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

9to5mac.com

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

#761

Post by npunt »

skohan wrote: post #712
easde wrote: post #659

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anandtech posted some comparisons of the A14 against Zen 3 today, which may be an interesting comparison: https://www.anandtech.com/show/16226/apple-silicon-m1-a14-de... Seems like the A14 is within 10-20% of the desktop 5950X in single threaded workloads. The M1 will probably close the gap with higher clock speeds. AMD will probably still be ahead on multithreaded workloads until Apple releases a chip with 8 high-pe…

Didn't they claim it's the fastest per-thread performance in the world?

Yes, Anandtech benchmarked the A14 chip from the iPhone. The M1 is as far as we can tell an A14X-like chip with much higher thermal headroom within a Macbook/MacMini for higher frequencies and has more L2 cache (12mb v 8mb), in addition to more CPU/GPU cores. So if Apple can get frequencies up 10-20% they'll be equal in single thread to Zen3.

A14 has some important and kind of crazy architectural differences like being 8-wide and having double Zen's per-cycle throughput. It's a very different chip from anything else on the market.

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

#762

Post by celeritascelery »

mark-r wrote: post #751
celeritascelery wrote: post #707

Earlier quoted context omitted.

while it certainly hurts to be Intel right now, be aware that the generation notation does not mean what it used to. They just mark new generations, not actual transistor size. Intel's 10nm is roughly equivalent to TSMC 7mn, and Intel 7nm should be equivalent to TSMC 5nm. So yes, Intel is behind, but not as much as it might seem.

If what you say is correct, Intel appears to be a generation and a half behind right now. Isn't that the kind of lead Intel used to have that made them untouchable?

used to be. But no more.

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

#763

Post by Aperocky »

cheeze wrote: post #747
Aperocky wrote: post #605

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a dev and I have the air as my personal, side-project computer, and I have already ordered the new one. I use vim to develop primarily in python/js. So my need for performance is super low.

Hah, this reminds me of college. I remember some of my first CS courses, everyone either had a brand new mbp or an ALIENWARE super beefy laptop. I had a 300 dollar 7" netbook. Turns out that unless you're doing deep learning, etc. (which you might as well just run remote IMO), a bottom of the line intel atom processor can handle the workloads that a CS program throws at it no problem. I mean, in reality you're doing…

CS courses are the least demanding of all on computers.

Usually the other courses when it comes to computer would need either office suite or specific software, both are vastly more demanding than the CS toolchain that has been mature since the 90s.

That is, unless the course somehow uses Java, which practically forces you to use an IDE that are full of bloat.

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

#764

Post by judge2020 »

dschuler wrote: post #514
beervirus wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sucks that the SSD is (presumably) not upgradeable anymore. Apple generally charges a ton for the larger SSD offerings, but it used to be that you could just buy a base model and replace the thing later.

Apple positions itself as being on the side of the consumer, and while they never really justified their soldered-down RAM (on laptops), one _might_ argue that it reduced failure rates. It's interesting that IBM discovered that soldering RAM to the individual compute modules in the Blue Gene/L (ca. 2004-2007) did improve reliability, in part because they had 2^16 modules in one cluster. I don't really buy that argume…

They're on the side of a certain type of consumer (doesn't even consider upgrading hardware down the line), and with these product launches they're making it more clear than ever that they don't want you to purchase their products if you don't fit into being that type of consumer.

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

#765

Post by heisenbergs »

The responses here seem to not really acknowledge what a rabbit apple has been pulling out of the hat. 2-3x the performance both from a CPU and GPU perspective, whilst being far more energy and thermally efficient. Of course this was kind of known and rumoured, but now we know.

Finally real competition for intel. If only these chips were available to others. they are literally running laps around the competition.

Curious where Apple's pro offerings will go, and whether these will be available as servers...

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

#766

Post by xsmasher »

jonplackett wrote: post #280
ameen wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

iOS doesn't use swap, it just kill background apps when it needs to devote the whole RAM to a single app; iOS apps are designed with that in mind.

MacOS doesn't get to use any of those tricks.

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

#767

Post by 0-_-0 »

sz4kerto wrote: post #467

"Testing conducted by Apple in October 2020 using preproduction MacBook Air systems with Apple M1 chip and 8-core GPU, as well as production 1.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-based MacBook Air systems, all configured with 16GB RAM and 2TB SSD. Tested with prerelease Final Cut Pro 10.5 using a 55-second clip with 4K Apple ProRes RAW media, at 4096x2160 resolution and 59.94 frames per second, transcoded to Apple ProRes 42…

According to the Anandtech benchmark the A14 (what's in the latest iPhone) is 8% below the Ryzen 5950X. M1 is likely faster than that.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/16226/apple-silicon-m1-a14-de...

Quote:

"In the overall SPEC2006 chart, the A14 is performing absolutely fantastic, taking the lead in absolute performance only falling short of AMD’s recent Ryzen 5000 series.

The fact that Apple is able to achieve this in a total device power consumption of 5W including the SoC, DRAM, and regulators, versus +21W (1185G7) and 49W (5950X) package power figures, without DRAM or regulation, is absolutely mind-blowing."

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

#768

Post by ogre_codes »

00deadbeef wrote: post #745
ogre_codes wrote: post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you expect they would launch every single configuration on day 1? Apple said the transition is going to take 2 years. This is day 1. You can still buy Intel based Macs with 64GB RAM. When Apple phases those out and you still can't buy 64GB Macs, then you can complain. What are the chances that happens?

It just seems silly though. If you want a Mac Mini with 64GB of RAM you're forced to take the slower CPU and GPU. If you want a 13" MBP with 32GB RAM it will cost you $500 more and also get you a slower CPU and GPU.

It doesn't make sense because we're only seeing a part of the picture right now. Once they release the rest of the product line on their own architecture, it will come together. (Well mostly, Apple has been known to leave big holes in their offerings)

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

#769

Post by martimarkov »

I don’t know if this was already mentioned but... omg... M1 does not support eGPUs.

The Mac is becoming just an more powerful iPad with an integrated keyboard. Apart from the the software and design difference.

I can believe how stupid and backwards that’s is and I would classify myself as a fanboy.

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