Speed, But Not Like You Think
The best thing about the M1 Mac is its speed.
Im not talking about benchmarks, or even exporting lots of photos, or converting video.
OS 9, aka Classic, was snappy as hell.
Joey Banks / Unsplash
Menus dropped down instantly, windows moved without delay.
On an M1 Mac running Big Sur, were back to that, and more.
Its like the Mac operating system finally got the hardware it deserves.
Apple
It needed a while to get going.
With the M1 MacBooks, and probably the forthcoming Apple M1 iMacs, this should be even faster.
Its tempting, but Ill probably wait and see what future MacBooks end up looking like.
Apple
Switching between 15-20 open apps is no different from one or two.
I have the 16GB model, a replacement for the 8GB M1 Mac mini I bought initially.
I switched because Lightroom wasnt too happy with just 8GB of RAM.
That 8GB mini was still just as fast as this one with multiple apps open, though.
Unless you have a very specific need for more RAM,then 8GB should be fine.
App Story
Speaking of apps, M1 Macs have two odd app aspects.
The other is Mac apps must be updated to run on Apple Silicon.
If not, theyll still run, but slightly slower in the Rosetta 2 translation environment.
The good news is developers are updating their apps.
Everything else I use regularly is already Apple Silicon-native.
I experimented with these at the beginning, but theyre mostly terrible to use.
You cant open their preferences with the keyboard shortcut, for example.
I do keep the Trello app around, but I never launch it.
Its just there to provide a sharing extension in Safari, which the Mac version of Trello doesnt have.
The Bad and Ugly
Apart from a few teething troubles, this Mac mini has been fantastic.
The bigger problem, for the mini specifically, is that it doesnt have enough ports.
You get two Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, headphones, Ethernet, and HDMI.
The Intel Mac mini had four USB-A ports.
But even this is a weak complaint.
This works flawlessly, although the CalDigit dock doesnt sleep as often as Id like.
But the really bad part of all M1 Macs so far is that you cant upgrade them at all.
Youre stuck with the RAM and SSD you choose at purchase.
Overall, though, I cant recommend this Mac enough.
These M1s are just the beginning.
