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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

#941

Post by Zenbit_UX »

BitAstronaut wrote: post #75
vmception wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not going to wait for the comparisons this time. Maxing this baby out right now.

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

Not OP but ordered a maxxed out 16" with 1TB SSD (can't justify 2k more for disk space, I'll just buy an external and curb my torrenting).

My work flow is intensive yet critical:

I have at all times the following open:

ELECTRON APPS: Slack, Telegram, Teams, Discord, Git Kraken, VSCode (multiple workspaces hosting different repos all running webpack webservers with hot module reloading), Trading View.

NATIVE APPS: Firefox (10 - 32 tabs, many with live web socket connections such as stock trading sites, various web email providers, and at least one background YouTube video or twitch stream), Chrome (~6 tabs with alternate accounts using similar web socketed connections), iTerm, Torrent client (with multiple active transfers).

All of this is being displayed on two external 4k screens + the laptop.

So ya, I can justify maxxed out specs as my demands are far higher than that of an average user and that's with me actively closing things I don't need. Also my work will happily pay for it, so why not?

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

#942

Post by kaba0 »

ohgodplsno wrote: post #899
have_faith wrote: post #885

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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"""

Gluing is the least of the problem - as others mentioned, it can be easily resealed, and I very much prefer my phone surviving a bit of water.

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

#943

Post by kaba0 »

kasabali wrote: post #872
kaba0 wrote: post #855

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In case your statement is only a slight sarcasm: Isn’t that just the OS saying “unused memory is wasted memory”? Most of it is likely cache that can easily be evicted with higher memory pressure.

It is the OS saying “unused memory is wasted memory”, and then every other application thinking they're OS and doing the same.

Since applications have virtual memory, it sort of doesn’t matter? The OS will map these to actual pages based on how many processes are available, etc. So if only one app runs and it wants lots of memory, it makes sense to give it lots of memory - that is the most “economical” decision from both a energy and performance POV.

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

#944

Post by klelatti »

manquer wrote: post #938
klelatti wrote: post #892

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I get (and respect) that you disagree with my argument. However only point 3 is inference/opinion that we can argue on, 1. and 2. are just facts from their annual report, maybe there is scope to argue that they are not relevant here or doesn't show the full picture etc, or are you are saying the facts are wrong ?

On 1. and 2. I’m (hopefully respectfully too) disagreeing with the thrust of the point.

1. We don’t know the precise split but we do know laptops are a very major part of their CCG business (based on laptops having majority of PC market share).

2. DCG revenue was down last quarter and the business is facing major competition from both AMD and Arm so I don’t think we can base expectations on performance over the last five years.

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

#945

Post by Zenbit_UX »

skunkworker wrote: post #809
dan1234 wrote: post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the M1 supported 3 displays I would’ve bought an air last year. Feels like I’ll have to pay a lot for that 3rd monitor!

This, I currently run triple 24inch monitors in portrait off my work 2019 16" laptop rather smoothly. Unfortunately the M1 couldn't run it. The new 14 and 16 max can do triple 4k. Up to two external displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors (M1 Pro) or Up to three external displays with up to 6K resolution and one external display with up to 4K resolution at 60Hz at over a billion colors (M1…

When they make those statements I'm always curious if they are expecting the user to use two external with the lid closed, or open (which would be 3 displays).

I've always found MacBooks don't play well when the lid is closed, but maybe that has changed?

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

#946

Post by Zenbit_UX »

yellowapple wrote: post #469

If Apple ever gets around to putting an M1 Max in a Mac Mini, that'd probably push me over the edge toward buying one.

Always wondered who the Mac minis were marketed towards. Sure they're cool but wouldn't you want something portable should you want to go to a coworking location or extend a vacation with a remote work portion of the trip?

Surely in the world of covid remote work is common among developers... Would that mean you'd need a second device like an Air to bring on trips?

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

#947

Post by Zenbit_UX »

julienb_sea wrote: post #359
sharkjacobs wrote: post #302

This is roughly in line with what I expected, given the characteristics of the M1. It's still very power efficient and cool, has more CPU cores, a lot more GPU cores, wider memory controller, and presumably it has unchanged single core performance. Apple clearly doesn't mean these to be a high performance desktop offering though because they didn't even offer an Mac Mini SKU with the new M1s. But what I'm really curi…

I don't think they are going to make desktop versions, they'll probably put the pro and max versions in a new iMac body during Q2 2022 and might add config options to mac mini. Might be for supply chain reasons, focusing 100% on macbook pro production to meet the absolutely massive incoming demand.

Indeed, ETA on a 16" was already late December for an order placed when the presentation ended, I'm sure it's into 2022 now.

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

#948

Post by djmips »

RantyDave wrote: post #893
ed_elliott_asc wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The copying process was quite a barrier to using compute (general purpose GPU) to augment CPU processing and you had to ensure that the work farmed to the GPU was worth the cost of the to/from costs. Game consoles of late have generally had unified memory (UMA) and it's quite a nice advantage because moving data is a significant bottleneck.

Using Intel's integrated video as a way to assess the benefits of unified memory is off target. Intel had a multitude of design goals for their integrated GPU and UMA was only one aspect so it's not so easy to single that out for any shortcomings that you seem to be alluding to.

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

#949

Post by notSupplied »

Hardware people: We worked our asses off for this breakthrough in performance.

Software people: Thanks buddy, so we can move everything to Electron now?

On a serious note, it does saddens me how a portion of hardware advancement is lost to inevitably sloppier software in the name of iteration speed.

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

#950

Post by dwaite »

kasabali wrote: post #881
lotsofpulp wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps leading to fewer failures and longer device lifespans. As far as I understand, the less components and heat, the longer the electronics keep working.

That isn't "less components", that's same components but soldered so customers can't replace it.

It removes connectors and may remove buffers. It is hard to pop a memory SIMM out over time using a laptop if everything is soldered in.
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