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MBP 13" Intel/32 or M1/16 ?

N

Nocxy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 31, 2021
13
0
Hi everyone

I have to replace my MBP (I needed more performance before it gave me up yesterday during my thesis defense). I would have to do virtualization, a little bit of video/photo and a lot of programming. I always have a lot of tabs on my browser (whether it is Safari or Firefox).

I have an hesitation between 32 GB on an Intel and 16 GB (the max...) on a M1. The ports limitation is also an issue as far as the M1 is concerned. I thought about the 16" but it would take too much space for a daily use.

Besides the price, what would be the real advantage (if any) of the M1 ?

Thanks in advance
 
Unless you are limited by requiring certain software, I would suggest going with the M1 for sure. Besides way better performance, the real advantage is being able to participate in the Apple ecosystem for an unlimited amount of time in the future. The new M1 machines are thermally efficient as well.
 
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Unless you absolutely need something with an Intel chip in it (or 32GB RAM etc), go for an M1 or wait a few weeks to see what the new laptops are like. What virtualisation do you need to do?

The M1 chip is incredibly powerful & efficient meaning the new laptops have great battery life and performance.
 
Madhatter32 said:
Unless you are limited by requiring certain software, I would suggest going with the M1 for sure. Besides way better performance, the real advantage is being able to participate in the Apple ecosystem for an unlimited amount of time in the future. The new M1 machines are thermally efficient as well.
Click to expand...

What about the max amount of RAM, the ports limitation and the virtualization?

vagos said:
I would buy the Intel/32. The M1 can't do virtualization. The M1 is faster but in your case it's of no use.
Click to expand...

Yesterday I heard people claiming that they did virtualization with the M1. Isn't it possible?

ascender said:
Unless you absolutely need something with an Intel chip in it (or 32GB RAM etc), go for an M1 or wait a few weeks to see what the new laptops are like. What virtualisation do you need to do?

The M1 chip is incredibly powerful & efficient meaning the new laptops have great battery life and performance.
Click to expand...

I am often limited by the amount of RAM and I mentioned the lack of ports as a limitation. I have to work for college so I can't wait a few weeks.
 
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So no M1 for me I guess. No one addressed the RAM or ports issues.

Is x86 emulation possible ?
 
Nocxy said:
So no M1 for me I guess. No one addressed the RAM or ports issues.

Is x86 emulation possible ?
Click to expand...
Of course 32GB is better than 16GB and 4 ports is better than two.

What is it you need virtualize. There are arm version of Windows and heard arm Windows 11 is better at emulating x86(-64). Better arm version of the apps you need virtualization for will be best.

Maybe check second hand prices, if you must go intel. I guess you can find some good deals now Apple is switching to Apple Silicon.
 
Significant1 said:
Of course 32GB is better than 16GB and 4 ports is better than two.

What is it you need virtualize. There are arm version of Windows and heard arm Windows 11 is better at emulating x86(-64). Better arm version of the apps you need virtualization for will be best.

Maybe check second hand prices, if you must go intel. I guess you can find some good deals now Apple is switching to Apple Silicon.
Click to expand...
I didn't understand the Windows 11 part.

I would need to virtualize Windows Server and Windows 10.

posguy99 said:
Well, there not being VirtualBox for M1 is the best sort of non-problem.
Click to expand...
Why?
 
Nocxy said:
I didn't understand the Windows 11 part.

I would need to virtualize Windows Server and Windows 10.


Why?
Click to expand...
What matter is, if it is arm versions of windows. I saw a YouTube video where a windows Intel ide compiled both x86 and x86-64 and emulated them. Especially x86-64 is something windows 11 does better.

Virtual machines love ram and if you are going to run two windows machines simultaneously I would recommend 32gb at least.

So right now and here I think you are better off with an Intel machine, but I would not recommend buying a new one at full price.
 
M1 Can virtualize. Docker runs fine in a VM.
Windows for ARM runs fine on parallels.

If you need to virtualize windows server because you are going to be managing windows server instances, you should not use an M1 Mac. Because your servers are likely going to be x64, and you want to be working in a similar environment.

I own an M1 Mac and use virtualization on it daily for work, but it's all linux virtualization and I'm able to do x86 emulation. (Docker can run x86/64 containers on the M1 Mac.)

If ports/IO is a concern, you can just get a dock. So unless you won't be able to use adapters, then you'll be fine with the two ports.

Really the big question is WHY do you need to virtualize. For some use cases the M1 will be fine. For others, you won't be able to avoid needing an x86 machine. (but you can remote into a home/cloud server that is x86 and virtualize there, instead of doing it on your laptop)
 
kevcube said:
M1 Can virtualize. Docker runs fine in a VM.
Windows for ARM runs fine on parallels.

If you need to virtualize windows server because you are going to be managing windows server instances, you should not use an M1 Mac. Because your servers are likely going to be x64, and you want to be working in a similar environment.

I own an M1 Mac and use virtualization on it daily for work, but it's all linux virtualization and I'm able to do x86 emulation. (Docker can run x86/64 containers on the M1 Mac.)

If ports/IO is a concern, you can just get a dock. So unless you won't be able to use adapters, then you'll be fine with the two ports.

Really the big question is WHY do you need to virtualize. For some use cases the M1 will be fine. For others, you won't be able to avoid needing an x86 machine. (but you can remote into a home/cloud server that is x86 and virtualize there, instead of doing it on your laptop)
Click to expand...
How can you run x86(=64) containers on a M1?
I need it for college. We often use a couple of instances of Windows 10 with a Windows 10.
What about the max amount of RAM?

Do anyone know when the new generation would arrive?
 
Nocxy said:
How can you run x86(=64) containers on a M1?
I need it for college. We often use a couple of instances of Windows 10 with a Windows 10.
What about the max amount of RAM?

Do anyone know when the new generation would arrive?
Click to expand...
`docker run --platform linux/amd64 ubuntu:20.04` does it. Most containers don’t even have an arm64 build so they will default to amd64.

keep in mind my experience is only on Linux. IIRC m1 docker can NOT run windows containers. But fact check me on that one
 
Nocxy said:
What do you mean by that?
Click to expand...
Just like Rosetta on Mac, arm windows has its own Intel/amd emulation. In the beginning or maybe still on windows 10 (i don't use windows) it was/is only 32 bit, but windows 11 does emulate 64 bit Intel/amd code.
 
Madhatter32 said:
Unless you are limited by requiring certain software, I would suggest going with the M1 for sure. Besides way better performance, the real advantage is being able to participate in the Apple ecosystem for an unlimited amount of time in the future. The new M1 machines are thermally efficient as well.
Click to expand...
unlimited amt of time?… I recall the fate of the core duo machines the last time we had a change and first generation
 
dukebound85 said:
unlimited amt of time?… I recall the fate of the core duo machines the last time we had a change and first generation
Click to expand...
Yes ... "unlimited" is an exaggeration here. Let's go with "relatively long time" instead. Everything has an experation date ... whether Apple mandates it or not.
 
Madhatter32 said:
Yes ... "unlimited" is an exaggeration here. Let's go with "relatively long time" instead. Everything has an experation date ... whether Apple mandates it or not.
Click to expand...
I get that.....however, the point I was making was the first gen intels, the core duos, got their support cut off relatively quick compared to subsequent iterations
 
dukebound85 said:
I get that.....however, the point I was making was the first gen intels, the core duos, got their support cut off relatively quick compared to subsequent iterations
Click to expand...
I hear this, but with Apple supporting certain iPhone and iPad models for so long, I have no doubt that the m1 generation will get at least 5 years of official love
 
dukebound85 said:
I get that.....however, the point I was making was the first gen intels, the core duos, got their support cut off relatively quick compared to subsequent iterations
Click to expand...
I was in the same boat with Core Duo and also shares your worry, with the armV9 in the horizon, which A15 very likely will support. However people knowing more about Arm architecture, than I do says the difference between armV8 and armV9 is minor and cannot be compared to the change from 32 to 64bit. I hope they are right.
 
Significant1 said:
Just like Rosetta on Mac, arm windows has its own Intel/amd emulation. In the beginning or maybe still on windows 10 (i don't use windows) it was/is only 32 bit, but windows 11 does emulate 64 bit Intel/amd code.
Click to expand...

Isn't it CPU-dependant instead of OS-dependant?
 
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