Apple Silicon M1 Disruption • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Disruption

#71

Post by thekyle » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 1:23 AM UTC

gizmodo59 wrote: post #3

I have seen so many articles on HN in front page about M1 over the past few weeks. Like a curious child I read all of them because somewhere in me I want to believe there exists a possibility of a giant leap for Desktop/Laptop. Having tried it myself, I should say this is going to be remembered just like the iPhone in 2007.

I don't think it will be remembered like the iPhone. Probably more like the original Macbook Air.

The original Air created the class of ultrabooks which made the bulky Windows laptops at the time obsolete for average users.

The new M1 Air has created a class of laptops with ultrabook bodies, but remains cool to the touch under load without sacrificing much in performance and having 16+ hours of battery life.

Like the original Air the new one has basically made every ~$1,000 Windows laptop obsolete. Even really nice ones like the Dell XPS 13 have worse battery life and performance while reaching CPU temperatures as high as 100 °C.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Disruption

#72

Post by WhoCaresLies » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 1:25 AM UTC

The problem of Microsoft's failed attempt could be resumed in few points

- They failed to provide a decent ecosystem

- They wanted to carry on decades of legacy bits

- They failed to provide fast hardware

- All that resulted in a shy attempt with poor performance

Apple didn't have all these issues, because it is in their culture, to provide software that works, without much bloat and with great hardware

Them forbidding JIT for desktop applications helped them in the perf part, everything feels snappy, because nothing needs to be recompiled each startup

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Disruption

#73

Post by seppin » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 1:26 AM UTC

gizmodo59 wrote: post #3

I have seen so many articles on HN in front page about M1 over the past few weeks. Like a curious child I read all of them because somewhere in me I want to believe there exists a possibility of a giant leap for Desktop/Laptop. Having tried it myself, I should say this is going to be remembered just like the iPhone in 2007.

I upgraded from a 2016 MBP to a Macbook Air M1, shocked by the difference.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Disruption

#74

Post by seppin » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 1:26 AM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #52

gizmodo59 wrote: post #3

I have seen so many articles on HN in front page about M1 over the past few weeks. Like a curious child I read all of them because somewhere in me I want to believe there exists a possibility of a giant leap for Desktop/Laptop. Having tried it myself, I should say this is going to be remembered just like the iPhone in 2007.

Benchmarks show that the M1 has better performance in only a few areas, and underperforms in others, and that's with Apple controlling literally every aspect of the hardware and software stack. It's great for an ARM system for a vertically oriented company, but it isn't sufficiently performative to be a significant threat to the competition. And that's before you consider all the non-technical crap Apple has thrown a…

In the 1 week + i've had my Macbook Air M1, it's across the board better. This thing is amazing

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Disruption

#75

Post by nullc » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 1:27 AM UTC

I'm really confused about the M1 hype.

From the published measurements it compares favourably to some mobile cpus.

It doesn't look particularly good compared to existing high performance CPUs (either in peak perf or perf/$).

If having more computing power was so transformative for you (certainly I consider fast computing transformative for me...)-- it was already available, you didn't need apple's permission to use it.

Maybe I've just been running dual 24+ core cpus for too long (thank you engineering samples) that I've lost perspective at how far behind typical desktop users are.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Disruption

#76

Post by Someone » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 1:27 AM UTC

trynewideas wrote: post #26

Since these keep floating up, I'm already exhausted with this specific rebuttal to Morehead's review: > As pointed out in John Gruber’s hard takedown of Moorhead’s piece, most of the problems he encountered were software problems, not M1 hardware issues. Morehead's allegiances and work are relevant biases, as are Gruber's. But Morehead's review wasn't of the M1 processor or architecture as a technology. It was a revi…

“But Morehead's review wasn't of the M1 processor or architecture as a technology. It was a review of the 13" M1 MacBook Pro as an end-user device.”

Possibly, but if it was, it shouldn’t have a sentence “The new M1 processor is impressive, but far from perfect- it has many warts, that nearly nobody is discussing” in the second paragraph of the article.

Take that entire second paragraph away, and I don’t think we would have this discussion now. I thought it is bad writing, but am not sure anymore. It also could be a very good attempt at getting lots of page views.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Disruption

#77

Post by spideymans » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 1:27 AM UTC

jaimex2 wrote: post #59

Its only disruption if it disrupts. No one cares other than existing Apple users so I guess the only disruption will be the year of really fast and efficient teething issues they will be dealing with. We have one at work, I'd highly recommend waiting another year before getting one if you want to be productive.

> No one cares other than existing Apple users

Anyone in the market for an ultrabook will care.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Disruption

#78

Post by SulfurHexaFluri » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 1:29 AM UTC

nullc wrote: post #75

I'm really confused about the M1 hype. From the published measurements it compares favourably to some mobile cpus. It doesn't look particularly good compared to existing high performance CPUs (either in peak perf or perf/$). If having more computing power was so transformative for you (certainly I consider fast computing transformative for me...)-- it was already available, you didn't need apple's permission to use i…

Its a massive improvement for non gaming laptop users. Most laptops in 2020 overheat constantly and are slow and loud as a result.

The non M1 macbooks are next to unusable because they will burn your legs just running safari. Now they have reached a higher level of performance without even having a fan. Not hard to see how this is pretty huge news.

The M1 Macbook air seems like the best laptop for the average person by a fairly long shot right now.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Disruption

#79

Post by soneil » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 1:29 AM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #7

FullyFunctional wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lesson for all of us to not leap to conclusion. In the case of the Apple iPhone I didn't see it and only boarded the train by iPhone 4 (and honestly, I think it was about the right time). In the case of M1 I _did_ expect a revolution and frankly one I had been waiting for for decades (the true cost of x86 is finally exposed). I can't wait to see if Apple can keep up the momentum.

> and honestly, I think it was about the right time Why so? I got the second model (3G), and if I could, I'd had gotten the first. It was already a giant leap from the smartphones of before (and I had the "flagship" models from other companies that were shit compared to it).

I didn't see it because I didn't really use my phone. It was used entirely to phone taxis, order pizza, and as a pager-of-sorts for the office to let me know when it was Overtime time.

It didn't "click" until I had to replace my ipod, and got the ipod touch. It didn't take very long for me to realise the one thing it was missing was connectivity.

Realistically I'm not even sure I was wrong. Calls & SMS are amongst the functions I use the least on my phone. It's still an ipod with connectivity.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 Disruption

#80

Post by gabereiser » Mon, Dec 07, 2020, 1:30 AM UTC

bee_rider wrote: post #51

gabereiser wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an M1 air 8-core 16gb ram model and yes, yes it will. I said something similar when it launched and people dismissed it. Article upon article online of PC die-hards dismissing it, Apple fanboys praising it. It’s a leap for sure. It’s a really really good chip. We’ll look back from 2027 and see.

The iPhone was a basically new form factor that over the course of the next 13 years (after trickling out to the lower priced Android phones), became the primary way that billions of people interact with technology. The M1 is a really good new processor. We've been doing really good new processors for the last couple decades. It's great to have more competition in the CPU space, which was seeming to stagnate, but not…

True, it’s not a new form factor. It doesn’t have that shiny “new thing” feeling. My Air looks like every other 2018+ air. What’s different is what you don’t see. Being able to code all day on battery and only using 18%. The CPU-core power to watt ratio is just unbelievable. I get it though, without the new form factor it lacks that defining moment.

The moment came for me when I realized I wasn’t plugged in all day and was doing some pretty heavy compilation and code (aarm64 so gotta build from source).

It’s a smashing breakthrough in pretty much all areas other than form factor. The changes are subtle but you then shake your head and remember your on a MacBook air...