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Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors

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

#891

Post by RantyDave »

mlindner wrote: post #397
bla3 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the memory was one of the more interesting bits here. My 2-year-old Intel MBP has 64 GB, and 8 GB of additional memory on the GPU. True, on the M1 Max you don't have to copy back and forth between CPU and GPU thanks to integrated memory, but the new MBP still has less total memory than my 2-year-old Intel MBP. And it seems they just barely managed to get to 64 GiB. The whole processor chip is surrounded by…

How much of that 64 GB is in use at the same time though? Caching not recently used stuff from DRAM out to an SSD isn't actually that slow, especially with the high speed SSD that Apple uses.

Right. And to me, this is the interesting part. There's always been that size/speed tradeoff ... by putting huge amounts of memory bandwidth on "less" main RAM, it becomes almost half-ram-half-cache; and by making the SSD fast it becomes more like massive big half-hd-half-cache. It does wear them out, however.

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

#892

Post by klelatti »

manquer wrote: post #723
klelatti wrote: post #688

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure Intel have a server business but that’s smaller than client computing and revenues there are falling. I don’t know what the precise % is but if Apple have 8% market share by volume their % of Intel’s client business by value is much higher. Losing a growing customer that represents that much of your business is not a trivial loss. Of course this is all part of a bigger picture where falling behind TSMC enables a…

The Client Computing group is larger yes, however few things to keep in mind 1. they don't split revenue for Laptop market alone , So hard to say the impact of laptops (especially Apple) itself on their revenue or margins. 2. Also CCG is much slower growing than the Date Centric Group(DCG) business for Intel in the last 4-5 years as to be expected to be in the future as well. 3. The Apple deal was likely their lowest…

Sorry, disagree on all of these points. Intel has new competition in all its highest margin businesses. It’s not going bust and may well turn things around but if you look at the PE ratio it tells you the market is pretty pessimistic vs its competitors.

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

#893

Post by RantyDave »

ed_elliott_asc wrote: post #315
bla3 wrote: post #82

This is about the processors, not the laptops, so commenting on the chips instead. They look great, but they look like they're the M1 design, just more of it. Which is plenty for a laptop! But it'll be interesting to see what they'll do for their desktops. Most of the additional chip area went into more GPUs and special-purpose video codec hardware. It's "just" two more cores than the vanilla M1, and some of the effi…

Surely the shared ram between cpu and gpu is the killer feature - zero copy and up to 64gb ram available for the gpu!

Yes, but it's a double edged sword. It means you're using relatively slow ram for the GPU, and that the GPU takes memory bandwidth away from the CPU as well. Traditionally we've ended up with something that looks like Intel's kinda crappy integrated video.

The copying process was never that much of a big deal, but paying for 8GB of graphics ram really is.

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

#894

Post by peoplefromibiza »

artfulhippo wrote: post #314
BitAstronaut wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honest question, what do you do where a $6,099 laptop is justifiable?

Dude this is Hacker News. I'm surprised when I meet an engineer who doesn't have a maxed out laptop.

and yet, when I commented on Apple submissions about 16GB of maximum RAM being not enough in 2021, especially at that price point, people answered to me that I was bragging and their M1 Air with 8GB of RAM was more than enough to do everything, including running a production kubernetes cluster serving thousands of customers.

When commenting on Mac hardware it is always difficult for me to separate wishful thinking, cultism and actual facts.

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

#896

Post by antifa »

smileybarry wrote: post #283
slayerjain wrote: post #68

Based on the numbers it looks like the M1 Max is in the RTX 3070-3080 performance territory. Sounds like mobile AAA gaming has potential to reach new heights :D

If Proton is made to work on Mac with Metal, there's some real future here for proper gaming on Mac. Either that or Parallels successfully running x64 games via Windows on ARM virtualization.

At this point I'd rather use parallels to run steam on Linux.

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

#897

Post by sunaurus »

stirlo wrote: post #742
deltron3030 wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt that we'll see a really powerful Mac Mini anytime soon. Why? Because it would cannibalize the MacBook Pro when combined with an iPad (sidecar). Most professionals needing pro laptops use the portability to move between studio environments or sets (e.g home and work). The Mini is still portable enough to be carried in a backpack, and the iPad can do enough on it's own to be viable for lighter coffee shop based…

Compare to a battery powered laptop you can flip open and start working on from anywhere? Not a chance.

For myself, my iPad Pro actually covers all use cases that I would need a laptop for, so my current Macbook Pro is just in clamshell mode on my desk 100% of the time. That's why I would love to replace it with an M1 Max Mac Mini.

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

#899

Post by ohgodplsno »

have_faith wrote: post #885
kaba0 wrote: post #861

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what’s your proposal? How big would a “phone” be with all those features that an iphone pro has? I am by no means an apple fanboy, but the same way a modern car engine can’t just be tweaked the way it was 50 years ago due to all the miniaturizations that are in large part due to efficiency gains, the same is just as true of phones. But at the same time, a single chip with everything included will also make these p…

An interesting comparison is formula 1 cars. Peak performance and parts that can be changed in seconds while still running. Even average modern cars have hundreds of parts that a lay person can reach with simple tools. Apple are obviously making a trade off (close it down for reduced size and better weather/water sealing) but then they don't get to pretend to be an environmentally concious company as that is antithic…

That's kind of a bad argument, considering that an F1 engine will be absolutely _fucked_ and needs to be thrown away after 2000 km.

That said, the previous poster's argument is terrible and gluing a phone is not what allows """peak performance"""

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

#900

Post by p_l »

pastelsky wrote: post #93

Does this leap sound big enough to eat into the traditional windows pro laptop market? ITs going to have a tough time justifying purchases.

Doubtful, because those purchases are often driven by software reasons, and there Apple loses heavily (whether it's corporate manageability of the laptops, or access to special software which rarely has Mac versions)
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