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Apple Now Selling More M1 Macs Than Intel-Based Models, Says Tim Cook

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Re: Apple Now Selling More M1 Macs Than Intel-Based Models, Says Tim Cook

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even w/o the perf of the M1 I think sales had been overwhelming, part because yes it's the "entry level" models but mainly because nobody wants to be left with a machine that won't get supported by the OS (even if I think low-mem M1 machines will be phased out of OS updates at some point)

I think you vastly overestimate how much the average consumer thinks about or cares about OS updates. What you say is something that could affect the decision making process for highly technical people, but even then... we have no firm commitments from Apple on which platforms will get the longest support, so it's a gut-feeling decision, which isn't very technical. As you hint, the M1 could be treated as a pathfinder…

The original iPad was, in terms of compute specifications, a minimum viable product. The M1 Macs are not—they are the combination of a mature platform with a mature silicon chip. Given the sheer volume of M1 sales there’s no chance they’re going to be so prematurely deprecated as the original iPad was.

At the very least I’d put money on the M1 not being deprecated before all Intel-powered Macs (present and future) are deprecated.

Re: Apple Now Selling More M1 Macs Than Intel-Based Models, Says Tim Cook

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak to the quality of the M1 since I haven't used one yet, but I don't think the sales numbers mean that much. Basically just new shiny model outsells old standard model. Just look at the website. What would you rather buy, a standard model, or the one "supercharged by the Apple M1 chip?"

The low end new shiny model of just 2 variants are out selling all of the older and more expensive models combined. That’s big.

I assume Apple sells vastly more Airs and 13” Pros than they do any other machine they make. The lower price is a huge contributor. If the M1 were only on the top end machines, this thread wouldn’t exist.

Re: Apple Now Selling More M1 Macs Than Intel-Based Models, Says Tim Cook

#73
post #14

I see a myriad of comments that boil down to “duh”, but I think these comments are missing the point. Consider an alternate possibility: “sales of Apple’s new ARM macs outpaced by older models”. Had Apple not knocked M1 out of the park, this was a real possibility. Is it surprising that a well executed architecture change is now selling well? Not really. But the more interesting point is that the rest of the market a…

I wonder how many of those who got an M1 mac recently are aware of what exactly that means, besides that it's new and fast. I could imagine a large part of those sales to fall into the "I need a new computer, I'll get another Macbook Air" category. Those buyers wouldn't have much reason to care anyway; I guess you'd have to do pretty specialized work to really notice a big difference besides "cool" and "fast".

It's a testament to how well it was done that these people can buy the computers and not have to know anything except that it's new and fast.

Re: Apple Now Selling More M1 Macs Than Intel-Based Models, Says Tim Cook

#74
post #14

I see a myriad of comments that boil down to “duh”, but I think these comments are missing the point. Consider an alternate possibility: “sales of Apple’s new ARM macs outpaced by older models”. Had Apple not knocked M1 out of the park, this was a real possibility. Is it surprising that a well executed architecture change is now selling well? Not really. But the more interesting point is that the rest of the market a…

I wonder how many of those who got an M1 mac recently are aware of what exactly that means, besides that it's new and fast. I could imagine a large part of those sales to fall into the "I need a new computer, I'll get another Macbook Air" category. Those buyers wouldn't have much reason to care anyway; I guess you'd have to do pretty specialized work to really notice a big difference besides "cool" and "fast".

I wouldn't overlook the impact of battery life.

I've never squeezed more than 4 or 5 hours out of my two year old Macbook Pro. A 20 hour battery life in addition to the speed gains make upgrading a tempting prospect.

Re: Apple Now Selling More M1 Macs Than Intel-Based Models, Says Tim Cook

#75
post #24

Now that Parallels, Crossover and UTM have solved the boot camp issue there is little reason to let x86 compatibility get in the way. Most of the major Mac apps have released Universal Binaries as well. It's not even been six months yet and most Macs have already transitioned. Now all we need is the Mac Pro and Macbook Pro 16" to switch.

I don't know if they've completely solved the boot camp issue. I was excited to hear the news that Parallels can run ARM Windows, though not all software is supported on ARM Windows (for example IIS isn't available on the ARM version of Windows). That's a Windows issue more than a Mac one, but a software gap with Windows on M1 does still exist unfortunately.

Re: Apple Now Selling More M1 Macs Than Intel-Based Models, Says Tim Cook

#76

Cheaper, faster, more locked-down and proprietary. Unfortunately most people don't seem to care about the last point.

Because it isn’t a point. What’s locked down about an M1 that isn’t locked down about an intel?

Try to find any detailed information about it...

http://www.righto.com/2013/09/intel-x86-documentation-has-mo...

The M1 is really the same as an SoC in an iPad/iPhone --- essentially zero public documentation.

Re: Apple Now Selling More M1 Macs Than Intel-Based Models, Says Tim Cook

#77
Good job Apple, I really do love the idea of deprecating the old x64 architecture entirely.

It's as if we have decades of legacy code wasting billions of dollars of power per year. I strongly believe within the next decade the vast majority of computers, new computers consumers buy anyway, will run on arm( or whatever replaces it). This will also be amazing for servers, imagine a data center that can run off 30% of the power of an Intel based data center.

I really do love my m1 Mac Mini, I only use it for music but so far I've been nothing but amazed by it.

Re: Apple Now Selling More M1 Macs Than Intel-Based Models, Says Tim Cook

#78
post #13

M1 is amazing and I bought my partner one and she loves it. However, when it came to buying a new engineer on our team a laptop, we had to go with the last 2020 Intel model. We still have some uncertainty over whether or not our development tools/environment will work on M1. Many python packages will take longer to install I imagine (if there are no wheels for the M1 mac, not sure if that's an issue) and I suspect so…

Current lineup has too little RAM for many dev-tasks. Like running multiple docker containers, or developing in a ram-hungry language (java+intellij), or running emulators (mobile dev).

If the next MBP16 lineup with M1 (M2?) supports 32+ GBs of RAM other vendors will have to step up their game, though.

Re: Apple Now Selling More M1 Macs Than Intel-Based Models, Says Tim Cook

#79
post #47
post #4

You mean people aren't going to buy hardware that its manufacturer explicitly said they're not going to be building and supporting much further? The same manufacturer that's known for dropping macOS support on perfectly capable older hardware without backwards compatibility? Color us surprised!

>known for dropping macOS support on perfectly capable older hardware ?? My 5+ year old systems are still getting updates. Yes, they're probably getting near the end of their support window but that doesn't seem unreasonable.

Yeah, I have a 2013 Mac Pro that still gets Big Sur updates.

Re: Apple Now Selling More M1 Macs Than Intel-Based Models, Says Tim Cook

#80

I’ve had a pet theory that the company has spread its wings after Jonny Ive left. More practical designs Thicker, more performing machines Higher quality and durability at the cost of thickness Colors again?! It’s possible, perhaps even likely that this was planned before Ives departure. But we are seeing a massive sea shift in the way Apple designs their gear. The old mantra was “thin and light before all else” Now…

I think yesterday’s iMac shows that they haven’t given up on thinness.

Thinness at the expense of all else is what I meant. I don’t see where they compromised to get that thin.

However compared to MacBooks with the butterfly keyboard, Apple introduced more than one laptop that had useability issues due to the drive for shedding weight and centimeters.

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