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The most important feature of an M1-based Mac will likely be OS support into the distant future. I'm still using a 2012 rMBP, which was the first-gen retina ver
by dschuler 6y ago
The most important feature of an M1-based Mac will likely be OS support into the distant future. I'm still using a 2012 rMBP, which was the first-gen retina version, and it's held up much better than any other computer I've ever bought, partly due to OS support into 2020. I imagine Apple will stand behind this new generation for a long time as well.
The new M1 SOCs max out at 16GB RAM, which seems like a major limitation, but the timing and latency of this integrated RAM is probably much better than what you could otherwise achieve. Meanwhile, improved SSD performance will probably have a larger impact on the whole system. I remember when I bought a 15k RPM hard drive ca. 2005 - it was like a new computer. Upgrading the slowest part of the storage hierarchy made the largest difference.
One slight disappointment in the Mac mini is the removal of two USB C / Thunderbolt ports and no option for 10G ethernet vs. the Intel model. An odd set of limitations in 2020.
Overall, at the price they're offering the Mac mini (haven't really considered the other models for myself), I think it's ok to take the plunge.
- Sent from my Dell hackintosh
- BossingAround 6y ago> Overall, at the price they're offering the Mac mini (haven't really considered the other models for myself), I think it's ok to take the plunge. I thought the same. I actually wonder whether the low prices aren't due to the App support being extremely limited at this point (basically only first party stuff)
- xsmasher 6y agoApplications for intel macs will still run by way of Rosetta 2, so I wouldn't say " App support [is] extremely limited."
- beervirus 6y agoIt sucks that the SSD is (presumably) not upgradeable anymore. Apple generally charges a ton for the larger SSD offerings, but it used to be that you could just buy a base model and replace the thing later.
- dschuler 6y agoApple positions itself as being on the side of the consumer, and while they never really justified their soldered-down RAM (on laptops), one _might_ argue that it reduced failure rates. It's interesting that IBM discovered that soldering RAM to the individual compute modules in the Blue Gene/L (ca. 2004-2007) did improve reliability, in part because they had 2^16 modules in one cluster. I don't really buy that argument for laptop RAM, and especially not for SSDs, but I'm not sure if there's anything that can push back against Apple other than plain old competition, which they're trying to distance themselves from as much as possible, of course.
- judge2020 6y agoThey're on the side of a certain type of consumer (doesn't even consider upgrading hardware down the line), and with these product launches they're making it more clear than ever that they don't want you to purchase their products if you don't fit into being that type of consumer.
- Aperocky 6y agoUse external drives. They're cheaper and way larger.
- beervirus 6y agoAnd slower. And one bumped cable away from corrupted data. No thanks, not for my boot drive.