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Apple Readies MacBook Pro, MacBook Air Revamps

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Re: Apple Readies MacBook Pro, MacBook Air Revamps

#232
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why put efficiency cores in the desktop processor at all?

A desktop runs a lot of low priority processes. The efficiency cores can be given all those processes. This means some low priority thread will get scheduled on a performance core and bust the cache. There's also plenty of time where the system has low intensity use or is idle. The efficiency cores let things like receiving notifications or checking e-mail happen for very little power draw. Fans only need to run duri…

The guys have split the traditional UI thread and the background thread down to the silicon.

Who knows, maybe the UI thread only needs access to the graphics card, and the background thread only access to network. It would save a lot of interrupt loops.

Re: Apple Readies MacBook Pro, MacBook Air Revamps

#233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and it doesn't get accidentally knocked out if I use it on my lap Man, my 2017 MacBook Pro's USB-C charging cable (the official one, not third party, and in pristine condition) constantly disconnects itself to the point where I'm basically traumatized from the annoyance of it now. It only provides power if it's ALL the way in, and the damned thing just pushes itself out half a millimeter and cuts power repeatedly.…

I had similar problem with MagSafe; the culprit was the dust that both the charger and the laptop collected over the years. After some compressed air treatment, it was as good as new.

Everything is pristine. There's no dust. It happens anyway.

Re: Apple Readies MacBook Pro, MacBook Air Revamps

#234
post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> browsing the web, watching YouTube I know people say this all the time, but the reality is modern web browsers are incredibly expensive processors.

Yes, and it's also because a 2 KB text today comes inside of megabytes of code that has to be executed, and some code is additionally very expensive to execute, as it's doing shady stuff in trying to fulfill all the promises of all ad companies involved, sometimes really hundreds for a single page. There was a moment in web history when the same happened due to the flash-based ads which easily spent huge amounts of C…

This right here.

It's like there's this assumption that the web's simple serving of HTML was a compromise of the time rather than it's killer feature.

I don't want to sift through hundreds of images and outbound links from the ads you're trying to trick me into clicking, I just want the information I came for or I'm gone forever.

Re: Apple Readies MacBook Pro, MacBook Air Revamps

#235
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about cleaning the connector?

There's nothing to clean. Everything is pristine. The problem has even persisted across replacement cables and a full top case replacement (the keyboard, of course) where Apple scrubs the whole thing down before they give it back. Maybe I should superstitiously blow on it like it's an NES cartridge. It won't help, but maybe I'll feel like I have some agency.

Maybe bend the male usb out some.

Re: Apple Readies MacBook Pro, MacBook Air Revamps

#236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple’s goal is to have every portable computer work like an iPhone: you charge it overnight, then unplug it and use it unwired for a full day. This is why the charging port on the mouse is on the bottom, for instance. They never quite got their Intel laptops there, though. (Especially running MS Teams, Slack, and Chrome!) It’s kind of funny that, now that they can make a laptop that really does last all day on one c…

Unfortunately that doesn't work for those of us that need to run compute intensive tasks, like browsing the web, or compiling stuff, or running docker. There's this stupid dream that the computer needs to be light and fanless and thin and sexy. It doesn't need to do that. I'm happy if it doesn't melt while trying to run some software I need to do my job.

> compute intensive tasks, like browsing the web

Modern computing is a sad place :(

Re: Apple Readies MacBook Pro, MacBook Air Revamps

#237

My current Late 2019 MacBook Pro heats up like crazy and goes into thermal throttling whenever I'm doing wfh meeting with lots of video participants for a couple of hours. I really hope they dedicate some hardware for this type of use-case with plenty of sustained thermal headroom.

I have this same issue. Fans spin constantly throughout the whole meeting. Hot to the touch. I never realized just how much I hate laptop fans until WFH started.

Re: Apple Readies MacBook Pro, MacBook Air Revamps

#239
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So why put efficiency cores in the desktop processor at all?

Heat.

To expand on that:

The design challenge of high-performance CPUs today is heat. Too much heat induces throttling. Putting low-priority stuff onto efficiency cores reserves the power budget of the SoC for high-priority tasks.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/apples-m1-is-a-fast-...

Re: Apple Readies MacBook Pro, MacBook Air Revamps

#240

There's a few configurations mentioned: > Codenamed Jade 2C-Die and Jade 4C-Die, a redesigned Mac Pro is planned to come in 20 or 40 computing core variations, made up of 16 high-performance or 32 high-performance cores and four or eight high-efficiency cores. The chips would also include either 64 core or 128 core options for graphics. > For the new MacBook Pros, Apple is planning two different chips, codenamed Jade…

Sounds like the Mac Pro processor would use 2x or 4x of the Jade C-Die, perhaps in a single package. This makes good economic sense because it may be challenging to justify a unique chip design for only a few thousand units / year.
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