Apple Macbook Pro - M1 Pro & M1 Max

[Will Russell]

I don't do any video editing or much VI work so I'm inclined to go for the M1 Pro rather than the M1 Max. It seems that the M1Max is all about the GPU and honestly even though I have a 2009 core cheese grater (HDX) as my main production machine all of my sessions run just fine on a 2015 quad core 27" iMac.

I'm leaning toward a 16" M1Pro 2TB SSD, 32G RAM.

HDMI/or TB4 for an external monitor, MagSafe for power, leaving 2 TB4 ports for external drives/interfaces or just get a OWC TB hub.

The bummer is that everything related to Pro Tools will be running on Rosetta for quite a while until everyone comes on board with the appropriate code to run native. My guess is that this is a pretty big job for most folks so it might be a little bit of a wait.

[JFreak]

Bringing back the glorious MagSafe was great, dedicated HDMI is also very usable for the coming ten years (any idea which HDMI specification it has?). But I was kind of stunned to see card slot, headphone slot and only three TB4's. Need to find specifications somewhere, but to me it only makes sense if all three are dedicated busses. I just fear that there are two TB busses, one on left and one on the right side.

Looks promising, but I want to know more about this thing. And with this fully loaded M1 mac mini I will certainly wait for "M2" generation until I consider anything else, but sure, this is interesting.

[Sardi]

Originally Posted by JFreak

any idea which HDMI specification it has?

HDMI 2.0


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[JFreak]

Crap, I would have wanted 2.1 but then again it makes sense to have 2.0 on all M1 hardware. Maybe next gen then


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[barden]

My understanding (where did I read it? ProTools Expert? Apple Insider?) is that there are, indeed, only two TB busses.

I'm thinking that I'll get a fairly large SD card to use for additional "internal" storage, once someone develops one of those nice cards that becomes flush with the side of the machine when fully inserted. Apparently the slot depth on these new machines is slightly different that the last gen that had SD slots...

Anyone actually *have* a new machine yet???

Originally Posted by JFreak

Bringing back the glorious MagSafe was great, dedicated HDMI is also very usable for the coming ten years (any idea which HDMI specification it has?). But I was kind of stunned to see card slot, headphone slot and only three TB4's. Need to find specifications somewhere, but to me it only makes sense if all three are dedicated busses. I just fear that there are two TB busses, one on left and one on the right side.

Looks promising, but I want to know more about this thing. And with this fully loaded M1 mac mini I will certainly wait for "M2" generation until I consider anything else, but sure, this is interesting.

[dominicperry]

HDMI 2.1 spec requires 48Gb/s so that's more than a standard TB3/4.
I imagine there are the equivalent of 4 TB busses sitting there, although the controller is interesting - did Apple build them into the SoC's or are they sitting on the Mobo somewhere? Not sure yet - iFixit will tell us. They've already started pulling one apart.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by dominicperry

HDMI 2.1 spec requires 48Gb/s so that's more than a standard TB3/4.
I imagine there are the equivalent of 4 TB busses sitting there, although the controller is interesting - did Apple build them into the SoC's or are they sitting on the Mobo somewhere? Not sure yet - iFixit will tell us. They've already started pulling one apart.

Your post would make perfect sense assuming HDMI port would be "an internal adapter" for a TB buss, but it does not need to be. HDMI can (and should) be its own unique buss from motherboard to display without touching TB at all. So, giving that port 18Gb/s or 48Gb/s should have nothing to do with TB.

Unless HDMI is one TB buss in disguise.

For now I am not either saying I am right or you are wrong, I am just interested about how the internals are laid out. For example this fully loaded M1 mac mini of mine has two TB ports, both with their own TB buss. That much I know. It also has HDMI port, but whether it is straight from motherboard or some kind of shared third TB buss that carries HDMI and USB, I still do not know. This new stuff has not been investigated in good detail yet.

[dominicperry]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Your post would make perfect sense assuming HDMI port would be "an internal adapter" for a TB buss, but it does not need to be. HDMI can (and should) be its own unique buss from motherboard to display without touching TB at all. So, giving that port 18Gb/s or 48Gb/s should have nothing to do with TB.

Unless HDMI is one TB buss in disguise.

For now I am not either saying I am right or you are wrong, I am just interested about how the internals are laid out. For example this fully loaded M1 mac mini of mine has two TB ports, both with their own TB buss. That much I know. It also has HDMI port, but whether it is straight from motherboard or some kind of shared third TB buss that carries HDMI and USB, I still do not know. This new stuff has not been investigated in good detail yet.

Yes, hard to know, and my speculation is based on Apple's history of sharing controllers across ports before - notably on the 2013 Mac Pro where the HDMI port shared bandwidth with a TB port.

[JFreak]

Yeap, I had that thrashcan before this M1

[JFreak]

My best guess is M1 generation of Apple Silicon (perhaps M2 next?) is capable of three TB busses. Mac Mini has two dedicated TB ports and third would (?) be shared with HDMI and USB. Same with M1X, one buss for left side TB, one buss for right side TB, third buss for everything else.

To repeat myself, my best guess.

This is actually what I have been trying to investigate last few weeks but have not had a good answer from anyone. If anyone knows for sure, please tell me.