build bec…

Brew has more packages and is more popular so stuff is more likely to be available and more likely to work. I rarely have issues with it though I do wish it wasn't so slow and good luck trying to uninstall something.
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