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An Apple M1 is decent enough for LMs. My friend wondered why I got so excited about it when it came out five years ago. It wasn't that it was particularly power

An Apple M1 is decent enough for LMs. My friend wondered why I got so excited about it when it came out five years ago. It wasn't that it was particularly powerful - it's decent. What it did was to set a new bar for "low end".

vel0city 1y ago
A new Mac is easily starting around $1k and quickly goes up from there if you want a storage or RAM upgrade, especially for enough memory to really run some local models. Insane that a $1,000 computer is called "decent" and "low end". My daily driver personal laptop brand new was $300.
- moffkalast 1y ago
  That's fun to hear given that low end laptops are now $800, mid range is like $1.5k and upper end is $3k+ even for non-Apple vendors. Inflation makes fools of us all.
  - vel0city 1y ago
    Low end laptops can still easily be found for far less than $800. https://www.microcenter.com/product/676305/acer-aspire-3-a315-24pt-r1l8-156-touchscreen-laptop-computer-steam-blue https://www.microcenter.com/product/676305/acer-aspire-3-a31...
  - Mr-Frog 1y ago
    The first IBM PC in 1981 cost $1,565, which is comparable to $5,500 after inflation.
- evilduck 1y ago
  An M1 Mac is about 5 years old at this point and can be had for far less than a grand. A brand new Mac Mini M4 is only $499.
  - vel0city 1y ago
    Ah, I was focusing on the laptops, my bad. But still its more than $499. Just looked on the Apple store website, Mac Mini M4 starting at $599 (not $499), with only 256GB of storage. https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini/m4 https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini/m4
    - nickthegreek 1y ago
      microcenter routinely sells that system for $450. https://www.microcenter.com/product/688173/Mac_mini_MU9D3LL-A_(Late_2024)_Desktop_Computer;_Apple_M4_10-Core_CPU;_16GB_Unified_Memory;_256GB_Solid_State_Drive;_10-Core_GPU-16-Core_Neural_Engine?storeID=141&gStoreCode=141&gQT=2 https://www.microcenter.com/product/688173/Mac_mini_MU9D3LL-...
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- fennecfoxy 1y ago
  You're right - memory size and then bandwidth is imperative for LLMs. Apple currently lacks great memory bandwidth with their unified memory. But it's not a bad option if you can find one for a good price. The prices for new are just bonkers.
- rollcat 1y ago
  Of course it depends on what you consider "low end" - it's relative to your expectations. I have a G4 TiBook, the definition of a high-end laptop, by 2002 standards. If you consider a $300 laptop a good daily driver, I'll one-up you with this: <https://www.chrisfenton.com/diy-laptop-v2/ https://www.chrisfenton.com/diy-laptop-v2/>
  - vel0city 1y ago
    My $300 laptop is a few years old. It has a Ryzen 3 3200U CPU, it has a 14" 1080p display, backlit keyboard. It came with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, I upgraded to 16GB from RAM acquired by a dumpster dive and a 256GB SSD for like $10 on clearance at Microcenter. I upgraded the WiFi to an Intel AX210 6e for about another $10 off Amazon. It gets 6-8 hours of battery life doing browsing and texting editing kind of workloads. The only thing that is itching me to get a new machine is it needs a 19V power supply. Luckily it's a pretty common barrel size, I already had several power cables laying around that work just fine. I'd prefer to just have all my portable devices to run off USB-C though.
    - pram 1y ago
      I know I speak for everyone that your dumpster laptop is very impressive, give yourself a big pat on the back. You deserve it.

vel0city 1y ago

A new Mac is easily starting around $1k and quickly goes up from there if you want a storage or RAM upgrade, especially for enough memory to really run some local models. Insane that a $1,000 computer is called "decent" and "low end". My daily driver personal laptop brand new was $300.

moffkalast 1y ago
That's fun to hear given that low end laptops are now $800, mid range is like $1.5k and upper end is $3k+ even for non-Apple vendors. Inflation makes fools of us all.
- vel0city 1y ago
  Low end laptops can still easily be found for far less than $800. https://www.microcenter.com/product/676305/acer-aspire-3-a315-24pt-r1l8-156-touchscreen-laptop-computer-steam-blue https://www.microcenter.com/product/676305/acer-aspire-3-a31...
- Mr-Frog 1y ago
  The first IBM PC in 1981 cost $1,565, which is comparable to $5,500 after inflation.
evilduck 1y ago
An M1 Mac is about 5 years old at this point and can be had for far less than a grand. A brand new Mac Mini M4 is only $499.
- vel0city 1y ago
  Ah, I was focusing on the laptops, my bad. But still its more than $499. Just looked on the Apple store website, Mac Mini M4 starting at $599 (not $499), with only 256GB of storage. https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini/m4 https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini/m4
  - nickthegreek 1y ago
    microcenter routinely sells that system for $450. https://www.microcenter.com/product/688173/Mac_mini_MU9D3LL-A_(Late_2024)_Desktop_Computer;_Apple_M4_10-Core_CPU;_16GB_Unified_Memory;_256GB_Solid_State_Drive;_10-Core_GPU-16-Core_Neural_Engine?storeID=141&gStoreCode=141&gQT=2 https://www.microcenter.com/product/688173/Mac_mini_MU9D3LL-...
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
fennecfoxy 1y ago
You're right - memory size and then bandwidth is imperative for LLMs. Apple currently lacks great memory bandwidth with their unified memory. But it's not a bad option if you can find one for a good price. The prices for new are just bonkers.
rollcat 1y ago
Of course it depends on what you consider "low end" - it's relative to your expectations. I have a G4 TiBook, the definition of a high-end laptop, by 2002 standards. If you consider a $300 laptop a good daily driver, I'll one-up you with this: <https://www.chrisfenton.com/diy-laptop-v2/ https://www.chrisfenton.com/diy-laptop-v2/>
- vel0city 1y ago
  My $300 laptop is a few years old. It has a Ryzen 3 3200U CPU, it has a 14" 1080p display, backlit keyboard. It came with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD, I upgraded to 16GB from RAM acquired by a dumpster dive and a 256GB SSD for like $10 on clearance at Microcenter. I upgraded the WiFi to an Intel AX210 6e for about another $10 off Amazon. It gets 6-8 hours of battery life doing browsing and texting editing kind of workloads. The only thing that is itching me to get a new machine is it needs a 19V power supply. Luckily it's a pretty common barrel size, I already had several power cables laying around that work just fine. I'd prefer to just have all my portable devices to run off USB-C though.
  - pram 1y ago
    I know I speak for everyone that your dumpster laptop is very impressive, give yourself a big pat on the back. You deserve it.