Experiences with m1 chips

[VicRik]

Hi everyone,

My mom is shopping for a new laptop and since she's been using the same MacBook since 2012 (Macbook Air) she would like to get a MacBook again. I have heard positive things about the m1 chips from multiple sources, but since she is not super tech-savvy I am worried about potential software issues. Does anyone have experience with this and could talk about their experiences? She's a high school teacher so the programs she'll be using will be mostly related to that + general browsing. Added to this is the fact that there is currently a good deal in the Netherlands on a 2020 i5 Macbook pro (16GB RAM, 512GB Storage) for 1444€. Her maximum budget is 2000€.

 

Thanks!

 

-VicRik

[Guest]

If you want it for casual use then I would say yes.

[NelizMastr]

I wouldn't buy an Intel MacBook now, even if the price is tempting. The next version of macOS has a number of features that won't work on Intel processors since they utilise the Neural Engine. The M1 is also significantly faster than any Intel 13" machine you can buy from Apple.

 

As long as the software she needs runs on macOS Catalina, it should also work on Big Sur/Monterey and if it's still Intel only, it'll run in Rosetta just fine.

Battery life is significantly better on the M1 Macs as well. I'd go for the MacBook Air with 16GB RAM.

[jaslion]

23 minutes ago, NelizMastr said:

I wouldn't buy an Intel MacBook now, even if the price is tempting. The next version of macOS has a number of features that won't work on Intel processors since they utilise the Neural Engine. The M1 is also significantly faster than any Intel 13" machine you can buy from Apple.

 

As long as the software she needs runs on macOS Catalina, it should also work on Big Sur/Monterey and if it's still Intel only, it'll run in Rosetta just fine.

Battery life is significantly better on the M1 Macs as well. I'd go for the MacBook Air with 16GB RAM.

I see apple dropping every intel mac within 3 years by now. They are pushing super hard for their chips and well it's going to be a power pc thing all over again pretty much.

[jippa_lippa]

1 hour ago, WickedThunder86 said:

If you want it for casual use then I would say yes.

I work professionally on it (Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator) and I worked more this year on my M1 than all the previous year with an Intel.
I'm not saying the M1 experience is perfect but, provided you don't do complex VFX or 3D work, it is totally usable professionally, especially on native software.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, jippa_lippa said:

I work professionally on it (Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator) and I worked more this year on my M1 than all the previous year with an Intel.
I'm not saying the M1 experience is perfect but, provided you don't do complex VFX or 3D work, it is totally usable professionally, especially on native software.

Ok. I am not a Mac user (I use Debian) and since I was seeing lots of praise for M1 and how good is it in daily tasks, That's why I wrote about casual use.

[jippa_lippa]

13 minutes ago, WickedThunder86 said:

Ok. I am not a Mac user (I use Debian) and since I was seeing lots of praise for M1 and how good is it in daily tasks, That's why I wrote about casual use.

No but I'm not saying it's perfect.
I'm just amazed by how well it performs if we consider it's a fairly "new" technology and it's the entry level of the apple silicon family.
Rosetta 2 is especially impressive!

 

That said there are some limitations, especially in the GPU and RAM department, that's why I already saved up for a next-gen "M2" system.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, jippa_lippa said:

No but I'm not saying it's perfect.
I'm just amazed by how well it performs if we consider it's a fairly "new" technology and it's the entry level of the apple silicon family.
Rosetta 2 is especially impressive!

 

That said there are some limitations, especially in the GPU and RAM department, that's why I already saved up for a next-gen "M2" system.

M1 is no new technology. ARM based RISC CPU's exist in phones and PDA's for decades