Apple’s newm1macs have a memory problem
With its usual glitz, polish and technical braggadocio, Apple this week began its transition from Intel processors to in-house chips for its Mac desktop and notebook computers. Based on the high-gloss presentation and the claims of dramatic increases in speed and power efficiency, its M1 Apple Silicon processor could take the Mac to greater heights.
Still, every journey up a mountain begins at its foot. On paper, the M1 chip is zippy and should provide stellar battery life.
Based on the same processors Apple uses in its iphones and ipads, the M1 brings a lot of the benefits of those mobile devices – including the ability to run IOS and ipados apps.
But go to the online Apple store and walk through the
Techburger process of configuring and ordering a one of the M1-based products and reality hits home. They have some real limitations. In fact, I’d suggest that only one of them is worth buying as a version 1.0 product. First, some basics. Apple announced during its Worldwide Developers Conference in June that it was planning to switch from Intel-based chips in its Macs to its own processor line, which it dubbed
Apple Silicon. The company has made its own processors for years for use in its mobile products, and in that arena Apple is tops in performance.
On Tuesday, CEO Tim Cook and his lieutenants announced an M1-based 13-inch Macbook
Air, a 13-inch Macbook Pro, and a Mac mini, the small desktop to which users bring their own screen, keyboard and mice.
The Macbook Air starts at the same price as its Intel-based predecessor, which is no longer
available, at $999. The Macbook Pro starts at $1,299, also the previous starting price, and higherend Intel models remain for sale.
The Mac mini costs $100 less than the previous model, at $699 to start, and again there are still Intel versions at higher price points available.
Apple made all kinds of claims about the speed and efficiency of the processor, including that the M1 is more powerful than the chips in 98 percent of all PCS sold last year. They didn’t provide a source for that data point, or say exactly how “98 percent” is calculated, but we get the point – it’s fast.
Battery life claims were equally lofty, including that you may get 20 hours on a charge on the new Macbook Pro. On the Air, greater power efficiencies mean there’s no need for a fan. Owners of previous Airs have long complained about the fans’ tendencies to fire up under even minor stress.
But when you go to choose the amount of memory for your new M1 Mac, you don’t get many
choices – 8 gigabytes, which is the default, or 16. In modern personal computing, eight is the bare minimum for many users and is fine for light use, such as word processing, watching video, checking email, basic web surfing, etc.
Sixteen GB gives you more headroom for photo or video editing, working with large data files or compute-intensive applications. But serious professional users, who might work with virtual machines, 3D animation or multimedia creation, will want more than that.
For the Macbook Air, this is not a major concern. Its Intel version always had a 16-GB limit, and the Air is designed as a thin, light, traveling machine. But for the MacBook Pro and Mac mini – both of which are used by professionals – the 16 GB memory limit will be a deal-breaker for some.
There are other constraints. The new Mac mini has fewer Thunderbolt/ USB-C ports compared to the previous model. It also doesn’t offer the fast 10gigabit Ethernet network connection, which was an option on the Intel version.
Fortunately, Apple is
continuing to sell Intel versions of the Macbook Pro and Mac mini. They can use as much as 64 gigabytes.
But given the way Apple has designed its M1 processor, less memory may not result in the performance hits that may have been seen on older computers. I ask Ray Simar and Joseph Cavallaro, two computer engineering professors at Rice University, about this.
Both Simar and Cavallaro praised Apple’s approach of bringing components typically scattered across the system board of a personal computer into
the package that includes the main processor, a design known as System on a Chip, or SOC. That means information doesn’t have as far to travel as it’s being worked, boosting performance.
The 16-GB RAM limit may have to do with that, said Cavallarao, because memory is bundled into the package that holds the chip. Future versions of the Apple Silicon processor will certainly be offered with room for more memory.
When a computer’s RAM fills up with data in heavy usage, it generates
what’s called virtual memory on the computer’s drive and swaps data over there. In the bad old days, when most computers had slow hard disks with spinning magnetic platters, that resulted in a bottleneck.
But Simar said that, with fast solid-state drives that are made of memory chips, this scenario would not create the same issue.
During its presentation, Apple executives talked about the speed of its solid state drives. It’s ideal to have as much memory as you can get, Simar said, but 16 GB may not feel like as much of a limitation on the M1 Macs with their superfast architecture.
So where does that leave someone who needs to buy an Apple notebook, or wants the small footprint of a Mac mini desktop?
I think the Macbook Air is the best buy among the three M1 Macs. With improved performance and battery life at the same price as before, it’s a fantastic ultraportable computer.
The other two are not as compelling, particularly considering the type of users attracted to them. Professional users will be hesitant to buy a Macbook Pro with memory topping out at 16 GB, and the same can be said for owners of the Mac mini.
Although the Rice professors say Apple’s architecture may mitigate performance, I think you’d be better off waiting for the next version of Apple’s Mac chips that gives you more options.
Version 1.0 is just starting point; 2.0 will be much better.