Introducing the next generation of Mac • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#141

Post by scep12 » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:23 PM UTC

Optimistically: I suspect the reason they didn't upgrade the 16" pro is because of the RAM story. In other words: no 16" w/ the M1 is an acknowledgment that configurations with 32gb (and hopefully 64gb) of RAM are not ready, and it would be unreasonable to release the highest end MBP without those options available.

Hopefully we'll see the 13" and 16" MBPs with M1+ and more RAM next Spring.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#142

Post by brundolf » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:23 PM UTC

geoffeg wrote: post #76

dcchambers wrote: post #37

The 16GB RAM limit is unfortunate. Five years later and I still can't buy a new 13" laptop from Apple with more RAM than my 2015 MBP. Edit: Apparently you can configure a (Early 2020) Intel-based 13" MBP with 32GB of RAM - I was not aware of that. Hope they bring that option to the ARM versions ASAP, especially if the performance gains are as good as Apple claims.

I'm guessing that since the RAM is now on the SOC instead of on separate chips creating models with more RAM becomes more difficult not only from a space constraint on the die but a cost to manufacture more variants?

This is a good point and begs an interesting question: will they continue using the same ARM chip across the whole line when the 16" MBP and the other iMacs make the switch, and if so, will all Macs of the same generation always have the same amount of RAM? Or will they branch the chips (M2 and M2S, or something)? Is RAM becoming less relevant when you have smart integration of software and hardware components, to a point where stratification is no longer necessary in most cases?

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#143

Post by tiffanyh » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:23 PM UTC

No FaceID, interesting.

I've said this in another thread and thought they might use FaceID as a "Pro" only feature like they do on the iPads but nope, they also released an updated 13" MacBook Pro without FaceID.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#144

Post by mensetmanusman » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:24 PM UTC

xattt wrote: post #120

miohtama wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also say "compiles 4x code" on the video.

It is interesting to abstract battery life as a limit of how many values can be calculated.

total flops before failure assuming you lose half your battery life from display regardless.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#145

Post by nottorp » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:25 PM UTC

jonplackett wrote: post #132

jiofih wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPad Pro has a mere 4GB of RAM and is faster at almost every task AND multitasking than any of my other beefy machines. I wouldn’t discount this yet.

I think it depends what they've done with Big Sur. Take a look at your activity monitor and see how many background tasks you laptop is running right now (I currently have 481 and I only have 4 apps actually running). Compare that to iPad which can run 2 apps max and apple controls all the background activity.

I use 27 Gb of RAM currently on my hackintosh and none of my work VMs are on right now. No way I can get an arm Mac until they're available with 64+.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#146

Post by bartq » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:26 PM UTC

cgufus wrote: post #72

Eehm. What is the actual difference between the MBA M1 and the MBP 13 M1? (except the latter is thicker?) Checked the compareison and didn‘t find anything substantial...

13 inch Pro has brighter screen I think, and that is noticable.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#147

Post by stevewodil » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:26 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #115

tobr wrote: post #50

Two fewer Thunderbolt ports on the MacBook Pro. That’s not an upgrade...?

You're comparing it with the wrong computer.

What do you mean by this?

The commenter is stating how the 2016-2019 MBP 13" had 4 thunderbolt ports, and this new one only has 2

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#148

Post by zitterbewegung » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:27 PM UTC

jmisavage wrote: post #127

dcchambers wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It definitely would have been a way to differentiate the Pro and the Air rather than giving them identical SOCs.

The low end Air only has 7 GPU cores compared with 8 on the one with more storage. So they must be disabling a bad core and selling it the cheap model. Other than that all these machines use the exact same CPUs. Which means that an iMac or 16" MBP are probably going to use a M1X or something with more cores.

Could be disabling but it could also be the fact to increase yields to their most appealing product.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#149

Post by qz2 » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:27 PM UTC

nottorp wrote: post #145

jonplackett wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it depends what they've done with Big Sur. Take a look at your activity monitor and see how many background tasks you laptop is running right now (I currently have 481 and I only have 4 apps actually running). Compare that to iPad which can run 2 apps max and apple controls all the background activity.

I use 27 Gb of RAM currently on my hackintosh and none of my work VMs are on right now. No way I can get an arm Mac until they're available with 64+.

This. I was hitting a wall on RAM instantly at 32Gb.

Re: Introducing the next generation of Mac

#150

Post by callamdelaney » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:28 PM UTC

I'll be sticking with my 2015 Macbook Pro Retina 13". Great machine, not too thin, heavy enough, no stupid touch screen, usb ports, great keyboard. Everything apple has done since hasn't compared.