New Apple Silicon Macs: MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini

[tabarus]

@UtterDisbelief is talking about the GPU cores. You can see it says 7-Core GPU.

The right one has 8 GPU Cores

 

[scottkendall]

The Apple store shows 8 Cores for the either :

Buy MacBook Air

Pay over time, interest-free for your MacBook Air with Apple Card Monthly Installments. Free delivery. Select a model or customize your own.

www.apple.com

How about making music on the 8 Core MBA ?

That would depend on how many tracks, Loops and effects you are trying to use. If you only using 24 tracks probably no problem but if you start getting up into the in to 50 - 60+ tracks you might run into an issue. But at the same time maybe not. Lets think about it like this the M1 chip is smacking around 9900k in single core and is not much behind in the multi thread. My buddy averages about 30-40 tracks/loops in his music making with a I9 9900 and says that at any given time he is using about 40% of the CPU! He exclusively uses Logic to produce his tracks!

 

[tabarus]

That would depend on how many tracks, Loops and effects you are trying to use. If you only using 24 tracks probably no problem but if you start getting up into the in to 50 - 60+ tracks you might run into an issue. But at the same time maybe not. Lets think about it like this the M1 chip is smacking around 9900k in single core and is not much behind in the multi thread. My buddy averages about 30-40 tracks/loops in his music making with a I9 9900 and says that at any given time he is using about 40% of the CPU! He exclusively uses Logic to produce his tracks!

Yeah I know I also use Logic, the question was how big is the difference between the Mac Mini M1 and the MacBookAir with exact the same specs.

 

[scottkendall]

Yeah I know I also use Logic, the question was how big is the difference between the Mac Mini M1 and the MacBookAir with exact the same specs.

Marginal:


I guess it matters if you want something with a monitor and is portable or if you want something where you can pick the monitor and want a stationary desktop.

I mean I guess you could get a side bag with a clear plastic side and put the monitor and Mac mini in it and make it portable. Also the Mac mini with 512gb hard drive and 16GB of memory is $1099 why the MacBook Air with the same specs is $1449.

Only you can know if the portability is worth the extra $350, also I would guess that as Big Sur gets more optimized and what ever the next OS is those numbers might rise for the systems with fans but the Air might remain constant because of the lack of cooling (this is a guess).

 

[nicksoph]

Number of tracks before it overloads: from - https://music-prod.com/logic-pro-x-benchmarks/ All about the same but the slight differences seem odd
Mac Pro 2020 Xeon W 28-core	386
Mac Pro 2019 16-core	265
iMac 27 2020 i9 3,6Ghz 10-core	136
iMac 27 2019 i9 8-Core	125
iMac 27 2020 i7 8-core	123
Mac Pro 2013 E5 2697 12-core	119
Mac Pro 5.1 12-core	114
MacBook Air M1 8-Core	110
Mac Mini 2020 M1 8-core[/TD]	109
Mac Pro 4,1 2009 2×3.46Ghz 6-core Intel Xeon	109
iMac 27 2020 6-Core i5 3.3Ghz	107
MacBook Pro 2020 13 M1 16GB RAM	106
MacBook Pro 16 2019 i9 2.4Ghz	105
Mac Pro 2010 12-core 3.33Ghz	104
MacBook Pro 16 2019 i9 2.3 8Core	99
Mac Mini i7 8700B 6-core	91
MacBook Pro 15 i9-9980h 8-core	90
Mac Pro 2013 Xeon 8-Core	88
Mac Pro 6.1 Xeon E5 6-core 3.5Ghz	72
MacBook Pro 15 2018 2,2Ghz i7	67
iMac 27″ Late 2015 i7 4Ghz	54
iMac Late 2012 3,4Ghz i7	47
iMac 27 2014 i7 4Ghz	42
MacBook Pro 15 Mid 2012 i7 2.3Ghz	37
MacBook Pro Mid 2014 i7 2.5Ghz 4-core	30
iMac 27 2017 i5 3,5Ghz	27
MacBook Pro 2017 2.3Ghz i5	21
MacBook Pro, Early 2011, i7 4 core 2Ghz	21
MacBook Pro 13 2015 i5 2.7Ghz	19
MacBook Pro Mid 2014 2.6 i5	14
MacBook Pro 13 i5 2016	14
MacBook Pro 13 Mid-2012 i7 2.9Ghz	5
MacBook Air 13 i5 2018	3

 

[ffk]

Sandy Bridge was released in 2011. How many people are still using those today?

I still have my first hackintosh running a plex and roon server running 24/7. z68 board with a i5 2500k Sandy Bridge oc'ed to 4.2.

 

[nomad411]

wait there are a few M1 chips or just one? MacBook Air "we took out the fan" (laughs), Mac Mini "powerful" fan, MacBook pro "dedicated" fan... I'm confused!

The new Mac products are always confusing nowadays.. Wait for the "Mac Mini ProMax Supra Ultra X", it'll be the best!!

 

[pastrychef]

I still have my first hackintosh running a plex and roon server running 24/7. z68 board with a i5 2500k Sandy Bridge oc'ed to 4.2.

I also run Plex 24/7 but off of my NAS which has a CPU with 14W TDP. No problems with 1080p, 4K, or HEVC content.

 

[pastrychef]

The new Mac products are always confusing nowadays.. Wait for the "Mac Mini ProMax Supra Ultra X", it'll be the best!!

I don't find anything confusing with the Apple Silicon Macs. It all seems extremely straight forward to me...

On the other hand, I have a really hard time with Intel's new naming scheme...

Intel’s Ice and Comet Lake CPU Names Are Confusing for Customers

Intel’s 10th Gen CPU naming convention may be more confusing to consumers who aren’t in the know about specs.

www.tomshardware.com

 

[thedocbwarren]

I don't find anything confusing with the Apple Silicon Macs. It all seems extremely straight forward to me...

On the other hand, I have a really hard time with Intel's new naming scheme...

Intel’s Ice and Comet Lake CPU Names Are Confusing for Customers

Intel’s 10th Gen CPU naming convention may be more confusing to consumers who aren’t in the know about specs.

www.tomshardware.com

Yah Apple Silicon is way easier to understand than that nonsense.