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Remember that this is Mac Processor #1 from Apple.

This whole release is focused on entry-level machines, and its still impressive. When was the last time you were blown away by the bottom-end entry-level processor of a consumer-grade Mac?

Many more processors will follow with greater and greater capabilities. They can gen up all kinds of interesting things. Like how about a dozen high performance cores instead of just 4 high performance and 4 low power like now.

There is no reason why memory capacity on later AS chips won't come in multiples of 16Gbyte.

Apple did not paint themselves in a corner. I'm struggling to even imagine what a Mac Pro with AS will look like in a year or two. They could even produce a special processor just for that machine if they wanted.

Sky's the limit here. But I wasn't prepared to be this impressed with their first entry-level processor.
I guess we can say that its a difference of opinion. The way I see it is that while the performance is great, at least to me it's not exactly impressive simply because those apps being executed are simple iPadOS level apps.

I can best explain it as this: It was impressive and remain in love with my iPad Pro 12.9" 3rd Gen. Coming from a world where people hated on tablets as "giant iPhones", that version of the iPad Pro was such a head turner. Little did we know that was pretty much the forerunner of the M1.

Seeing the MacBook Air is nice, but I still liken it to an iPad Pro with a few component updates. I guess it's just being used to Apple upgrades, I watch it and go "meh ... I don't need Calendar opening that much faster, versus what I have". It's rather unfair, yes. If we compared MB Air or Air, it would be delirious. From iPad Pro to M1 Air ... the speed is probably better, but it's not something where I drop everything and run to it.

I also ask because I would love to see what the M1 could do in a development sense. Rather than "OMG, you're such a hater", I would love to see if a developer with a iOS / Swift background could talk about it out of experience. So far, I haven't seen very much of it, and it's probably because it's a MacBook Air - it's not for the development world only from the name itself. Guess I would have to touch base with the Mac mini crew.
 
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Here I am running Cinebench on my R5 3600 PC with a Radeon 5600 XT and 32 GB of memory I just built yesterday. And I'm wondering how quickly it'll become obsolete.
 
Did you guys know that the M1 it’s fast? I just thought you should know that it’s fast.
i’m not sure if anyone’s told you yet, but it’s fast.
that’s definitely fast.
it’s extremely fast.
it’s exponentially faster than the Intel versions.
A $700 Mac mini is now faster than a $6000 iMac Pro, a $10,000 Mac Pro, or even a $52,000 Mac Pro.

It’s all true, and until it’s repeated thousands of times people will continue to disbelieve it.
 
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I get that there will always be something newer, but things like this make me really regret my 2020 MacBook Air purchase from May...
Nah, no regrets! You have already had some good use out of it. You could always decide to trade in — or just buy new — either way, it’s a sunk cost.
 
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As a developer, I can tell you that the 16GB in these new machines will far out perform 32GB in anything you've used previously. I certainly recommend learning about ARM and the differences between your standard CPU like the Intel chips we've been using. RAM in these cases is not directly 1:1 comparable.
I'm not too worried about myself if I go 16gb. Debating if my parents could get away with 8gb of RAM if they keep the machine for the next 5-6 years though.
 
Yes it is all true if you drive in an go kart it seems fast, when you drive a formula one race car you know what fast is.
Wow. You must own the most fastest computer in the whole wide world.

This is a MacBook Air. It’s fast. Get over it.
 
that is crazy, even on those entry models of Mac; how amazing it could be on a new-designed Mac Pro with the M1 chip? (maybe i shall say "chips" :cool:)
 
Intel mac users that want to sell their macs: prepare for the big impact!

does this mean the intel macs second hand market’s price are going to plummet into oblivion?
 
Can someone please point me to a comparison between the two new MBA? Is there any actual benefit in reality of getting the 8 core gpu over the 7 core?!
 
but...but...I thought 8GB RAM is not enough to launch more than 2 apps together: 8GB is a disappointment? 🤣

albeit, that App Store icon kept jumping a bit...

anecdote: As bad as this sounds, I remember some where around like 1998(IIRC) I saw a pristine new 200MHz(IIRC) PC in an electronic shop. If you double clicked the Microsoft Word icon, it would launch instantly just like in the above video. Don't know how they did it.

back then I remember you were greeted by a welcome screen and had to wait for the loading bar to finish.
 
It's quick but your comments about the low RAM utilisation are misleading. It had already started to use some swap.

Also in Tech Chap's review he was getting out-of-memory warnings on an 8GB M1 MBP.
A properly written macOS app is nearly incapable of showing an "out of memory" error.
macOS apps run in a virtual memory space and they all think they have 64 bits of addressable memory. So an app would have to use enough storage to fill up main memory then main storage before the OS itself would start complaining about critically low space.
Several Adobe apps, for example, use their own memory managers rather than let the OS do what it does so well.
 
I was remembering when three or four years ago the most loyal Mac customers were complaining because Apple was suposdely abandoning their computers in favour of iOS devices.

Well, not only it wasn't. They were preparing to kill Intel, AMD, and the Microsoft Windows computers. 🤣

I wouldn't suprise me if Autodesk (AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor), Adobe (Photoshop, etc.) and other major Software companines start priorizing macOS over Windows, starting from today for their most powerful apps.

It makes absolutely no sense to develop a Software for a platform while there's another one that crushes it in performance and stability.

Does Intel have the chance to make their CPUs as good as capable of this?
 
The RAM limitation makes sense because of manufacturing capacity. Had they offered 32/64 configurations, it could’ve eaten up supply of base models that are more popular. Start with base models, see user reactions, make sure everything works as intended, then scale up. The next two years will be phenomenal.
 
what happens when you use them all at once and really need them
Does anyone really use more than one application at a time? Having windows “available” isn’t the same as actually typing into one window while touching up a drawing in another while meticulously fine tuning the color in another while scrolling through a webpage in yet another. I’m not even sure the UI handles multiple targets.
 
Stop with this. Yes it's the same metric. Imagine you have a 10 litre bucket, and you have 10 litres of liquid. You need a 10 litre bucket to store 10 litres of liquid. This is like saying having a fancy new tap (faucet) somehow makes your bucket more efficient. It doesn't. If you have 32GB of data you need to represent in memory, you need 32GB of RAM!
Yes, but that 10 litre bucket of petrol will get you a lot further in a 2020 BMW M340 than it will in a 1979 Buick LeSabre.
So while 10 litres - 10 litres, the 120km you get in the Bimmer is more than double the 50km you get from the land barge.

If the native applications are taking up less space in RAM, there is more room for textures, models, and audio files or whatever is using up all your RAM. This is just EXACTLY like how I can get by with less RAM on an intel Mac than I need on a Windows Machine.

Say you have 16GB of RAM.
On Windows, the OS and the Application are chewing up 14GB (note this number is made up for illustration) leaving you with 2 GB for all of your stuff before hitting the swap file with a 64 bit hammer.
On Intel Mac, The OS and Application only need 8GB (again, made up) leaving you 8GB for your stuff.
On M1 Mac, the OS and App are only using 2GB (if all apps combined only need 3.8, this seems fair), leaving you with 14GB.

This is how M1 16GB is different that Intel 16GB.

So if you have 12GB of 3D rendering files (first of all, why the fox are you looking at an MB Air?), you need
32GB of Windows RAM
20GB of iMac RAM
32GB of 16" MB Pro RAM (there is no 24GB option)
but could manage with 16 GB on an M1.

Now if you have 32GB of polygons to push, you are right, 16GB probably will not work.

Although, another thing COULD be the built in RAM compression in OSX is somehow sped up and making 16GB seem more spacious than it was before. I have my doubts about how far they could take this.
 
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Also, Apple don't want the current $5000 iMac Pro customers switching to $1000 MacBook Airs because it's quicker! More powerful kit must be around the corner for their sake.
This is the interesting thing. Apple REALLY wouldn’t mind providing performance better than a $5000 iMac Pro in a MacBook Air! I mean, they have in a lot of ways this week. The difference is that in the past, it made business sense for Apple’s CPU suppliers to NOT provide power in the form factor of the MacBook Air. What we’re seeing today is not because AMD and INTEL CAN’T do it, it’s because their business model PREVENTS them from doing it... well maybe AMD can :)

In the end, you’re still buying an Apple product, whether you get a Mac Pro, an iMac, a Mac Mini, or an iPad. And, at some point in the future, if the iPhone is performing better than the top M1 chip is today? Well, that’s progress!
 
I was remembering when three or four years ago the most loyal Mac customers were complaining because Apple was suposdely abandoning their computers in favour of iOS devices.

Well, not only it wasn't. They were preparing to kill Intel, AMD, and the Microsoft Windows computers. 🤣

I wouldn't suprise me if Autodesk (AutoCAD, Revit, Inventor), Adobe (Photoshop, etc.) and other major Software companines start priorizing macOS over Windows, starting from today for their most powerful apps.

It makes absolutely no sense to develop a Software for a platform while there's another one that crushes it in performance and stability.

Does Intel have the chance to make their CPUs as good as capable of this?
Yes.

Intel is not without flaws, but they are very capable.

They have milked the original design for more than 40 years, growing it along the way from 8 to 64 bits. Remember that they can leverage AMD's work in this area also.

Intel's biggest problem hasn't been design, it has been manufacturing. While you hear a lot about TSMC 5nm and Intel having trouble getting down below 14nm, this isn't as black and white as you would think. How you measure gate width isn't exactly uniform, and other design rules apply, and they are just as important. If Intel gets back on track with their process improvements, they have proven many, many, many times in the past that they can deliver fantastic processors (though usually late).

Apple fired a great opening salvo, but Intel and AMD are from from dead.
 
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