5 ms·

I just looked up some benchmarks. Apparently a m1 is 2-4x faster at many tasks than my wife’s gaming desktop from 5 years ago. It’s comparable in many benchmark

by Rd6n6 5y ago

I just looked up some benchmarks. Apparently a m1 is 2-4x faster at many tasks than my wife’s gaming desktop from 5 years ago. It’s comparable in many benchmarks to my ryzen cpu as well? What’s the catch?

Retr0id 5y ago
The only real catch is that you're currently limited to only 16GB of RAM.
- minusf 5y ago
  and big sur and up... unfortunately the quality of the OS is not keeping up with the quality of the hw.
  - Rd6n6 5y ago
    How so?
    - minusf 5y ago
      let's not go there :} life is too short to compile bug lists for macos.
      - toxik 5y ago
        I feel like the critical bug list being short is basically THE reason power users would go for Apple laptops.
  - EugeneOZ 5y ago
    The best OS of existing.
    - seanalexander 5y ago
      Surely you're joking here.
      - EugeneOZ 5y ago
        No.
- prawn 5y ago
  I haven't found that to be a catch actually. I went from a mid-2015 15" MBP to 13" M1 with 8GB. I made the impulsive purchase to get 8GB ASAP rather than wait for 16GB (which was backordered). My primary apps are DaVinci Resolve, Lightroom and Photoshop. On the 15", the fans would run on full constantly. I would have to create proxy video files to work with. On the M1, I don't create any proxies at all and the video files I work with just play in real-time. Main catch for me is the two USB ports and one external screen limitation. I have a hub (card readers, USB, HDMI, etc) and a 10-port USB hub coming off that (with 7 external drives connected). As soon as there is a 15/16" available that handles two external displays, I will get that as well. I dislike the TouchBar and the lone external display, but everything else about the M1 has been excellent for me.
  - Rd6n6 5y ago
    I had assumed that photoshop and the like would be gpu bound, not cpu bound
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
- bdcravens 5y ago
  I switched from a 16" Pro with 32GB of RAM to a 16GB M1 Air - I really didn't notice the difference, even though I frequently run some memory hogs (Electron apps, Chrome, multiple Docker containers)
RandomWorker 5y ago
The catch is that you are using untested hardware. You have no idea if this will last, who will support what, and potentially risk money and your data. Thing is the upside for us as a consumer is insane. Tbh buy a MacBook is 20/30% more expensive than equivalent type specs on windows. But in the case of the air that’s 200/300 dollars. Just to try and test this new hardware if it’s your main device. It’s a lot of risk. I feel confident running the system for a while now. Seeing more software come on board. Even for the extra money, I say go. I’m a dev/product designer, most of my work is coding, product development, product management and graphical design. It does everything I need faster, no lag.
Jorge1o1 5y ago
You can only use one external monitor
- hajile 5y ago
  That's not too bad if you're using an ultrawide.
- zachberger 5y ago
  And that's only on the laptops. Two monitors are supported on the Mac Mini.
  - croes 5y ago
    That is nevertheless only two screens.
    - SilverRed 5y ago
      >only two screens Honestly I feel like multi monitor setups are actually worse than single monitor. Having to bend your neck to use some of your windows left me with neck pain. Now I only use one large monitor and use the workspace switching shortcuts to move everything around so I only look forwards. My productivity is identical and my neck feels better. I'd only say its worth it for when you really do need to see a huge amount at once like watching the feeds of 30 security cameras. Not for general work/programming. Seems like multi monitor setups become more of a looks thing because they make people feel like they are sitting in the FBI command center rather than a generic office worker desk.
      - e3bc54b2 5y ago
        Multi-monitor setup has been a giant boost to my programming productivity. I can simply keep the specification/documentation/stack overflow alongside editor/IDE window alongside debugger. If I had to put the benefit in words, I can offload the state of my programming session all on screen, instead of in my head, taking space where more of the abstract logic and relational graph can reside, before it gets turned into code. On the other hand, it gets way easier to get distracted because you can keep a chat window on one side, constantly getting pinged.
technofiend 5y ago
Most likely her gaming PCs GPU is on par with or exceeds the M1s GPU. That would be the biggest downside in your specific comparison.

by Rd6n6 5y ago

Retr0id 5y ago

The only real catch is that you're currently limited to only 16GB of RAM.

minusf 5y ago
and big sur and up... unfortunately the quality of the OS is not keeping up with the quality of the hw.
- Rd6n6 5y ago
  How so?
  - minusf 5y ago
    let's not go there :} life is too short to compile bug lists for macos.
    - toxik 5y ago
      I feel like the critical bug list being short is basically THE reason power users would go for Apple laptops.
- EugeneOZ 5y ago
  The best OS of existing.
  - seanalexander 5y ago
    Surely you're joking here.
    - EugeneOZ 5y ago
      No.
prawn 5y ago
I haven't found that to be a catch actually. I went from a mid-2015 15" MBP to 13" M1 with 8GB. I made the impulsive purchase to get 8GB ASAP rather than wait for 16GB (which was backordered). My primary apps are DaVinci Resolve, Lightroom and Photoshop. On the 15", the fans would run on full constantly. I would have to create proxy video files to work with. On the M1, I don't create any proxies at all and the video files I work with just play in real-time. Main catch for me is the two USB ports and one external screen limitation. I have a hub (card readers, USB, HDMI, etc) and a 10-port USB hub coming off that (with 7 external drives connected). As soon as there is a 15/16" available that handles two external displays, I will get that as well. I dislike the TouchBar and the lone external display, but everything else about the M1 has been excellent for me.
- Rd6n6 5y ago
  I had assumed that photoshop and the like would be gpu bound, not cpu bound
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
bdcravens 5y ago
I switched from a 16" Pro with 32GB of RAM to a 16GB M1 Air - I really didn't notice the difference, even though I frequently run some memory hogs (Electron apps, Chrome, multiple Docker containers)

RandomWorker 5y ago

The catch is that you are using untested hardware. You have no idea if this will last, who will support what, and potentially risk money and your data. Thing is the upside for us as a consumer is insane. Tbh buy a MacBook is 20/30% more expensive than equivalent type specs on windows. But in the case of the air that’s 200/300 dollars. Just to try and test this new hardware if it’s your main device. It’s a lot of risk. I feel confident running the system for a while now. Seeing more software come on board. Even for the extra money, I say go. I’m a dev/product designer, most of my work is coding, product development, product management and graphical design. It does everything I need faster, no lag.

Jorge1o1 5y ago

You can only use one external monitor

hajile 5y ago
That's not too bad if you're using an ultrawide.
zachberger 5y ago
And that's only on the laptops. Two monitors are supported on the Mac Mini.
- croes 5y ago
  That is nevertheless only two screens.
  - SilverRed 5y ago
    >only two screens Honestly I feel like multi monitor setups are actually worse than single monitor. Having to bend your neck to use some of your windows left me with neck pain. Now I only use one large monitor and use the workspace switching shortcuts to move everything around so I only look forwards. My productivity is identical and my neck feels better. I'd only say its worth it for when you really do need to see a huge amount at once like watching the feeds of 30 security cameras. Not for general work/programming. Seems like multi monitor setups become more of a looks thing because they make people feel like they are sitting in the FBI command center rather than a generic office worker desk.
    - e3bc54b2 5y ago
      Multi-monitor setup has been a giant boost to my programming productivity. I can simply keep the specification/documentation/stack overflow alongside editor/IDE window alongside debugger. If I had to put the benefit in words, I can offload the state of my programming session all on screen, instead of in my head, taking space where more of the abstract logic and relational graph can reside, before it gets turned into code. On the other hand, it gets way easier to get distracted because you can keep a chat window on one side, constantly getting pinged.

technofiend 5y ago

Most likely her gaming PCs GPU is on par with or exceeds the M1s GPU. That would be the biggest downside in your specific comparison.