Been holidng off upgrading my MacMini but looking at the new one with 16GB of Ram, which should give me a few years usage so will go for it later this week.
I would just use a Macbook but the temperature here in summer 38+ regularly makes me nervous of running it connected to an external monitor for long periods so will probably hold on to my 2018 Macbook pro for a couple of years and then go for an air…
I am seriously thinking I do not need all this new computing power so can probably scale back both my Macs and iPads to base models (probably “air” versions) now which will save me money, and go for a higher end phone with the savings.
These are impressive but this is not the Pro I’m looking for, nor the Mini, and certainly not the iMac.
32GB and lots of ports (and preferably not fan) is what I’m looking for. So I think I’m waiting for Round 2. (And catching up in the phone aspect of our tech purchasing backlog.)
I have to admit being enticed by either the MBAir or the Mini. I have been considering replacing my desktop, although not quite ready to jump yet. One problem with using the Mini as a desktop: it looks like it will only support two external monitors, and while that is all I am driving now, I would like the option to power 3 monitors if I want to expand. Clearly the Mini does not do so as advertised, although I wonder if it would drive three monitors if two were connected to a TB/USB4 Dock and a third to the HDMI output? It may be awhile before anyone has one and reports on this.
It’s a bit surprising that they are delivering only 2 TB4 ports; while that might be enough for a laptop (although not necessarily a MBPro?), I suspect many users have enough connected to a desktop for that to be insufficient. It seems Apple is just assuming that many people will have to buy a TB4 dock…which is kind of a bummer compared to them just given more ports in the first place.
I wonder if there is a limitation on the M1 chip in this regard (well, presumably it has only one TB4 controller and if the TB4 controller is like the TB3 in this regard, it can only support two ports)…perhaps in the next chip from Apple we will see more TB4 ports.
I don’t expect a per-core speed bump to be stellar.
I expect a 12- or 16-core to suit Mac Pro. (12 would be in line with the industry but 16 makes more “adequate configuration” sense.
I’m a mainframe performance guy so I know all about multiprocessor ratios. (We’ve done very well with near-linear scaling so I expect Apple will do quite well, too. But don’t expect a 16-way to have double the multi core performance of a 8-way - in a single SOC package let alone a single chip.)
M2 probably will have more “fancy stuff” like more AI / GPU cores etc.
I would also think the SOC package would be substantially larger for Mac Pro and maybe Mac Mini and maybe iMac. That could allow:
More ports.
More memory. (My ideal 32GB+)
On “more ports” I wonder if Apple expect mobile (laptop) users to use a dock to get the extra ports.
Anyhow I have an excuse - with the speculation above - to keep saving up for another year.
I am waiting for the iMac (if my current iMac can keep running for another year). It is limping a little but I do not want to buy the last generation intel iMac. I am hoping that the Silicon iMac’s will basically combine the iMac Pro with the “regular” iMac. That they will fold the two lines into one.
Was anyone a little concerned listening to the recent Apple Event when they said that the entire transition would be complete in two years? They said that in June also! Shouldn’t it be a year and a half at this point?
I imagine the Desktops will be the last to move to Silicon and I do not want to wait more than a year for an iMac. I am hoping that it is the MacPro that really is responsible for the “two years” and the iMacs will come sooner than that.
I ordered the Mac Mini today. Always had a soft spot for the Mini as it was my first Mac and I’m generally based at home still at the minute. Ordered the base level. Could have upgraded the RAM, but I want to dip my toe in as it were and see how this works out. I mean, I’ve happily used a Raspberry Pi for a desktop for a short period and that’s ARM based, so I’m assuming it’ll be fine.
I just ran across this youtube video directly comparing the 2020 Intel-powered MacBook Air vs. the new 2020 Apple Silicon MacBook Air using real-world applications. To say there is a dramatic difference doesn’t even begin to describe the level of improved performance.
I ordered a MacBook Pro (expected arrival Dec 3 - 8) but probably could have done just as well with the MacBook Air, based on the results shown in this video.
This is killing me. I could buy an M1 MBP to pickup tomorrow at a local Apple store with education and $520 trade-in for my existing MBP. But I’d rather not pay out of pocket so instead I am awaiting the grinding wheels of the bureaucracy…
I already faced the wrath of the accounting dept. when I got a new iPad this spring without pre-approval.
Just confirmed a Mac Mini for pick up tomorrow. We’ll see if the 8GB is as workable as some of the reviewers have been saying. I am hoping to use it as our shared file machine and retire the 2011 MacBook Pro that has been showing its age and stuck on High Sierra. There have been a few posts in the Plex forums that Plex is running fairly well on the machine. Here’s hoping…
For the sort of use you’re describing, I think 8gb will be fine. I’ve got an Intel Mac mini with 8gb that runs as a file/plex server and it works just fine.
To be fair, I use my Plex server primarily for storage, as many of the things on it are also available to me via streaming. So I haven’t kicked its tires too hard as yet. Still, so far as I can tell — and I’ve done a little testing — it appears to serve content just fine.
My Plex server runs on a Raspberry Pi 4. I wouldn’t be concerned about the Mac Mini.
I ordered the Mini with 1tb and 16 gb memory last week Thursday.
It was originally scheduled to arrive on 10 December, but it shipped today and should be here Monday. Nice surprise.
This will replace a 2010 iMac, so the jump in performance should be big!
After sleeping on it a bit, I cancelled the Pro order and ordered an Air with the same specs. After hearing people talk about the performance differences, I’m just not convinced that there’s enough of a gap for me to justify the extra cost.
Yeah, I was certain that I wouldn’t get any of the M1 systems . . . .
Then on Thursday, the Apple store had the MBA in stock with 16gb ram and the 1 terabyte storage . . .
So yep. I picked it up.
Spent the weekend setting it up new.
The hype is real so far. My 2012 11" MBA is now, finally being repurposed. (Yes. It still runs. With the original battery. While I can’t update it past Catalina, it’s still a workhorse. 8 years and counting.)
The only downside: the iPads are lonely. I’m sure they’ll be back in heavy rotation tomorrow, but they may need charging first.
Got mine today at Apple Store in Pasadena. 512 GB and 8 GB ram like the 2016 MBP it replaced. But the keyboard is so much better - can’t believe I waited this long.
I ordered the Mac mini M1 2TB 16GB on december 9, expected delivery Feb 3, 2021. That seems to be a rediculous delivery time. Buty I’m sure it is worth waiting.
