Apple M1 compared to 4GHZ i7 iMac

[Christian_Schmitz]

Well, if you like the M1, get it with 512 GB or more disk and 16 GB RAM.

If you think about the M2, then think again that from a M2 with 512 GB and 16 GB RAM, you are close to the price of a MacBook Pro 14".

[Michel_Bujardet]

That is not sufficient to upgrade just yet for me.

Usually, Mac or Windows, I upgrade only when the CPU gain is 100%. Perhaps for someone doing a lot of video and graphics, the 40% gain in GPU can be the deciding factor.

[PhilippeP]

@Sam_Rowlands

Last time I checked, my Xojo made applications also appear to use almost twice the RAM on M1 as they do on Intel.

!!! ??? really ???

(maybe this thread should be moved to OT lol)

[Christian_Schmitz]

I would assume the GPU memory used for windows is counted with the process for M1 and not counted for Intel CPU as there it is separated on the graphic memory.

[Trig_Charters1 (Trig Charters)]

Hi there,

That’s odd about the memory usage?? I’ve just tested my APP on the M1 and an Intel and I get close on both. Memory usage on the M1 is 124.6MB and 128.3MB on the Intel.

TC

[Paul_Rodman]

@Trig_Charters1

I’ve just tested my APP on the M1 and an Intel and I get close on both. Memory usage on the M1 is 124.6MB and 128.3MB on the Intel.

Is your app compiled for Apple ARM or Universal? If you’re running Intel under Rosetta on the M1 the results might be different.

[Trig_Charters1 (Trig Charters)]

Hi,

It is compiled as a Universal, but is running the ARM / Apple version. Running an Intel Version on the M1 is close in memory usage, shown below.

TC

CPU ARM Version:

Memory ARM Version:

Memory Intel Version, running on M1:

[Sam_Rowlands]

@Michel_Bujardet

That is not sufficient to upgrade just yet for me.

You might be waiting for a long time to get a new Mac then. Apple’s engineering has only been able to squeeze 10% more single core performance in two years.

@Christian_Schmitz

I would assume the GPU memory used for windows is counted with the process for M1 and not counted for Intel CPU as there it is separated on the graphic memory.

I did compare it with a MacBook that has an integrated GPU and shared memory. Either Apple doesn’t report the GPU usage on an Intel MacBook with integrated GPU or…
But that also emphasizes my point, which is 8GB is not enough. Apple’s GUI is triple buffered, the screen buffer uses RAM, the window buffer uses RAM and view buffer uses RAM, all eating into the available memory for applications. So you never actually get the full memory for application use.

@Trig_Charters1

That’s odd about the memory usage?? I’ve just tested my APP on the M1 and an Intel and I get close on both. Memory usage on the M1 is 124.6MB and 128.3MB on the Intel.

This was done earlier in the year with Xojo 2021r2.1.

[Trig_Charters1 (Trig Charters)]

I used Xojo 2022r2…

[Ivan_Tellez]

@Trig_Charters1

I ran some of my assembly code on the iMac to generate a Mandelbrot and it took just over 30 seconds on the M1 it took exactly 16 seconds and I have to say everything about Xojo seems snappier…

Can that code be used on a Windows PC?

[Trig_Charters1 (Trig Charters)]

Hi,

Not directly no, sorry… The code I hinted at is running inside my Xojo coded assembly app. Currently I’m only developing a Mac version for use in education. I’d like to make a Windows and Linux version later.

TC

[Michel_Bujardet]

@Sam_Rowlands

@Michel_Bujardet

That is not sufficient to upgrade just yet for me.

You might be waiting for a long time to get a new Mac then. Apple’s engineering has only been able to squeeze 10% more single core performance in two years.

I usually upgrade either when there is a change in hardware platform, such as Intel to Apple Silicon, or when there is more than 30% speed. I agree that does not happen in two years.

I use to change Mac around 5-7 years, although I kept my 2011 iMac 8 years.

Same thing for the PC. I kept the last one 6 years, until there was enough performances gain for me to change.

I don’t do much video or graphics, though. If I did, then perhaps a lower gain would be more significant.

[Emile_Schwarz]

@Sam_Rowlands

Apple’s engineering has only been able to squeeze 10% more single core performance in two years.

We will get a speed bump with processor using the 3nm technology.

[Christoph_Emrich]

Which SSD did you get? And do you notice a speed difference between the SSD of the Mac mini and the one you’re using in the Hub?

[Bob_Grommes]

FWIW I went with 32G of RAM for my M1 MacBook, not so much because MacOS desperately needs it as that I felt I would at some point be running 1 or 2 VMs, one of which might be Windows, and I in no way want to run Windows on less than 12G and probably not less than 16G of RAM. Also the apps I’m currently developing cache a lot of DB info in-memory and I wanted elbow room.

I have no frame of reference for whether Xojo is subjectively or objectively faster vs an Intel Mac because I have just started using it on this machine, but I do have a ca. 2018 Intel MacBook that I might put a license on just to get a sense of it at some point.

[Christoph_Emrich]

I have just gotten my Mac Mini 2020 with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD. Comparing it to my MacBook Pro 2016 i5 2 GHz, 16GB RAM, loading times are 3 times as fast:

• Xojo loads in 11 seconds instead of 33.
• One of my project (4 MB) loads in 13 seconds instead of 35.
• Once I click on “Run” in that same project, the iOS simulator loads in 16 seconds instead of 52.

This is huge.

[Jeff_Tullin]

@Christoph_Emrich

This is huge.

You wont notice next year though…

[Emile_Schwarz]

You may use Blackmagic Disk Speed Test (in the App Store) can report the HD/SSD speed), it is free and report HD / SSD Read and Write Speed.

NB: in my 2014 MacBook Pro, when the internal SSD have less than 50GB available, the Read speed decrease (I worked during too many years with so few available space in the SSD).

Until I moved most of the data into an external SSD; then the Read spead increase…