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MacBookAir M1 $849


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50 minutes ago, Doug Rintoul said:

Is the M1MacBookAir's SSD replaceable?

 Not by (most) users.  It’s one one of the sucky things about Apple.  And actually not just Apple, as many companies are moving to the non user repair model.  Right to repair is a movement. You’d have to take it to Apple or an Apple technician. If under warranty, it will be free.  If not,  it could be pricey to take it to the Apple store.  An independent tech would be cheaper than Apple.   This article has some general prices. Apple store prices would be much higher.   https://www.thumbtack.com/p/apple-repair-costs     Apple does offer AppleCare for $200.  That gives you three years of warranty, so anything breaks (that isn’t your fault) it will be free to repair/replace.  

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One last test.  This is on an 8gb, 512 M1 machine.    UAD Arrow set to 96khz, 32 buffer. Performance should really be the same for all the different M1 versions with the same specs. (mini, Air, Pro, iMac). For this test,  I loaded 20 instances of Kontakt.  Each with a unique library.  I then loaded 10 VST instruments.  I then copied the ten VST instruments 5 times.  For a total of 70 tracks.  20 Kontakt.  50 VST instruments.  I looped an 8 bar pattern with 8 notes played as a sustained chords and 8 notes played staccato.  Everything played back perfectly.  No glitches,  no drop outs.  The entire project loaded up in 33 seconds.  This was all running off the battery.  

The Kontakt libraries used where:

Session Strings

Kontakt Factory Grand

India Sitar

India Ensemble

India Bansuri

Butch Vig Drums

VLS Strings

Noire Pure

Noire Felt

Strummed Acoustic 2 6string

Strummed Acoustic 2 12 string

Cloud Supply

Analog Dreams 1

Analog Dreams 2

Ethereal Earth1

Ethereal Earth2

Hybrid Keys 1

Hybrid Keys 2

OTS Evolution

OTW Strawberry 

 

The VST instruments used are:

5 instances of Diva (set to Devine mode and multicore)

5 of DS Thorn

5 of Hive

5 of Knif Audio Knifornium

5 of Spire 1.5

5 of SynthMaster 2.9

5 of SynthMaster One

5 of NI Super 8

5 of NI FM8

5 of BX Oberhousen

 

I took screenshots of the RAM usage,  as well as the CPU usage.  The CPU had plenty to spare. I could have probably doubled everything I had going.  And keep in mind this is all at 96khz and a 32 sample buffer.  And off of the battery.   As you can see,  an 8gb M1 machine can do much more than just surf the web and run office programs, lol. 

 

 

Screen Shot 2021-06-28 at 12.11.27 PM.png

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/25/2021 at 8:58 AM, Hugh Mann said:

btw, this was with the buffer set at 32.  I could have done way more by increasing the buffer to 64, which is still very low latency.  
 

Screen Shot 2021-06-24 at 10.26.34 PM.png

Hi, in this test (2nd one with 114 tracks, did you use UAD Arrow or again only internal Mac audio? And also, as I understand UA products are not supported on Apple Silicon Macs yet...Is everything fine with your Arrow? do you recommend it? Thanks!

 

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3 hours ago, valhill said:

Hi, in this test (2nd one with 114 tracks, did you use UAD Arrow or again only internal Mac audio? And also, as I understand UA products are not supported on Apple Silicon Macs yet...Is everything fine with your Arrow? do you recommend it? Thanks!

This test was with the internal Mac audio.

 As far UAD,  most everything works fine under Rosetta.  The only issue I ran into was Dream Verb crashes logic. But UAD is aware of this and states on their website that dream verb,  plus I think 2 or three other plug ins,  crash on an M1.  Otherwise,  its working great.

The Arrow is awesome.  but its been replaced by the Apollo solo. Its exactly the  same as the Arrow,  but costs $300 more than what I paid for the Arrow. I blame Clinton, lol.  I love how portable it is,  runs off of just the t3 power.  So no need for a power supply.  The only thing is...it can't run too many plug ins. it can run a lot of some plug ins,  but only like two of others.  You can always freeze tracks to free up resources,  but that's not ideal.  

I will say,  and I wasn't convinced till I tired it myself,  that  once you get into the UAD world,  you are hooked.  I love their plug ins. They have dramatically raised the quality of my mixes.  More than most  of the other plug ins I have (waves,  plug in alliance, izatope,  etc.).  

I ended up returning the Air and went for the cheapest M1 Mac mini.  I realized I do most of my work at home on a desk anyway.  So with all the money I saved, I bought a 1tb Samsung T7 ssd, and a UAD octo satellite to use with my Arrow.  Combined with the Apple m1, I'm a happy camper over here.  

Edited by Hugh Mann
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