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Alder Lake Core i9 processor is faster than the M1 Max

macworld.com

41–50 of 368 posts

Re: Alder Lake Core i9 processor is faster than the M1 Max

#41
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but it's locked down, unupgradable future e-waste.

I would argue the opposite, still using my 2012 15” MacBook Pro… a decade later. Go to Walmart and look at the laptops on display, and tell me any of those are capable lasting near a decade.

That’s not true of the current Macs though.

I still have a 2011 era MacBook that I can use, and was very pleasant to use until an OS update a couple of years ago.

But that was because I was able to upgrade the RAM, the SSD, and replace the battery.

None of those things are possible with macs from the last few years, so their longevity is much more likely to resemble phones than older macs.

Re: Alder Lake Core i9 processor is faster than the M1 Max

#42
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intel is a process node behind When you normalize for that, isn’t the power usage they equal?

What is your point? Intel failed to execute on their own Fabs? That intel needs to use TSMC's fabs to get parity? That Intel can't get access to TSMC's best fabs? The end result is the same. Intel has chips that are 3 years behind in power efficiency.

Well the point is that they're neck and neck while being a fab behind. If the fab catches up they might be greatly ahead. Its a big if but it adds context.

Re: Alder Lake Core i9 processor is faster than the M1 Max

#43
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

the fact is, apple hardware is not _that_ expensive relative to what you get for the money. Their supply chain is super optimized, and it's hard to beat them on price if a competitor decides to try (at the same quality that is).

Yeah but it's locked down, unupgradable future e-waste.

Someone will buy an old MacBook, good luck ebaying your old Lenovo…

Re: Alder Lake Core i9 processor is faster than the M1 Max

#44
post #9
post #4

> During the Cinebench R23 multi-core test, the Alder Lake laptop was consistently in the 100-watt range, [...] M1 Max’s power draw was 39.7 watts Ouch. > MSI GE76 Raider got 6 hours of offline video playback, a far cry from the MacBook Pro’s 17 hours. Double ouch. That's a huge gap, and 6 is low even in absolute terms. It's still a nice beefy chip, but still a far cry from the engineering marvel that Apple pulled of…

With RTX 3080 Ti though. So yeah - I don't think it can match Apple M1 efficiency but reviews of P-series and U-series Alder Lake mobile CPUs are going to be interesting and what I am looking forward to.

> During the Cinebench R23 multi-core test, the Alder Lake laptop was consistently in the 100-watt range, with spikes between 130 and 140 watts. We haven’t tested the power draw of the M1 Pro/Max ourselves, but AnandTech did using Cinebench R23 and found that the M1 Max’s power draw was 39.7 watts versus over 100 for the 11th-gen MSI GE76 Raider.

Cinebench is a pure CPU test though, so I feel the comparison is more or less apples-to-apples.

Re: Alder Lake Core i9 processor is faster than the M1 Max

#45

Dumb question, but whats the engineering principle behind higher performance when increasing power usage? Is it because pipelines are clocked faster?

For transistors, power = frequency x voltage^2 x capacitance and since voltage is proportional to frequency it means power ~= frequency^3. That's why Alder Lake is quite efficient at low clocks but crazy power hungry when you let it turbo.

Re: Alder Lake Core i9 processor is faster than the M1 Max

#46

I switched about half a year ago from a MacBook Pro with an Intel processor to MacBook Pro with an M1 processor. My overall impression was "when the hell will it run out of power"? I spent the whole working day (without a charger) and it was still at 60%, while I was constantly stressed before when I had to do something without a charger for more than 3-4 hours. I don't care what any test, but tripling battery life w…

I replaced an older MBP with the M1 air.

It ran circles around the old machine despite being the lowest spec. Battery is light years ahead. And it doesn’t even have a fan. So it’s dead silent. Never gets hot unlike the old Intel. There isn’t any mechanical component to fail except the hinge and the keyboard.

I was worried I might regret not waiting for the higher spec M1s. Now that just seems totally unnecessary for me.

PS: Work later gave me a high spec 2019 Intel MBP. It’s slower, louder, and much hotter than my Air. And at least 2.5x the price. Amazing.

Re: Alder Lake Core i9 processor is faster than the M1 Max

#47
This focus on raw performance makes sense when comparing desktop workstations but for laptops it misses the point and I hope it goes out of fashion.

My MacBook Air runs Jetbrains + a couple containers just fine for almost a couple of work days on battery. Is this i9 faster? Yes but at a 6 hour battery life and 2.9Kg of weight it might as well be a desktop (just save money and buy/build a better desktop or get a console until PC parts are cheaper again).

e: a cursory look suggests that laptop is also around $800 (AUD) more expensive than the (complete overkill for most) M1 it's comparing to, this is absolutely not a win.

Re: Alder Lake Core i9 processor is faster than the M1 Max

#48
post #31
post #6

Yea the old narrative of "arm is power efficient, but doesn't actually run real desktop level stuff at that power level" is pretty dead at this point.. it now runs desktop level stuff at 3x lower power than intel's latest chips.. and the potential for apple's chips to keep improving at that same power envelope is definitely there.. so...

Yeah, ARM is fine, as long as Mac meets your needs. No other ARM is close, and as a PC hardware platform, it’s still a giant pain compared to x86.

Seems like Graviton may be there, but of course Amazon isn’t going to sell those to anyone.

Re: Alder Lake Core i9 processor is faster than the M1 Max

#49
Hopefully this turns into a situation where consumers and technologists are the winners. Pat Gelsinger was pretty clear on how he felt about the situation with Apple when he joined Intel and it seems clear we'll see Intel continue to improve. Ultimately this competition should product better products and better prices.

Re: Alder Lake Core i9 processor is faster than the M1 Max

#50

Dumb question, but whats the engineering principle behind higher performance when increasing power usage? Is it because pipelines are clocked faster?

Not sure at what level you want the answer and others are answering at other layers so I'll cover this one. Ultimately, the faster clock means you're discharging and charging things at the gate level more often. Changing this state expends energy. More changing, more energy used per unit time, more power necessary.
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