New Apple Laptops Air vs. Pro

[Jon Dishler]

I'm looking forward to your tests Jon! (Do you have a comparable x86 Mac to test against?)

Also really excited to see some maxed out Air vs. 13" Pro tests (see if thermal throttle cripples it or not)

I have a 2016 MBP 16GB with i7 processor and a 2013 MacPro with 64 GB so not the current models, but these do "OK" with Metal. I will make a series of Red files at different compressions in 8k and run on all three. From what I read/see on YouTube, 4k seems fine and usually 6k but the M1 seems to choke on 8k but I am hoping the extra RAM will help, we will see. I will test FCP and Resolve. By OK I mean that they work in lower resolution on my current systems of "better performance" and 1/4 resolution in Resolve and Redcine X. I am not sure if/how Redcine X will work with Rosetta 2 but will check that also.

[James Sielaff]

Has anyone figured out how the RAM numbers translate from Intel to M1? Assuming 8GB on M1 is equivalent to 16 on intel? Curious how that might effect working in Davinci resolve with Redcode raw files.

[Mike P.]

Testing against a 16" MBP is exactly what I'd like to see! Personally not as interested about RCXp only because it's not native yet (whereas FCP and Resolve beta are).

That one video showed the GPU was what was tapping out quickest and I'm not sure if software can be magically optimized to the point of that not being maxed out (the delta was huge; GPU was 100% while CPU was ~30% during render). If the CPU has headroom to spare (while under load), and it's the GPU that maxes out, it might make the active cooling of the MBP less beneficial to overall render times. We'll see. Ultimately, the price difference isn't so crazy as to not opt for the MBP regardless, it'd just be awesome to have a 2.5lbs passively cooled ultraportable laptop capable of handling ~6k~8k r3d.

As for the RAM; sure it's a faster architecture, but if you get to a point where you physically need 8+gb at a time, I don't think the "on M1, 8gb = 16gb on x86" logic would hold. And being that Resolve tends to be hardware hungry, I don't think saving a couple hundred bucks going with 8gb is the smartest move... But I digress.

[Misha Engel]

In German https://www.slashcam.de/artikel/Test...lve.html#Typis, not bad for $1.899.

[Blair S. Paulsen]

I'd also point out that slashcam.de was largely comparing EFX processing times, not decoding or playback or scrub speed. What are the deltas between the laptops listed for smooth playback FPS in 4K/6K/8K at 5:1 and 12:1 compression? If you did want to render out ProRes in the background for editorial, would that make the computer laggy?
To me, a 13" laptop is all about portability first - the fact that a 3 lb. laptop can potentially be a very useful device on a RED set is bonkers.
As Jeff and others have noted, the M1 is just the opening act. I expect some pretty powerful ASi variants in the coming months that, along with some code optimization and more RAM, that will be up to the task.

SideNote: The new school DCT based R3Ds from Komodo should theoretically be a simpler decode, thereby requiring less computational muscle. There's a possibility that the M1 SOC will be enough for all flavors of Komodo footy, even if 8K J2K (wavelet) R3Ds from other REDs stutter. I do not have the means to test this theory, but if I had a Komodo and access to a 13" MBP I'd sure check it out. Most RedUsers will want to wait for pumped up Apple Silicon coming next year, but if you are looking for an affordable "right now" solution to work with your new Komodo... Besides, you can always upgrade down the road.

If anyone has already tested this, please add a link.

Cheers - #19

[Andrew Dease]

WOULD THE BASE LEVEL configuration new 13” MacBook Pro still smoke it with Komodo footage?

[Mike P.]

Ouuf, this video is less optimistic... 9.5mins for a 4k timeline of BMD6k & 4.5k MX footage, compared to 30sec for the same timeline on a PC that only cost ~200 pounds more. Uses an 8gb Mac mini, but given that it's the same as what's in the base Air and the 13" Pro, pretty sure the performance differences would be negligible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHRASXc6BsM

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

Ouuf, this video is less optimistic... 9.5mins for a 4k timeline of BMD6k & 4.5k MX footage, compared to 30sec for the same timeline on a PC that only cost ~200 pounds more. Uses an 8gb Mac mini, but given that it's the same as what's in the base Air and the 13" Pro, pretty sure the performance differences would be negligible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHRASXc6BsM

They already responded on a Youtube comment that they think they found the main issue and are busy making a new video about it now...

[Mike P.]

They already responded on a Youtube comment that they think they found the main issue and are busy making a new video about it now...

The main issue they discuss in the follow-up is the codec; they say 'with 4k prores it's way faster than braw/r3d', which is bogus at best.... And then the render times were just as slow on their prores test.

Conversely, apparently the 8gb RAM taps out faster than the GPU and CPU as seen here, where the 8gb version takes 15mins to render an 8k r3d, while the 16gb version does the same thing in under 6mins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP1_4wek4nI

I'm wondering if the system gets overwhelmed as a whole with anything more than the simple ~10-30second test clips others have been using... Either that or display resolution overwhelms the GPU from the get-go (e.g. Mac mini connected to a 4k display performs worse than a 1080p or instead of the internal 1600p screen of the Air/13").

[Jon Dishler]

OK got the MBP M1 16GB today, and after transferring all my stuff over here is my initial findings in FCP: It is still not great for playing real time footage 8k (7680/4320). It will not play clips in better quality, will play 8k with 12:1 compression or higher in either 23.98 or 59.94 (occasional stuttering) using better performance. With creating a 4k project (which still lets you change raw settings) it will play the 4k timeline fine in better performance compression of 5:1 and of course above. In better quality it will play in 12:1 no problem but not at 8:1 or 5:1. I output the timeline (6 min duration exactly) with my prior 15" 2016 i7 MBP and it took 7 min 4 seconds for h.264, same clip in the new 13" was 3 min 7 seconds, so more than twice as fast [but not the latest intel machine]. On my trashcan 6 core it took 25 minutes! In summary, with higher memory the new 13" pro M1 works well with 4k footage, not so great with 8k. I will take a look at resolve tomorrow but doubt it will do better than FCP since that is optimized for Apple. 6k Red cameras might be OK, will shoot some 6k as well.

I just rendered the 8k timeline directly to 4k h.264 and it took 39 minutes for a 6 min timeline with mixed compressions of 5:1 to 16:1 BUT on my MBP 2016 it took 2 hours and 40 minutes!!! So quite a bit faster but still a bit.


6k HD with 8:1 compression plays fine in better performance, not in better quality. This is pretty nice really. 4k ProRes with a LUT added to match the RAW of course, in 4k does great. Both of these struggled with my older 15" laptop and trashcan. So far I am pretty happy.