Well, maybe I’ll call Apple when they open here and discuss a possible upgrade to the 10-core version, just so I don’t worry about it.
I sort of get the feeling it’s one of those Apple gimmicks to grab a few hundred dollars here, and a few hundred dollars there - each increment not seeming so much, but adding up, and adding to their profit margin.
One factor will be if it completely resets my order and I go on a long waiting list.
I’ll also check CPU activity to see if I really need it.
Coming from my late 2013 MBP retina 13 inch I’m a bit skeptical about whether or not I would notice the difference between 8 core and 10 core. Either is probably going to be a huge improvement over what I have, which is 2.6 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5.
I ordered the 32 GB because my 8 year old 2013 MBP 13 inch retina with 16 GB seems to lag more and more over the last couple of years. Of course that could be because of the CPU, limited SSD or other factors. Still, 8 years have gone by, so it just felt right to have a RAM upgrade.
Another factor you might consider is the future resale value. Often with a new generation of computers, Apple comes out with an entry-level version and in a year the previous “medium” version is standard, making your low-end version seem crippled and it gets a lower value on the resale market.
In other words, in a year the 10-core will be standard, and in a few years 10-core will seem pretty small. Eight will seem like an oddity and few will want it.
Unless your needs are really modest and you’ll be keeping the device long past its sellby date, I usually recommend against the entry-level option.
Yes. Just run Activity Monitor on your current setup and see how much swap space is being used. If it’s significant, it’s a sign you could benefit from more memory.
I am typing this on my 2019 16" MBP with 32GB – I thought I was splurging for that much RAM, but I do a lot of multitasking, and right now it’s showing 21.80GB of swap used!
Apple Silicon machines use RAM differently than Intel, so 16GB on M1 is similar in performance to 32GB on Intel, and the newer SSDs are so fast swap has less of a performance hit, but still: more RAM is never bad, though Apple does charge a lot for it. And since you can’t change it later without getting a new machine, I’d get the most you can afford.
You have Activity Monitor set to show you CPU activity. If you choose the Memory tab at the top, it will show you information about how much memory each running app is using, as well as swap space (where the system uses the hard drive/SSD when it runs out of RAM).
Right. But I was thinking about whether it’s necessary to upgrade my order from the default 8 core to the 10 core or not. I’ve already ordered the 32 GB RAM model (an upgrade from my 8 year old 16 GB RAM MBP).
The idea was that there were going to be a bunch of these, but there ended up only being two—first Cmd-Shift-3, and then sometime later Cmd-Shift-4 got added. It caught my eye here because Macintosh books and articles of the time were careful to distinguish Function keys from F-keys, so people didn’t confuse the two.
Of course, it doesn’t matter any more, but I thought I’d be a Mac pedant for old time’s sake.
To confuse the issue, I was just talking with an Apple “specialist” about my order and I didn’t realize that you could upgrade just the CPU from 8 core to 10 core for 22,000 yen ($192.54) and in addition to that you can upgrade the GPU from 14 core to 16 core. That would be a joint total upgrade of 38,000 yen ($332).
But… they would have to cancel my current order and I would start all over again. Looking at the online site, that would change my delivery time from the initial 8-10 business days to 3-4 weeks.
So anyway, it’s more complicated. CPU cores. GPU cores. And then do I really need any of the extras?
Looking at CPU use right now, I pretty much have open what I usually have open every day (except I’m not doing Zoom or watching AppleTV at the moment) and the 17 apps I actually have open are using this much CPU.
So doesn’t it seem like going from my late 2013 2.6 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 to the M1 Pro 8 core CPU is going to be just fine?
On the other hand, the CPU upgrade is just an extra $192. I can’t image I need the GPU upgrade.
I would say you’d be just fine, specially since you said you did 32GB memory (which you’d notice way before the 2 extra CPU cores).
The only the thing extra cores give you is doing more computing at once – which basically means either doing stuff in 10 apps at the same time, or running a complex app that can use the extra cores (like 3D rendering, Photoshop, music creation, video editing, etc.). If you were doing any of that, you wouldn’t be on a 8-year-old dual core machine. I’d say a regular M1 would be fine for you – though the new MBPs have other upgrades (bigger screens, more ports, etc) that also make them valuable.
(Activity Monitor CPU activity can really only show you how much processor you’re using if you’re in the middle of a huge task. So you’d have to, say, convert some video to another format in Handbrake while at the same time doing a few other major tasks, and watch the CPU usage bars skyrocket.)
I kinda did the opposite of what you did. I considered the 24-core GPU model, saving me $200. That would have been absolutely fine for my needs. But the delivery on that model wasn’t until mid-December. The stock machine with 30-core would be delivered Nov 10ish, so I opted for that. Spending $200 for a month earlier delivery is rather silly (I am not desperate for a new machine, just curious), but ultimately I am getting a better-speced machine and that could help resale value down the road.
In your case, if you got it and were unhappy with configuration for some reason, you could return it (I believe November would be in Apple’s extended Christmas return policy period) and get a different model.
I did that last year with the M1 Air. I ordered the minimal config (8/256) right after the keynote thinking that it would just be a test machine for Apple Silicon development. When I got it I quickly realized it was way more powerful than I thought and I would use it for a lot more things, so I promptly ordered a bigger model (16/512). I was going to return the original, but then a relative bought it off me, so it all worked out perfectly!
Yes, I think I’ll stick with this for now. And there is the return policy. Though I’m not sure they have that extended Christmas return policy here in Japan, so it might be the usual 14 days. I’ve not returned a Mac before.
I just wanted to mention, since you brought it up, that while the new MBPs have lots of other upgrades, more ports is not one of them. My late 2013 MBP retina has the magsafe charger, SD slot, HDMI slot and 4 other ports: two (older version) Thunderbolt and two USB. The new MBPs have 3 other ports: all the latest Thunderbolt. So I’m actually losing one port. Fortunately nothing is connected to it.
I was comparing to an M1 laptop, as I’d mentioned that I thought an M1 would be plenty fast enough for you, but those models are more port-limited than the new Pro/Max ones.
It is pretty funny that the latest MBP tech is basically 2015 all over again.
There was a good article about that in one of the tech machines. Like Apple coming out and introducing the function key row like it was something new and innovative that they just came up with.
… seems like most, but not all, of the images at Apple have display in a dark mode setting, or such. Thus disguising the notch zone to a significant degree. I think I’m going to need to see this iteration in person to get, or to get over, the feel of the “notch” … I feel sort of like hmm, is there a third party app that can permanently Dark Zone the Notch Zone and configure the display to
er, um, a 15.9375 inch display … I’m certainly not going to be able enjoy Dune (2021)… with a notch!
lol
The new displays are 3024x1964 (14") and 3456x2234 (16"). These are an aspect of 1.54:1 and 1.55:1, respectively. 16:9 (1.78:1) aspect (HD TV standard) content at these widths would be 1701 and 1944 pixels high, respectively. Which means that a 16:9 movie will have 263 and 290 pixels of letterboxing on these screens (half on top and half on the bottom, probably) which is more than enough room for the notch.
And if you’re watching a movie (not a TV show), then the aspect will likely be even wider, meaning the black letterbox bands will be even larger.
You won’t be seeing that notch messing with your movies unless you zoom in enough to make it interfere. And if you do, the left/right edges of the film will be cut off.
This is just the built-in Discourse editor. It’s really good, and yes, you can either drag an image into a composition window or paste one in from the clipboard.
I have hated the touch bar ever since I bought this MBP 17 (2017). The only time it functions is when I accidentally hit it trying to hit the numeric keys or delete. Half of the time I hit delete Siri comes up uninvited. When I hit 3 or 4 it changes the screen brightness. There is nothing good or useful about it. I am going to buy one of these new machines just so I can get rid of it (and get a new keyboard; I am on my 3rd, and it is malfunctioning right now).
I have had a similar experience with frequently hitting the touch bar by accident (MacBook Pro 15-inch 2017 and 16-inch 2019), so I will be very glad to return to mechanical keys with my next MBP.
