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

#141

Post by semi-extrinsic » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

cornstalks wrote: post #29

m_a_g wrote: post #15

An 8 core processor on a Macbook Air that is also energy efficient? That is truly impressive. I never thought I would consider using Macbook Airs after all the years of using Macbook Pros, but Apple surprises me once again.

It's 8-core, but they're 4 performance and 4 low-power cores, so it's not your normal 8-core chip. It's more like a big.LITTLE chip.

Anyone know how you interact with these cores as a developer/user? Say if I'm running some C code with OpenMP parallelism, can I bind it to three of the fast cores?

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

#142

Post by stjo » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:56 PM UTC

Shivetya wrote: post #52

I did not see it mentioned but I hope an app comes with Big Sur which lets us see which apps will work with Rosetta2 through Finder or some sort of report

Not a mac user, but at WWDC they showed you could check in your task manager / process viewer.

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

#143

Post by jzymbaluk » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:56 PM UTC

sccxy wrote: post #97

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

AFAIK, virtualization will work, but dual booting will not work.

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

#144

Post by deergomoo » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:56 PM UTC

nikivi wrote: post #6

Very curious when 16" ARM mac will surpass the latest 2020 Intel i9 mac. Hopefully 2021.

I expect this CPU is already faster than the i9 in most metrics.

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

#145

Post by Dunedan » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:57 PM UTC

I honestly expected more. While compute performance and power efficiency seems to be really good, the M1 chip is apparently limited to 16GB RAM, 2TB storage and 2 Thunderbolt/USB4 controllers.

Comparing the new 13" MacBook Pro with the previous one that's a regression in every aspect as the Intel-based ones allow up to 32GB RAM and 4TB storage and offer 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports.

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

#146

Post by sliken » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:57 PM UTC

shroom wrote: post #51

_ph_ wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As one has a fan and the other not, they are probably clocked differently and the cooled one might sustain full power infinitely. The pro also has a larger battery, better speakers and microphones and the touch bar.

Does it also come without touch bar?

No, but at least it has an esc key.

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

#147

Post by capableweb » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:57 PM UTC

greenpresident wrote: post #89

Max 16GB of RAM on these new machines is really not that great to be honest. The mini supported up to 64GB before.

Really, 16GB max? I find it very strange how Apple went from targeting professionals, seeing the strategy work from the ground up for many years, but now somehow want to pivot to hobbyists/others instead of professionals.

Could someone try to help me figure out the reasoning behind Apple changing the target customer?

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

#148

Post by Ducki » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:57 PM UTC

greenpresident wrote: post #89

Max 16GB of RAM on these new machines is really not that great to be honest. The mini supported up to 64GB before.

Also no more 10G ethernet.

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

#149

Post by brigade » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:57 PM UTC

romanovcode wrote: post #26

I don't get it. If we have same CPU on MacbookAir and MacbookPro - why would I get more expensive "Pro"? Can someone explain how is Pro faster than Air with same CPU? Also, the "Windows Guy" bit is a bit lame IMO. I have two MacBooks and one custom built PC. The PC is faster than both MacBooks combined.

It's already the case that the Macbook Pro and Air have the "same" CPU - 1068NG7 and 1060NG7 are physically the same die, but with different power limits.

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

#150

Post by isoprophlex » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 6:57 PM UTC

ericls wrote: post #140

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.

Will the presence of ARM silicon over Intel mean these macbooks will be poorer developer machines?