Apple announce new 14" & 16" MBP with M1Pro and M1Max

[Biome_Digital]

I have a MacBook Air from a few years ago. Not used for audio, though. What Apple desktop computer would one get if:

A - one wanted to have a powerful computer capable of running a load of cpu hungry synths and plugins.
B - doesn't want to spend $4000 on the top of the line MAC.
C - wants it to be good/powerful/compatible for the next few years at least.

Is there a sweet spot somewhere for price and power?

Mac mini M1

Wow, that thing is tiny! Will that be powerful enough for pro audio?

[Etienne1973]

I have a MacBook Air from a few years ago. Not used for audio, though. What Apple desktop computer would one get if:

A - one wanted to have a powerful computer capable of running a load of cpu hungry synths and plugins.
B - doesn't want to spend $4000 on the top of the line MAC.
C - wants it to be good/powerful/compatible for the next few years at least.

Is there a sweet spot somewhere for price and power?

Mac mini M1

Wow, that thing is tiny! Will that be powerful enough for pro audio?

Please define your personal audio power requirement as detailed as possible.

[sQeetz]

Mac mini M1

The Macbook air or pro 13" will not be obsolete for a couple of years either....

[Biome_Digital]

I have a MacBook Air from a few years ago. Not used for audio, though. What Apple desktop computer would one get if:

A - one wanted to have a powerful computer capable of running a load of cpu hungry synths and plugins.
B - doesn't want to spend $4000 on the top of the line MAC.
C - wants it to be good/powerful/compatible for the next few years at least.

Is there a sweet spot somewhere for price and power?

Mac mini M1

Wow, that thing is tiny! Will that be powerful enough for pro audio?

Please define your personal audio power requirement as detailed as possible.

I added this 2 - "D - need 1 or 2 TB hard drive space"

[Etienne1973]

I have a MacBook Air from a few years ago. Not used for audio, though. What Apple desktop computer would one get if:

A - one wanted to have a powerful computer capable of running a load of cpu hungry synths and plugins.
B - doesn't want to spend $4000 on the top of the line MAC.
C - wants it to be good/powerful/compatible for the next few years at least.

Is there a sweet spot somewhere for price and power?

Mac mini M1

Wow, that thing is tiny! Will that be powerful enough for pro audio?

Please define your personal audio power requirement as detailed as possible.

I added this 2 - "D - need 1 or 2 TB hard drive space"

Mac mini M1? Add external drive space. That's what I've done with my current Mac mini Late 2012 system.

[pdxindy]

I have a MacBook Air from a few years ago. Not used for audio, though. What Apple desktop computer would one get if:

A - one wanted to have a powerful computer capable of running a load of cpu hungry synths and plugins.
B - doesn't want to spend $4000 on the top of the line MAC.
C - wants it to be good/powerful/compatible for the next few years at least.

Is there a sweet spot somewhere for price and power?

Mac mini M1

Wow, that thing is tiny! Will that be powerful enough for pro audio?

I'd wait for the next Mac Mini which will have the M1 Pro or M1 Max cpu's. It will also allow up to 64GB memory rather than 16. That should be announced early next year.

[sQeetz]

I'd wait for the next Mac Mini which will have the M1 Pro or M1 Max cpu's. It will also allow up to 64GB memory rather than 16. That should be announced early next year.

To be honest, I don't really believe the Mac Mini will ever get "pro" specs. That's what the Mac Pro will be there for.
The next Mac Mini will probably have an M2 CPU but it will be the same one the non-pro devices like the next Macbook Air will have. Capped at..IDK.. 32GB?

[Biome_Digital]

I have a MacBook Air from a few years ago. Not used for audio, though. What Apple desktop computer would one get if:

A - one wanted to have a powerful computer capable of running a load of cpu hungry synths and plugins.
B - doesn't want to spend $4000 on the top of the line MAC.
C - wants it to be good/powerful/compatible for the next few years at least.

Is there a sweet spot somewhere for price and power?

Mac mini M1

Wow, that thing is tiny! Will that be powerful enough for pro audio?

I'd wait for the next Mac Mini which will have the M1 Pro or M1 Max cpu's. It will also allow up to 64GB memory rather than 16. That should be announced early next year.

I guess I would be wanting to get the "next version" as well.

[Biome_Digital]

I'd wait for the next Mac Mini which will have the M1 Pro or M1 Max cpu's. It will also allow up to 64GB memory rather than 16. That should be announced early next year.

To be honest, I don't really believe the Mac Mini will ever get "pro" specs. That's what the Mac Pro will be there for .

Are new Mac Pro's due out anytime soon?

[sQeetz]

Are new Mac Pro's due out anytime soon?

Well, Apple says they have a two year transition plan. October 2020 they got started. So I would not expect a Mac Pro to arrive before end of 2022

[Biome_Digital]

Are new Mac Pro's due out anytime soon?

Well, Apple says they have a two year transition plan. October 2020 they got started. So I would not expect a Mac Pro to arrive before end of 2022

thanks

[pdxindy]

I'd wait for the next Mac Mini which will have the M1 Pro or M1 Max cpu's. It will also allow up to 64GB memory rather than 16. That should be announced early next year.

To be honest, I don't really believe the Mac Mini will ever get "pro" specs. That's what the Mac Pro will be there for.
The next Mac Mini will probably have an M2 CPU but it will be the same one the non-pro devices like the next Macbook Air will have. Capped at..IDK.. 32GB?

For sure there will be the high end Mac Mini... right now Apple is still selling the high end Mac Mini with Intel processor. There have been plenty of credible rumors about the Apple Silicon high end Mac Mini. I think the only reason it has not been released already is because of the issue with chip shortages.

[antic604]

The Pro/Max Macbooks introduced a couple of days ago use the same core as the year old M1. They just have a more advanced GPU core. As far as the CPU goes, they are the same

That’s not correct, just check the CPU benchmarks and other real life scenarios

Single core benchmarks are exactly the same. They are the same cores. Of course the Pro/Max ones have more of them, but they are technically the same

It's not just more, but different:
- MBP 13'' - 4 performance cores + 4 efficiency cores
- MBP 14''/16'' Pro and Max - 6 or 8 performance cores + 2 efficiency cores

Based on the benchmarks, 1 efficiency core ~ 1/3 of performance core, so ever if Pro/Max "only" has 2 cores more, actual performance advantage is 70-80%.

[sprnva]

This one didn't go well for the cheesegrater. Although Logic was one of the few benchmarks it won.

[bmanic]

Correct but for most applications like DAWs the multicore performance is what counts

Depends. It's actually not really true, since DAWS depend on single core performance more. FX chains can't work in parallel.

You should probably be a bit more accurate here. It depends on the DAW. Something like Reaper (using the native ARM beta) is exceptionally good at splitting up cores for it's tasks. It has no problems setting individual plugin FX and tracks on different cores, no matter how many you have in a chain after one another.

Something like Live is horrible at doing that.