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Apple on Tuesday announced three new Mac computers powered by its new M1 chip, a custom Arm-based system-on-a-chip. But despite the performance and efficiency gains that the M1 chip enables, there is one notable limitation: memory. According to Apple, customers interested in purchasing a new Mac with more than 16GB of RAM will need to purchase an older Intel-based model. At this time, the M1 cannot support more memory.
That can be disappointing for some professional users interested in switching to Arm-based laptops or the new Mac mini, considering that older Intel-based models can carry up to 32GB of RAM. It also echoes complaints against the MacBook Pro upgrade from four years ago, when Apple said the limitations on memory options were to conserve battery life.
Another insight that can be drawn from this memory constraint is that future Macs may need a newer Arm-based processor. It would be foolish for Apple to sell a new iMac, 16-inch MacBook Pro, or Mac Pro with the M1 chip if that meant restricting settings to 16GB of RAM – something that simply wouldn’t work for the professional community they’re targeting. those machines. . (We already know, thanks to a pre-event report from Bloomberg, that Apple is aiming for a full Mac upgrade using its new Arm-based chip, which includes a new iMac and a possible scaled-down version of the Mac Pro).
There are a few other key limitations with the M1 that are worth mentioning. Macs with the new chip will not work with external GPUs, says Apple. That’s a particularly tricky restriction for the new Mac mini, which is already crippled by its memory limit, and furthermore, it can’t be used with a more powerful graphics chip and case combination, as some have done in the past. with Apple and 2018 laptops and older Mac minis. Apple also says that the RAM in the M1 models cannot be upgraded, it is built into the system on a chip, so an 8GB model cannot be upgraded with another RAM unit.
All of this suggests that there are good reasons why Apple, at least at the moment, is keeping the older Intel-based MacBook Pro and Mac mini for sale (the MacBook Air is the only arm-only model now). Those models may not be as efficient or performing, but they allow for more memory, more versatility, and in some cases contain more ports. We may not see these other capabilities until Apple’s silicon is more mature.
