Peak Performance March 8 Event

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by OtinG

When I was purchasing it, it originally showed a $9 shipping option to get it the same day, but as the purchase process progressed through the system that option disappeared, so I had to settle for the free shipping and get it whenever Apple gets around to delivering option. No big deal.

Based on my experience, they use local Apple brick and mortar store stock for the $9 same-day shipping and a 3rd party service (e.g. Postmates) for delivery so stocks are limited.

Meanwhile, the free shipping often comes directly from their factories in China. There might be a queue/wait time but you'll get it eventually.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by OtinG

No clue about MacBook Pro M1, but I saw several long-term reviews on the MacBook Air M1 which said that the 8GB models had a tendency to get rather warm under intensive tasks like 4K video processing, but the 16GB models seemed to not have that issue. I would assume the 8GB models will write to the SSD more often than the 16GB models, which will possibly create heat and definitely wear out the SSD faster. I’m not a gamer, but I suspect heavy gaming would require a lot more RAM, and would likely make good use of the extra GPU core which the 8GB models don’t have. 8GB models have 7 GPU cores but 16GB models have 8 GPU cores.

…

I was actually asking about iPad Pro… (perf diff between 8GB and 16GB M1).

Supposedly apps can grab up to 6GB on M1/8GB and 12GB on M1/16GB. But I haven’t seen much evidence that there are actually apps that do this, or even benchmarks that compare performance.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by tomsem

I was actually asking about iPad Pro… (perf diff between 8GB and 16GB M1).

Supposedly apps can grab up to 6GB on M1/8GB and 12GB on M1/16GB.

iOS doesn't have swap file so likely just more useful for multitasking with RAM-heavy apps.

Mind, it's not like you can BTO with the desired RAM amount. The Air 5 and 2021 iPad Pro 128-512GB all have 8GB RAM and the 2021 iPad Pro 1-2TB have 16GB RAM.

At least for me, the RAM amount is dictated by required storage. It's not worth spending an extra $700 for the 1TB model when all that's needed is 128GB.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

iOS doesn't have swap file so likely just more useful for multitasking with RAM-heavy apps.

Mind, it's not like you can BTO with the desired RAM amount. The Air 5 and 2021 iPad Pro 128-512GB all have 8GB RAM and the 2021 iPad Pro 1-2TB have 16GB RAM.

At least for me, the RAM amount is dictated by required storage. It's not worth spending an extra $700 for the 1TB model when all that's needed is 128GB.

I just remember app developers whining about the 5GB limit that was in place when M1 iPads first shipped. One of them was Procreate (which I have). The version notes include an update which ‘has performance improvements and even more layers for the new M1 iPad Pros’. So I’m guessing this is definitely one app that will use more than 5GB if the device provides it.

With my current usage 512GB would be enough, however I’m planning to do more storage intensive stuff when I get an iPad Pro, so it’s looking like I will want to go with 1TB.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

Based on my experience, they use local Apple brick and mortar store stock for the $9 same-day shipping and a 3rd party service (e.g. Postmates) for delivery so stocks are limited.

Meanwhile, the free shipping often comes directly from their factories in China. There might be a queue/wait time but you'll get it eventually.

The Apple Store app is saying the MacBook Air M1 will be delivered tomorrow by UPS, but when I check the tracking number on UPS it states the label has been printed and nothing more, other than it is shipping out of Tennessee. I’ll be real surprised if it gets to me tomorrow.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by tomsem

I just remember app developers whining about the 5GB limit that was in place when M1 iPads first shipped. One of them was Procreate (which I have). The version notes include an update which ‘has performance improvements and even more layers for the new M1 iPad Pros’. So I’m guessing this is definitely one app that will use more than 5GB if the device provides it.

With my current usage 512GB would be enough, however I’m planning to do more storage intensive stuff when I get an iPad Pro, so it’s looking like I will want to go with 1TB.

I have Procreate on my iPad Air 2020, though I rarely use it. As I recall it is mostly for drawing. I can’t imagine why it would need more than 5GB of RAM. I can understand a CAD drawing app, or something like Lightroom and Photoshop wanting more, not that they would be all that usable on an iPad.

[salamanderjuice]

Originally Posted by OtinG

I have Procreate on my iPad Air 2020, though I rarely use it. As I recall it is mostly for drawing. I can’t imagine why it would need more than 5GB of RAM. I can understand a CAD drawing app, or something like Lightroom and Photoshop wanting more, not that they would be all that usable on an iPad.

More layers, bigger canvases, higher undo limit, beefier textures, etc. Lots to eat up RAM in a drawing program.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by salamanderjuice

More layers, bigger canvases, higher undo limit, beefier textures, etc. Lots to eat up RAM in a drawing program.

True, for a desktop app. But it was written for iPads, most of which have less than 5GB, and none of which have a desktop type of file system. An iPad is not the platform to work on multi-gigabyte files. The iPad Pros have more RAM and horsepower, but they still don’t have an OS that is conducive to working with large graphics files. I wish Apple would make iPadOS capable of being a powerful tool, but they really don’t seem likely to do that.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by OtinG

True, for a desktop app. But it was written for iPads, most of which have less than 5GB, and none of which have a desktop type of file system. An iPad is not the platform to work on multi-gigabyte files. The iPad Pros have more RAM and horsepower, but they still don’t have an OS that is conducive to working with large graphics files. I wish Apple would make iPadOS capable of being a powerful tool, but they really don’t seem likely to do that.

I think drawing is probably one of the things that's better on an iPad. It's just a matter of the software developer creating a UI optimized for touch/Pencil use. From comments I've seen, I don't think Adobe's apps are well optimized for the iPad.

Mind, for the apps, they just limit the resolution/layers on iPads with less RAM.

The following was from June 2021 before Apple relaxed the RAM limits.

ProCreate

2017 A10X/4GB:
2048 x 2048 - 124 layers

2018 A12X/6GB: (same treatment as 4GB)
2048 x 2048 - 124 layers

2020 A12Z/6GB:
2048 x 2048 - 156 layers

2021 M1/16GB: (same treatment as 8GB)
2048 x 2048 - 196 layers


This is with the latest ProCreate version on iOS 15.4.

2021 M1/16GB:
2048 x 2048 - 444 layers
3840 x 2160 - 222 layers
8.5" x 11" @ 300 dpi - 219 layers

I've already returned the 2018 and 2020 iPad Pros so can't check those.

P.S. I'm not an artist. I just bought ProCreate (and a number of other apps) to edit some photos so I had it on hand for testing. I believe I ended up using Affinity.

[tomsem]

Thanks @ilovejedd, that’s the sort of thing I wanted to confirm.

It seems that for 99% of what I’m planning to do, I probably do not need 1TB storage or 16GB RAM. Might as well save some money.

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by ilovejedd

I think drawing is probably one of the things that's better on an iPad. It's just a matter of the software developer creating a UI optimized for touch/Pencil use. From comments I've seen, I don't think Adobe's apps are well optimized for the iPad.

I totally agree. Procreate isn’t bad for sketching, at least when I last used it a long time ago. But Photoshop isn’t a good iPad match. Lightroom is a bigger mismatch. Lightroom is designed to load dozens or even hundreds of images into it to do repetitive edits. iPads are not designed for that, so major fail.

[OtinG]

My MacBook Air M1 with 16GB RAM and 1TB of storage arrived at 7pm this evening. It was very easy to set up, much easier than I remember the MacBook Pro 2014 being 7 years ago! iCloud really helped with that. Loving it so far. I finally got all the native settings like I want them, and I’m currently installing Adobe Creative Cloud. I won’t get much more than that done before bedtime.

It does seem blazingly fast! I’ll do some intensive Lightroom tasks tomorrow to compare with my MacBook Pro 2014. Yesterday I loaded 486 RAW photos into Lightroom on my MacBook Pro and timed several tasks. I will repeat that on my MacBook Air M1 tomorrow then post to results for comparison. I also ran Cinebench on both the MacBook Air M1 and MacBook Pro 2014, although I’m not convinced those readings are all that relevant for M1 machines. I’ll post the results. As I recall the M1 results were over twice as high as the older i7.

[OtinG]

Here is a real world performance comparison of my typical Lightroom workflow.

I created a new LR catalog collection, imported 487 24MP RAW photos from a Sony a7 ILC, applied lens and image adjustment settings to the first image then synced those settings to the other images, then exported those images as 144MB 16-bit TIF files. I performed this test on both my MacBook Pro 2014 and MacBook Air M1. As I assumed, the M1 blew away my old Intel i7, but it is 8 years old now. I also ran Cinebench analysis and will put them below, but as stated earlier I don't really know if they mean much when it comes to testing M series processors.

MacBook Pro i7 15”, 2014, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD
vs
MacBook Air M1 13”, 2020, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD

Step 1: Copied 487 RAW photo files (12.28GB) from T5 external SSD to internal SSD on each computer.

• 01:16 mm:ss, MacBook Pro 2014 = 161 MB/s
• 00:34 mm:ss, MacBook Air M1 = 361 MB/s = 224% faster

Step 2: Imported the 487 RAW photo files (12.28GB) into the new LR catalog collection "Workflow Test".

• 00:23.35 mm:ss.ss, MacBook Pro 2014
• 00:13.96 mm:ss.ss, MacBook Air M1 = 167% faster

Step 3: Synced the lens and image adjustment settings to all images.

• 02:31.90 mm:ss.ss, MacBook Pro 2014
• 00:23.94 mm:ss.ss, MacBook Air M1 = 635% faster

Step 4: Exported all images as full size TIFFs (approx. 70GB).

• 30:45.93 mm:ss.ss, MacBook Pro 2014
• 12:24.19 mm:ss.ss, MacBook Air M1= 248% faster

Here are the Cinebench scores:

• Single Core: MBP 2014 = 722 pts, MBA M1 = 1512 pts.
• Multi Core: MBP 2014 = 3647 pts, MBA M1 = 7354 pts.
• MP Ratio: MBP 2014 = 5.05 x, MBA M1 = 4.87 x.

ETA: I forgot to mention that the MacBook Pro 2014 ran too low of SSD space and only exported about 440 TIFs rather than the 487. So that means it would have taken longer to finish than it did.

…….

[OtinG]

My MacBook Air M1 came with macOS 12.2 loaded. I tried to update it but it keeps saying it is up to date, which isn't true since 12.3 has been out for a while now. Plus I just heard that Apple released 12.3.1 today, so I tried again, but it still says "up to date". Not sure what is going on with that.

I must say the MacBook Air M1 is certainly snappy, loads even master bloatware like Adobe LR and PS really fast. So far I’m very impressed, especially since I paid about $500 less for it than I did for the MacBook Pro way back in early 2015, and it has 4 times the SSD storage too.

Monterey is pretty good, except they gave it that crappy iPadOS style of Safari where the Bookmarks keep closing. It is taking a while to figure out where Apple moved settings though since I’ve been running on Mojave which is three updates back. So far all the apps I’ve installed are designed for the ARM architecture, including the Adobe bloatware and MicrosoftOffice365.

The only slight issue I’ve had was in trying to run ethernet via a few different ethernet to USB A adapters coupled to two different USB A to USB-C adapters. It would periodically lose connection. This morning the Belkin ethernet to USB-C adapter I ordered from the Apple Store arrived and it seems to be working quite well so far.

ETA: This evening the MacBook Air M1 finally discovered the macOS 12.3.1 update. I guess it blocked 12.3 since 12.3.1 was about to be released. Update went okay, but after it restarted my Anker hub which has the power cable, HDMI cable running to my Dell 25" monitor, the Samsung 2TB external SSD, and a Logitech mouse dongle wouldn't connect. Tried two additional restarts as well as unplugging and plugging in the hub. Nothing would get it to connect. Finally I plugged in just the power cable and that connected. Once I unplugged the power cable and plugged it back into the hub and plugged the hub back in, it all started connecting again. PITA. Way to go Apple. When it comes to software they are rotten to the apple core. Interestingly enough the new ethernet to USB-C dongle I got today from Apple connected as soon as the first restart.

[tomsem]

This is the closest thing I have found so far comparing performance on M1/16 v M1/8 on iPad Pro.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bA4jc4J9NQ

Unfortunately he’s using iPadOS 15 beta, its still only June 2021, and apps would not yet take advantage of the higher RAM limits (even assuming it was true of the beta at that time). And even some of the other benchmarks should be re-done with a shipping version of iPadOS 15.