I just got a new Mac Mini with the M1 Apple silicon.

The experience so far is stunning performance compared to my previous 16” MacBook Pro. I was using an i9 with 16GB RAM, and this Mini blows it out of the water on responsiveness (and every other category).

A little reading on user experiences with the M1 had me interested in upgrading to any machine with the latest SoC. One of my main drivers was the noise and heat generated by the MBP, which is just in constant turbo mode with whatever my usage behavior is. It never stops running full tilt basically, so I needed to get away from that. My office is in the corner of the house and doesn’t get great HVAC coverage with the door closed, so between that and the west-facing windows, the heat-radiating laptop can’t have helped.

With the M1 Mini and a nice USB-C dock with a built-in fan that it sits on top of, I haven’t heard a sound from the machine at all. 11/10 so far. It’s wild that such an affordable, portable desktop machine has owned everything pre-M1 in performance.