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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

#901

Post by envolt »

Corrado wrote: post #878
ChuckMcM wrote: post #489

I think Apple has done an amazing job of pulling off their own silicon. At Sun I got to be involved peripherally in the effort that created SPARC and it was way more work than I had suspected. So kudos to Apple's design, engineering, and QA teams! I am also noting that they have killed the "ARM SoC's will never match what Intel can do" story line. That always reminded me of the "Microcomputers will never be able to d…

I agree about the upgradability/repairability. However, if you look at like a cell phone maybe it makes more sense. No one has ever complained that you couldn't update the RAM or the CPU in a iPhone. In order to upgrade the hardware of your cell phone you have to purchase another one. I'm guessing Apple is looking at the Mac hardware in the same light. "Want more power? Buy a new laptop!" The more interesting questio…

The iPhone has a very smooth process of upgrading the phone. You turn on the new iPhone next to your old one, it prompts and voila. It's like upgrading hardware of your current phone.

I'm unsure if we're at a point where these things are even feasible. e.g I have configured my MBP a lot, the .zsh file, home directory and endless configuration.

I would not be surprised if they ditch the kernal completely, and make everything an App (much like chromebook)

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

#902

Post by Deukhoofd »

Jtsummers wrote: post #218

Out of curiosity, how many people are actually constrained by 16GB of RAM? What applications are you using it for that 16GB vs 32GB is actually a deal breaker for you? Thinking about your average end-users, like most of my family, 8 to 16GB is about all they need for their systems (and if software were better written they'd probably need less). So is this specific work like machine learning? Video and image processin…

This comment reminds me of the classic "640K ought to be enough for anybody" quote.

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

#903

Post by aldanor »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #899
Corrado wrote: post #878

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree about the upgradability/repairability. However, if you look at like a cell phone maybe it makes more sense. No one has ever complained that you couldn't update the RAM or the CPU in a iPhone. In order to upgrade the hardware of your cell phone you have to purchase another one. I'm guessing Apple is looking at the Mac hardware in the same light. "Want more power? Buy a new laptop!" The more interesting questio…

I don't know about the new model but the 2018/2020 MacMini does have upgradeable memory.

iMac as well.

Also, the previous Mac Mini has 64G max memory and not the laughable 16G.

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

#904

Post by tonyedgecombe »

trixie_ wrote: post #261

So I guess Windows won't run on M1, so none of my Windows software/Steam games will work either. Will software developers start dropping support for Mac now that they'd need to maintain an ARM version as well? It's not clear how long Apple will support emulation with Rosetta before cutting it off. What's the Linux landscape look like for this chip? It's great that there's performance and battery life improvements, bu…

If I was Microsoft I'd offer some kind of Windows in the cloud for Mac users.

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

#905

Post by tonyedgecombe »

elicash wrote: post #456
linuxhansl wrote: post #366

Do I need to worry now that a walled-garden company - with all its advantages - pulls ahead of open ecosystems? I only use Linux at home. Will I be doomed to inferior H/W going forward? This is not a rhetorical question or a flame... It's an honest question... Is Apple pulling ahead of everybody else and soon going to be our only option?

Your situation won't be worse than what would exist had Apple not moved so far ahead of the others. In fact, Apple moving ahead only encourages others to up their game. So you're better off, due to Apple, even if you don't buy their machines.

It does appear Intel has become rather complacent in recent years, more competition can only be a good thing.

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

#906

Post by ofisboy »

noncoml wrote: post #273
rewtraw wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

so true! i hate the touchbar. if i would have to change my laptop today, i'd buy air just because i hate the touchbar.

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

#907

Post by tonyedgecombe »

randyrand wrote: post #666
motoboi wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think about it, it has the biggest cooling surface in any notebook. It's the aluminium case.

which is pressed against my legs =(

You are holding it wrong, you aren't supposed to use a laptop on your lap :)

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

#909

Post by Joeri »

0xcoffee wrote: post #894
yborg wrote: post #782

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Real competition for Intel AMD would like a word.

I'm really worried that AMD has won the battle, but lost the war in terms of x86 being replaced by ARM in the next decade.

There is no danger to AMD in the PC market from ARM. Apple will not sell their cpu’s to other PC vendors, and other ARM chipmakers aren’t even competitive with intel, let alone AMD. What this shows most of all is that the instruction set is not what matters, it is all about the core architecture. Intel is still dragging the ghost of skylake along, while AMD has something better with zen, apple has their A cores, and everyone else is forced to use ARM reference architecture because they don’t have the resources to design their own core. Only nvidia has the ability to upset things.

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

#910

Post by tonyedgecombe »

mraza007 wrote: post #827

I’m just curious why do developers end up using macs when they can install linux on a custom hardware with more specs

I tried running Linux (for a year) before I gave up and switch to macOS. It was lacking in too many areas (high-dpi support, reliable wifi, easy of use, application support).

If you only live in the terminal then I'm sure it's fine but as a desktop it's not there yet.

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