Shaun Kim
A new MacBook Pro with Apple silicon (M1 Max) is compared to 2017 Intel i7 MBP (late 2017). With only 4 years apart, the technology leap is pretty impressive. I tested only Apple silicon native apps, Blender, QuickTime, and DaVinci Resolve.
Blender EEVEE: 3-5 times faster. Blender Cycle: 300% faster without GPU, 500% with GPU.
QuickTime exporting 4k video (4.5 min long): 470% faster
DaVinci Resolve exporting 4k video (9 min long): 25% faster
Blender is an open-source 3D modeling tool, capable of a wide range of physics simulations. I have previously made an animation of 3D CFD streamlines with a real video footage of Tesla Model 3 with Blender (watch the full video . One of the most compelling aspect of buying this nearly 5,000 USD laptop was that Blender now supports Metal GPU support for Cycle renderer. 2017 MacBook Pro came with AMD Radeon graphics card, which did not support Cycle GPU accelerations. In this video, I tested rendering EEVEE and Cycle (with and without GPU support).
I have tested with QuickTime and DaVinci Resolve exporting 4k videos. The speed-up was more dramatic for QuickTime. DaVinci Resolve exported 25% faster, but overall speed-up during the production phase was more apparent.
Mic and webcam test
The new MacBook Pro claims to have a mic equivalent to an external USB microphone. I wanted to compare it with 2017 MBP and Blue Snowball mic. I still think we need an external mic.
Not every software is M1-friendly, but more and more apps are now being updated. Hope you find this useful and somewhat interesting.
Timestamps
00:00 Unbox
00:52 Blender EEVEE
01:48 Blender Cycle
02:45 QuickTime
03:38 DaVinci Resolve
04:37 Webcam and microphone
#MacBookPro #M1Max #Blender