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MacBook M1 Updates on Performance Issues and Other Random Thoughts After 3 Weeks

11:44 video

I posted about issues with the new M1 MacBooks, got lots of feedback, and here are updates on those issues, answers to questions and other observations after a few weeks.

Display issues

  • BenQ 32-inch: connected with HDMI using the Apple AV Adapter or the CalDigit SOHO dock, everything worked: full 4K at 60 Hz. Over DisplayPort or Thunderbolt using a dock, I only got 30 Hz, which feels laggy. I emailed BenQ support and sent feedback to Apple. BenQ replied that they see the same issue with the M1 MacBooks and are looking into it.
  • To see if DisplayPort works at all (I wanted to use the CalDigit TS3 dock), I bought a 32-inch Samsung monitor, and it works through DisplayPort at 60 Hz. So there’s some incompatibility between M1 Macs and some displays over Thunderbolt or DisplayPort, but the M1s can display 60 Hz and higher depending on the display.
  • The built-in display that wouldn’t wake after lunch: I had to reboot. Some commenters said I’d made it up and had just turned the brightness down. I can’t think of a reason to lie, but I tested: I turned the brightness all the way down, put the machine to sleep, and woke it with the power button, and the screen came back, proving it wasn’t just dimmed. I haven’t seen it again, and commenters suggest it could be a macOS issue affecting other devices.

Performance issues in Final Cut Pro

I installed Final Cut Pro 10.5 (updated for Apple silicon, as Activity Monitor showed) on both on day one. The MacBook Pro M1 had slight delays scrubbing and playing over cuts. The Air had disastrous issues: videos wouldn’t play, audio cut out, and I had to quit and reopen Final Cut, with the problems returning as soon as I dragged in another clip.

Theories: the computer was still indexing and doing what new macOS installs do; or I’d installed lots of apps and copied, deleted and duplicated very large files, so APFS snapshots may have been taking up space and causing erratic behavior. Since it was late, I moved the project to my iMac to finish. The next morning I rebooted the Air and everything seemed fine.

My demos used Sony XAVC video from two cameras in a multicam clip, so both files play together, which may explain more basic performance issues and different results than YouTubers testing single-track performance. Many commenters suggested optimized media or proxies, and I can confirm that makes performance much better and the Air can edit with no problem: optimized media takes up a ton of space, proxies very little, but both take time to create.

Apps and Rosetta

Very little crashing since my video: Final Cut and Photoshop are my two heaviest apps besides games, and I’ve maybe seen one or two Photoshop crashes and none in Final Cut. Rosetta is “stupid fast,” almost unbelievably good at translating on first run and then letting Intel apps run. Office apps, Skype, Zoom, Citrix, Remote Desktop, Adobe Creative Cloud, LastPass and Minecraft Java all just work. The only app with issues was Fortnite under Rosetta 2, which froze a few times, needing a force quit, though I could otherwise play well on the Air. I even downloaded CrossOver (like WINE) to try Windows Steam games, and it actually runs them.

USB-C speed

The issue remains: much lower read speeds on my Samsung T7 SSD than on my 2020 Intel MacBook Air and iMac.

Overall impressions

Despite a few issues, they’re worth the hype. Bugs are more likely related to macOS Big Sur than the hardware, and some haven’t returned or have been replicated by commenters on Intel and Apple silicon Macs on different macOS versions. That they work so well with non-native code is mind-blowing. In everyday use (surfing the web, YouTube, writing scripts, casual games, work meetings), they feel fast. There’s virtually no difference between the 8 GB Air and the 16 GB Pro for normal use. The Pro’s fan is off 99% of the time, and I only hear it creating proxies or optimized files for Final Cut, so they stay cool on your lap and hands. Battery claims aren’t exaggerated; whatever old laptop you have now has a trash battery by comparison. Most issues can probably be fixed with software updates. The most concerning to me is external display compatibility: you may not get the full benefit of your existing monitor right away.

Air or Pro?

If you didn’t need a $2,000 laptop for what you did on a computer before, you don’t need the Pro. The Air can do everything the Pro can at the same speed except in very limited cases. Even with higher-end apps, more RAM in the Air would be more valuable than the Pro’s fan. The Pro does offer a 25% brighter screen, better speakers, a slightly larger and louder trackpad and the Touch Bar (if you think that’s an upgrade). Have you had issues with the M1 Macs, or been surprised by anything?

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