.app output use with new M1 mac mini?
Lokitoes
Member, PRO Posts: 187
in Tech Support
Hi guys,
Has anyone yet had experience using the new M1 macs or mac minis? Just wanting to double-check that the .app output would work with them or whether it is better to go intel? ie. Do you think there would be lag on bigger applications?
Cheers!
Comments
I have a base model MacBook Air M1, and this thing just cooks. it's incredible. I'll test app output today and get back to you.
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opening the app, loading the project, running the project, uploading the project and signing the app all work just as well as it did on my old early 2015 MacBook Pro. It 'feels' faster too, but nothing I can quantify.
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Do you feel that the added power of the M1 makes GameSalad run better (in terms of opening projects, switching between scenes, etc.) or does it mostly stay the same. Thinking about getting the new Mini!
Some things feel the same, others feel faster. :) I'll have to pull my largest game off of the NAS and try to load it up.
if they can compile for M1 (not sure of that undertaking), I can imagine it would be much faster.
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My old Mac Mini is stupidly slow recently. For absolutely no reason as I only use it for GameSalad iOS publishing nothing else, and nothing I'm doing is processor heavy. Even opening a browser window now takes about 5 minutes!
I'm convinced it's something to do with this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-51706635
@jonmulcahy said:
if they can compile for M1
One can always dream. 🤣
@strag I really doubt that.
Firstly, the whole thing with the iPhone throttling is blown out of proportion. Literally nobody knew it was happening until it was measured in some tests and then it suddenly became a huge issue. Apple's explanation of why they were doing it also made a lot of sense. But the issue was that they should have been more transparent about it up front, not once someone else found out about it.
The fact is that a lot of software (including an OS) will add new features over time and so they become more demanding on processing power over time. So a computer that still ran CC 2018 without a hitch might struggle with CC 2020. Yes there might be optimisations as well, now and then, but generally speaking that's just how things progress and it's no big conspiracy. The more powerful an "average" machine becomes, the more the developers can say: "Oh cool, now I can do this!"
Not sure how old your Mac Mini is, but I'm writing this on a MacBook Pro from 2015 and it still runs great. I also have a MacBook Pro from 2010 and it also still runs fine (for what it is). At some point it might be worth not upgrading to the latest macOS, even if the computer still supports it, because it will be optimised mainly for newer machines. Maybe try a fresh reinstall of macOS? Or open the machine up and check inside. If it's old, it might be full of dust. Give it a proper clean. With lots of dust, everything heats up quicker, meaning that performance will suffer.
how old is the machine / specs and what OS? As pHghost said that issue is really only for battery devices. If you've got a Core2Duo Mac mini, it's just too old to run the newer OSs.
I used a late 2013 MacBook Pro until replacing it with the new M1 MacBook Air.
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@jonmulcahy said:
late 2013 MacBook Pro
That must've been quite the jump in performance!
Yah, compiling for M1 is lower on our priority list right now as Rosetta 2 should work okay (I have an old Apple Silicon development machine here and we never got around to opening it to test!
Just for people curious, the big issue is LuaJIT. We may end up needing to move back to standard lua if we can't get LuaJIT to compile properly for M1 (haven't tried yet, but I expect problems).
Right now, to save compile time, we pre-compile luajit for various CPUs, and I haven't touched it for a while (last time was LuaJIT updates for android arm64).
Hopefully the arm64 build should work for M1, but not sure yet.
Thanks all! I should clarify - I'm just looking to run an unsigned .app off an M1 Mac Mini. I know it works fine (though laggy) on the intel chipped mac minis, but the new M1s are actually cheaper than a new intel one. So if I got an M1 Mac Mini, my unsigned .app files should work a treat?
yea it was, striking going from a Pro to an Air and having suck a huge jump.
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they should, Rosetta 2 means anything that ran before will run on the M1. I'm installing things left and right on my machine without any worry if it's intel or M1 version. Even photoshop which is not compiled for M1 yet works great.
Check out this article about the emulation, it's really something
https://9to5mac.com/2020/11/18/m1-macs-can-now-run-windows-apps-and-games-through-crossover-20/
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@pHghost @jonmulcahy
Yes it is quite an ancient machine. MacMini 2012, 4GB ram dual core. The thing is I literally only have GameSalad installed on it as I need to publish for iOS. All my artwork prep etc is done on PC. I've installed nothing else so it's as clean as the day I bought it, apart from OS.
It ran fine on High Sierra but then updated the OS without asking me which absolutely killed it. Wish it had given me the option.
If an OS is going to kill an older device to this extent it should be clever enough to at least give me the option to decline the upgrade.
Bit annoying as the processor and RAM are certainly not being pushed to their limits but something within the OS is killing it.
I am going to have to purchase a new machine, I guess it's time! 😣😅
Yeah, I think slowing down a Mac Mini from 2012 is the last thing on Apple's mind.
Well, this is macOS and not iOS, so you can go back to High Sierra, if that ran better, albeit the process is not as easy as updating.
You can find a copy of High Sierra by doing a simple Google search -- then you'll need to use the DMG to make a bootable USB stick, again, instructions easy to find on Google.
If you only use the computer for signing and don't have any precious data on it, super, because you don't need to faff around with backing anything up. After creating the bootable USB, just install High Sierra (formatting the disk in the process) and reinstall GameSalad.
@strag said:
Wish it had given me the option.
Oh, and after you've reinstalled, go to System Preferences > Software Update and turn off automatic updates. 😉
@strag said:
I guess it's time!
Well, if all you use it for is signing, then I guess you can probably find a better use for $699! 🤣
Thanks for the advice @pHghost. Not sure if I can be bothered faffing about winding it back to an old OS but really appreciate you taking the time to pass on your knowledge 👍
I guess a new Mac every 6 years is not too much to ask! 🤣 To be honest I'm amazed I've put up with it this long, but as I say, it's just hard to justify when all my work is done on my much faster PC apart from GameSalad and publishing.
Yeah, the new Macs should outperform your PC, most likely!
Ordered the M1 Mac Mini myself, can't wait for it to arrive!
check this out, the 2012 Mac mini is somewhat upgradeable. It looks like for under $150 you can upgrade the ram and storage which should make this machine significantly faster, might be worth a shot.
Give your old 2012 Mac Mini new life and use it in 2020
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Wow thank you so much for the link, definitely worth a try. I think I'll finish my current batch of work then give it a go 👍
Thanks for the links @jonmulcahy. I really didn't think RAM was the issue as it mostly showed only 3GB out of the 4 GB being used but I just purchased a 16GB kit for $80 and installed it...works a dream! Back to the speed I had a few months ago, must be the new OS pushing it over it's memory limit. 5 min job too! God I wish I did it sooner 😅
Sorry Apple for spreading vicious rumours, I take it all back!!! 🤣
Thanks again for the pointer...