The basic configuration still ships with 8GB of RAM. 16GB is $200 extra. I had an 8GB MacBook Pro in 2013. It wasn't enough then, it's absolutely inadequate now.
If you're not running VM's or opening hundreds of tabs in Chrome it's perfectly fine for everyday tasks. I'm using my 2016 MBP with 8 GB and have never had a problem except when trying to run multiple VM's. So 8 GB doesn't seem unreasonable as a minimum. You can upgrade if you need the extra, but a large number of buyers don't need it and prefer a cheaper base price.
MacBook Pro 13-inch with M1
31–40 of 55 posts
Re: MacBook Pro 13-inch with M1
#32Summary: - 8 cores, 16 core neural engine. - GPU, RAM, Secure enclave and CPU integrated. - 5.x graphics performance. - 10h more battery life. - Thunderbolt/USB 4. Available from today, starts shipping next week. Price starts at $1299, or $1199 for education. Edit: 8GB RAM + 256GB SSD: $1299, 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD: 1499.
Seriously, it should be a crime to sell machines with 256GB SSD in 2020. All these starting prices look low, but those low end configurations will be a drag because of the RAM and storage decisions.
Sadly Internet connectivity isn't that good for everyone, even in developed cities.
Re: MacBook Pro 13-inch with M1
#33Re: MacBook Pro 13-inch with M1
#34Re: MacBook Pro 13-inch with M1
#35The 2.8x faster CPU claim is based on the following fine print: > Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 using preproduction 13-inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 chip, as well as production 1.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-based 13-inch MacBook Pro systems, all configured with 16GB RAM and 2TB SSD. Open source project built with prerelease Xcode 12.2 with Apple Clang 12.0.0, Ninja 1.10.0.git, and CMake 3.16.5.…
It's the Intel i7-8557u, which is pretty good. Twice the performance though? Likely in very specific benchmarks. Still, this is pretty impressive, and I say this as someone who will never buy Apple hardware.
Keep in mind that the general performance of a given chip, and the performance of that chip in a thermally-constrained form-factor like a laptop, are very different things. Just because the i7-8557u is a decent CPU in a testbench, doesn't mean it didn't thermal-throttle itself under sustained load inside an MBP.
Re: MacBook Pro 13-inch with M1
#36The 2.8x faster CPU claim is based on the following fine print: > Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 using preproduction 13-inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 chip, as well as production 1.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-based 13-inch MacBook Pro systems, all configured with 16GB RAM and 2TB SSD. Open source project built with prerelease Xcode 12.2 with Apple Clang 12.0.0, Ninja 1.10.0.git, and CMake 3.16.5.…
https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/11/apple-unleashes-m1/ Says: "“World’s fastest CPU core in low-power silicon”: Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 using preproduction 13-inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 chip and 16GB of RAM measuring peak single thread performance of workloads taken from select industry standard benchmarks, commercial applications, and open source applications. Comparison made against the highest-performing CPUs for notebooks, commercially available at the time of testing."
"highest-performing CPUs for notebooks, commercially available [in October 2020]" seems pretty good to me.
Re: MacBook Pro 13-inch with M1
#37Is the "Pro" still appropriate?
Everything being on such a small package must leave room for a lot of battery cells.
Re: MacBook Pro 13-inch with M1
#38So, the baseline model has the M1 and the more expensive version has Intel i5. What's the point if the M1 is supposedly faster (or is it)?
I'm betting the M1 can't actually work with discrete GPUs (though it remains to be seen what happens if you plug an M1 Mac into an eGPU. What do Thunderbolt-supporting ARM devices generally do with an eGPU?)
Instead, discrete GPU support (and off-package [hierarchically-managed?] DRAM support) is waiting for the M1X-or-whatever, the next chip. Along with that chip, they'll refresh all the discrete-GPU product lines: the higher-end MBPs, the iMacs, and the Mac Pro.
(Personally, I'm betting that Apple will take this opportunity to get rid of truly discrete GPUs in their products, and instead partner with a graphics company like AMD to license IP cores to put in their higher-end SoCs. So you could see e.g. AMD's next-gen Vega with their Smart Access Memory tech, wired to Apple's SoC-internal UMA bus.)
Re: MacBook Pro 13-inch with M1
#39Summary: - 8 cores, 16 core neural engine. - GPU, RAM, Secure enclave and CPU integrated. - 5.x graphics performance. - 10h more battery life. - Thunderbolt/USB 4. Available from today, starts shipping next week. Price starts at $1299, or $1199 for education. Edit: 8GB RAM + 256GB SSD: $1299, 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD: 1499.
If I'm missing it or if there's some other way to get that config, do tell, since that's the config I'm interested in!