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How M1 Macs feel faster than Intel models: it’s about QoS

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Re: How M1 Macs feel faster than Intel models: it’s about QoS

#121

Post by icedchai »

Aaargh20318 wrote: post #59
icedchai wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I laughed when they called it “unified memory.” Amazing what some marketing can do. In previous years, that was called “shared graphics memory” and it was only for low end systems.

Shared graphics-memory is not the same as unified memory. In a shared graphics-memory system, a part of the system RAM is reserved for the GPU. The amount of RAM reported to the OS is the total RAM minus the chunk reserved the GPU uses. The OS only can use it's own part, and cannot access the GPU memory (and vice versa). If you want to make something available to the GPU, it still has to be copied to the reserved GPU…

It's basically the same thing. It's the same address space. If you want to get technical about it, the Amiga had "unified memory" in 1985.

Re: How M1 Macs feel faster than Intel models: it’s about QoS

#122

Post by [deleted] »

elcomet wrote: post #112
kryps wrote: post #75

It does not just feel faster, in many cases it is faster. E.g. compiling Rust code is so much faster that it is not even funny. cargo install -f ripgrep takes 22 seconds on a Mac Book Air with M1, same on a hexacore 2020 Dell XPS 17 with 64GB RAM takes 34 seconds.

Is 22 seconds insetad of 34 seconds so much faster ? The difference does not feel huge to me

[deleted]

Re: How M1 Macs feel faster than Intel models: it’s about QoS

#123

Post by jtbayly »

This strategy has had a strange negative effect for me a couple of times.

It used to be that I would notice rogue background tasks eating up my processor because I could feel the UI acting slow and the fans would kick on.

Now the only indication I get is my battery depleting more rapidly than expected. The UI is completely responsive still, and there are no fans. But I’m never checking my battery level anymore, so I don’t catch these processes for much longer.

Re: How M1 Macs feel faster than Intel models: it’s about QoS

#124

Post by blinkingled »

kryps wrote: post #119
blinkingled wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What OS are you running on the Dell though? Windows is notoriously slower for file system operations even without AV and the default there is to prefer foreground apps vs something like compile tasks.

Yep, see below. With WSL and an ext4 virtual disk it takes only 29 seconds. Still quite a bit more than the 22 seconds on the Macbook.

WSL2 right? Given the virtualization overhead for IO I would expect native Linux to be faster.

Re: How M1 Macs feel faster than Intel models: it’s about QoS

#125

Post by artursapek »

wiremine wrote: post #117

Sounds like the consensus here is that the M1 feels faster, and is actually faster, for a lot of tasks. So, for a lot of engineers, the M1 is the better choice over Intels. (Faster compile times are a good thing for devs, among other things) In that regard, the moment feels similar to the mid 2000s, when you suddenly saw a huge uptick in Macbooks at technical conferences: software developers seemed to gravitate in dr…

I switched away from Macs to Thinkpads when the butterfly keyboards came out. Just happily switched back to Macs and loving my M1 Air.

Re: How M1 Macs feel faster than Intel models: it’s about QoS

#126

Post by kryps »

blinkingled wrote: post #124
kryps wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, see below. With WSL and an ext4 virtual disk it takes only 29 seconds. Still quite a bit more than the 22 seconds on the Macbook.

WSL2 right? Given the virtualization overhead for IO I would expect native Linux to be faster.

WSL2, correct.

Re: How M1 Macs feel faster than Intel models: it’s about QoS

#127

Post by throwaway5752 »

Nullabillity wrote: post #86
kryps wrote: post #75

It does not just feel faster, in many cases it is faster. E.g. compiling Rust code is so much faster that it is not even funny. cargo install -f ripgrep takes 22 seconds on a Mac Book Air with M1, same on a hexacore 2020 Dell XPS 17 with 64GB RAM takes 34 seconds.

Hard to compare without mentioning the actual CPU in it. FWIW my Ryzen 3900X completes that compile in 15s. To be fair, that is a relatively high-end desktop CPU, but it's also a massive margin for a last-gen model.

We also have to consider the i7 and M1 run at about 1/7 the TDP of the Ryzen. Just underscores the good design behind the QoS and judicious use of the Performance cores vs Efficiency cores.

Re: How M1 Macs feel faster than Intel models: it’s about QoS

#128

Post by [deleted] »

elcomet wrote: post #112
kryps wrote: post #75

It does not just feel faster, in many cases it is faster. E.g. compiling Rust code is so much faster that it is not even funny. cargo install -f ripgrep takes 22 seconds on a Mac Book Air with M1, same on a hexacore 2020 Dell XPS 17 with 64GB RAM takes 34 seconds.

Is 22 seconds insetad of 34 seconds so much faster ? The difference does not feel huge to me

[deleted]

Re: How M1 Macs feel faster than Intel models: it’s about QoS

#129

Post by tobyhinloopen »

kryps wrote: post #75

It does not just feel faster, in many cases it is faster. E.g. compiling Rust code is so much faster that it is not even funny. cargo install -f ripgrep takes 22 seconds on a Mac Book Air with M1, same on a hexacore 2020 Dell XPS 17 with 64GB RAM takes 34 seconds.

How long does it take on a Ryzen 9 5950X
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