M3 Macs: there's more to performance than counting cores
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M3 Macs: there's more to performance than counting cores
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Re: M3 Macs: there's more to performance than counting cores
#2This is good to know. I worry about the longevity of these new M-series processors from Apple since they're so (relatively) new. What is the usable lifespan of a base M1-MacBook Air for example? I guess I'll find out since I just bought one for my kid who is a junior in HS and I'm hoping this will last until they graduate college.
Re: M3 Macs: there's more to performance than counting cores
#3This seems to be a lot of effort to rationalize the surprisingly small performance increase from M2 to M3. Initially the assumption was that M2 to M3 would be a bigger step than M1 to M2, not a smaller one. Perhaps TSMC 3nm is showing the limits of scaling?
Re: M3 Macs: there's more to performance than counting cores
#4This is good to know. I worry about the longevity of these new M-series processors from Apple since they're so (relatively) new. What is the usable lifespan of a base M1-MacBook Air for example? I guess I'll find out since I just bought one for my kid who is a junior in HS and I'm hoping this will last until they graduate college.
For context my M1 Air feels as good as the day I bought it and it's just about to hit 3 years old.
I kept my previous 2014 MBP for 6 years and I can't see this one being any different.
Re: M3 Macs: there's more to performance than counting cores
#5The graph needs a legend. Explaining the graph in the several paragraphs below and then cross referencing shape names and spatial relationships, is not a fun game to play.
Re: M3 Macs: there's more to performance than counting cores
#6This seems to be a lot of effort to rationalize the surprisingly small performance increase from M2 to M3. Initially the assumption was that M2 to M3 would be a bigger step than M1 to M2, not a smaller one. Perhaps TSMC 3nm is showing the limits of scaling?
Scaling based on node size has been limited for a long time. It feels like it started at 13nm that every shrink was getting less and less performance uplift, but it's likely it's been going on for longer and we just had much more room for improvement on chip design.
Re: M3 Macs: there's more to performance than counting cores
#7This is good to know. I worry about the longevity of these new M-series processors from Apple since they're so (relatively) new. What is the usable lifespan of a base M1-MacBook Air for example? I guess I'll find out since I just bought one for my kid who is a junior in HS and I'm hoping this will last until they graduate college.
For context my M1 Air feels as good as the day I bought it and it's just about to hit 3 years old. I kept my previous 2014 MBP for 6 years and I can't see this one being any different.
Same. The only issue I have w/ my original M1 Air is that I was impatient and got the 8GB model because I could get it into my hands a month faster. But that's not something that's changed over time.
Every new release I drool over getting the new shiny but the reality is that for my personal laptop it's AOK for almost everything I do. Sometimes a bit slow and frustrating due to the RAM but again, that's on me.
Re: M3 Macs: there's more to performance than counting cores
#8Feels like we’ve gone from “it’s just better, it’s obviously better you can see with your eyes and feel it as you use it” when M1/2 dropped.
To trying to justify why the M3 is 20% faster than the M1 and the M2 was also 20% faster than the M1 and weirdly Apple is only comparing it to their older processor.
Like people, maybe it’s just an underwhelming update… no need to pretend it’s not.
Re: M3 Macs: there's more to performance than counting cores
#9This seems to be a lot of effort to rationalize the surprisingly small performance increase from M2 to M3. Initially the assumption was that M2 to M3 would be a bigger step than M1 to M2, not a smaller one. Perhaps TSMC 3nm is showing the limits of scaling?
It's a mixture of several problems:
* TSMC N3B being a bit of a flop (yield issues, too expensive)
* Brain drain from Apple's chip design teams over the last few years
* Tim Cook trying to push the average selling price up to keep revenue growth going in the face of sales declines (e.g. hobbling memory bandwidth, reducing the number of performance cores for M3 Pro)
I don't expect there to be a M1 style generational leap for a long time, expect 2010s Intel style yearly performance gains from here on out.
Re: M3 Macs: there's more to performance than counting cores
#10This is good to know. I worry about the longevity of these new M-series processors from Apple since they're so (relatively) new. What is the usable lifespan of a base M1-MacBook Air for example? I guess I'll find out since I just bought one for my kid who is a junior in HS and I'm hoping this will last until they graduate college.
I’ve got a 16 inch Pro with 32g of RAM and I can see myself using this for development work at least a decade.
I tend to run it with a large external 4k 120hz screen and don’t see the need to upgrade for better IO for a long time and the thing is very, very fast.