PT on MacBook Air M1 processor 16Gb RAM

[huzzam]

Originally Posted by Rich Breen

Then something else is wrong - I take my humble little 2013 MBAir/8GB out every few months when I need to record remotely; just did a few hours of 32-track recording over a Dante network, and it's not unusual for me to do 16 tracks at 96k with plugs with that machine on a remote - never had a hiccup.

Agreed. I used to record 8-12 tracks at once on a 2012 i7 Macbook Air, and it was stable. Keep the buffer reasonable (128-256 usually) and don't add too many plugins while tracking, and you should be able to handle it.

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by huzzam

Agreed. I used to record 8-12 tracks at once on a 2012 i7 Macbook Air, and it was stable. Keep the buffer reasonable (128-256 usually) and don't add too many plugins while tracking, and you should be able to handle it.

With a M1 mac you could do the same thing with a 32 samples buffer. And the mac not breaking a sweat.

[Ed Douglas]

Originally Posted by BCnSTL

I have a M1 MBA - 16GB RAM - coming from a 2019 16" MBP i9, 32GB of RAM - the M1 performs *far* better on every session than the i9 MBP. RAM is not an issue for my sessions but the M1 MBA is simply fantastic ime.

This is interesting. I often get a "running low on memory" message running 500 track sessions on my 2019 15" MBP w 32GB of RAM. I plan on upgrading to a M1X machine and was thinking I might have to bump up to 64GB to get around that issue. I can't wait to be running a more powerful yet quite machine.

[dominicperry]

Bear in mind that the reason the M1 machines appear to do so well with lower memory amounts is because they are swapping madly in/out of the very fast SSD. (And the SSD is not just very fast itself, but the CPU and bus are fast, so it's at least three levels of improvement over Intel machines, allowing disk to look a bit like extended memory).

HOWEVER - there are two issues with this. One real, one theoretical.
Firstly, (real issue), there are lots of reports of massively high SSD usage - terabytes of data swapped per day - which are concerning a lot of people regarding the life of their SSDs. (Big long thread about it on MacRumors https://forums.macrumors.com/threads...#post-29906659 ).

Secondly, (theoretical), if you are trying to read and write lots of data to memory and disk(SSD) while recording/mixing, then sudden surges of swap data moving to and from SSD might affect that. If you have massive VI's which are too big to be resident in memory, then swapping in and out of disk as you play them might work well, right up to the point when it doesn't because some other process is trying to write or read from disk. My concern is not that it won't work, but that performance will be unpredictable. Personally, I'd want enough RAM to hold all my active VI's in memory while I was playing them, plus a bit left over for the OS and the running programs.

Dominic

[Emi]

Originally Posted by dominicperry

Bear in mind that the reason the M1 machines appear to do so well with lower memory amounts is because they are swapping madly in/out of the very fast SSD. (And the SSD is not just very fast itself, but the CPU and bus are fast, so it's at least three levels of improvement over Intel machines, allowing disk to look a bit like extended memory).

HOWEVER - there are two issues with this. One real, one theoretical.
Firstly, (real issue), there are lots of reports of massively high SSD usage - terabytes of data swapped per day - which are concerning a lot of people regarding the life of their SSDs. (Big long thread about it on MacRumors https://forums.macrumors.com/threads...#post-29906659 ).

Secondly, (theoretical), if you are trying to read and write lots of data to memory and disk(SSD) while recording/mixing, then sudden surges of swap data moving to and from SSD might affect that. If you have massive VI's which are too big to be resident in memory, then swapping in and out of disk as you play them might work well, right up to the point when it doesn't because some other process is trying to write or read from disk. My concern is not that it won't work, but that performance will be unpredictable. Personally, I'd want enough RAM to hold all my active VI's in memory while I was playing them, plus a bit left over for the OS and the running programs.

Dominic

Yes, but for regular audio recording 16gb is more than enough. Swapping memory on mine is 0, but I do mostly audio work...

And I just leave it at 32 samples buffer size unless I have a very very heavy mix... I just forget it there.

[Obsidian Dragon]

Guys, it is not a competition. The M1 and the Intel Macs are capable machines to run Protools. Obviously if you are a power user needing 500+ tracks or a plethora of sample libraries loaded into RAM or swapped from SSDs, that is going to push the machines towards the limit. For most users, these extreme cases are not the normal load so both machines will suffice for them. I feel as though we sometimes use these arguments simply to justify what we have purchased.

Let me reiterate that the new M1 based Macs are quite impressive in terms of performance, but they are still the entry-level tier from Apple for now. The Intel based Macs are still excellent performers and currently have a higher capacity in terms of RAM and expansion ports to fulfill the mid-tier to high-tier needs of consumers.

We are at a transitional time in the Apple Mac universe and there will be products crossing from the previous to the new platform. Don't get caught in the confusion and get to know the differences. Identify your needs and use cases, and then get the one that meets your situation. I know we want to buy a computer that will last 6-10 years but the reality is that technology advances quickly and the life cycle of these consumer products are targeted at only about 3-4 years. Get what you need and perhaps a little more. There is no realized advantage to getting far more than you need as it will most likely become obsolete before you actually take advantage of the benefits. Again, those in the most demanding sector of the audio profession have different needs and use cases that require the best money can buy and should purchase accordingly.