The new M1 MacBook Pro. Where do I start? In terms of overall computing power, this computer is significantly superior to my previous Surface Book 2. It has been about 2 or 3 weeks since I have received my new computer and let me tell you, having 8 cores, opposed to 2, makes an enormous difference. Load times for apps are cut in half, crashes rarely happen, and I can pretty much run any program, even if I have others open.

As I said in my first post about the M1, I am a Business Development Manager that is on his computer all day for work. Having a new computer has been great! There have been many advantages, as well as a few minor inconveniences, but for the most part nothing major.

The single greatest advantage of my new MacBook is speed and efficiency. In my line of work, I am constantly switching between programs and projects. Throughout the day I am connected to around 7 or 8 programs that I need to operate at the elevated level of capacity that I do. My new computer can handle all of these, and then some. Compared to my Windows machine, where I had to close one program to hop over to the next, with my Apple I can open all of them and use shortcuts to jump back and forth between them.

The computer has greatly improved my workflow and allows me to blend seamlessly into the “Apple Ecosystem” that is established here at my work. Realistically, I have only had apps crash once or twice in this two-to-three-week span that I’ve had the computer, and even then, it was mostly because I was using multiple Adobe programs at once. In fact, this was also the only time I have heard my computer’s fans ramp up in this two-to-three-week period. I was using both Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Media Encoder simultaneously. Other than that, my computer has been silent and cold to the touch every time I check on it.

I’ve also noticed that with minor programs open and in use (Word, Music, Chrome, Teams, Outlook, Messages, Click-up) I only seem to use around 10% of my CPU. This is a massive difference between the M1 and the Surface, as with a chrome browser and a Team’s window open on my surface, I was running around 80% of my CPU. These numbers will hopefully help you gain perspective on just how powerful this computer is. And, I have only scratched the surface of the potential of this machine.

As far as inconveniences go, the list is a little longer but filled with less important topics than the advantages. I have only known a Windows machine, so I have only known a Windows keyboard. That being said, I can’t wrap my head around and agree with the location of the “Command” button on the keyboard. For someone that is in a fast-paced position, I use keyboard shortcuts to help speed up processes. I seem to be running into the issue that when I need to copy something, I hold the “fn” key and then hit “C”, which does nothing. On my surface, the shortcut was “CTRL” + “C”, the “CTRL” key on my surface was located in the same spot as the “fn” key on my Mac. It doesn’t feel natural to have to reach to the “Command” key then the “C”. Now this may just be a personal preference, but it is bothering me enough to talk about it. I suspect, however, that with time, I will come to accept this change and will overcome this minor inconvenience.

Another inconvenience I stumbled upon, that again, will be solved with time and use is the number of mouse/trackpad shortcuts on my Mac compared to my Windows. There are so many on my Mac that I can’t remember all of them. This isn’t a negative, it just happens to be inconvenient that I cannot remember all of them.

A third inconvenient, and a big one for me, is I seem to have encountered an error with the M1 Chip and its ability to run Fruity Loops Studio. I dabble in making music in my spare time (not the best, but I enjoy it). When I went to run the program for the first time one night, I noticed that the CPU load inside of the application was extremely high for the low amount of work I had done in the app. When I would play sounds back, the playback would clip and cut simple sounds. I did some research, and a quick Google came back with exactly what I thought. The M1 chip was not compatible with FL Studio and everyone that had tried to use it on this new machine was running into the same issue. Now being a new chip, I figured the M1 would have some minor hiccups and compatibility issues. Am I truly surprised that FL did not run on my new computer? No. Am I a bit disappointed? Yes, but you win some you lose some. My hope is that in the future Image-line creates a compatible version of FL Studio with the M1 chip. Until then I will have to stick to using my old surface if I want to use the application. I view that as somewhat of a positive for M1 Updates series though, because it keeps me using and connected to my old laptop for comparison to my new one.

Overall, the advantages still outweigh the disadvantages. So far, I am very pleased with my new laptop and would suggest others look into getting one as well! I will continue to push and test it so I can bring you more views on the M1. Let me know in the comments if you would like me to cover any topics about the new M1, such as tests, etc.

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