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

#271

Post by skohan » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:13 PM UTC

satysin wrote: post #165

No 32GB options on any of the models announced today is a shame. Or not I guess as it means I won't be buying anything today M1 looks impressive, hopefully it scales as well to higher TDPs. Pretty much what I expected today with all the low power models getting updated. With no fan I expect the Air will throttle the CPU quickly when using the high performance cores. Calling it an "8-core CPU" is a little cheeky IMHO…

> I am very disappointed to see the design is identical to what we currently have

Yeah one possible explanation I can think of is that they're not 100% confident in how rollout will go, and they want to avoid the situation where people in the wild are showing off their "brand new macs" which are still going through teething issues. There's less chance of souring the brand impression of M1 if they blend into the product line better.

Alternatively, maybe they want to sell twice to early adopters: once for the new chip, and again in 12-18 months when they release a refreshed design.

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

#272

Post by aldanor » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:13 PM UTC

qz2 wrote: post #257

aldanor wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holy cow, that's true. New 2020 Mini with a 16GB RAM, seriously?

They’re not advertising any 16Gb models on their web site. It’s all 8Gb. Which you’re not going to be able to upgrade. I’m out

You can choose 16Gb for +$200.

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

#273

Post by noncoml » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:13 PM UTC

rewtraw wrote: post #246

kevindong wrote: post #186

Completely unconfirmed speculation incoming: There's a solid chance that the logic board is exactly the same on all of the Macs announced today and the only difference is the cooling solution. If you play around with the Apple Store configurator, the specs are all suspiciously similar between every new Mac. https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-air https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/13-inch https://w…

If you compare the M1 Air and Pro, the only difference seems to be the addition of the Touchbar, 10% better battery life, and a "studio" speaker/mic on the Pro. https://www.apple.com/mac/compare/ I assume the addition of a fan on the Pro gives it better performance under load, but there doesn't seem to be a hugely compelling reason to not just get the Air.

I think they got it wrong. I would pay money to NOT have the touchbar.

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

#274

Post by paxys » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:13 PM UTC

ziftface wrote: post #217

paxys wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same CPU line, but doesn't mean they will have the same specs. Pro will definitely have its cores run faster/hotter.

Is there any indication at this point that they'll make that clear? It seems kind of strange to buy a computer without really knowing what you're buying. I guess apple didn't officially say what intel processors they have in their computers, but at least you could look it up and know what you're getting.

They have also never shared this info for iPhones/iPads, so no reason to believe they will do it for Macs going forward. But we should be seeing third party benchmarks soon enough.

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

#275

Post by bobbylarrybobby » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:13 PM UTC

293984j29384 wrote: post #262

ameen wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess the cooling let’s them tweak the CPU clocks accordingly? Wonder if we can hack the Mac mini with water blocks and squeeze higher clocks. The memory limitation makes it a dud though.

8GB and 16GB configurations seem more than enough..

For pro users, the fact that 32GB isn’t even an option is pretty surprising

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

#276

Post by lastofthemojito » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:13 PM UTC

ValentineC wrote: post #112

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?

The cheaper MacBook Air has a 7-core GPU instead of an 8-core one.

My uninformed guess is that those are chips where one of the 8 cores failed in testing, but allowing them to be used in low-end machines means they won't be scrapped completely. Seems incredibly unlikely that they produced a distinct 7-core GPU variant just for that machine.

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

#277

Post by liminalsunset » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:13 PM UTC

For those looking for some form of TDP estimate for the M1 in a relatively thermally unconstrained form factor:

Apple's web site lists the following for the Mac Mini:

"Maximum continuous power: 150W"

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

#278

Post by jeffbee » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:13 PM UTC

mlindner wrote: post #219

jeffbee wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not quite as insulting as their $800 2TB SSD.

I mean if it's SLC chip, that can explain the price.

Also if it comes with $600 in cash stuffed inside, that would explain the price. But it's neither of those things.

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

#279

Post by slayerjain » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:13 PM UTC

Pros: * Amazing chips. Probably more faster than both i9 MacBook Pro 16 and iMac Pros, and GREAT battery life! * Finally better camera and wifi 6 * same price

Cons: * Wont not run all apps in full speed for now (temporary) * Memory expansion is expensive and limited to 16GB (temporary)

Most limitations are temporary, I think these are amazing products unless you want more than 16GB memory.

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

#280

Post by jonplackett » Tue, Nov 10, 2020, 7:14 PM UTC

ameen wrote: post #202

jonplackett wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it's unified memory too, shared with the graphics.

Which makes it worse, Intel Macs look appealing than these.

Depends what you need it for I guess, and how much differently ARM uses RAM than Intel. Anyone know?

Also how much OS X optimisation can help with that. The iPad Pro is a lot faster than most laptops with, what, 6gb memory? And iPhones always seem to have a lot less RAM than Samsung phones but still run faster.