A Question For M1 Users

[lesbrunn]

Hey guys, are M1 computers as great as the reviews have said they are? Do they overcome PT's inability to use CPU efficiently? Is there a vast improvement over previous systems? What about RAM? From what I've heard, 16GB of unified memory is more efficient than 32GB of 'standard' memory. Is that right?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by lesbrunn

From what I've heard, 16GB of unified memory is more efficient than 32GB of 'standard' memory. Is that right?

No. And there are posts on here about that specifically from me and others. And lots and lots of comments already about the M1, how good they are for many folks, how some folks have had problems, plugin compatibility, future Apple silicon native support, issues found and some fixed, etc. etc. etc. Instead of expecting a personal recap why don't you just read those threads on DUC.

[Carl Lie]

Poke around in the Mac OS section here on the DUC. You'll find plenty on the M1.

C

[Ben Jenssen]

For me, yea, it's been great. From my own unscientific calculations I got a 60% increase in processing power, coming from a I7 mac mini 2018 w/32GB. That's plugin capacity, really. And I saw it immediately in Lightroom, how the M1 made everything just flow. Adobe's native of course.

It's silent.
Internal disk is even faster than the I7.
The 'SoC', I believe contributes to the displays/graphics and spaces/missioncontrol working smooth as butter.
I haven't seen any sign that 16GB ram is not enough.
It's very good value for money.
For me.

[Emi]

It’s been very reliable for me. I even mixed a live gig at 32 samples buffer size with no issue. I mostly do audio work, no VI so 16gigs of ram is more than enough for me. I wouldn’t go back to intel even if I get paid to.

[thin ice]

Since January I had an M1 Mac and it is the best experience I have had in over 15 years of using Pro Tools.

The RAM appears more efficient because of the hard drive speed that augments it. In reality it may be a little faster being connected directly to the board, but you will still need more memory for VIs.

In short, a huge improvement over Intel. The system never needs fans and in the current times a very low power draw is always welcome.

[Stephen Bond]

Another thumbs up from me. My M1 Mac mini with Pro Tools is easily the best system I've used in the last 20+ years. Fast and quiet.

The only foible is that MIDI seems to cut out to VIs as I load up the CPU, even in seemingly lower loads (sub 50%). However, with all the power on tap that's a pile of plugins so I'm not complaining.

From my perspective, 16Gb of RAM is good and just get the basic 256Gb hard disc and by a nice big external SSD to load up with your apps, libraries and such.

Stephen

[its2loud]

Originally Posted by lesbrunn

Hey guys, are M1 computers as great as the reviews have said they are? Do they overcome PT's inability to use CPU efficiently? Is there a vast improvement over previous systems? What about RAM? From what I've heard, 16GB of unified memory is more efficient than 32GB of 'standard' memory. Is that right?

It would be helpful if you could describe the type of work you are planning on doing with the M1 Mac. Your mileage will vary greatly depending on the work and which Mac you’re looking at getting. It’s as simple as that.

You will be limited with the 16GB RAM. And there is plenty of feedback in the forum to spend the money on increasing the size of the HD in the Mac. I regret not increasing mine from 512GB.

[Southsidemusic]

16GB can NEVER become 32GB and don`t understand who started that and why people still refer to thet statement they read (prolly on PTE) LOL

If you dont use big VI like Kontakt with bigger sample packs an M1 16GB is ok but a 64GB Studio Mac mini is way better:: just bought one to try and they only had the MAX Mac Mini 64 GB 1 TB and so far it runs pretty sweet

[gdgross]

For me - it's been about as stable and reliable as it was on intel.

Went from a 2015 MBP w 16GB ram to a M1 mini with 16GB RAM. I don't see much performance difference, but one major improvement: on the MBP, protools would almost always get the fans spinning FAST, regardless of what I was doing. Could be a session with only handful of tracks and only a few plugins. On the M1, I have run a few heavy-ish sessions and have never even heard the fans once.

I've also run an OBS stream encoding while simultaneously running an Ableton Live session to do some streaming shows. Rock-solid in that application too, still with no fans.

The silence alone was worth the price of admission for me. :-D In the near-ish future I may upgrade to the studio, but honestly there's no real need unless I start getting into heavier sessions.