Isn't max 16GB ram a downer?
For the target audience of the Air and the 13" MBP, no, it is not a downer. These are not flagship machines (despite that they are performing well against existing flagships).
Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro
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Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro
#532Earlier quoted context omitted.
- Mac has ~10% of the global market for end user machines. It doesn't now, never has, and never will own the market nor does it desire to sell cheap enough machines to do so. - Given that you can't add ram after the fact and 256GB is anemic the cheapest laptop that is a reasonable choice is $1400. - The cheapest desktop option is $6000 with an 8 core cpu or 8000 with a 16 core. - The average end user spends $700 on a…
The average user was spending peanuts on phone before iPhone. They also had 0% market for phones.
The average user was spending a very modest amount to be able to call and send text messages. Little portable multi function computers already cost hundreds of dollars.
Iphone helped clarify what a good interface looked like while prices came down and performance went up positioning themselves well as a product category that was already a thing became mainstream.
Laptops aren't a new category and the majority will continue to buy something other than apple in large part because of the price.
Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro
#533Earlier quoted context omitted.
- Mac has ~10% of the global market for end user machines. It doesn't now, never has, and never will own the market nor does it desire to sell cheap enough machines to do so. - Given that you can't add ram after the fact and 256GB is anemic the cheapest laptop that is a reasonable choice is $1400. - The cheapest desktop option is $6000 with an 8 core cpu or 8000 with a 16 core. - The average end user spends $700 on a…
> The cheapest desktop option is $6000 with an 8 core cpu or 8000 with a 16 core. No, it is $600 with an 8 core M1 chip, the new mac mini. Also the iMac is arguably a desktop option, even if not really upgradeable.
You mean a non portable laptop?
Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro
#534Earlier quoted context omitted.
Laptop Macs of late are known for heavy throttling due to inadequate cooling, which cannot have been unnoticed in simulations
I’d go so far as to say “laptops of late”, thermal throttling isn’t unique to MacBooks. My XPS15 regularly throttles and sounds like it’s about to take off.
Gaming laptops are huge for a reason: they need to get rid of a lot of heat.
Thin and light is great for short bursts of activity, but, when you need sustainable heavy usage, you'll need a bigger computer, even if it's just to have a bigger heatsink.
Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro
#535I'm super impressed by those M1 CPUs. But it's so sad that the only way to get them is buying one of the few Apple options. I wish that Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Qualcomm et al catch up quickly. We really want competition in this field.
Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro
#536RIP Intel/AMD.
Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro
#537Can someone ELI5 why this new M1 chip would be better than decades of Intel's experience?
Well the M1 is not some "new" and "overnight" phenomenon. Apple has been designing its own ARM chips for iOS for a decade now, and with great success. The iPad Pro's ARM is still faster than at least 90% of all laptops made by any company. Moving that into their desktop/laptop line made a lot of sense and leverages many years of research and production experience.
Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro
#538All those thinking of buying the new MBA, are you not concerned about availability of applications? Not all x86 applications will have an ARM alternative, yet.
Several benchmarks have shown that popular x86 apps running in Rosetta on the M1 still run faster than running on native x86 on other machines, so it's probably not going to be an issue.
Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro
#539I think nobody commented this, but Apple has just made the Mac lineup unrepairable. They will need to have a really high, almost perfect quality control.
Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro
#540Does anyone know how fast the unified memory is? Is on package is likely to mitigate some of the lack of cache?