13-inch MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon M1 review: Unprecedented power and battery for the ...

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  • Reply 81 of 91
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    You left out the speed difference between the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac mini:
    You are paying a lot more for the MacBook Pro for only a small speed difference. The MacBook Air seems like the one to get if you want a laptop. Otherwise the Mac mini is the top performer for the dollar at a starting price far below either of the laptops.

    System: Mac mini (Late 2020) Apple M1 3192 MHz (8 cores)
    Single-Core Score: 1728
    Multi-Core Score: 7377

    System: MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2020) Apple M1 3197 MHz (8 cores)
    Single-Core Score: 1734
    Multi-Core Score: 7534

    System: MacBook Air (Late 2020) Apple M1 3187 MHz (8 cores)
    Single-Core Score: 1516
    Multi-Core Score: 5735

    Incorrect. The speed difference is notable during sustained performance draw. The Air will throttle, while the Pro will not. 

    Anyone who does “pro” things will benefit much. 

    Video editing, compositing, animation, etc. will take the Air down a few notches while the Pro continues to sing along nicely. 
    I guess it depends on what you mean by notable. Most reviews I’ve seen say it drops by about 5%. Then about 10%, and in the end it’s about a 15% drop. That’s not that much of a difference. One reviewer found a final 20% drop in one app he was using.

    does it matter? It could. But it’s not a huge difference. Most peop,e won’t come across it, or won’t even notice it. If you’re doing heavy work, then the Pro will be somewhat better. That’s what I ordered, but it’s also for the 25% brighter screen, and for the Touch Bar, which I do like.
  • Reply 82 of 91
    I'm just in awe of the M1 SoC in the MacBook Air. I just did a benchmark comparison with Handbrake between my 2013 6C/12T Mac Pro and the M1 MacBook Air. Long story shortened, the M1 MBA blew away the Mac Pro.

    This was from a previously ripped and decrypted DVD TV show. The file is a 1.78 GB .ts file on the SSD with a duration of 42:24. I converted it to both a x264 and x265 .mp4. The resulting .mp4 files are 586.2 MB for x264 and 477.1 MB for x265. This is with Handbrake 1.40 Beta 1 which is a Universal Binary.

    6C/12T Mac Pro (2013) x264: 10m:05s avg 100.89 fps
    4P/4E M1 MacBook Air x264: 
    7m:35s avg 134.90 fps

    The M1 is ~33% faster.

    6C/12T Mac Pro (2013) x265: 55m:50s avg 18.09 fps
    4P/4E M1 MacBook Air x265: 40m:58s avg 24.83 fps

    The M1 is ~36% faster.

    This is nuts. I ran the test with the MBA in clamshell mode. The MacBook Air is fanless and produced no more than a slight warming on the outside of the case. Originally the Mac Pro cost $4299 in 2014. The M1 MacBook Air with 16GB and 1 TB was $1649.
    edited November 2020
  • Reply 83 of 91
    charlesn said:

    We don’t need crummy video conference where everyone is looking slightly off-camera; there’s nothing gained when it comes to discussing projects and work to be done. Normals think Zoom is omg important, but it isn’t. It’s been teleconference for the past decade on our other contracts too. 
    Yours is one opinion. To counter , every meeting I have is zoom based. Each company is different. So a reasonable front camera is pretty important for me. To not include a better one is just tight, lazy, and greedy on Apples part. Form over function if they say they couldn’t actually fit one in.  

    Many PC laptops are not any better though. Our Lenovo T480’s at work are just as bad as my 16” MBP they have given me. But they cost peanuts compared to Apple kit. 

    So yeah , it’s disappointing and entirely predictable people would feel this way (well some of us anyway)


  • Reply 84 of 91
    For me the new MBP isn’t that appealing. The extra $ over the air doesn’t really give much. Lost count how many times the review said “and the fan didn’t even come on”. 

    Indeed. 

    Just get the air. Air screen is decent anyway. Never seen such parity between the air and pro models. 

    This “pro” model  needs 4 ports not 2 and probably an M1-X chip or something to justify itself as a pro machine.  

    Sad to see the baseline model is just 8GB.  Poor webcam too. 

    Software and performance are good , but you get that with the Air too. 

    Another review said that unless you are doing sustained full load for >10 to 15m then that’s the only reason to consider the MBP. 
  • Reply 85 of 91
    Beats said:
    Any reason to get a Windows machine now? Besides the viruses?
    Yes, $500 gets you a pretty good 15” laptop kids can use for digital learning. 
  • Reply 86 of 91
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    AI_lias said:
    Beats said:
    Any reason to get a Windows machine now? Besides the viruses?
    Yes, $500 gets you a pretty good 15” laptop kids can use for digital learning. 
    Meh. Pretty good id]s hardly what I would call them. Acceptable is colored. I’ve tried a couple over the past two years, and performance isn’t very good for much more than the basics. I suppose it’s ok for kids. But then they have to suffer through learning Windows, which is something I wouldn’t want to subject a new computer user to.
    jony0
  • Reply 87 of 91
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    lewchenko said:
    charlesn said:

    We don’t need crummy video conference where everyone is looking slightly off-camera; there’s nothing gained when it comes to discussing projects and work to be done. Normals think Zoom is omg important, but it isn’t. It’s been teleconference for the past decade on our other contracts too. 
    Yours is one opinion. To counter , every meeting I have is zoom based. Each company is different. So a reasonable front camera is pretty important for me. To not include a better one is just tight, lazy, and greedy on Apples part. Form over function if they say they couldn’t actually fit one in.  

    Many PC laptops are not any better though. Our Lenovo T480’s at work are just as bad as my 16” MBP they have given me. But they cost peanuts compared to Apple kit. 

    So yeah , it’s disappointing and entirely predictable people would feel this way (well some of us anyway)


    It’s not greed. The cameras cost about the same. These sensors cost about a couple bucks. Apple just wanted to have a comparison between the old and new machines without variation.
    Fidonet127
  • Reply 88 of 91
    DuhSesameDuhSesame Posts: 1,278member
    melgross said:
    You left out the speed difference between the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac mini:
    You are paying a lot more for the MacBook Pro for only a small speed difference. The MacBook Air seems like the one to get if you want a laptop. Otherwise the Mac mini is the top performer for the dollar at a starting price far below either of the laptops.

    System: Mac mini (Late 2020) Apple M1 3192 MHz (8 cores)
    Single-Core Score: 1728
    Multi-Core Score: 7377

    System: MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2020) Apple M1 3197 MHz (8 cores)
    Single-Core Score: 1734
    Multi-Core Score: 7534

    System: MacBook Air (Late 2020) Apple M1 3187 MHz (8 cores)
    Single-Core Score: 1516
    Multi-Core Score: 5735

    Incorrect. The speed difference is notable during sustained performance draw. The Air will throttle, while the Pro will not. 

    Anyone who does “pro” things will benefit much. 

    Video editing, compositing, animation, etc. will take the Air down a few notches while the Pro continues to sing along nicely. 
    I guess it depends on what you mean by notable. Most reviews I’ve seen say it drops by about 5%. Then about 10%, and in the end it’s about a 15% drop. That’s not that much of a difference. One reviewer found a final 20% drop in one app he was using.

    does it matter? It could. But it’s not a huge difference. Most peop,e won’t come across it, or won’t even notice it. If you’re doing heavy work, then the Pro will be somewhat better. That’s what I ordered, but it’s also for the 25% brighter screen, and for the Touch Bar, which I do like.
    We could wait for the update, I’ve heard it had something to do with the OS.

    Meanwhile, I guess one could do this:

    https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/m1-air-with-thermal-pad-mod.2272939/

    edited December 2020
  • Reply 89 of 91
    DuhSesameDuhSesame Posts: 1,278member
    You left out the speed difference between the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac mini:
    You are paying a lot more for the MacBook Pro for only a small speed difference. The MacBook Air seems like the one to get if you want a laptop. Otherwise the Mac mini is the top performer for the dollar at a starting price far below either of the laptops.

    System: Mac mini (Late 2020) Apple M1 3192 MHz (8 cores)
    Single-Core Score: 1728
    Multi-Core Score: 7377

    System: MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2020) Apple M1 3197 MHz (8 cores)
    Single-Core Score: 1734
    Multi-Core Score: 7534

    System: MacBook Air (Late 2020) Apple M1 3187 MHz (8 cores)
    Single-Core Score: 1516
    Multi-Core Score: 5735

    That's in a different piece, that's also still on the homepage.

    https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/11/17/m1-benchmarks-proves-apple-silicon-outclasses-nearly-all-current-intel-mac-chips


    Quick question, did the M1 Air sound any better than the 10th-Gen?  How did the M1 Pro compare?
  • Reply 90 of 91
    Nice! Looking forward to a 16” Pro. Hopefully with slightly better graphics performance and 32GB RAM, for working with multiple layers of high resolution video.
  • Reply 91 of 91
    Mike Wuerthele said:

    This is incorrect, according to Apple. As I have said before, and have elaborated upon with Apple, the controllers are full USB 4 controllers, with USB-4 speeds. Just because the spec sheet below it says compatible with USB 3.2 gen 2 does not mean that it is not USB 4, with all that entails.

    What it certainly is not is Thunderbolt 4, which we'd have preferred to have been more clear and not had to hunt down Apple PR folks to confirm.

    We'll be testing more as we see more native USB4 (not TB3) peripherals.

    Well, Thunderbolt 4 is essentially Thunderbolt 3 with all the optional parts now required (which Apple has always provided unlike OEM computer makers) - as well as some changes in the Thunderbolt stack on the OS side.

    There is one place where the M1 Macs fall short and that is they only support one display - but in all other areas, macOS 11.1 should provide full Thunderbolt 4 support (including support for Thunderbolt Hubs) on any Mac supporting Thunderbolt 3.

    I don't think eGPUs are part of the Thunderbolt 4 spec.
    edited January 2021
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