Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#761

Post by dannyw » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 2:48 AM UTC

mhh__ wrote: post #644

ac29 wrote: post #406

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intel's 2021 laptop chips (Alder Lake) are rumoured to be released later this month (usually actual availability is a few months after "release"). I expect them to be pretty compelling compared to the previous generation Intel parts, and maybe even vs AMD's latest. But the new "Intel 7" node (formerly 10++ or something) is almost certainly going to be behind TSMC N5 in power and performance, so Apple will most likely…

I'd still bet on Apple for the all round package for a laptop but Intel should be coming out of the gates flying when Alder Lake launches. This is their first ISA that actually reacts to Zen, from what I've heard.

Various leaked benchmarks show it outperforms the comparable Ryzens (and it's pretty obvious these rumours are sanctioned by Intel by their copious omission of watt numbers).

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#762

Post by dannyw » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 2:50 AM UTC

ngngngng wrote: post #37

The benchmark to power consumption comparisons were very interesting. It seemed very un-Apple to be making such direct comparisons to competitors, especially when the Razer Blade Advanced had slightly better performance with far higher power consumption. I feel like typically Apple just says "Fastest we've ever made, it's so thin, so many nits, you'll love it" and leaves it at that. I'll be very curious to see those…

They're just marketing to the audience (actual Pros; not the whole 'uni student with macbook pro for taking notees'.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#763

Post by mmis1000 » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 2:52 AM UTC

mhh__ wrote: post #640

hunterb123 wrote: post #634

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They capped PC as well.

Destiny 2 is capped on PC? The cutscenes are but the actual game is not

It used to have a bug that randomly cap the fps at 30. Only toggle vsync on and off again can fix it. It have no idea whether that has been fixed.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#764

Post by exikyut » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 2:55 AM UTC

the_jeremy wrote: post #208

Grustaf wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This only makes sense if you presume people throw away their laptops when they replace them after "a few years". Given the incredibly high second hand value of macbooks, I think most people sell them or hand them down.

My F500 company has a 5 year tech refresh policy, and old laptops are trashed, not donated or resold.

Puts on ewaste management company uniform

"Yeah 's out sick today, I'm his replacement."

*yeet*

In all seriousness I would absolutely love to do this sort of thing IRL, in situations where I'll just make incompetent management etc unimpressed (because I'm showing their inefficiency) and there wouldn't be any real/significant ramifications (eg machines that processed material a couple notches more interesting than what PCI-DSS covers).

But obviously I don't mean I'd literally use the above example to achieve this ;P

I've just learned a bit about (eh, you could say "been bitten by") poorly coordinated e-waste management/refurbishment/etc programs - these can be a horrendously inefficient money-grab if the top-level coordination isn't driven by empathy in the right places. So I would definitely get a kick out of doing something like that properly.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#765

Post by zamadatix » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 2:55 AM UTC

klelatti wrote: post #205

wmf wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the 5950X has 16 big CPU cores and 64 MB of L3 cache.

My mistake. But it doesn't have a 32 core GPU! Agreed these counts look high - but the fact that they can slot this into a $3,499 laptop is remarkable and must say something about the cost effectiveness of TSMC 5nm process.

The CPU may not have a 32 core GPU inside it but that doesn't stop you from adding the 2 numbers together and seeing it's still significantly less than 57 billion.

Would be very curious to see what took all of the die space. Neural engine? Those additional video encoding engines? I doubt we'll get to know unfortunately.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#766

Post by fomine3 » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 2:55 AM UTC

labby5 wrote: post #639

satya71 wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very simple: thermal budget. Chip performance is limited by thermal budget. You just can't spend more than roughly 100W in a single package, without going into very expensive and esoteric cooling mechanisms.

this is mostly wrong. The real issue has always been memory bandwidth. the highest end consumer x86 CPU has about the same memory bandwidth as a dGPU from 10 years ago. The M1 is extremely competitive with modern dGPUs, only a bit behind a 6900 XT.

If Intel/AMD are seriosus about iGPU, they implement solution for memory bandwidth (they did, Intel Iris Pro eDRAM, AMD gaming consoles using GDDR, upcoming AMD stacking SRAM). So I believe the core problem is that market didn't seriously want great iGPU but just fine with poorer iGPU or rich dGPU by Nvidia.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#767

Post by mixmastamyk » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 2:58 AM UTC

dymk wrote: post #467

mixmastamyk wrote: post #371

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Productivity is productivity, doesn't matter how one is paid.

…then why mention a salary at all?

Perspective. It was a noise word really. Imagine instead a contractor working $100 an hour and pulling enough hours to make $200k a year. Does that change the discussion any? I don't believe so.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#768

Post by nilsbunger » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 3:05 AM UTC

SpelingBeeChamp wrote: post #704

jerrysievert wrote: post #567

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the power supply is for charging the battery faster. the new magsafe 3 system can charge with more wattage than usb-c, as per the announcement. usb-c max wattage is 100 watts, which was the previous limiting factor for battery charge.

Color me skeptical. I believe you (and Apple) that the battery can be charged faster, but I am currently rendering video on an M1 MBP. Its power draw: ~20 Watts. That's a lot of charging overhead.

The 16” has a 100wh battery, so it needs 100w of power to charge 50% in 30 minutes (their “fast charging”). Add in 20w to keep the laptop running at the same time, and some conversion losses, and a 140w charger sounds just about right.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#769

Post by dlivingston » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 3:06 AM UTC

Thaxll wrote: post #587

modulusshift wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Apple is selling M1 Macs like hotcakes, so it won't be too long until it'll be stupid not to support them. Also, texture thrashing isn't really an issue when you've got a shared CPU/GPU memory with 64 GB of space. Just cache like half the game in it lol

There is 0% chance that game dev supports mac, it's a dead platform for gaming. The downvote police is there, am I missing something? are they any modern game on mac? https://applesilicongames.com/

EVE Online now supports M1. But regardless, now that MacBooks are capable gaming machines (definitely not the case in the past), and a core demographic of Mac users overlap with the gaming demographics (20-40 yo), I really think it’s just a matter of time now.

Re: Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

#770

Post by dlivingston » Tue, Oct 19, 2021, 3:09 AM UTC

smoldesu wrote: post #719

wolrah wrote: post #619

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The major factor Apple has working in their favor with regards to the future of gaming on Macs is iOS. Any game or game engine that wants to support iPhone or iPad devices is going to be most of the way to supporting ARM Macs for "free". My older Intel Macs I'm sure are more or less SOL but they were never intended to be gaming machines.

That won't get the top 10 Steam games running on MacOS. There's just too great of a disparity in the tooling, a 'convergence' like you're describing would take the better half of a decade, conservatively speaking. And even if they did converge, that's only guaranteeing you a portion of the mobile market, and just the new games at that. Triple-A titles will still be targeting x86 first for at least the next 5 years, a…

I mean…the “tooling” these days is usually just Unity3D. And Unity supports Apple silicon as a compile target. Tell me if I’m wrong, but it seems like the ability to support multiple platforms and architectures in gaming has never been easier.