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Who's rocking an M1 still and how's it holding up for you?

I'm still using my M1 Max 32GB/1TB MacBook Pro 16" from 2021 and its blazing through everything I throw at it (Full-Stack software engineering and design).
Don't see even a slight reason to upgrade so far.
 
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The performance increase from Intel to Apple silicon was staggering. The performance increases within the M-class chips far less so. Far less than what Apple has been toting in all those synthetic scores they show annually. In the real world, M1 is very comparable to M4, especially when looking at raw core counts between the models (an M1 Max will still outperform an M4 Pro in the real world).

People seem convinced an M4 is light years ahead of the M1 because Apple creates that type of fervour to push sales.
 
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ultratiem said:
The performance increase from Intel to Apple silicon was staggering. The performance increases within the M-class chips far less so. Far less than what Apple has been toting in all those synthetic scores they show annually. In the real world, M1 is very comparable to M4, especially when looking at raw core counts between the models (an M1 Max will still outperform an M4 Pro in the real world).

People seem convinced an M4 is light years ahead of the M1 because Apple creates that type of fervour to push sales.
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Interesting opinion.
Have you made, any prediction according to your needs,
when there will be the right time to upgrade in the future?
 
ultratiem said:
The performance increase from Intel to Apple silicon was staggering. The performance increases within the M-class chips far less so. Far less than what Apple has been toting in all those synthetic scores they show annually. In the real world, M1 is very comparable to M4, especially when looking at raw core counts between the models (an M1 Max will still outperform an M4 Pro in the real world).

People seem convinced an M4 is light years ahead of the M1 because Apple creates that type of fervour to push sales.
Click to expand...
Apple is great at marketing. The performance increases for most people are going to be very little. I have an M1 Max 14". We have 2 M4 Pro's running here as well for Adobe CC and there is zero discernible and noticeable differences. I used an original 5K iMac up till about 3 years ago without issue and it was still handling everything I do with Adobe CC with no problem.... other than not being able to update the OS and thus not being able to update Adobe. I have no plans in the immediate future to upgrade from my M1 Max.
 
wonderings said:
Apple is great at marketing. The performance increases for most people are going to be very little. I have an M1 Max 14". We have 2 M4 Pro's running here as well for Adobe CC and there is zero discernible and noticeable differences. I used an original 5K iMac up till about 3 years ago without issue and it was still handling everything I do with Adobe CC with no problem.... other than not being able to update the OS and thus not being able to update Adobe. I have no plans in the immediate future to upgrade from my M1 Max.
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Yeah. Adobe isn’t a good mark for progress however. I found that out when I moved from a mini to a 2013 Mac Pro. Ps ran… the same. It would lead me down a rabbit hole to discover Adobe apps, most anyway, are essentially running on a single core for processing. RAM makes some difference but CPU and GPU, very little.

But I have seen the same. Across most apps unless the new SoC has a special hardware component to handle the task. HEVC decoding for example on the M3+. Same with video encoding. It seems that’s everyone’s metric these days. Look YouTube, look at how long it took the save my movie in FCP!

I started with the M1 base mini. Work got us M2 Pro MBP with 16GB of RAM and the bump is indistinguishable. I was kinda bummed lol. I bought a M1 Max Studio with the highest core/gpu count and yes it can definitely game better, all in all tho, day to day, the Studio still doesn’t feel like moving from an Intel Mac to the base M1.

I’d say the M1 Stuio is an insane deal today given how people are so won over by Apple Marketing.
 
I just take the jump to a MacMook Air M1 from a 2015 MacBook Pro 13 and the difference is crazy!
The only thing I miss is the ports, but on the other hand there is USB-C hubs.

It’s blazing fast and the battery goes on the whole day, and it’s cold, not warm like the Intel Mac.
I will keep this baby for at least 4-5 years🙂
 
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Matsamoto said:
I just take the jump to a MacMook Air M1 from a 2015 MacBook Pro 13 and the difference is crazy!
The only thing I miss is the ports, but on the other hand there is USB-C hubs.

It’s blazing fast and the battery goes on the whole day, and it’s cold, not warm like the Intel Mac.
I will keep this baby for at least 4-5 years🙂
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Thankfully they brought them back to the MacBook Pro's. The change the M chips brought though make upgrading from an Intel Mac worth it even with only a couple USB C ports.
 
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Running my 14” M1 Pro MacBook Pro for a while yet; its performance is entirely satisfactory but I would like more on-board storage, a bigger screen, and a lot more 3D shove (for things like Blender, Live Home 3D, etc.; I have no optimism for native gaming on a Mac any time soon).

The upgrade path is partially clear:
  1. Definitely 16” (I want the bigger screen to support my aging peepers)
  2. Probably the Max
  3. Possibly the rumoured OLED display
The latter will depend on whether Apple can price them sensibly*. I’m thinking OLED might actually make a bit less sense on a laptop given its max brightness disadvantage against LCD.

In practical terms, I’m looking at a 16” M5** Max in Silver. Might splurge on some additional onboard storage and the nanotexture display.

*Narrator: Apple did not, in fact, price them sensibly
**Assuming, of course, Apple releases a Max variant of the M5 at the end of this year
 
redcarian said:
Running my 14” M1 Pro MacBook Pro for a while yet; its performance is entirely satisfactory but I would like more on-board storage, a bigger screen, and a lot more 3D shove (for things like Blender, Live Home 3D, etc.; I have no optimism for native gaming on a Mac any time soon).

The upgrade path is partially clear:
  1. Definitely 16” (I want the bigger screen to support my aging peepers)
  2. Probably the Max
  3. Possibly the rumoured OLED display
The latter will depend on whether Apple can price them sensibly*. I’m thinking OLED might actually make a bit less sense on a laptop given its max brightness disadvantage against LCD.

In practical terms, I’m looking at a 16” M5** Max in Silver. Might splurge on some additional onboard storage and the nanotexture display.

*Narrator: Apple did not, in fact, price them sensibly
**Assuming, of course, Apple releases a Max variant of the M5 at the end of this year
Click to expand...

As I have started having presbyopia recently, and I am also having the wonderful M1 pro,
I am not sure, this model has lcd?
Does OLED have any advantages in our vision?
Will it be available in new models?
 
Bought my Mac Mini M1 almost 3 years ago and still love it. More than enough for me, I even actively play games that one could think would require beefier machine, like Callisto Protocol, Lies of P, Resident Evil Village, Elden Ring, Mafia Remake, The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild etc etc and they run OK even if in lower resolution and not highest graphics settings. Will upgrade to M4 eventually, but M1 is still very capable for all not too specific tasks and not too demanding gaming needs IMO.
 
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I have a M1 MBP, and I'm getting an itch to replace it. I can spend some money on a new battery, or buy a Mac Mini, I'm leaning towards the latter. The MBP isn't my daily driver, but I can see that Mini being used more in my household.

I'm unsure if I'm wanting to pull the trigger sooner or later, and whether I need to watch this tariff stuff closer, that is, will the potential of the price increase if I sit and wait?
 
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maflynn said:
I have a M1 MBP, and I'm getting an itch to replace it. I can spend some money on a new battery, or buy a Mac Mini, I'm leaning towards the latter. The MBP isn't my daily driver, but I can see that Mini being used more in my household.

I'm unsure if I'm wanting to pull the trigger sooner or later, and whether I need to watch this tariff stuff closer, that is, will the potential of the price increase if I sit and wait?
Click to expand...

Computers are not affected by the tariffs
 
16GB/1TB - M1 Pro here. It still feels fast and fresh with everything that I run on it. I will have to see how it copes with MacOS 26.

Like others - I'm feeling a little of that upgrade itch, but it's mostly for more storage (I use 850GB of that 1TB SSD and while I could offload some stuff, I like keeping stuff local on my machine when I travel). I would have upgraded sooner, but I will want 2-4TB on my next MacBook and that's eyewateringly expensive at Apple prices.
 
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CalMin said:
16GB/1TB - M1 Pro here. It still feels fast and fresh with everything that I run on it. I will have to see how it copes with MacOS 26.

Like others - I'm feeling a little of that upgrade itch, but it's mostly for more storage (I use 850GB of that 1TB SSD and while I could offload some stuff, I like keeping stuff local on my machine when I travel). I would have upgraded sooner, but I will want 2-4TB on my next MacBook and that's eyewateringly expensive at Apple prices.
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Same here. Same model, same specs. My only real need is more ram and storage, but that will have to wait a bit. Maybe the M5 or M6 will have something I really need with respect to CPU/GPU/NPU.
 
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I bought the M1 MacBook Air two months after it came out. I got the model with 8-core CPU/8-core GPU/512GB storage which was $200 more than the $999 base (8-core/7-core/256GB). Knowing AppleCare+ and 8% sales tax would take the bill to nearly $1,600, I chose not to double the RAM to 16GB for $200 more which, in hindsight, I regret. At the time, I didn't understand the concept of unified RAM and wasn't aware of the ability to allocate a desired amount to VRAM.

This is the only first-gen Apple product I've ever owned and, while I've been happy with it, I feel compelled to point out that after about 2 years, I had a catastrophic failure while converting video with Handbrake - pirated Friends episodes, naturally. The logic board got super hot and the display failed. Although I was still able to connect to an external display, when I got it back from AppleCare service (fast af - credit where it's due) I noticed they had replaced nearly every part of the computer with the exception of keyboard and bottom panel. Without AppleCare+, after two years I would have had a brick worth maybe $75 for parts on Ebay.
 
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FlyingTexan said:
I just use my M1 14" as a daily driver. I haven't tried anything else. For me it's internet, multimedia (plex/youtube/netflix) and really that's about it. Have to admit I've been looking for a reason to upgrade and can't. I even have a $600 credit with apple and can't find a reason to get rid of the thing. I can't tell if I'm just old now and not longer always needing the new new or what. How is yours treating you or if you've traded in how's the new unit. Was it worth it or no real reason to upgrade?
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Working as an IT consultant, I’ve been using my MacBook Air with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD as my daily driver. It’s been a great machine, but I found myself needing a bit more — mainly RAM and storage — especially for running virtual machines and heavier workloads.

So, I decided to invest in a refurbished MacBook Pro 14” M1 Max with 64GB RAM and 2TB SSD. It came with a brand-new battery, looked absolutely like new, and even included a 5-year warranty — all for around $2,500 including VAT.

Honestly, it’s one of the best tech investments I’ve ever made. As others have mentioned in this thread, this kind of setup will easily last for many years to come — especially for my use cases.
 
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It's a very early beta, but Tahoe feels noticeably more laggy using a MacBook Pro M1 Pro with 32GB RAM. It's definitely far too soon to judge performance, but I'd say this is about the performance I'd expect about a year out from Apple dropping support for new versions of macOS. :D

It's definitely not unusable, but if this became the standard performance upon stable release.... I'd seriously consider upgrading if it was my MacBook Pro. ;)
 
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dumastudetto said:
It's a very early beta, but Tahoe feels noticeably more laggy using a MacBook Pro M1 Pro with 32GB RAM. It's definitely far too soon to judge performance, but I'd say this is about the performance I'd expect about a year out from Apple dropping support for new versions of macOS. :D

It's definitely not unusable, but if this became the standard performance upon stable release.... I'd seriously consider upgrading if it was my MacBook Pro. ;)
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Developer betas do be like that, what with all the debug code and bugs and whatnot.
 
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dumastudetto said:
It's a very early beta, but Tahoe feels noticeably more laggy using a MacBook Pro M1 Pro
Click to expand...

redcarian said:
Developer betas do be like that, what with all the debug code and bugs and whatnot.
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While watching the keynote, I had one prevailing thought - how much horsepower will these visual effects require? I don't think all of the lagginess can be attributed to debugging code embedded. I'm sure thats a lot of it, but I think the OS is just going to require more potent processors then the M1. Just my unofficial, unqualified opinion
 
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