I wager that will be M2
Apple warranty is good at any Apple location. [in given country]
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True! I’m not so scared for storage. Have a 4tb hdd and I’m pretty minimal when it comes to files. All fotos are on iCloud.
I agree to disagree. Same here. Got a maxed out iMac in 2014 and still no signs of lagging, even with serious workloads.
That’s 7 years peace of mind not having to worry about compatibility etc.
So when the Apple silicon 27” (or larger !) iMac gets announced, I will be on front of the line to order a maxed out one again.
Hmmm ok, I trust you but still I want to understand. Can you elaborate?
There is not so much to elaborate, I think. There are a lot of YT videos which explain the 8GB/16GB differences, just watch some of them. The reason I bought the 16GB version is that I still use Windows, and with 16GB RAM I can easily run a VM and still have enough RAM for the MacOS applications the same time. For me it feels more future-proof too because you can not expand RAM and SSD storage. Talking about storage, be wise how much storage you need for now and for later. I have the 512GB SSD version and a Samsung T7 2TB attached for my music projects, sample library and occasional backups.
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Thanks for you reply! I can get a Mac mini M1 2020 for 600 euro in the next town over.
8 gb and 256 ssd
Not sure if waiting for the 2021 model makes sense.
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600,- euro is a good price. Good luck!
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Are you running into any issues with the windows VM? Any apps not running on it as its still an ARM build of windows and technically an “insider preview” version.
Also keeping your music files on the external is gonna kill any net gains of RAM swapping.
Youre also probably only gtting 1/2 speed on that T7 drive as the air and mini do not have USB 3.2 ports.
The OS doesn’t use an external SSD for RAM swapping.
M1 mini has what Apple call USB3.1 Gen2
Samsung T7 has what they call USB3.2 Gen2
They both run at 10Gb/s. They are the same thing. USB naming conventions are a complete mess.
The internal drive in the Samsung T7 doesn’t even reach speeds of 10Gb/s
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the t7, if not connected to 3.2, runs at standard 3.0 speeds
I forget where, but this was discussed at length with another user.
That person was saying he was only getting 500gb/sec
“The OS doesn’t use an external SSD for RAM swapping.”
thus killing net gains 
The insider preview ARM version of Windows 11 runs without any issues. I can even play games like Half-Life Black Mesa.
Correction, I have a 2GB Samsung T5. But even it has lower speeds than the T7, it’s running more than fast enough. I even run the Windows 11 VM from it.
@k0ns already explained how RAM swapping is working. Thanks for that!
16 memory channels for M1 Pro, and 32 channels for the M1 Max.
That’s very cool stuff!
It will be very interesting next week to see how real world applications perform (when a few youtubers get them).
And the next year will be interesting as devs optimize parallel memory operations.
In preparation I’m going to setup a few tests in Bitwig Studio on my current MBP, and measure the following.
- Load time for a project
- DSP Graph while playing the “In Cycles” demo song
I’ll be going from this:
To this:
So I’m expecting to see about a 2x improvement.
My order says my new MBP will be here between Nov 5th and Nov 10th. Still a ways off…
Edit: I’ll also be comparing it to the Bitwig tests I originally did on my current 2020 Intel based MBP:
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Near 30 years of experience in Graphic Design and I’ve never come across a PC user until recently. It was always on Macs.
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Goes both ways….20 years in video game dev. Never saw a Mac till about 6 years ago.
Seeing more and more as time goes on. And wouldn’t be surprised if they become the go to.
I hated using PCs…there was always issues.
When I went to Zynga and they gave me the option….I was so stoked.
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what’s your take on the gaming industry’s response to these Mac chips (M1Pro & Max) and their graphics performance? I assume we won’t see gaming studios shifting their attention to that platform anytime soon?
that’s a chicken and egg problem
So far, a few Mac games get converted by porting houses( some games I worked on in the last 15 yrs were done by Mac companies but not us, the actual developers) … maybe if unreal runs well on Mac that would help but if you see current games ‘coming soon’ I doubt you’ll see any Mac logos
Lots of iOS games get on Mac I think, probably due to development environment
In general I’d go with ps5/Xbox/pc for games (in not particular order)
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There’s a few interesting videos on yt talking about valve’s vulkan providing native game support in future. It’s all conjecture at this point, but if the whole market shifts to soc then the x86 gaming market will need to, too
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I wouldn’t be surprised if they do.
That extra juice to push polys and animated heavy meshes would be great!