Apple Macbook Pro - M1 Pro & M1 Max

[Obsidian Dragon]

Well Apple just announced the new Apple Silicon Mac Pros with M1 Pro and M1 Max processors. The best news is that it can b e configured up to 64 Unified Memory! The Processor performance, GPU performance, memory capacity, SSD speeds have all be improved. Now it is up to Avid to provide a suitable update to run natively on this beast of a notebook. Oh, and the battery life is amazing. I'm excited...c'mon Avid, let's make this a win-win.

[JFreak]

Do you want to sell your kidney or liver?

[dominicperry]

Originally Posted by Obsidian Dragon

Well Apple just announced the new Apple Silicon Mac Pros with M1 Pro and M1 Max processors. The best news is that it can b e configured up to 64 Unified Memory! The Processor performance, GPU performance, memory capacity, SSD speeds have all be improved. Now it is up to Avid to provide a suitable update to run natively on this beast of a notebook. Oh, and the battery life is amazing. I'm excited...c'mon Avid, let's make this a win-win.

Do you mean Mac Pros? I don't think you do.

[JFreak]

MBP

[Benoni]

The M1 Max looks amazing. It looks like this may outperform my Intel 20 core, 96GB ram Windows system.

I like that they brought back some other ports. The USB-C/Thunderbolt only ports means you gotta have dongles for everything. I have dongles out the wazoo!

I hope the keyboard is better than the awful Butterfly keyboard on my MBP. Apple needs to look to Microsoft for their keyboards. The Keyboards on the Surface Book and Surface Laptops are amazing.

Being able to run iOS/iPadOS apps on the M1 will be nice. A feature Windows 11 is also bringing, except with Android.

The M1 Max looks like it will be able to easily handle large Pro Tools sessions and 4K video editing no problem.

A 16" M1 Max configured with 64GB Ram, 2TB ssd is $4,299 which is less than I thought. It's actually not that excessive. Going up to 8TB would be awesome, but an extra $1800! That's excessive.

[Obsidian Dragon]

Originally Posted by dominicperry

Do you mean Mac Pros? I don't think you do.

Oops. I was so excited when posting I made the typo. Yes. MacBook Pro, not Mac Pro. Good catch (I've since fixed the title)

[barden]

I've just ordered the following, for delivery in mid-November:

Apple M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 24-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
32GB unified memory
512GB SSD storage
Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, MagSafe*3 port
16-inch Liquid Retina XDR display

Can I be so bold as to start a discussion about best uses of the given ports?

This machine is going to replace an aging (but still rock-solid!) 27" 5K iMac with an attached Thunderbolt display and HD projector (I am primarily a sound-for-picture guy). I have no shortage of ports right now so now I have to think about figuring out how utilize the ports on the new machine.

My needs:
- HD Native box on Thunderbolt
- at least one additional display will probably be my main cutting screen
- HD projector for picture
- USB hub for iLoks, keyboards, etc.
- USB "library" drive (currently stays connected to my iMac pretty much permanently
- a cutting drive (I keep projects on a series of 1TB drives that I connect as necessary, allowing me to take them to the stage, etc.)

What I'm thinking:

Thunderbolt 4 Port #1:
- USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 adaptor to make my Thunderbolt display functional
- connect HD Native box to Thunderbolt display (have tested this with an Intel MBP...hopefully it will - eventually? - work with my new MBP)
- Thunderbolt display will also provide a couple of USB A ports (albeit USB 2.0 speeds) to which I can connect a hub that I can use for iLoks, keyboards, etc.

Thunderbolt 4 Port #2:
- main cutting drive, these days typically USB C spinning or solid state drives

Thunderbolt 4 Port #3:
- current generation USB C hub to provide ethernet, couple more USB A connectors at USB 3.0 speeds, maybe another HDMI (my "library" drive would live here)

Built-in HDMI
- feeds HD projector for picture

I'd love to get some feedback from the collective hive-mind as to whether my expectations seem realistic. Yes, I know that we don't have any hands on these new machines yet and that predicting the timeline for Avid's support of them is a bit like nailing jello to the wall but I didn't think it would hurt to get an early conversation going here.

(Mods please move to a more appropriate forum / thread as necessary.)

Big thanks, all.

~sb

[TimothyJohn]

Originally Posted by barden

I've just ordered the following, for delivery in mid-November:

Apple M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 24-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
32GB unified memory
512GB SSD storage
Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, MagSafe*3 port
16-inch Liquid Retina XDR display

Can I be so bold as to start a discussion about best uses of the given ports?

This machine is going to replace an aging (but still rock-solid!) 27" 5K iMac with an attached Thunderbolt display and HD projector (I am primarily a sound-for-picture guy). I have no shortage of ports right now so now I have to think about figuring out how utilize the ports on the new machine.

My needs:
- HD Native box on Thunderbolt
- at least one additional display will probably be my main cutting screen
- HD projector for picture
- USB hub for iLoks, keyboards, etc.
- USB "library" drive (currently stays connected to my iMac pretty much permanently
- a cutting drive (I keep projects on a series of 1TB drives that I connect as necessary, allowing me to take them to the stage, etc.)

What I'm thinking:

Thunderbolt 4 Port #1:
- USB-C to Thunderbolt 2 adaptor to make my Thunderbolt display functional
- connect HD Native box to Thunderbolt display (have tested this with an Intel MBP...hopefully it will - eventually? - work with my new MBP)
- Thunderbolt display will also provide a couple of USB A ports (albeit USB 2.0 speeds) to which I can connect a hub that I can use for iLoks, keyboards, etc.

Thunderbolt 4 Port #2:
- main cutting drive, these days typically USB C spinning or solid state drives

Thunderbolt 4 Port #3:
- current generation USB C hub to provide ethernet, couple more USB A connectors at USB 3.0 speeds, maybe another HDMI (my "library" drive would live here)

Built-in HDMI
- feeds HD projector for picture

I'd love to get some feedback from the collective hive-mind as to whether my expectations seem realistic. Yes, I know that we don't have any hands on these new machines yet and that predicting the timeline for Avid's support of them is a bit like nailing jello to the wall but I didn't think it would hurt to get an early conversation going here.

(Mods please move to a more appropriate forum / thread as necessary.)

Big thanks, all.

~sb

My 17" MacBook Pro died last summer, after the i7 portable toaster inside fried my 2nd GPU and motherboard. Not to mention one of the two fans. I ordered two M1 Air's in December. One for my wife, and one for my daughter, which I used until June, the beginning of her college career. I thought it worked out perfect! I got to use the M1 on my ProTools sessions. Killer!! Even Rosetta'd! I use a UAD T-bolt solo, and am blown away by everything from heat, to fan noise, to battery life ... FINALLY! A TRUE mobile recording set up! My big complaint was the lack of MagSafe and only two T-Bolt ports.

Well, my plan backfired. Apple canceled the release in June! I've been computer-less. I borrow my wife's, but haven't optimized or installed especially the UAD stuff. To hold me over, I ordered an 11" M1 iPad Pro for web surfing, music scores, set lists, etc. PLUS I plan to use it as a second monitor for ProTools with "sidecar". VERY COOL!!

My build: 16" 10-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU, 32gb RAM, 2tb SSD.

I got VERY comfortable with the speed of the M1's internal drive (3,000mb/sec, read and write). My Samsung T7 can handle sessions no problem, but the speed is around 600-700mb/sec. I ask myself why? Why hang a drive off the port? So I edit now without the UAD stuff, only on the computer. Drives that advertise 2800mb/sec don't usually achieve those speeds, and are known to heat up and throttle. Plus they cost $399 per tb. By going with a 2tb internal, I'm getting 7400mb/sec on this new M1Pro/or Max configuration; $360 for the extra tb.

I understand that videographers still might need SSD's hanging off their t-bolt ports. Their sessions might run over 2tb. But as a musician, I feel comfortable keeping my drum/keys/instrument samples; as well as a hefty number of active ProTools sessions on my internal drive. At this point, the only reason for me to connect an external drive is for back-up or archiving. And I bet I'm saving battery life and keeping the heat down!

Magsafe for power. (unless I'm mobile! Battery life is INCREDIBLE on the M1!)
1st Thunderbolt for UAD interface.
2nd Thunderbolt for ilok
3rd for controller, (midi keyboard).
SD-MAYBE for samples? we'll see. But not necessary. Handy for my Nikon pics and vids.
HDMI-as needed. But as I said, I'll be using the iPad Pro as a side car monitor.

Exciting times!1

[EGS]

Originally Posted by TimothyJohn

... the speed of the M1's internal drive ...

With disk cache you can even run a session from a flash drive! https://www.macprovideo.com/article/...-cache-feature So the drive is not really a bottleneck any more.

[EGS]

Originally Posted by Benoni

The M1 Max looks amazing. It looks like this may outperform my ...

Yes - it should be a winner! Not that benchmark comparisons are of much importance in real-world use like Pro Tools, but ... according to this only a few score better than M1 Max: https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/cpu_be...single_core-15