2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test • Hacker News Board

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#301

Post by murukesh_s » Tue, Nov 17, 2020, 5:06 PM UTC

sooheon wrote: post #219

murukesh_s wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wish they re-introduce the discontinued Macbook 12 inch with the same specs as air. It weighed only 970grams vs 1.29 kg for air. In fact air feels bulky compared to other light weight laptops like LG Gram, not to mention the design is outdated. Always wondered why Apple killed the smaller model. Perhaps they want to push the iPad pro so killed off the netbook line. The wannabe traveller inside me keep drooling at 12…

The 12 inch is still my favorite MacBook experience, having owned pretty much every form factor since pre-unibody white plastic. Can't wait to see what they can do in that hyper minimal portable niche with Apple Silicon.

haven't used it, but can feel it. you are making me want it more.. wish Steve was alive, he would have perhaps kept it alive at least for bragging rights as smallest, lightest laptop on planet. Still remember Steve jobs introducing air inside an office envelope.

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#302

Post by lhl » Tue, Nov 17, 2020, 5:10 PM UTC

alwillis wrote: post #170

aero-glide wrote: post #90

I hope Apple allows us to install the OS of our choice. The battery life is impressive but I refuse to not use Linux.

I hope Apple allows us to install the OS of our choice. The battery life is impressive but I refuse to not use Linux. Apple's hypervisor technology runs natively on the M1; Linux running on that will be faster than Linux running on anything else you can buy for the same amount of money. They showed Debian running on Apple Silicon during the WWDC keynote nearly 6 months ago.

Tuxedo Computing and Slimbook both sell Ryzen 4800H computers that will outperform the M1 in heavy multithreaded workloads and come with Linux preinstalled. These laptops aren’t quite as slick as the MBP but weigh in at 1.5kg, have huge 91Wh batteries, and have a better keyboard (I have one from a different OEM, but same ODM design). They also have user upgradable memory and storage - I am running with 64GB RAM and 2TB SSD at a total cost (with upgrades) of less than what Apple is charging for their base 8GB/256GB MacBook Pro.

I expect a future “M2” to maybe take the performance crown, but AMD isn’t standing still. Cezanne has Zen 3 cores, which should boost IPC by about 20%, and Rembrandt should get to 5nm and have RDNA2 graphics.

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#303

Post by m4rtink » Tue, Nov 17, 2020, 5:11 PM UTC

Aperocky wrote: post #184

stuff4ben wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At some point one wonders if Intel will just cede the desktop and enthusiast markets to AMD and/or Apple and just focus on server and high-end computing? As an IBMer this feels familiar for some reason...

No reason why servers will always stick with Intel. Amazon already has their own Graviton ARM chips - And that's EC2, cloud native workflows might have already migrated.

Not to mention HPC, with the top three supercomputers being Power & ARM.

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

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Post by FreakyT » Tue, Nov 17, 2020, 5:12 PM UTC

nsxwolf wrote: post #176

matvore wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get why this idea of becoming iOS-like is uncomfortable for a lot of people, but will they take away the POSIX-ness of the OS? What about all the people that spend all their time in Vim, TMUX, Emacs, and/or zsh? I think these people will continue to be pretty happy on macOS if they already are. In my experience, installing alternate OS's on Mac hardware has never been frictionless or satisfying anyway.

I don't see why they would do this. If they just want to sell iPads, they could do that tomorrow. Just release XCode for Linux and Windows so that devs can create iOS apps and call it a day. Obviously they still intend for the Mac to remain a general purpose computer or they wouldn't be putting this much effort into it.

Exactly. They still need something to develop iOS and MacOS themselves on, so unless they want to move all their internal lower-level development over to Windows or Linux (which, IMO, doesn't seem like something Apple would do), they'll need to continue producing something resembling a general purpose computer.

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

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Post by OJFord » Tue, Nov 17, 2020, 5:12 PM UTC

eyelidlessness wrote: post #270

OJFord wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? The hardware's the nice bit.

Because the software is also the nice bit

Well if you like both there's no problem is there.

Comment I replied to was 'I wouldn't pay for Apple hardware if I didn't want the software' implying that would be a stupid thing to do.

I prefer its hardware to anything else; I prefer Linux to macOS. So that's exactly what I'd want to pay for.

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#306

Post by torben-friis » Tue, Nov 17, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

dev_tty01 wrote: post #227

zf00002 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel the same way. Very interested, but not going to go in for first gen.

This is the 12th generation Apple Silicon processor design. A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A10, A11, A12, A13, A14, M1

The issue is with macos running on apple silicon. There was a thread today somewhere with docker mentioning that they are still working on support for example.

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#307

Post by JAlexoid » Tue, Nov 17, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

ogre_codes wrote: post #279

Aperocky wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah this. Imagine if we had the same hardware but designed for linux, I'd pay a premium for that. Although hardware specific software from Apple is probably a big part of that draw too. I don't think we're ever going to see Linux prioritize a certain hardware and put in the effort to make it integrate as well as macs does.

I don't really get this. I switched to MacOS because it's fundamentally BSD with a nice/ well integrated GUI. Almost all of the good OSS I love is supported nearly perfectly. Perhaps I'm a bit jaded after running into too much bullshit trying to get Linux running well on laptops in the 90s and 00s. Since I made the move I never wax nostalgic for the "Good Ole Days" of fighting for hours to get Wifi working properly.…

Well... That's why I have a ThinkPad, that is certified on Linux. (So your prejudice is dated)

I'm literally trying to figure out how to install Python 3.6 alongside 3.9 in MacOSX .... right now, and it's not a one line command.

So... No. It has massive issues with developer friendliness. New OSX stalls with bluetooth mice and randomly locks my keyboard(MBP 2020). The only thing I can commend OSX on - battery life on a MacBook and nothing else

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#308

Post by alwillis » Tue, Nov 17, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

oefrha wrote: post #190

alwillis wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention 5950X alone without cooling ($799) costs almost as much as an entry level MacBook Air The M1-based Mac mini starts at $699.

Yeah, forgot about that. Everything else being equal (ostensibly), the M1 Mac Mini is $200 cheaper than the crappy Intel i5 Mac Mini, more if you upgrade the Intel CPU. As an owner of a decked out 2019 Mac Mini, in hindsight I made a shitty purchase decision.

As an owner of a decked out 2019 Mac Mini, in hindsight I made a shitty purchase decision.

Probably not. If you need a machine to get work done, as you probably did, it always makes sense to buy what's current.

It's different if you can afford to wait for a particular upgrade we know is coming.

I bought a 4k Retina iMac a little over a year ago because I needed to badly and it's been great.

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#309

Post by freehunter » Tue, Nov 17, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

HatchedLake721 wrote: post #34

luto wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't find that quote or even the words "undisputedly" or "Zen3" in the article. Was it changed or, if it wasn't, can you give me a pointer, please?

It's insane how bad the website's UX is for first time visitors not seeing there's more content behind the first page.

That's how websites used to fit more ads into an article before constantly-updating Javascript ads became the trend.

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#310

Post by ogre_codes » Tue, Nov 17, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

hu3 wrote: post #74

mtgx wrote: post #8

It seems that Apple kept its eyes on the goal of beating Intel, while underestimating AMD (like just about everyone else). Still, now Apple has the #2 fastest CPU on the market and with different ISA. Intel....#3. Oh, how the mighty has fallen. At least AMD won't get to rest on its laurels now, as Apple will definitely try to surpass Zen 4, too, now, or at least Zen 5.

I wonder what will happen when AMD launches 5nm processors.

It's always a slippery slope comparing future products to present day products. Apple has additional CPUs coming out over the next 2 years as well. It's going to be an interesting couple of years.