From macrumors.com:

The M1 chip, which belongs to a โ€ŒMacBook Airโ€Œ with 8GB RAM, features a single-core score of 1687 and a multi-core score of 7433.

...

In comparison to Macs, theย single-core performance is better than any other available Mac, and the multi-core performance beats out all of the 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro models, including the 10th-generation high-end 2.4GHz Intel Core i9 model. That high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro earned a single-core score of 1096 and a multi-core score of 6870.

From anandtech.com:

The performance numbers of the A14 on this chart is relatively mind-boggling. If I were to release this data with the label of the A14 hidden, one would guess that the data-points came from some other x86 SKU from either AMD or Intel. The fact that the A14 currently competes with the very best top-performance designs that the x86 vendors have on the market today is just an astonishing feat.

Looking into the detailed scores, what again amazes me is the fact that the A14 not only keeps up, but actually beats both these competitors in memory-latency sensitive workloads such as 429.mcf and 471.omnetpp, even though they either have the same memory (i7-1185G7 with LPDDR4X-4266), or desktop-grade memory (5950X with DDR-3200). [emphasis mine]

The most important thing to remember when you read these benchmarks is that, with the exception of one GPU core, every new Mac has exactly the same CPU. It's just clothed in three different skins.

  • One is inexpensive.
  • One has much better cooling and a bigger battery.
  • The last is a desktop.

You really don't get the sort of performance step up you'd normally expect going from one tier to another. They've removed the reason you had to use a different class of processor in the Air -- reducing the wattage required -- by moving everything to the same low-powered chip. You no longer "unlock" a better class of processor when you go Pro. You "just" keep it cooler.

This is why I bagged a new Air.

The only reason I need macOS now is for Xamarin and iOS development. I bought a MacBook Air two years ago, and though it's nice with the upgraded SSD [sic], the processor is really getting long in the tooth. Insanely slow.

The M1's performance jump combined with the Air's price (and, admittedly, combined with the end of the butterfly keyboard) finally makes it make sense to buy a Mac again. And now that I've slowly added USB-C docks and monitors (including a nice Lenovo monitor that sends power with the video) around the house, two USB ports is plenty.

I'm looking forward to seeing how important the fan in the Pro is if you're compiling a decent amount. I may have made a mistake, and saving $300 over the Pro was penny wise & pound foolish, but I doubt it. If I could get by at all on the old Air (though it was getting close to unusable), this is going to be wonderful.

I'm also concerned about Rosetta 2 performance. So far, it appears things are running reasonably fast. If Visual Studio is happy, I'm happy. If World of Warcraft runs... well, without a fan, I bet it doesn't impress, but that'd be a nice bonus. I'm not too concerned about the rest of my app suite...

  1. Visual Studio/Xamarin and the iPhone Simulator
  2. Thunderbird (some concern; it's a bloated app)
  3. Chrome (it's gotta work or Apple failed. That doesn't mean I'm putting money on it working)
  4. Sublime
  5. VS Code (already insanely fast)
  6. ReadKit (though I can finally run NetNewsWire in Big Sur)
  7. iStat (not hugely important)
  8. Amazon Music?
  9. MacVim

That's about it. Aside from maybe Thunderbird, I don't see an issue even if they don't go native soon. (I have played with Panic's Nova a little. It'll be native, so no issues there either.)

I'm looking forward to benchmarking some next weekend.

There are certainly other use cases that might steer you away from an Air. If you wanted to do video, maybe you skip the 7 GPU Air for the 8 core GPU upgraded Air or MacBook Pro.

If you need a brighter screen, the Pro is [100 nits iirc] brighter.

If you're Joe Cieplinski, and it's all about the battery, maybe you get a Pro.

  • My battery life [with the M1 Pro] is likely to be close to double what Iโ€™m currently getting.

That said, USB-C has made it easy to pop a power bank in your bag and keep plugging away... and, as I've joked, I'm a Hodgman when it comes to battery power myself.

If you love the Touch Bar, which is actually pretty neat, maybe you grab a Pro.

If you never leave your desk or you're running a computer lab, maybe you grab the mini?

But I usually figure out what the floor for entry is for a platform and see if and when it's worth entering, and the bottom line is that using macOS seems like it's going to be worth it again with new M1-powered Macs.

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