burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Apple released their first ARM-based, Apple Silicon, M1 Macs in late Fall, 2020. The new MacMini, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro (base 13") have been reviewed hundreds of times, on YouTube and by the industry trade websites, with mostly high marks.

I'm wondering, though, what real UHH users' experiences have been? Any issues to report? Any software that won't run, at least under the Rosetta 2 emulation scheme?

I'm trying to decide whether to pull the trigger on one now, or wait for the next round of releases based on an even more powerful SOC (M1x, M2, or whatever). My tricked-out iMac won't support any more MacOS upgrades (i.e.; it is stuck on Catalina 10.15.7).

nut4golf Loc: Windsor, CT

I purchased a Mac Mini with M1 and so far it is all it has been professed to be. I have the luxury of continuing to use my 2016 MacBook Pro as well, so I've been only installing software that is M1 native or a Universal binary. Everything is incredibly fast, both to launch or in terms of rendering videos, etc.

Ednsb Loc: Santa Barbara

Following as my tricked out iMac is stuck at High Sierra, laughs. Matt Suess did an interesting YouTube video where he tested a number of pp software exporting 50 large files on his late model intel MBP with 32GB Ram against a M1 Mac mini with 16GB Ram. On M1 all we’re using Rosetta 2. In most cases the mini beat the MBP sometimes significantly. Just imagine when they are universal versions which could be 25 to 50% faster.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

That's what I've seen in the many YouTube benchmarks and real-world comparisons I've seen.

I'm really more concerned about any glitches, downsides, monitor issues, BluTooth mouse issues, USB or network issues, as some have been reported. Of course, any show stoppers would be nice to know, too. (I know that M1 does not support external GPUs or BootCamp, and that Parallels Desktop for Windows on ARM is still in Beta. Neither bothers me.)

As for the reported issues with the BluTooth Magic Mouse, I've had them on a Late 2013 iMac, but only when running MacOS 10.15.7, so I'm wondering if Apple didn't introduce a bug in the system with that revision level. (I have outboard startup drives that can run various other systems from 10.6.8 through 10.13.x, and have never had BT mouse issues with any of them.)

I've updated all the software I use frequently to 64-Bit versions, so I should be good to run Big Sur, as I'm running Catalina, now. I'll keep my Intel iMac (and an older Intel Mini and an ancient PowerMac G4) for the older applications that died along the way, and to run Windows when I (rarely) need it.

newvy

I bought a base Mac mini for my son to use for home schooling. He’s 11 and it works great for his (basic) uses. One major irritation for me is waking it up when it goes to sleep. It doesn’t just take a second or two. Sometimes I have to push the power on button to get it to come back on. Also he is an avid F1 fan (gets it from me) and he installed a game that would not run on it ( it was not optimized for Mac) he had to find a different version of the game and now happily races Monaco against Shumi.
Overall it’s a great product although I haven’t pushed it very hard.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Does that Mini have an Intel processor, or a new-since-November M1 Apple Silicon processor? The M1 Macs wake in 0.5 seconds, from what I read.

Macs generally don’t serve as the best gaming computers.

paulevy Loc: Lawrenceville, NJ USA

I upgraded from Catalina 10.15.7 to BigSur on my 2017 iMac after first doing the same on my 2015 MBP. The MBP worked fine but the iMac was dreadfully slow. Most times when I tried to open another window or App, I got a colored spinning wheel before the switch. After several calls to AppleCare with senior advisors, I gave up and am now back to Catalina on the iMac. While the MBP is pretty good with BigSur, I work every day at my desk using the iMac.

I will wait a few months and try it again. Maybe it needs a vaccination???

newvy

Its the new Mac chipset. I know they aren’t the best for gaming but it runs Daner’s F1 game very well. I will have to see if there’s something I can do to effect it waking up. I can call mac support. They have been awesome with all of our other Mac products. 2 iMacs 2 iPads 6 past and present iPhones 3 ibook and PowerBook machines. The funny thing it that I set up a pc i7 and had plenty of problems with that machine. (It was a server that I bought second hand) I like macs and how easy they are for what I do. (Photos and iMovie are very intuitive). Good luck with a Mac mini I don’t think you would be disappointed.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yeah, similar history. My wife brought home a work Mac in 1985 for a project, and we bought an SE when it came out.

From 1986 to 2012, I had a Mac and a PC in my office, so I have some perspective... We all use Macs and iPhones now, but my wife has to use a crappy $3000 HP laptop for work.

I run Win10 on my iMac when needed, which isn’t often. When I get a MacBook Pro and some peripheral items (monitor, dock, high capacity SSDs, etc.), I’ll still use the iMac for Windows work.

newvy

Sounds like a similar use. 8 yrs ago when I started in Solar I bought an HP laptop w windows 10. I returned the machine 4 days later and bought a New PowerBook. No plans to go back to pc ( I know there’s a use for them but I’m happy w Mac) the price on the Mac mini is incredible.

tcthome Loc: NJ

I would hold off for a little while if your having no problems now. Wait for all the software companies to catch up if you can.

wmontgomery Loc: Louisiana

Rather disgusted with a M1 MacBook Pro. Apple seems to have crippled the machine. Two issues with me, 1- only two ports. 2- spent two days trying to make it support 2 monitors, finally gave up and put a 35 inch single monitor on it.
They need to remove “Pro” from the name.
Really like the M1 Mac mini.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

This is the lowest end MacBook Pro they will make. The Comparable price class 13” Intel model only had two ports, too.

A $30, 7-port dock can address most issues with ports. Many other docks and even a three port Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 hub are available.

There are several third party solutions that run two or more additional monitors. I saw an M1 Mini running six! What’s official and what’s possible are two different things.

TonyBot

Late response, but thought you and others might want to know.

Long conversation with Canon service a couple of days ago, during which I asked how the new M1 was doing re: Pro-xx/Prograf-xx printers. Rep said something like: "Work great with WiFi". And with USB? "Much better with WiFi".

Since I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on buying a new M1 to replace my aging Mini, does anyone have any experience to relate, especially pro-style printers? Canon, Epson, HP - any brand? All-in-One office style printers?

(Posting also on Printing forum)

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I use WiFi for all my printing. No issues. We have 120 Mbps Internet download to our iPhones. I clock WiFi computer to computer at 800+ Mbps in our 5 GHz network. None of our devices are wired, except for one computer my wife uses for work.

Jobs spool rapidly when files are stored on SSD and the computers are using 5GHz WiFi in the same room as the router and printer. The router is a Netgear R7000-based AC 1750 or 1900 set for maximum power output.