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

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121–130 of 228 posts

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

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

ARM Windows laptops have been around for a while, and have not taken off. Some of that could be that these computers don't represent a shift in the wind - x86 remains the primary architecture for Windows. But I think that another big part of it is that every review of a Windows ARM laptop is full of caveats. Some programs will run slower, some programs won't run at all. Knowing which is which requires technical knowl…

Microsoft don't control the whole ecosystem unfortunately. They have a much harder time making that architectural shift than Apple does (although they could have done it better). There's all sorts of backwards compatibility guarantees with Windows that Apple doesn't have to care about.

Rosetta is the key piece here to 'fill in the gaps'. IMO, Rosetta only really works because of Apple's silicon and so how insanely fast the machine is compared to the Intel equivalent. The M1 has such a performance advantage over Intel that you can use it up in translation and your options become "x86 version of program running at roughly the speed it always used to" or "ARM version that is lightning quick".

Whereas the Windows ARM machines weren't a performance leap over Intel so even if you had translation it would be "x86 version that is very sluggish" or "ARM version that is just about OK".

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

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Friend of mine just got a new M1 13-inch MBP. He "likes" it, as opposed to "loves" it; because he doesn't actually care that much (he's not a tech nerd). He likes his iPad a lot more. He would probably feel the same way about a new Dell or Lenovo. It's just not that important to him. Computers are a "necessary evil." He's a musician, and he asked my advice, so he got a Mac. For myself, I am waiting on the M1X/M2, lat…

That's interesting, how big are those monitors exactly? Regular 4k or something more?

I have a 49-inch LG Ultrawide (Split into 3440 X 1440, 1680 X 1440), and a 4K monitor that I use for presentations and classes (so it is not on all the time).

I have become addicted to the vast real estate of this big honker. I did have it set up, once, using the whole screen width (5120 X 1440), but that was too wide for me (also, Apple does not yet natively support that resolution. I had to use a third-party screen res tool).

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

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> running emulators (mobile dev) 16GiB is insufficient for mobile? iPhone SE has 3GiB and 12 has 6GiB. That is less than half your M1 RAM. How much more does the emulator consume?

At least my coworker's former 16GB MBP (until he got a new one now) basically halted when the emulators were running, and he had to close lots of programs. Not strictly appdev, though, so he was then running and developing our backends locally, running some other needed services in docker, and then working on the android and ios app at the same time to match and test the changes in the backend. So basically all of my examples above, but at the same time.

So not strictly necessary, but when you're used to it going back to having to work around the limitations is burdensome. People not having lots of ram seldom complain, but they don't know how much time they're wasting on an inefficient workflow.

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

#124
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…

>Consider an alternate possibility: “sales of Apple’s new ARM macs outpaced by older models”.

This story would be "man bites dog", the linked story is "dog bites man", that's why people are reacting this way.

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

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Friend of mine just got a new M1 13-inch MBP. He "likes" it, as opposed to "loves" it; because he doesn't actually care that much (he's not a tech nerd). He likes his iPad a lot more. He would probably feel the same way about a new Dell or Lenovo. It's just not that important to him. Computers are a "necessary evil." He's a musician, and he asked my advice, so he got a Mac. For myself, I am waiting on the M1X/M2, lat…

I have a Pro Display XDR hooked up to a MacBook Air and the only glitches I have had would be unplugging and plugging in the display while in sleep mode which just requires me to unplug the XDR and plug it back in.

[deleted]

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

#126
post #110
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6502 -> 680x0 -> PPC601 -> x86_64 -> ARMv8.5 (Apple M1) Apple has a long, long history of pulling off well executed architecture changes. If you are a Apple computer shopper then you would know by now that by the time they release a new architecture, internally, that platform has long been retired for their internal users. It would have been an even bigger headline if Apple released the M1 and it didn't live up to ex…

6502 was only used in the Apple II and MacOS never ran Apple II software on its 68k processor, so it doesn't really belong in that list.

Indeed . You could run Apple II software on an add in card though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_IIe_Card

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

#127
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…

Seems to me that the statistic is designed to hide other possible stories. Consider that those unhappy with the M1 move wouldn't buy older Macbooks, they would leave the Apple ecosystem all together.

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

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

In some ways, it reminds me of the Intel transition in that regular consumers might not have been aware that this move was coming until they saw it in front of their eyes. I often see that transition dated to 2006 at MacWorld, but the reality is that it was previewed at WWDC the previous year and there was only a minor spec bump to - I think - one model before the iMacs appeared to kick things off. On a related note,…

Regular people also don't really understand much about how cars work, and they love that modern ones start with the push of a button and that they don't have to fiddle with the carburetor or the choke to get it going.

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

#129
post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

6502 was only used in the Apple II and MacOS never ran Apple II software on its 68k processor, so it doesn't really belong in that list.

Indeed . You could run Apple II software on an add in card though. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_IIe_Card

I thought about mentioning it but that doesn't really count as a transition like the others. You could not even run the card and MacOS simultaneously:

> When emulating the Apple IIe, only a full-screen mode is available and all native Macintosh functions are suspended while running (a proprietary graphical control panel, running outside MacOS, is available for configuring the virtual Apple II slots and peripherals; however, both native and emulated computer function are suspended during this activity). Macintosh functions and control resume only once emulation is completely shut down and exited.

Arguably, the transition from MacOS to Mac OS X does belong in the list. Apple did a ton of work to provide the Carbon compatibility layer to make it easier for developers to port to Mac OS X. And there was also the ability to run MacOS 9 under Mac OS X using Classic.

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

#130
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…

So I'm not using docker or Python so my opinion isn't so worthwhile but I would say you made the right choice for right now. I have an M1 Air and ended up listing my iMac I use for work as the Air was just wholely faster for my tasks. For the average dev, I think there's a weird hap right now of "M1 now vs M1X/M2". It's getting later in the cycle and while M1 support has greatly gotten better, it's now closer to new…

I am in this weirdness . Have they fixed the USB-C PD frying boards issue? That made not buy one so far as an USB-C dock is a must with the Air.
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