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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

#151

Post by hu3 »

nottorp wrote: post #140
hu3 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yeah but then you'd have to use Windows. Why? Linux gaming has been great since Wine. Even better now with Valve investment. Surely leagues better than gaming with macOS.

Sir, you are not a real gamer(tm) either. Use a puny alternative OS and lose 3 fps, Valve support or not? Unacceptable! As for Linux, I abandoned it as the main GUI OS for Macs about 10 years ago. I have linux and windows boxes but the only ones with displays/keyboards are the macs and it will stay that way.

I have all 3 OSs each on their own hardware:)

4 if you count steamdeck.

I do the real gaming, not some subpar emulated crap or anemic macOS steam library.

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

#152

Post by llm_nerd »

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?

Geekbench is an excellent benchmark, and has a pretty good correlation with the performance people see in the real world where there aren't other limitations like storage speed.

There is a sort of whack-a-mole thing where adherents of particular makers or even instruction sets dismiss evidence that benefits their alternatives, and you find that at the root of almost all of the "my choice doesn't win in a given benchmark means the benchmark is bad" rhetoric. Then they demand you only respect some oddball benchmark where their favoured choice wins.

AMD fans long claimed that Geekbench was in cahoots with Intel. Then when Apple started dominating, that it was in cahoots with ARM, or favoured ARM instruction sets. It's endless.

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

#153

Post by ttul »

tempest_ wrote: post #50
torginus wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even compared to other ARM cores, Apple is in a league of its own.

Outside of Ampere(who are really more server focused) who else is designing desktop/laptop ARM cpus?

That’s a really fair point. I think it’s tough for anyone else to break into the consumer / desktop segment with ARM chips. Apple can do it because they control the whole stack.

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

#154

Post by piva00 »

lancesells wrote: post #123
grahamj wrote: post #31

So Ultra used to be the max but now Max is max… until Ultra goes past the max and Max is no longer the max. Until the next Max that goes beyond Ultra!

Apple has gotten into Windows and PC territory with their naming for chips and models. Kind of funny to see the evolution of a compact product line and naming convention slowly turn into spreadsheet worthy comparison charts. That all said, I only have an M1 and it's still impressive to me.

I think they're still keeping it somewhat together, agree it got ever more confusing with the introduction of more performance tiers but after 3 generations it's been easy to keep track of: Mx (base) -> Pro -> Max -> Ultra.

Think it's still quite far away from naming conventions of PC territory.

Now I got curious on what naming scheme could be clearer for Apple's performance tiers.

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

#156

Post by evilduck »

fioan89 wrote: post #148
evilduck wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That depends on what you want to play and what other things that suck that you’re willing to tolerate. The GPUs in previous M chips aren’t beating AMD or NVidia’s top offerings on anything except VRAM but you can definitely play games with them. Apple has released their Game Porting Toolkit a couple years ago which is basically like Wine/Proton in Linux and if you’re comfortable with Wine and approximately what a Ste…

With Thunderbolt 5 it should be fairly reasonable to use an external GPU for more power.

Apple Silicon Macs don't have support for eGPUs: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102363

Maybe with future TB5 support they will include that feature.

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

#157

Post by omikun »

tempest_ wrote: post #29
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?

Their margins tend to allow them to always use the latest TSMC process so they will often be pretty good just based on that. They are also ARM chips which obviously have been more focused on efficiency historically.

They actually work with TSMC to develop the latest nodes. They also fund the bulk of the development. It's not as if without Apple's funds someone else will get the same leading edge node.

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

#158

Post by cosmotic »

mortenjorck wrote: post #27
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.

Indeed, the $1599 M4 Pro Mac mini beats the current $3999 M2 Ultra Mac Studio on GeekBench 6 multi-core: https://www.macrumors.com/2024/10/31/m4-pro-chip-benchmark-r...

Yes, but I suspect the 64GB of memory in the studio compared to 24GB in the mini the is going to make that studio a lot faster in many real-world scenarios.

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

#159

Post by hyperjeff »

ChrisArchitect wrote: post #36

[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42014791

Different chips though, and different links. (Also, it’d be nice if we stopped linking directly to social media posts and instead used an intermediary that didn’t require access or accounts just to follow discussions here.)

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

#160

Post by dzhiurgis »

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.

16” M1 still perfectly good machine for my work (web dev). Got a battery replacement which also replaced top cover and keyboard - it’s basically new. Extended applecare for another year which will turn it into fully covered 4 year device.
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