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With my luck, Apple's going to release some new devices that will blow the M1 Macs I just bought last week out of the water... that is the way of things, with t

With my luck, Apple's going to release some new devices that will blow the M1 Macs I just bought last week out of the water... that is the way of things, with tech! I'm still trying to unlearn my fear and trepidation surrounding the use of my laptop while not plugged into the wall. I was always nervous taking the laptop anywhere without the power adapter in hand, because 2-3 hours of video editing or compilation work would kill the battery. The Air can go a full day!

dogma1138 5y ago
The M1 is great indeed but one thing holds true for Apple never buy a first gen device, 3rd Gen onwards is usually where you get to see them becoming viable for long term support. While the M1 is great there are clearly issues to be ironed out even if it’s just the limited bandwidth available for peripherals. I’m also betting on major GPU upgrades over the next 2 generations.
- kstrauser 5y ago
  I mean, kind of, but it seems that the main issue here with the M1 is that it's only 30% faster than an i9. If I were buying a new Mac today, I would only consider an M1 system. It seems to be better at literally everything I want to do with it than the Intel equivalent. While M2 will undoubtedly be better yet, I see no downside to jumping aboard M1 today for must people who aren't running specialized software.
  - dogma1138 5y ago
    M2/M3 is where they’ll likely finalize the majority of their architectural features from a CPU perspective just look at what happened to first Gen Apple devices that used an Apple silicon like well the original iPhone or the Apple Watch series 1. The M2/3 is when you’ll see a SoC that is finally designed for laptops and desktop computers and where you would likely see some additional ISA improvements on the CPU and on the GPU side too like hardware Ray Tracing support which will surely come.
- paxys 5y ago
  Plus, I don't think Apple has really released a "Pro" M1 laptop yet. The current M1 MacBook Pro has max 13 inch screen, max 16 GB RAM, max 2 TB storage, only 2 Thunderbolt/USB ports, only a single external display supported, no external GPU supported. If I had to guess I'd say they meant to call this just MacBook but tacked on the Pro since they discontinued the non-Pro line entirely.
  - djrogers 5y ago
    The 13” MBP line has been bifurcated for a couple of years, the M1 replaced the low-end of that line. The split started when Apple first tried to replace the MacBook Air with the MacBook Pro sans-touchbar (aka the MacBook escape), and the low end Pro hung around even after they reversed course and brought out the new retina Air.
  - dogma1138 5y ago
    There can be no real pro M1 yet, I don’t have that much issues with the 16GB limit tho some might people might but the other limitations are really due to SoC itself it doesn’t have sufficient bandwidth to support external GPUs multiple displays and a lot of high bandwidth peripherals. My own personal theory is that the M1 was not originally designed for laptops it think it was originally intended as an iPad Pro/Pro+ SoC to compete with the higher end Surface devices. This is why likely external GPU support and bandwidth for peripherals wasn’t prioritized, its more than enough for a tablet. I’m not sure if Apple really expected to get that much performance out of it from the get go, when their early samples did they made a decision to launch a full line including laptops despite the rest of the SoC not being designed for that.
cpr 5y ago
If they announce the rumored M2 Macs next week, you might be within the 15 days to return the M1's and order (with plenty of waiting) the M2's.
eyelidlessness 5y ago
I think it’s pretty likely M2 (or M1X, or whatever they brand it) MacBook Pros will be announced next week at WWDC, given the recent rumors generally coalescing. They may not be released right away but most rumors have suggested a summer release. Not that you should regret your purchase, but for (future) reference it’s a really good idea to check the rumors when considering a non-urgent Apple purchase.
- vmception 5y ago
  I really can't wait for my fleeting happiness of seeing their next processor! The rumors really describe the perfect machine for me and many people's use cases.
  - flatiron 5y ago
    macOS though? I don’t feel very productive using their OS. I would rather have a slightly slower laptop and feel more productive. But I don’t compile anything locally or anything. It’s all in the cloud and stuff.
    - selectodude 5y ago
      Sounds like you're not the target market then. Apple generally tries to sell computers to people who feel productive using their OS.
  - geodel 5y ago
    This is surprising. Are we really running out of people who would try run datacenter and an electron App on Apple laptop and then tell us here how these machines are not for professional users.
    - vmception 5y ago
      I will absolutely try to do that with a M2 processor and 64gb RAM per device
nodesocket 5y ago
You can return it (within 30 days) and get the new generation. I am gonna upgrade my 16" MBP Intel i9 as soon as I can buy the Apple Silicon in 16".
- geerlingguy 5y ago
  Never thought of that... but I'll cross my fingers then and see what Apple releases. These Macs may still be perfect for my needs though. 10G on the mini means I skip the giant external adapter, and the Air doesn't have the dumb Touch Bar.

dogma1138 5y ago

The M1 is great indeed but one thing holds true for Apple never buy a first gen device, 3rd Gen onwards is usually where you get to see them becoming viable for long term support. While the M1 is great there are clearly issues to be ironed out even if it’s just the limited bandwidth available for peripherals. I’m also betting on major GPU upgrades over the next 2 generations.

kstrauser 5y ago
I mean, kind of, but it seems that the main issue here with the M1 is that it's only 30% faster than an i9. If I were buying a new Mac today, I would only consider an M1 system. It seems to be better at literally everything I want to do with it than the Intel equivalent. While M2 will undoubtedly be better yet, I see no downside to jumping aboard M1 today for must people who aren't running specialized software.
- dogma1138 5y ago
  M2/M3 is where they’ll likely finalize the majority of their architectural features from a CPU perspective just look at what happened to first Gen Apple devices that used an Apple silicon like well the original iPhone or the Apple Watch series 1. The M2/3 is when you’ll see a SoC that is finally designed for laptops and desktop computers and where you would likely see some additional ISA improvements on the CPU and on the GPU side too like hardware Ray Tracing support which will surely come.
paxys 5y ago
Plus, I don't think Apple has really released a "Pro" M1 laptop yet. The current M1 MacBook Pro has max 13 inch screen, max 16 GB RAM, max 2 TB storage, only 2 Thunderbolt/USB ports, only a single external display supported, no external GPU supported. If I had to guess I'd say they meant to call this just MacBook but tacked on the Pro since they discontinued the non-Pro line entirely.
- djrogers 5y ago
  The 13” MBP line has been bifurcated for a couple of years, the M1 replaced the low-end of that line. The split started when Apple first tried to replace the MacBook Air with the MacBook Pro sans-touchbar (aka the MacBook escape), and the low end Pro hung around even after they reversed course and brought out the new retina Air.
- dogma1138 5y ago
  There can be no real pro M1 yet, I don’t have that much issues with the 16GB limit tho some might people might but the other limitations are really due to SoC itself it doesn’t have sufficient bandwidth to support external GPUs multiple displays and a lot of high bandwidth peripherals. My own personal theory is that the M1 was not originally designed for laptops it think it was originally intended as an iPad Pro/Pro+ SoC to compete with the higher end Surface devices. This is why likely external GPU support and bandwidth for peripherals wasn’t prioritized, its more than enough for a tablet. I’m not sure if Apple really expected to get that much performance out of it from the get go, when their early samples did they made a decision to launch a full line including laptops despite the rest of the SoC not being designed for that.

cpr 5y ago

If they announce the rumored M2 Macs next week, you might be within the 15 days to return the M1's and order (with plenty of waiting) the M2's.

eyelidlessness 5y ago

I think it’s pretty likely M2 (or M1X, or whatever they brand it) MacBook Pros will be announced next week at WWDC, given the recent rumors generally coalescing. They may not be released right away but most rumors have suggested a summer release. Not that you should regret your purchase, but for (future) reference it’s a really good idea to check the rumors when considering a non-urgent Apple purchase.

vmception 5y ago
I really can't wait for my fleeting happiness of seeing their next processor! The rumors really describe the perfect machine for me and many people's use cases.
- flatiron 5y ago
  macOS though? I don’t feel very productive using their OS. I would rather have a slightly slower laptop and feel more productive. But I don’t compile anything locally or anything. It’s all in the cloud and stuff.
  - selectodude 5y ago
    Sounds like you're not the target market then. Apple generally tries to sell computers to people who feel productive using their OS.
- geodel 5y ago
  This is surprising. Are we really running out of people who would try run datacenter and an electron App on Apple laptop and then tell us here how these machines are not for professional users.
  - vmception 5y ago
    I will absolutely try to do that with a M2 processor and 64gb RAM per device

nodesocket 5y ago

You can return it (within 30 days) and get the new generation. I am gonna upgrade my 16" MBP Intel i9 as soon as I can buy the Apple Silicon in 16".

geerlingguy 5y ago
Never thought of that... but I'll cross my fingers then and see what Apple releases. These Macs may still be perfect for my needs though. 10G on the mini means I skip the giant external adapter, and the Air doesn't have the dumb Touch Bar.