Apple announces new Mac Mini, Air + 13" MBP featuring their own M1 chip.

[ericj23]

I cannot see how those results are garbage. They are measuring the A14, which is the baseline of the performance to be expected from the M1

I think the performance will probably be on par with ani5/i7 - my beef was with the 3.5 times performance bullocks they use on their webpage.

From what I can see the processor will be very fast for some jobs (say playing back samples from memory) and much less fast for others (say using Massive X with it's AVX instructions), so depending on how you use your DAW will affect apparent comparative performance. You get the same thing with intel/AMD comparisons too.

I probably shouldn't get too annoyed at marketing - everyone does it, I just find Apple's "style" annoying - everything is always revolutionary, most advanced and gives power beyond imagination. Which is just clearly hyperbole - it is this years slightly faster chip - which is slightly faster than last years slightly faster chip !

[Etienne1973]

... much less fast for others (say using Massive X with it's AVX instructions)...

What If NI or any other developer program their Mac version software specifically for the M1 architecture?

[agharta]

... much less fast for others (say using Massive X with it's AVX instructions)...

What If NI or any other developer program their Mac version software specifically for the M1 architecture?

By the time they get around to doing that, Apple will have shifted to AMD and the Americans will have finished counting the votes in their election.
They need to upgrade their abacuses.

[PAK]

The "M1" presently being offered is an obvious "stop gap" solution. It's more about getting laptops onto the new CPU in order to "encourage" (cough) developers to start making the transition. Since it's based on the A14 guestimates are likely not THAT far off, though still guessing..

If you need any more confirmation, about the temporary nature of M1, they're still selling the Intel Mac Mini. That's not just because of the CPU. Apparently, the M1 will not allow the Mac mini to use external GPU's in its present form!

They will likely be releasing chips, which don't have that GPU limitation, and which will maybe allow them to restore the 10GB ethernet option back to the Mac Mini when they do. It's likely they didn't offer it on the present M1 because of I/O limitations. Again, that's just another sign this is a stop gap measure.

They likely didn't want to hold off longer because they know the hard part is going to be getting 3rd party software running natively on the machines. Since these machines will run the iOS apps, so as long as they get the bigger companies (Adobe, Microsoft etc) to make the transition, they're likely not too worried about saying goodbye to any devs who won't make the switch. But they're essentially glorified iPad Pro chips for now

[Etienne1973]

It's more about getting laptops onto the new CPU in order to "encourage" (cough) developers to start making the transition. Since it's based on the A14 guestimates are likely not THAT far off, though still guessing..

As always u-he does the homework. Kudos!

Future's looking bright from there.

[ericj23]

... much less fast for others (say using Massive X with it's AVX instructions)...

What If NI or any other developer program their Mac version software specifically for the M1 architecture?

The M1 does not have anything like AVX so achieving those specific calculations will require more computing power that on an intel/AMD - I am not sure how much more though, but my suspicion would be a bit.

I am 100% with PAK - this is a stop gap solution put into computers whose likely users will not be too put off by the limitations of it - and may well love things like the huge battery life/low fan noise etc. Apple needed to get something released to start the transition.

The desktop replacements will be next year - then the game is really on.

[Etienne1973]

Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 using preproduction 13-inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 chip, as well as production 1.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-based 13-inch MacBook Pro systems, all configured with 16GB RAM and 2TB SSD. Tested with prerelease Logic Pro 10.6.0 with project consisting of multiple tracks, each with an Amp Designer plug-in instance applied. Individual tracks were added during playback until CPU became overloaded. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro.

[Sascha Franck]

Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 using preproduction 13-inch MacBook Pro systems with Apple M1 chip, as well as production 1.7GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-based 13-inch MacBook Pro systems, all configured with 16GB RAM and 2TB SSD. Tested with prerelease Logic Pro 10.6.0 with project consisting of multiple tracks, each with an Amp Designer plug-in instance applied. Individual tracks were added during playback until CPU became overloaded. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of MacBook Pro.

Any direct link to that test?

While I was sort of excited at first, these aren't too great figures. I mean, the 1.7GHz quadcore isn't exactly a powerhouse by nowadays standards.

[Sascha Franck]

Never mind, found it.

[zvenx]

Yeah I thought the same too.
https://www.apple.com/mac-mini/
Click on See how M1 Redefines Speed.

[zvenx]

Never mind, found it.

oopss. sorry... Posted before I saw this.
rsp

[Etienne1973]

Yes. Apple did a lame Mac mini i3 vs M1 comparison.

[george]

I think there are i7 vs M1 in MacBook Pro comparisons.

[Sascha Franck]

I actually don't care how much they improve FCP or whatever machine learning speed. All I want is Logic and plugins to work well. And an 1.8x improvement over a 1.7GHz quadcore is not exactly what I would ever want from something that should theoretically replace my cheesegrater.

[Sascha Franck]

So, "3 times faster" translates to: "In case you're lucky and use the most optimized plugins coming with Logic, you may perhaps experience 3 times the speed of our previous generation's slowest models". And even their very own website only shows 1.8 x the speed for a plugin they have chosen.