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Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

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Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#51

Post by mdasen »

carlgreene wrote: post #11
post_break wrote: post #8

What's crazy is that the M4 Pro is in the Mac mini, something so tiny can handle that chip. The Mac Studio with the M4 Max will be awesome but the Mini is remarkable.

I am still astounded the huge change moving from an Intel Mac to an Apple Silicon Mac (M1) has had in terms of battery performance and heat. I don't think i've heard the fans a single time I've had this machine and it's been several years. Nor have I had any desire to upgrade.

> Nor have I had any desire to upgrade

I never thought I'd see a processor that was 50% faster single-core and 80% faster multi-core and just shrug. My M1 Pro still feels so magically fast.

I'm really happy that Apple keeps pushing things and I'll be grateful when I do decide to upgrade, but my M1 Pro has just been such a magical machine. Every other laptop I've ever bought (Mac or PC) has run its fan regularly. I did finally get fan noise on my M1 Pro when pegging the CPU at 800% for a while (doing batch conversion of tons of PDFs to images) - and to be fair, it was sitting on a blanket which was insulating it. Still, it didn't get hot, unlike every other laptop I've ever owned did even under normal usage.

It's just been such a joyful machine.

I do look forward to an OLED MacBook Pro and I know how great a future Apple Silicon processor will be.

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#52

Post by eigenspace »

ceejayoz wrote: post #9
eigenspace wrote: post #4

I'll admit to some reflexive skepticism here. I know GeekBench at least used to be considered an entirely unserious indicator of performance and any discussion relating to its scores used to be drowned out by people explaining why it was so bad. Do those criticisms still hold? Are serious people nowadays taking Geekbench to be a reasonably okay (though obviously imperfect) performance metric?

I'd be reflexively skeptical if I didn't have a M1 Mac. It really is something.

I'm not skeptical of Apple's M-series chips. They have proven themselves to be quite impressive and indeed quite competitive with traditional desktop CPUs even at very low wattages.

I'm skeptical of Geekbench being able to indicate that this specific new processor is robustly faster than say a 9950x in single-core workloads.

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#53

Post by mh- »

cloudking wrote: post #38
carlgreene wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am still astounded the huge change moving from an Intel Mac to an Apple Silicon Mac (M1) has had in terms of battery performance and heat. I don't think i've heard the fans a single time I've had this machine and it's been several years. Nor have I had any desire to upgrade.

M3 Pro user here, agree with the same points. It's nice to be able to actually have your laptop on your lap, without burning your legs.

Hey, I can have my Intel MBP on my lap without burning my legs (or making me feel nauseated).

As long as I don't open Chrome, Safari, Apple Notes, or really any other app...

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#55

Post by iJohnDoe »

LorenDB wrote: post #40

How many people does this actually affect? Gamers are better off with AMD X3D chips, and most productivity workloads need good multicore performance. Obviously MR is great silicon and I don't want to downplay that, but I'm not sure that best singlecore performance is an overly useful metric for the people who need performance.

Based on my limited knowledge. Most applications aren’t great at using all cores, so single-core performance is really important most of the time.

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#56

Post by t-sauer »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #47
t-sauer wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can tell those are all scroes from overclocked CPUs.

https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/7531877 doesn't seem to be

That result is completely different from pretty much every other 13700k result and it is definitely not reflective of how a 13700k performs out of the box.

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#57

Post by Cthulhu_ »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #44
carlgreene wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am still astounded the huge change moving from an Intel Mac to an Apple Silicon Mac (M1) has had in terms of battery performance and heat. I don't think i've heard the fans a single time I've had this machine and it's been several years. Nor have I had any desire to upgrade.

I do wonder if PC desktops will eventually move to a similar design. I have a 7800x3d on my desktop, and the thing is a beast but between it and the 3090 I basically have a space heater in my room

It would make sense, but it depends heavily on Windows / Linux support, compatibility with nvidia / amd graphics cards, and exclusivity contracts with Intel / AMD. Apple is not likely to make their chips available to OEMs at any rate, and I haven't heard of any 4th party working on a powerful desktop ARM based CPU in recent years.

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#58

Post by x-_-x »

whynotminot wrote: post #10
hanniabu wrote: post #6

Good enough to be used for gaming? Really want Apple to get into that because dealing with Windows sucks.

They’ve always been good enough for gaming. The problem has just been whether or not publishers would bother releasing the games. It’s unfortunate that Apple can’t seem to really build enough momentum here to become a gaming destination.

[dead]

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#59

Post by HumblyTossed »

LorenDB wrote: post #40

How many people does this actually affect? Gamers are better off with AMD X3D chips, and most productivity workloads need good multicore performance. Obviously MR is great silicon and I don't want to downplay that, but I'm not sure that best singlecore performance is an overly useful metric for the people who need performance.

People who browse the web and want that fastest javascript performance they can get.

Re: Apple's M4 Max chip is the fastest single-core performer in consumer computing

#60

Post by juancn »

carlgreene wrote: post #5

I have been out of the PC world for a long time, but in terms of performance efficiency, is Apple running away from the competition? Or are AMD and Intel producing similar performing chips at the same wattage?

The M1 was a complete surprise, it was so far ahead that it was ridiculous.

The M2-4 are still ahead (in their niche), but since the M1, Intel and AMD have been playing catchup.

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