I have already experienced a processor change at Apple. My Apple career began in 1996 with a PowerBook 5300, which I absolutely loved—despite its 640×480 pixel grayscale display. On the one hand, a Mac laptop at that time was still something very special and rare (admittedly, at an exorbitant price, but it had been provided to me by my then employer), and it had a keyboard that felt incredibly good and, above all, sounded wonderfully. On the other hand, compared to the Windows PCs I had used before, it was also extremely reliable. With 8 MB of RAM and a 500 MB hard drive, it was also quite well-equipped. This PowerBook was the first to feature a Motorola PowerPC processor, so there had already been a kind of transition shortly before.
In 2006, Apple switched to Intel processors, a move that was extraordinary at the time, especially since in the 90s, Apple had aired commercials where a Motorola processor roasted an Intel processor. For the transition, Apple offered a program called Rosetta, which allowed PowerPC applications to run on Intel-based Macs. Typically, these programs ran slower. The commercial was actually referenced again when the first Intel Macs were introduced, around minute 1:05 of the presentation.
Now another transition. In 2019, I bought the 16″ MacBook Pro after many years with a MacBook Air. I hadn’t kept any other Apple computer longer than the Air, but over time, it had become too slow for what I was doing with it (R, a lot of work in the terminal with sed, awk, Lightroom, etc.). I hadn’t upgraded earlier because I absolutely didn’t want the awful butterfly keyboard. The return to scissor-switch keyboards began with the 16″ MacBook, but I still couldn’t get used to the huge device. Not to mention, it became incredibly hot and loud, and the battery life was far from Apple’s claims. For example, when I trained a machine learning model, the MacBook got so hot that I didn’t need to heat my office anymore. And during any Zoom or Webex call, the battery drained faster than an ice cube melting in the summer heat.
I spend quite a bit of time waiting for the results of a calculation, even if it’s only 20 or 30 seconds sometimes, but it adds up over the day, and sometimes it’s several minutes or even hours. I usually know in advance how long it will take, but I don’t start another task for just half a minute because it disrupts my train of thought. Data analysis is also a meditative act for me. So, the speed of a computer is extremely important. Not just for data analysis, but for all other tasks on the computer as well. It just has to feel smooth.
The speed of a calculation in R depends on many factors:
- Memory (yes, R loads everything into memory)
- Processor speed
- Parallelization
For memory, the first Apple Silicon models aren’t particularly well-equipped—16 GB is the maximum. It doesn’t help that the path from the processor to memory is especially short. The operating system uses part of the memory, the running programs also use some, so there’s not much left. Especially when working with large files, as I often do, which can sometimes reach 50GB or more, swapping is almost “predetermined.” Parallelization is not possible yet, as the necessary packages are not available—Homebrew, for example, is still not available.
Additionally, R is currently not available for the new Macs. It lacks (still) a Fortran compiler, and this is not only a problem for R but also for many machine learning software extensions for Python. Who would have thought that this old programming language could still have such a big influence today? Of course, R also runs via Rosetta, but then I could have just not bought a new Mac and let myself be used as a beta tester for Apple 🙂 But, small spoiler: Even with Rosetta, the Intel version of R runs faster on the M1, and it seems that’s not just the case for me.
I initially purchased a Mac mini with 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD to test how good the performance actually is and whether I could make the transition. I was able to pick up the Mac mini the same day from the Apple Store, and from the start, I was amazed at how smooth everything felt on this computer. R worked flawlessly, though RStudio showed error messages frequently. No big deal. But it soon became clear that the memory limitation was an issue. When trying to process a 200GB file (using sort, awk, sed in the shell), at some point, the hard drive filled up with swapping, and the process failed. Okay, maybe the mini is just a bit too weak for that task. What surprised me, though, was that not once did the fan kick in—this would not have been the case with the 16″ MacBook Pro. So, all in all, everything seemed great…
…except for the Bluetooth. My Mac mini also had the well-known Bluetooth problems. Specifically, the mouse loses its connection multiple times a day, which is extremely inconvenient when you’re showing a demo during a video conference. Not good, very frustrating. I tried all sorts of tips, including using a wired connection to the network instead of Wi-Fi. No improvement. It’s unclear whether this is a hardware or software issue. A chat with Apple Support dropped multiple times, and eventually, I got tired of it because, you know, I have a job too. An update to the Big Sur beta helped a little, and as of yesterday, the computer is running on 11.1, so I’m hoping it will be better now, and that it’s not a hardware issue.
Another not-so-pleasant experience was the sound. I have never experienced an Apple computer with such poor sound quality—my old PowerBook 5300 probably sounded better. They could have definitely done much more with the sound.
Despite the Bluetooth issues, after 2 days, I decided to also buy a portable Apple Silicon Mac. In full configuration (16GB RAM, 2TB SSD), it costs about the same as I could sell my 16″ MacBook Pro for on the used market, and at the same time, I get double the storage space. There used to be a rule that you should calculate how much storage you might need and then multiply that size by 4. Unfortunately, there are no 8TB SSDs for these computers yet.
The computer arrived after almost 3 weeks, one week earlier than expected. Here, I noticed a small speed boost, likely due to the doubled RAM. The 200GB file also went through smoothly now, thanks to enough space on the SSD. And, just like with the Mac mini, the computer hardly seemed to break a sweat. Only once did the computer get a little warm, but not hot, and certainly not as hot as the 16″ MacBook Pro. This is also reflected in the battery life. I have yet to drain the battery in a single day. No kidding. I plug the computer in at night, and I usually still have a few hours of battery life left. It’s a completely new feeling.
The Bluetooth issue also exists with the MacBook Air. This is unpleasant, and I wonder how it could have gone unnoticed in the tests Apple conducts. That a transition doesn’t go completely smoothly is understandable, and you’re always somewhat of a guinea pig when buying the first model after a major shift. For me, it’s a trade-off: How much time do I gain by having a fast computer versus how much time do I lose when something occasionally doesn’t work. The mouse connection is of course a hygiene factor; it should just work. But with the MacBook Air, I’m not as reliant on it. So far, I’m happy with my decision, though I would have preferred 32GB or even 64GB of RAM. But those options aren’t available yet.
The sound of the MacBook Air is much better than my old Air’s, but it doesn’t compare to the 16″ MacBook Pro. No surprise, the speakers are much smaller. Still, it’s better than the mini’s sound.
The instant wake feature actually works, and sometimes I wonder if the computer was even “asleep.” The keyboard sounds almost as nice as that of the PowerBook 5300, and if anyone wonders why a keyboard should sound good, well, aesthetics don’t stop at just the visual 🙂