Apple M1

[jbltecnicspro]

If I get a Mac, which will be my first one, it may be the MacBook Air M1. I’m actually very impressed by this chip.

 

[Digitalcaveman]

I have the M1 right now, just got it brand new. Short review 2 days in.... Specs: 13.3" MBP 16GB Ram, 1TB SSD brand new. Direct from Apple.

The Good: It's fast, battery life is insane, it looks phenomenal. Keyboard & Trackpad omg so buttery smooth.
The Bad: Software compatibility which is constantly improving but many programs that run on Intel Macs will not run on M1 even with Rosetta 2 interpretation. My legacy Mac software. Um, No. ;(
The Ugly: Potential issue with M1 chewing through SSD too quickly. It may be a fixable bug, more to come. Read two articles on this, here's one

The portability and battery life and speed is just unreal. If you want to use MacOS and be productive, portable and use a device that is extremely light and fast, the 13" Pro is the one to get. I would not get the Air as the Pro has 100+ more Nits to 500 over the Air, this makes a difference. It also has a fan for better air cooling for longer workflows over 3-4 hours and potential longevity of life to the internals. Also, the Pro has the Touch Bar which my opinion is still out on, however it is kinda cool and I have used it for some handy things so far.

 

[Red Falcon]

Any OS that runs low on RAM from high memory usage is going to hit SWAP and thrash the disk, be it a HDD or SSD.
That 'issue' isn't limited to Apple computers, and I see it as more an issue of lack of RAM and/or over-usage of programs or data being loaded.

Have you been able to see what your RAM usage is on average, and how many writes you've had on your SSD?
Unless aggressive swappiness is a thing on MacOS, I don't see how there is any 'bug' to fix, outside of each individual's RAM usage.

Here's a way to disable SWAP on MacOS: https://windsketch.cc/macbook-disable-swap/
There's your 'bug' fix.

 

[Digitalcaveman]

Any OS that runs low on RAM from high memory usage is going to hit SWAP and thrash the disk, be it a HDD or SSD.
That 'issue' isn't limited to Apple computers, and I see it as more an issue of lack of RAM and/or over-usage of programs or data being loaded.

Have you been able to see what your RAM usage is on average, and how many writes you've had on your SSD?
Unless aggressive swappiness is a thing on MacOS, I don't see how there is any 'bug' to fix, outside of each individual's RAM usage.

Here's a way to disable SWAP on MacOS: https://windsketch.cc/macbook-disable-swap/
There's your 'bug' fix.

Sorry man, do not think it works like that on the new M1 ARM architecture.

_____
From your article:

1. Disable swap​

Be careful! Disable swap would cause kernel panic if there is not enough RAM for processes. Take it at your own risk.
_____

I do believe there is something they can do to fix hitting the drive so hard for swap space. I think that is in the works and should not deter people from getting one.

With the 16GB Ram I have my average usage is 10GB with a lot of things opened. I switched to Safari for browsing as it is optimized for the M1, beefed up security and privacy too. Use DuckGo for search and Dashlane right now for passwords and secure info.

 

[Red Falcon]

Sorry man, do not think it works like that on the new M1 ARM architecture.

_____
From your article:

1. Disable swap​

Be careful! Disable swap would cause kernel panic if there is not enough RAM for processes. Take it at your own risk.
_____

I do believe there is something they can do to fix hitting the drive so hard for swap space. I think that is in the works and should not deter people from getting one.

With the 16GB Ram I have my average usage is 10GB with a lot of things opened. I switched to Safari for browsing as it is optimized for the M1, beefed up security and privacy too. Use DuckGo for search and Dashlane right now for passwords and secure info.

Unless there is something special about that architecture, which I doubt (sounds more like an OS configuration/behavior than anything else), the issue is most likely users running out of RAM and thus hitting SWAP.
I could be wrong about that, and MacOS managing inactive programs by aggressively putting them into SWAP, but doing so will definitely burn through the SSD much faster - Apple probably should have thought that one out a bit more if that is the case, or if they have, they have accepted the costs of replacing the motherboards if/when the time comes as a business decision.

Again, I don't really see how this is a 'bug', but I do see it as either poor management and planning, or an acceptable loss (knowing Apple, it would be this).

Be careful! Disable swap would cause kernel panic if there is not enough RAM for processes. Take it at your own risk.

It's like that for every OS and CPU ISA out there, and disabling SWAP doesn't hurt anything as long as the system doesn't run out of RAM.

 

[Digitalcaveman]

Unless there is something special about that architecture, which I doubt (sounds more like an OS configuration/behavior than anything else), the issue is most likely users running out of RAM and thus hitting SWAP.
I could be wrong about that, and MacOS managing inactive programs by aggressively putting them into SWAP, but doing so will definitely burn through the SSD much faster - Apple probably should have thought that one out a bit more if that is the case, or if they have, they have accepted the costs of replacing the motherboards if/when the time comes as a business decision.

Again, I don't really see how this is a 'bug', but I do see it as either poor management and planning, or an acceptable loss (knowing Apple, it would be this).


It's like that for every OS and CPU ISA out there, and disabling SWAP doesn't hurt anything as long as the system doesn't run out of RAM.

All good points I agree wholeheartedly. I also think the SSD cell quality (if they used quality SSD's) would prolong the life of the drives considerably as well. Which getting a larger drive to disperse the writes could also extend the life. However, my biggest concern is without the added warranty is if they are stating (based upon the article I originally posted) that SSD failure could occur within 2yrs or less and Apple does nothing to support those people who were brave enough to purchase an M1 when first released, it could be a disaster for some customers like me. However, based upon the butterfly keyboard recall they did, I feel Apple would do the right thing and help those customers affected. So aside from this one issue, (which is a big one I agree), it really is a phenomenal machine and experience. Especially since you can open iOS apps now on MacOS with the M1. The ecosystem connectivity, ease of installing and removing software and ability to message and create come together extremely well. So I use my Razor 2019 for VR/Gaming and as a backup but love the quality and fluidity of the iOS/MacOS ecosystem for everything else

 

[Lakados]

I see that Adobe pushed a Creative Cloud update today for Lightroom that has native M1 support, so yay?

 

[cpufrost]

I like where it's going.
The SSD wear is a bit concerning for sure.
I have a 16" with 23 cycles and (battery) health is 85%!

 

[Lakados]

All good points I agree wholeheartedly. I also think the SSD cell quality (if they used quality SSD's) would prolong the life of the drives considerably as well. Which getting a larger drive to disperse the writes could also extend the life. However, my biggest concern is without the added warranty is if they are stating (based upon the article I originally posted) that SSD failure could occur within 2yrs or less and Apple does nothing to support those people who were brave enough to purchase an M1 when first released, it could be a disaster for some customers like me. However, based upon the butterfly keyboard recall they did, I feel Apple would do the right thing and help those customers affected. So aside from this one issue, (which is a big one I agree), it really is a phenomenal machine and experience. Especially since you can open iOS apps now on MacOS with the M1. The ecosystem connectivity, ease of installing and removing software and ability to message and create come together extremely well. So I use my Razor 2019 for VR/Gaming and as a backup but love the quality and fluidity of the iOS/MacOS ecosystem for everything else

I don't think the SSD thing will be much of an issue outside cases where people are frequently exceeding more than their total ram, which shouldn't be consistent unless they vastly underprovisioned their system when planning their usage out. Which regardless of what kind of system you were using would cause a failure the only issue there is the inability to replace the components yourself which.... ouch.

 

[cdabc123]

I don't think the SSD thing will be much of an issue outside cases where people are frequently exceeding more than their total ram, which shouldn't be consistent unless they vastly underprovisioned their system when planning their usage out. Which regardless of what kind of system you were using would cause a failure the only issue there is the inability to replace the components yourself which.... ouch.

if only the proper amount of ram was budget friendly and not a rip off. Will be interesting to see how many people toast the non removable sdd within.