Since SSD speeds have changed a lot since the 2013 Mac Pro was released I decided to use an older Samsung T1 external USB 3.0 SSD for testing that wouldn’t give either computer an advantage to get a good look at the performance of the Apple M1’s processor and memory performance.Ībove are the relevant specs of the computers that will be stressed by my initial testing since I have limited the SSD speed with the Samsung T1, which runs at between 350-370MB/s via USB 3.0 on both systems. There are a lot of ways to compare computer systems via benchmarking software, but in general, I prefer real-world results so I decided to share some with readers so they can be better informed about what to expect from Apple Silicon. I also decided to upgrade the RAM to 16GB because I just can’t imagine ever owning an 8GB machine again and I want to keep swap file usage to a minimum even though the M1 has an incredibly fast SSD. I decided to go with the Apple M1 Macbook Pro due to the slightly better screen and active cooling that will help if I ever get into video editing. When the first reviews started to trickle out I was very impressed with what I was seeing and immediately regretted not ordering one so I decided to consider either an MBP 13″ with M1 inside or Macbook Air with M1 inside. When the Apple M1 was announced I was worried about going through another transition like from PowerPC to x86 and I had my doubts about the power of ARM-based processors even though Apple has a good track record with the iPad and iPhone so I did not order one on day one. Before the M1 I generally had a pretty loaded Macbook Pro 15/16″ in addition to my 2013 Mac Pro, but I always did my photo and video editing on my 2013 Mac Pro because I kept a very clean install of OSX on it that was more responsive than my Macbook Pro workhorse and I have 3 27″ displays for my Mac Pro. I finally received my Macbook Pro 13″ with Apple Silicon M1 inside and I am very impressed.

Lightroom cc m1