in your example of 4GB being used for file cache that extra RAM is giving you a performance boost, no?
I don’t know what is the content of this cache nor how macos manages it so I won’t comment on the “how” or “why”, that would be just speculation on my part. What is not speculation is our experience: Two dudes with similar workload, one with 16GB M1 MBA, the other with 8GB M1 MBP. Performance differences felt: none.
its not the size…its how you use it 
I’ve been saying this on here repeatedly. 16GB on an M1 is only needed in the most demanding of cases, 8GB is like 16GB (and at times even 32GB) on a regular system. There is no real loss in performance unless you REALLY push the envelope.
I also will reiterate that I think people totally underestimate the crazy power that the M1 packs! I’ve recommended all my friends who wanted to hear it to go with an M1 after yesterday’s event, and just hold that for a good three years and then finally, when developers have caught up and there’s lots of native stuff around and people are taking real advantage of the M1x architecture - only then go for the big ones.
I love the new screens, but apart from that, at this price point and at this point in the product development cycle, I’d take the M1 over an M1x any day and enjoy it for a couple years and only then invest heavily into a Pro or Max of the then current iteration.
That said, I congratulate everyone who did splash on one of these new laptops, you’re buying a beast of a device!
I wouldn’t have thought about a new MBP if my Mac’s graphics card hadn’t broken recently. (2015 Version) … Now I ended up ordering a 14’’ with 16GB and a 2 TB of storage and I am pretty curious what this fuzz is all about. Hopefully this machine is quieter than my last one…
Just pulled the trigger on a mostly base M1 Pro 14"! I’m usually a ‘max out everything and futureproof it’ kind of person but it’s really great to hear that this era’s base models are more than enough for anyone other than video editors.
I went for:
I definitely considered going for an M1 Air, as I’ve heard enough to know that it would run circles around my dinosaur of a MBP (2014 i7 w/ 16GB) that thermal throttles anytime I use more than 2 Soundtoys plugins… or even am just charging the battery (I wish I were exaggerating.) However, I love my dinosaur’s Magsafe and ports and am glad to just entirely skip the dongle and touchbar era. And, after 7 years and countless € spent keeping this thing alive, I’m happy to spring for something that will hopefully last me at least another 5…
I’m looking forward to actually enjoying finishing tracks in ableton because I won’t be so focused on keeping CPU low, constantly resetting NVRAM, or having to freeze all the tracks I’m not actively working on 
Help me choose a new mac!!! Everyone I know is still on a Mac that’s over 5 years old and doesn’t have a clue. My MBP is finally crapping it self. Hanging every other startup, Photoshop or NX2 freezes once or twice every session and needs a restart. Those are the only two programs I use. Tried wiping and clean reinstalling (not reloading from backup), and removed about 1TB of files, but still no improvement.
My current specs pictured below, which has served me amazingly well for ten years, and is basically the limit of what I need. screen quality is not important, I use external Eizo monitors.
edit, two videographers I work with did buy new machines about 3 years ago, but still have issues. Their only advice is, don’t buy apple 
Don’t do my boy AG Cook like that
Just ordered mine.
16" MBPro
That’ll do for Facebook, right?
Never heard of him
He’s doing something right to be featured on an apple thing, seems to have spent a lot on apple gear and a big garage.
What are you basing this on? RAM is RAM, if your task requires 10GB and you only have 8 then you’ll go into swap, which may not be noticeable initially but not something you want to be doing too often on a device with a soldered SSD. Once you hit the write cycle limit it’s game over.
So…Adobe products have pretty shoddy optimisation for M1x chips thus far, but my understanding is that they’re working on it / it’s getting better. That’s to say, Photoshop is a bit wobbly no matter what (my wife does hand drawn animations with it and it starts to slow down massively after a while on a speced out AMD Ryzen based PC with 32GB Ram and a high end Nvidia graphics card).
As for Nikon’s Capture NX2 (I assume that’s what you meant), it looks like Nikon will not provide compatibility with Big Sur & beyond for that particular software going forward (Support Articles) so if you get one of the new macs, you’d have to find another software to use.
As for your friends telling you not to buy Apple, that was somewhat true during the end of their Intel years BUT now where they’ve switched over to their own silicon, I’d say their stuff is the best value/power-for-money deal out there at the moment (and I write that even considering the pricing of their latest releases).
Technically I’d say an M1 Macbook Pro would be easily enough for your, but since you seem into future proofing / keeping your device for a few years, maybe consider the new 14” macbook with an M1 Pro chip? Base configuration could make sense.
I’m not recommending the M1 Macbook Air here because it sounds like you use multiple monitors and the MBA can technically power only one external monitor (apparently there are workarounds but why bother when you can just buy something that’s meant to work the way you need it to).
There are plenty of lab tests out there, real world performance tests, discussions & testing on swap use and ssd longevity on the 8GB vs 16GB…all well covered topics for those last two releases, I’m basing it on that and on my personal experience with my device, doing stuff that should not be possible on a fanless laptop with 8GB Ram.
He founded PC Music (oh the irony) and his second album is called Apple lol
He uses Logic and most likely is an apple nerd as well. I got his LP and one of the artworks is a homage to a really old original apple logo from the 70s
That said, I don’t think the garage is his. Probably a homage to the company being started in Steve Jobs garage
Have a look into his stuff they’re pretty good. Early PC Music stuff (and even the current ones) are very polarising, and seemed to be received as a joke, but their influence on current pop music is severely understated
Sure , I just had a look on his wiki page.
chiming in here in support of what hausland is saying - the entry 8Gb MBAir is an absolute beast for audio and 3d animation. Fastest computer I’ve ever owned. (and it’s silent and cool to touch ). If you want to spend more get a larger internal SSD. Ignore the fear mongers riding the interwebs.
My PC blew up a while ago and I waited for this event just in case they’d announce a new Mac mini… I don’t need a laptop and €2700 seems a bit overkill
Might get the baseline m1 mini at €700 next week (they’re discounted now) and probably upgrade once the next gen mini is announced
Can you post one of these tests proving that 8GB on the M1 is like 16GB on a regular system? Because even with the fast SSD the write and access times are nowhere near RAM speeds
A quick youtube search returns something like this:
On M1 8GB vs 16GB:
On M1 w 16GB vs Intel w 64GB Ram:
On M1 MBA 8GB vs a Intel MBP 32GB:
On M1 Ram usage & performance compared to Intel 16GB:
RAM is in fact, pretty much RAM. However, if the channels accessing the RAM are a bit more optimized in one system vs. another there could be MINOR performance improvements in real-world applications. However, that said, 8GB is not 16GB. For some applications though, more RAM is not necessarily better. (Though never worse.)
A really efficient memory controller on a system with less, or less and faster memory will be faster than more RAM on a less efficient bus.
(This is why the Gamecube could keep up with the PS2 and XBox as one example.)
Still, within the same platform, more is better. Always.
(Though, that said, my 8GB M1 MBP has performed admirably!)
I wish I had more applications that ran on both ARM64 and Intel/X64 to make real comparisons.
In the end, I will keep my many overspecced PCs AND my M1 MBP. I wouldn’t be without either.
Thanks, you’ve given me best advice I needed, much appreciated. Although, Golden award goes to the apple store “Genius” who recommended the iPad Pro.
I only use one external monitor at a time (at two different locations), so do you think the Air may be suitable? I really don’t need more capability than my 2010 MBP (spec above), and definitely don’t want to spend $10k again, even if I do get the tax breaks.
