Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#131

Post by brundolf » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

azhenley wrote: post #87

If you didn't see the event, they've put the new chip into the new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini that will start shipping soon.

* 13" Macbook Pro. No word yet on the 16"

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#132

Post by wmf » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

jonplackett wrote: post #83

I wonder of they're going to try and pull the same 'no specs' thing that they do with the iPhone/iPad. I think I want to know how much RAM is in my MacBook Pro where I don't really care how much is in my iPhone. edit: Store is LIVE, and has lots of specs!

They have pretty decent specs in the store, although there's nothing about clock frequency or TDP to explain the performance difference between the Air and Pro.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#133

Post by nimeshneema » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

chrstphrknwtn wrote: post #111

nimeshneema wrote: post #82

No mention of processor speeds, just like iOS devices. This is the new normal now for Macs.

If you use it, and it is faster, do you care what the numbers are?

Not complaining. Those are exactly my thoughts too.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#134

Post by highfrequency » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

Would be interesting to see single-threaded performance (/processor speed), I assume this falls way short of the advertised "3x faster" number.

Also, only two Thunderbolt ports down from four!

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#135

Post by jonplackett » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

mantap wrote: post #81

jonplackett wrote: post #42

The pricing is pretty impressive. Shame no 16 inch pro though. Surely they need to update that quick because who is going to want a 16 inch intel Mac now?

Me and other people who want to run windows VMs.

I guess you'll get a good deal now at least.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#136

Post by gruez » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

miohtama wrote: post #109

sccxy wrote: post #97

Any ideas how virtualization works? Can I run Windows VM?

Unlikely, or very slowly, because Windows x86 would need CPU emulation.

there's arm64 builds for windows.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#137

Post by RL_Quine » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

buf wrote: post #100

woah wrote: post #88

Will existing programs run on this?

Yes, its's backwards compatible, but older programs will not take advantages of the chip in larger ways yet.

No? It’s not x86. Compatibility is emulated.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#138

Post by mlindner » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

akritrime wrote: post #92

So, all of these new Macs have the same SOC across the board? Or will there be slight differences like the Macbook pro will have a higher-binned soc or maybe the Mac mini and Macbook air will have fewer graphics core?

There's some binning happening as the Macbook Air has a 7 core GPU instead of an 8 core one, but that's the only difference it looks like. Which would explain why Air has no fans but the MBP and Mini have fans.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#139

Post by pat2man » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

sccxy wrote: post #97

Any ideas how virtualization works? Can I run Windows VM?

Yeah, rosetta will support x86 emulation. Might be slow though.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#140

Post by ericls » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

I don't know if this will be a big success, but if it is, I think ARM will take over a large amount of server/cloud market.