ms GP66 Leopard 11ug-018 has an 11th gen Core i7-11800H 8 Core cpu. Yes the MSI costs less, but the MacBook has more memory with much better bandwidth, faster NVME, better screen, 2/3 thickness, WAY WAY better better life, can run at full speed unplugged, better camera, most likely a better sound system, will run much quieter, and more. It's a premium machine, how much is all that worth to you? That's up to the buyer.

I think the base models are actually a good value.

That said, we don't even know what benchmarks they used, so lets wait until the machines come out in the hands of reviewers. But if it's anything like their m1 launch, I expect them to be really good.

 

I Think The M1 Max Chip In The Smaller Mac Pro or Mac Mini Is Going To Be More Then Enough For Music And Video Production

 

These two factors are very important. Especially the RAM (DDR5 by the way) integrated in the same chip. And it's the first 5nm PC chip BTW
Sucks for upgrades but that's for me the biggest game-changer along with the new RISC->ARM->Apple's architecture.
I'd love to see how the RAM is integrated in the chip because at the end of the day it's still DDR RAM. But clearly it works faster than in a regular motherboard connected by PCIE.

Also the speed and latency of the nvme masks RAM quantity problems. It may not be integrated in the chip but, again, the M1s have a dedicated part (accelerator or however is called this month) to make the most of the SSD.
I guess it's somewhat similar to the latest consoles have (but only for the GPU). And the upcoming Windows DirectStorage

Also I'm very curious to see the graphics performance because if memory serves there's a lot more GPU power improvement than CPU.

Edited: corrected messes, repackaged

 

Last edited: Oct 21, 2021

I have a macbook pro late 2013 (i7, medium specs - 512 SSD, 16GB RAM). I upgraded exactly... nothing in these 8 years. There was nothing I needed to add. I had a i7 desktop (I think 2200K, purchased in the year it was launched). The only thing I upgraded was a ssd instead of HDD and then I got an i9 last year. Upgrading computers is vastly overrated. The only thing that made a significant difference was HDD to SSD switch. So budget that the new machine would last for the next 5-6 years, buy it, use it, enjoy it and call it a day with upgrades and whatnot.

 

Current M1’s are using LPDDR4X SD unified ram that’s how they do it. I’m not sure but it could have LPDDR5 SD unified ram. But ram is quite different on a ARM architecture than on x64. The fact that they managed to put 64GB of ram on it it’s amazing. Even 16GB on the M1 it’s super responsive and very good for music production. Can’t imagine these new chips. 5nm process APU too, super impressive.

 

In the US macbook is not yet in stores, but Apple will deliver it by mail in 1 month -That's what official website says-

(Delivery to Honolulu)

 

that might be news for logic users but...

 

Fuck, I had a gigantic mess in my head with a recent comment on Intel last CPUs using DDR5. I really intended to talk about those 5nm besides the embedded RAM. EPIC FAIL!!

I'm interested in that. Quality links?

 

https://medium.com/swlh/advances-in-arm-what-it-could-mean-to-the-future-of-computing-2e76417bbfe7

While doesn’t specifically mention RAM, it does explain how ARM works, and will give you an idea. Arm’s whole point is to be power efficient, that’s the main difference.It was like that for a while whoever since M1, Apple showed its performance can be also very good. It would be super hard for other manufacturers to catch up to Apple/TSMC in the desktop side. There is Microsoft’s in-house SQ3 to be released that’s supposedly 80% than SQ2 (but that wasn’t nearly as close to M1). The main problem for them I would say it’s Windows’s itself. What I mean, it’s that windows main money makers are enterprise. That’s the reason why compatibly is so good with legacy stuff like old apps. Apple has full control of OS and now hardware so they can force devs to catch up. Microsoft needs to basically master x64 emulation to catch up

 

well, according to Sonnet, Thunderbolt 4 is actually joke compared to Thunderbolt 3

 

Thanks. I basically already knew that. I guess Apple has gazillions of patents about the RAM design.

I also agree with what you say of possible Windows on ARM chips. That being said, the jump between x86_64 and ARM is so big that besides their own Rosetta 2, so to speak, they'd have to master native ARM coding. And partially they're doing it already.
But they still need someone to bring a competent ARM chip to the PCs.

 

I purchased a 2020 I7 Imac who is so powerfull I do no more need to render tracks even when I use dozens of heavy plugins.
CPU rarelly goes above 20 % on a full project with mastering effect.
So why do I need a M1 max or pro which is perhaps 10X faster than my I7, no interest for me.
It's like I have a car which can run at 200 KM/H and the new one can reach 500 KM/H, speed limit is 130 KM/H (France)
Perhaps this is usefull for pro designer when they render complex videos or vector base images but that's not the case for everyday users !

 

some plugins are still not bigsur compatible and now M1 and monteray are coming ! good luck developers !

 

Absolutely yes, that's why i said earlier that these are suitable for 3d works, animation and some 4k or above video editing workloads. For music production i think previous m1s or older ones will be enough. But for users who need a new computer that can handle huge workloads like video editing or 3d animation + music production, i think these are pretty good and efficient.

 

Most of the plugins are native supported btw except ilok ones and some old plugins that don't get updates.

xfer, waves, fabfilter, tokyo dawn labs, cableguys, Refx, devious machines and many more.

but i've noticed that native instruments, output and arturia still don't have native support.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Oct 21, 2021

In music production, yes. But not for video or 3d production.

 

Well to be fair, mastering is the least consuming task in a song. I would argue producers and mix engineers are the ones who will have the most to gain from these chips in audio work. M1 is very powerful as well, these are even more future proof which is quite important in my opinion. Especially if you use demanding plugins such as multiple instances of Omnisphere, huge Kontakt libraries, acustica audio plugins, oversampling etc. Of course video editing is another story.

 

Poor bastards, they have their hands full learning how to do a VST3 Kontakt from the iZotope guys (new partners)...
Cut them some slack, will you?!