Mac mini M1 stuttering in Final Cut Pro X when playing back accelerated 4K videos

[autoshot]

Hello everyone!

A few days ago I purchased a new Mac mini (M1, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD), thinking it could replace my power hungry 2018 Intel Mac mini (i7, 32GB RAM, 256GB SSD) + Vega 64 based eGPU. But even though that M1 SoC is very, very capable and actually at least on par with the Core i7 8700B in my 2018 mini, when it comes to GPU performance I did notice a small, but significant difference in Final Cut Pro X:

When playing back a 4K timeline where sections of the footage are heavily accelerated (> 4x), there is a lot of stuttering going on in those accelerated sections, which does not occur with the Vega 64.

The question now is: is the M1 really too slow for this kind of basic task (playing back a 4K timeline with only one LUT applied and some accelerated sections) or is there something I can do about the stuttering?

Cheers,
Daniel

PS: I am aware that the Vega 64 is quite a lot more capable than the M1 GPU, but with all those YouTubers saying that the M1 is actually fast enough for light 4K video editing I'd actually be quite disappointed if this turned out not to be true.

 

[Beavix]

I am aware that the Vega 64 is quite a lot more capable than the M1 GPU

There’s the answer to your question.

 

[autoshot]

Ok so today I investigated this issue a little further and it turns out that actually also the Vega 64 can't play back all timelines without stuttering, with the only difference between the M1 and the Vega 64 (at least in my testing) being that the Vega is fluid up to 7x acceleration, and the M1 "only" up to 6x (both without any rendering, that is). As soon as the scene is rendered, it's all smooth on both machines of course.

Long story short, the M1 mini is not so bad after all