From M1 to M4/M5

DJ Hardware
1

Hi everyone,
I’m currently using a MacBook Air M1 with djay Pro, and overall it works well, but I’m wondering if upgrading to an M4 or M5 MacBook Air would bring any real performance benefits in actual DJ use.
Since djay Pro on macOS doesn’t allow manual buffer size adjustment, I’m mainly interested in understanding whether the newer chips improve:
overall latency / responsiveness
stems performance
waveform smoothness
stability under heavier loads (multiple decks, FX, live stems, recording, etc.)
I know that on paper the newer Apple Silicon chips are much faster, but in real-world djay Pro usage, is the difference actually noticeable, or does the M1 already handle things well enough that the upgrade isn’t really worth it?
I’d especially love to hear from anyone who has moved from M1 to M4 or M5 and can share whether they noticed any meaningful improvement in responsiveness and stability during live performance.
Thanks in advance!

3

Hi @SIMSU_84, I upgraded from an M1 MacBook Air to an M4 MacBook Air a little while ago. I did not notice a huge difference when running djay. M1 Macs already support 100% Neural Mix Quality so you won’t see any improvement there. I’d say if you’re happy with the current performance of your M1 and aren’t experiencing any overheating or throttling during live sets, you could probably wait for the next generation or wait for a price drop on the current gen. You could also consider doing a bit of a refresh on your M1, by uninstalling any unnecessary apps, limiting startup apps, and freeing up some hard drive space. Maybe even consider a factory reset and fresh OS install if you’re feeling more adventurous.

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There’s some good info about DJ laptops in general in this recent article/video from Digital DJ Tips as well:

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Yes, the current models are faster, but even the older M1 models have more power than most people will ever need. So if you’re primarily interested in Algoriddim Djay, I think you can save yourself the money.

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Thanks for the input @Chris_R

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In terms of speed, you won’t notice any major changes, but if you monitor the resources, you’ll see that the new processors will struggle less under the same load. I think the biggest difference is when going from 8GB to 16GB of RAM. Otherwise, if your M1 is fine, there’s no need to upgrade, as it’s still an excellent laptop despite its age.

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Thanks for the input @Scoop

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