Apple’s M1 chip fastest laptop CPU in the world

[George K]

Apple announced two new laptops (MacBook Pro and MacBook Air) and a new Mac Mini yesterday. All with their new in-house designed "M1" CPU.

They claim 16(!) hours of battery life for the MacBook Air and remarkable performance.

https://9to5mac.com/2020/11/11/apples-m1-chip-analysis/

[George K]

Oh, and the Mac mini with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD is $1299. It starts at $699.

Very tempting.

A similarly spec'ed MacBook Air is $1649.

[Doctor Phibes]

If it was me, I'd wait a little while.

I read somewhere that these things have an upper limit of 16 gig for memory, which seems a bit low.

I know, I know, nobody needs more than 640K.

[George K]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Apple’s M1 chip fastest laptop CPU in the world:

I read somewhere that these things have an upper limit of 16 gig for memory, which seems a bit low.

Yup. The memory in these is not user-upgradable because Apple.

Apple still has more shoes to drop in their computer line: the iMac, the iMac Pro, the Mac Pro. In the past, they had user-upgradable RAM (at a significantly cheaper price. My current iMac has 24 GB of RAM - it came with 8 from Apple and I added another two 8 GB sticks.

It wouldn't surprise me, of course, that the next iteration of these machines will not have user-upgradable RAM, because, again, Apple.

[mark]

16 GB max? That is so 10 years ago.

I struggled with deciding to only put 64 GB in my new build. I decided at this time I valued better speed and latency, so 64 will suffice. I have the option to go 128 when the speed and timings of the higher density DIMMs match or better, the DIMMs I purchased.

And no DIY upgrade or even repair is possible. That, more than anything, is what killed Apple for me.

[Klaus]

So instead of adding much-needed ports to the Macbook Pro, they instead decided to drop two more ports, such that we now only have two ports left, one of which is used for charging.

What. The. Fuck.

[mark]

@Klaus The PC world is so much more interesting, and customizable.

[LuFins Dad]

Don’t worry, once they move production back to the US, the the price will jump to the more reasonable $3600. Oh, ad you won’t worry about the low memory because it will break down well before you reach the memory limit.

[mark]

@LuFins-Dad and you won't be permitted to repair it.

[Klaus]

@mark said in Apple’s M1 chip fastest laptop CPU in the world:

@Klaus The PC world is so much more interesting, and customizable.

My issue is not with the hardware.

I'd really really hate to move back to Windows. I need a Unix-style command line, and cygwin is too much of a hassle.

Linux would be the main alternative, but it comes with its own set of annoyances.

Hackintosh might be an alternative, but I think it doesn't work well with laptops.

[Moonbat]

@Klaus said in Apple’s M1 chip fastest laptop CPU in the world:

@mark said in Apple’s M1 chip fastest laptop CPU in the world:

@Klaus The PC world is so much more interesting, and customizable.

My issue is not with the hardware.

I'd really really hate to move back to Windows. I need a Unix-style command line, and cygwin is too much of a hassle.

Linux would be the main alternative, but it comes with its own set of annoyances.

Hackintosh might be an alternative, but I think it doesn't work well with laptops.

Wsl is pretty good these days.

[George K]

@Klaus said in Apple’s M1 chip fastest laptop CPU in the world:

So instead of adding much-needed ports to the Macbook Pro, they instead decided to drop two more ports, such that we now only have two ports left, one of which is used for charging.

If I had to guess, this MacBook Pro is the same as their current two-port model, with the new M1 chip. It would not surprise me to see, in the next six months, a 4-port MacBook Pro in 13 and 16 inch versions, which currently exist.

[Doctor Phibes]

I think as a general point, Apple providing some processor competition is great news. Intel have been getting beaten up pretty convincingly by AMD recently, so this is going to add further competitive pressure.

[Axtremus]

We know Apple does a lot of business with China.
We need to investigate why Apple withheld the announcement for this “fastest laptop CPU” until after the election.
A breakthrough like this could have changed the results of the election.

[mark]

@Klaus said in Apple’s M1 chip fastest laptop CPU in the world:

@mark said in Apple’s M1 chip fastest laptop CPU in the world:

@Klaus The PC world is so much more interesting, and customizable.

My issue is not with the hardware.

I'd really really hate to move back to Windows. I need a Unix-style command line, and cygwin is too much of a hassle.

Linux would be the main alternative, but it comes with its own set of annoyances.

Hackintosh might be an alternative, but I think it doesn't work well with laptops.

Why not run Linux in a VM?

[Moonbat]

@mark said in Apple’s M1 chip fastest laptop CPU in the world:

@Klaus said in Apple’s M1 chip fastest laptop CPU in the world:

@mark said in Apple’s M1 chip fastest laptop CPU in the world:

@Klaus The PC world is so much more interesting, and customizable.

My issue is not with the hardware.

I'd really really hate to move back to Windows. I need a Unix-style command line, and cygwin is too much of a hassle.

Linux would be the main alternative, but it comes with its own set of annoyances.

Hackintosh might be an alternative, but I think it doesn't work well with laptops.

Why not run Linux in a VM?

Seriously: WSL (windows subsystem for Linux). Bash runs seamlessly. I compile client Linux stuff on my windows machine.

[Klaus]

WSL does sound interesting. I wonder how well it is integrated into Windows (e.g., sharing clipboards). Maybe I should install Windows in a VM on a Mac, such that I can try WSL in it

[George K]

@Klaus Russia Doll Computing! FTW!

[George K]

@Klaus said in Apple’s M1 chip fastest laptop CPU in the world:

So instead of adding much-needed ports to the Macbook Pro, they instead decided to drop two more ports, such that we now only have two ports left, one of which is used for charging.

From a Mac blog:

“ The new Apple M1 chip is not without limitations, which is to be expected since this is the first-ever chip designed by Apple for the Mac.

The first Macs to be powered by the M1 chip are the MacBook Air, Mac mini, and 13-inch MacBook Pro. You’ll notice that all three of these machines feature two USB-C ports that support USB 4 and Thunderbolt. It is likely a limitation of the M1 controller that it only supports two ports.

Secondly, you’ll notice that the M1 Macs max out at 16GB of RAM, while Intel Macs can go significantly higher. The same also applies to SSD storage, where M1 Macs are limited to 2TB but Intel Macs can go to 4TB and even beyond. Again, these are likely limitations of the M1 chip. The new Apple M1 chip is not without limitations, which is to be expected since this is the first-ever chip designed by Apple for the Mac.

The first Macs to be powered by the M1 chip are the MacBook Air, Mac mini, and 13-inch MacBook Pro. You’ll notice that all three of these machines feature two USB-C ports that support USB 4 and Thunderbolt. It is likely a limitation of the M1 controller that it only supports two ports.

Secondly, you’ll notice that the M1 Macs max out at 16GB of RAM, while Intel Macs can go significantly higher. The same also applies to SSD storage, where M1 Macs are limited to 2TB but Intel Macs can go to 4TB and even beyond. Again, these are likely limitations of the M1 chip.”

[George K]

Supposedly, you can run iOS apps on the Mac using the M1 chip.

I don't know if this requires some special developer software, or if it's native. If native, that's a big deal.