Our take: Buy as much memory and storage as you can afford. You can also configure your Mac with up to 2TB of storage. Apple uses solid-state drives (SSDs) in its M1 Macs, offering 256GB to start and 512GB at the higher-priced models. Then there’s storage, the place where files and software is kept. The M1 Macs do not allow you to easily add more memory after purchase. However, Apple changed the way memory is used in the M1 compared to Intel-based Macs, and most regular users will be fine with 8GB. Having a higher amount of memory can help performance.) If you think 8GB isn’t enough, you have the option to upgrade to a maximum of 16GB of memory for an additional fee. (If you don’t know, memory or RAM is used by a computer when it is doing work and processing data. M1: Memory and storageĪll four of these Macs have 8GB of “unified memory” in their standard configurations. The 13-inch MacBook Pro’s performance is very close to the Mac mini, so it’s a worthy contender as well, but if you want the best price-to-performance ratio, the Mac mini is the way to go. If you can wait, hold off until results from the 24-inch iMac are in, but we expect they’ll be similar. Our take: If all you care about is getting the top-performing M1 Mac, then the Mac mini is for you. Geekbench 5 Compute GPU benchmark Mac model We’ll update the performance chart with iMac data as soon as possible. We expect the $1,299 iMac’s 7-core GPU to be slightly faster than the MacBook Air’s 7-core GPU, while the iMac’s 8-core GPU performance could be similar to the Mac mini. The 24-inch iMac has three standard configurations, starting with the low-end $1,299 model that has a 7-core GPU, and the $1,499 and $1,699 models with an 8-core GPU. The difference is 9 percent between the two MacBook Air models, and higher compared to the MacBook Pro and Mac mini, so if your work is graphic-heavy, consider spending a little more on the 8-core model. The $999 MacBook Air and the $1,299 iMac have a 7-core GPU that’s slower than the other M1 Macs, but you probably won’t notice a difference in general everyday use. So once again, potential buyers should really consider paying out the extra US$200 for the 8-core dual-fan model if they plan to use their 2021 Apple iMac 24 for more than basic tasks.Below are the Geekbench 5 GPU results. Although the 8-core model had more RAM, at 16 GB to 8 GB, the tests chosen mostly stressed out the CPU and/or GPU. The tech channel utilized a thermal imaging camera to show how the single fan in the base model of the iMac 24 couldn’t properly cool the M1 chip, while the dual-fan variant was obviously more successful at keeping temperatures down. The final scores in this telling benchmark run were 7,002 points for the single-fan iMac 24 compared to 7,722 points for the dual-fan model, or +10.28% advantage for the device with the superior cooling system. The M1 Apple Silicon chip was measured running at around 2.5 GHz W whereas the 8-core iMac 24 with two fans was able to reach its full potential performance rate of 3.2 GHz W and still record a lower processor temperature (88 ☌ vs. The 8-core (GPU) iMac 24 performed around 10% better here, with its two fans often sitting idle.Ī Cinebench 23 run was even more damning for the 7-core iMac 24 with one cooling fan. In a stress test, the single-fan iMac 24 started throttling as the cooling system maxed out its fan's RPMs and still couldn’t keep the SoC’s temperature down. While Geekbench 5 results were pretty much as expected, and the dual-fan iMac 24 was able to take an appropriate lead in the Metal compute benchmark because of having an M1 chip with an additional GPU core, testing with 3D Mark Wild Fire started showing some disconcerting differences. Vigorous benchmark testing by popular YouTube outfit Max Tech has shown how the single-fan iMac 24 loses ground in CPU and GPU performance because of the effects of thermal throttling. The base model of the M1 iMac is fitted with a single fan, while the next model up in the range has two fans inside it. We recently reported on a “hidden” difference between the new Apple iMac 24 with 7-core GPU and the model with an 8-core GPU.
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