Month: November 2020

Categories
Tech Rants

How in the world???

It has been a week, since M1 Macs have been able to be discussed by reviewers and normal users. In that time, we have seen benchmarks and real world use, and I have frankly been stunned. I was expecting a platform that basically iterated upon the performance of the existing Intel based Macs, with less heat and improved battery life. What we got instead was something almost revolutionary.

These new M1 Macs come close to putting everyone else to shame. The CPU performance is up there with AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series chips and Intel’s 10th Generation Core chips, especially in single core tasks, but rivaling them in multi-core performance as well. The GPUs are no slouch, coming close to, if not beating, cards that still fetch $200-400 (disclaimer: the last GPU I bought, by itself, was a Matrox Mystique 220 for $120, and I thought that was expensive). To think this is the first iteration of these chips for PCs. It also puts into context what the iPads and iPhones actually are, as these chips are close cousins to the A series chips used in those devices.

The reviews are actually making me want to go out and buy a new Mac. I don’t normally buy new machines frequently, my last new purchase was 2012, for a MacBook Pro Retina 15″, but these new M1 Macs, make my existing 3 main machines (2012 MBPr 15″, 2011 27″ iMac, and Lenovo Ideapad Y700) look like chumps. I AM one of those Mac guys though that actually games on his machine, and not things like RCT (which I do play), or something in a browser, but Cities Skylines, Republique, CivVI, GTA V, among others. And while the 960M in my Lenovo works great most of the time, and the 650M and 6970M in my other machines is capable in both MacOS and Windows, I actually covet the performance being cited from the M1… an integrated GPU.

It isn’t just me. My financé, who while working at literally the same job I do, isn’t that into computers, is even getting on the bandwagon. She is considering ditching her 2013 27″ iMac for a MacBook Air, which I keep telling her to wait until the next generation, as I recall what happened with the early Intel Macs, and even some of the early PPC Macs; there are always better machines coming.

I will say, $1059 for an M1 Mac Mini is starting to seem quite compelling to me. While the reviews have been for the 8GB model, I know better, and will have to have the 16GB, just like I did 8 years ago with my MacBook Pro Retina. Honestly, it certainly can’t be too much worse than what I currently daily-drive at home or work, and at the very least could be an interesting experiment.

Categories
Tech Rants

Apple Silicon – The M1

Today was Apple’s “One More Thing” event. Apple finally unveiled the first Desktop capable SOC, the M1. And damn, does it impress. The scale of performance increases, if they are accurate, just blows everything out of the water. I’ll have to see what other reviewers have to say when they get their hands on the machines, but the future looks bright for the Mac.

MacBook Air 13″

This was an expected announcement, the most logical place to have the M1 first appear. With 3-5x the performance increases, 16GB of RAM, 2TB of SSD storage, and WiFi 6 (a first for the Mac), along with Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4, this wasn’t just an incremental improvement, it was leaps and bounds beyond what is already on the market. I feel that if these new technologies are properly harnessed, there will be no good reason, aside from incompatible hardware, to suggest that someone buy a budget PC Laptop, especially since laptops under $1000 are disposable items anyway, and the MacBook Air, is certainly not a disposable item. I am still hoping that M1, allows Apple to bring back the 11″ MBA, or a new MacBook 10″ or 12″ in the new year.

MacMini

I had not heard anyone other than myself postulate about a MacMini refresh, but I’m glad it came. It does have slightly lower IO than the previous one, but it has active cooling, and a logic board that doesn’t look much larger than a Raspberry Pi. Honestly, the MacMini may be my next Mac, and if the graphics performance is even remotely close to what is being claimed, I can chuck my PC Laptop with 960M, for a MacMini with integrated graphics, and not scream every time I boot up Cities Skylines.

MacBook Pro 13″

Another properly rumored machine, with just one drawback… only two USB type C ports. I thought Apple had learned that users, especially on the Pro, need and want flexibility, and having 4 ports, or at least one port on each side, fulfills that desire. I can only hope that with a spring refresh, a 4-port version becomes available. The 13″ is too small for me, but I can see this being a bright day for everyone.

Big Sur

Finally, a release date. November 12, with the Macs arriving in homes and stores the following week. They touted the technologies in Big Sur, including those to help with the transition to the M1. I look forward to the changes, to what they mean, and to the challenges that Apple always adds to new OS releases, that make my day job, just that bit harder.

Thoughts

Apple is integrating memory into the M1, both for CPU and GPU. 16GB may not be enough for both tasks. It will be interesting to see if they will retain the integrated memory when they release their chips for iMac, MacBook Pro 16″, and Mac Pro. I would almost love to see them use a hybrid model, much like the way CPU Caches work. Maybe these chips will have 8-16GB built in, then support for DDR4 (or newer, if DDR5 is ever finalized), as a Level 2 RAM. Not quite as fast as the integrated memory, but quite capable of helping. I can’t wait to see re-world benchmarks of these new chips, and what they are actually capable of in the real world. Apple mentioned gaming several times, so it would be nice to know that AAA titles are completely capable on these new machines. I’m also waiting to see if we can actually run Windows via Rosetta 2 in any of the VM environments, which if so, may make the new machines capable workhorses for Windows locked productivity and gaming.

Dissappointments

Honestly, I was hoping for some other changes, but with Touch ID coming to the MBA, I’m happy. They never did say if they put in a 1080P camera, just that they will use Machine Learning to improve the images, which is a little suspicious. They did tout that the MBP and MacMini can run the Pro Display XDR at full resolution, but I’m still holding out hope for a cheaper Apple Display at 4K or 5K in the near future. I am disappointed that there are still limited USB type-C ports on the machines, but thinking about it, the M1 may only be capable of driving 2 Thunderbolt/USB4 ports at this point (limited PCIe lanes available), and the M2 (or whatever they call it), hopefully can drive more, which will be a requirement for the Apple Silicon Mac Pro (which will likely be the last product refreshed).

Let’s reserve final judgement until we see some re-world benchmarks, but I’m excited and I hope you are too… if for no other reason than it seems like Apple has some great hopes, and didn’t just drop the gauntlet at Intel’s feet, but also at AMD.

Categories
TV Reviews

Ted Lasso – TV Done Right

I am currently on my fourth re-watch of Ted Lasso the AppleTV+ series, produced by Warner Bros., starring Justin Sudekis (SNL). If I am honest, even though I have an AppleTV+ subscription due to buying my mother a new phone for christmas last year, I hadn’t actually spent any time watching any of the series. However, I watch and enjoy a lot of British TV, and love a lot of the “oddities” of British life, that Ted Lasso was quite an enticement.

My fiancee and I watch most shows together, I usually only watch YouTube without her, as trains and technology, which seem to be the major topics I watch, do not interest her to the same level. However, due to some medical treatments, I was finding sleep to be elusive. As a result, one evening, I decided to try out Ted Lasso. The story is not exactly fresh, but it is freshly told. I describe, at least the first watch through, as good lemonade. It is easy to swallow, with just a bit of sour to make you pause on occasion, usually right when you need to think. I finished the whole series in just two days. I watched the final few episodes after work, whilst she was cooking, and it got her attention. We re-watched it a few days later, over a few days, and she loved it. I have since watched it twice more, including last night, and can say that Ted Lasso is one of the best shows in some time, I just wish it was more than 10 episodes.

Categories
Tech Guesses

11/10/20 – The Apple Silicon Event – One More Thing

Well, Apple threw us for a loop. They announced their November event 8 days earlier than expected, to occur a week earlier than expected. So, in theory, we will see new Computers with Apple Silicon on 11/10.

What is expected?

The current theory is that at 13″ MacBook Air, 13″ MacBook Pro, and a 16″ MacBook Pro are coming at this event. It is possible that they will all be running Apple Silicon, but a small chance, given some recent references to MacBook Pro 16″ (2020) in some Catalina updates, that the 16″ may still be rocking the Intel/AMD combination for one more cycle. There are unlikely to be any major design changes in the these devices, at least for a few generations. Although the more I watch people with the iPad Air/Pro and Pro Keyboard, the more I want something similar for the new MBA or MB design.

Surprises?

It is entirely possible that a new iMac or Mac Mini would be released as well, but only if they are confident that the Apple Silicon is ready for desktops. I would love to see a Mac Mini with Apple graphics hold its own against a 6800 or 3080, only time will tell.

One more thing…

It has been speculated that this presentation will be coupled with another hardware release, but I think people are forgetting the impending release of MacOS Big Sur (10.16 or 11), which will have to be released before the Apple Silicon Macs are in customers’ hands. So I would expect hardware is announced on Tuesday, pre-orders same day, Big Sur available on Thursday, and machine arriving on Friday.

Let’s see what happens…