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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

#401

Post by rpmisms »

ryandrake wrote: post #143
philistine wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sincerely believe that the market for desktop PCs is completely coopted by the gaming machines. They do not care one whit about machine size or energy efficiency, with only one concern in mind: bare performance. This means they buy ginormous machines, incredibly inefficient CPUs and GPUs, with cavernous internals to chuck heat out with no care for decibels. But they spend voriously. And so the desktop PC market is…

Desktop PCs have become the Big Block V8 Muscle Cars of the computing world. Inefficient dinosaur technology that you pour gasoline through and the output is heat and massive raw power.

Desktops are actually pickup trucks. Very powerful and capable, capable of everyday tasks, but less efficient at them. Unbeatable at their specialty, though.

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

#403

Post by MBCook »

SushiHippie wrote: post #225
whalesalad wrote: post #113

Wild. It absolutely shits on my 13900K - https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/compare/7692643?baselin...

Same, I have a Ryzen 9 7950X and it has 130-140% better performance (according to Geekbench) https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/compare/8593555?baselin... Though a MacBook Pro 16" with M4 Max(that's what achieved this geekbench score), but the same amount of memory (64GB) and the same amount of storage (4TB) as my PC, would cost 6079€. That is roughly twice as much as my whole PC Build did cost, and I'm able to exp…

Apple’s upgraded are famously expensive, it’s how they get their giant margins. As an Apple enthusiast, yeah it sucks.

Anyway, they made an Ultra version of the M1 and M2 that was even better than the Max versions by having significantly more cores.

If they do that again (Mac Pro?) it will be one hell of a chip.

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

#405

Post by Reason077 »

grahamj wrote: post #387
superb_dev wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The airs are incredible. I’ve been doing all my personal dev work on an M2 Air for years, it’s the best laptop I’ve ever owned. I’m only compelled to upgrade for more ram, but I only feel the pressure of 8gb in rare cases. (I do wish I could swap the ram)

I was the same with the M1 Air until a couple months ago when I decided I wanted more screen real estate. That plus the 120Hz miniLED and better battery and sound make the 16" a great upgrade as long as the size and weight aren't an issue. I just use it at home so it's fine but the Air really is remarkable for portability.

I have the M1 Air, too. I just plug in to a nice big Thunderbolt display when I need more screen!

I'll likely upgrade to the M4 Air when it comes out. The M4 MacBook Pro is tempting, but I value portability and they're just so chunky and heavy compared to the Air.

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

#406

Post by paraboli »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #82
mdasen wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 di…

My best Apple purchases in 20 years of being their customer: The Macbook M1 Pro 16 inch and the Pro Display XDR. When Steve Jobs died I really thought Apple was done, but their most flawless products (imho) came much later.

What do you like about the Pro Display XDR?

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

#407

Post by hhejrkrn »

nl wrote: post #279
hhejrkrn wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol ... You were not around for the ppc -> Intel change ... Same thing happened then ... Remarkable performance uplift from the last instruction set ... And we had Rosetta which allowed compatibility... The m1 and arm took power efficiency to another level .... But yeah what has happened before will happen again

I was around for that. The thing then was it was just Apple catching up with windows computers which had had a considerable performance lead for a while. It didn't really seem magical to just see it finally matched. (Yes Intel Mac's got better then Windows computers but that was later. At launch it was just matching) It's very different this time because you can't match the performance/battery trade off in anyway.

I owned a g4 power Mac ... Yes moving to intel at the time was magical... Maybe not for you but for me it was....

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

#408

Post by MBCook »

piva00 wrote: post #154
lancesells wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I agree it’s kind of weird. I do wonder if the ultra was part of their original M1 plan, or it came along somewhere in the middle of development and they just had to come up with a name to put it above the Max.

That said it’s far better than any PC scheme. It used to be easy enough when everything was megahertz. But I left the Wintel world around 2006 or so and stopped paying attention.

I’ve been watching performance reviews of some video game things recently and to my ears it’s just total gobbledygook now. The 13900KS, 14900K, 7900X, 7950X3D, all sorts of random letters and numbers. I know there’s a method to the madness but if you don’t know it it’s a mess. At least AMD puts a generation in their names. Ryzen 9 is newer than Ryzen 7.

Intel has been using i3, i5, i7, and i9 forever. But the problem is you can’t tell what generation they are just from that. Making them meaningless without knowing a bunch more.

At least as far as I know they didn’t remember everything. I remember when graphics cards were easy because a higher number meant better, until the numbers got too big so they released the best new ones with a lower number for a while.

At least I find Apple’s name tractable both between generations and within a generation.

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

#409

Post by MBCook »

mattlondon wrote: post #74

For how long? There are a lot of superlatives ("simply incredible" etc) - when some new AMD or Intel CPU beats this score, will that be "simply incredible" too? New chips are slightly faster than previous ones. I am not incredulous about this. Were it a 2x or 3x or 4x improvement or something, sure. But it ain't - it's incremental. I note how even in the Apple marketing they compare it to generations 3 or 4 chips ago…

There are a LOT of corporate Macs out there that are still on Intel.

The replacement cycle may just be that long. Or maybe they chose to stick with Intel. Maybe because that’s what they were used to or maybe because had specific software needs. So they were still buying them after Apple Silicon machines had been released.

Yeah it’s not a big deal for the enthusiast crowd. But for some of their customers it’s absolutely a consideration.

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

#410

Post by MBCook »

christophilus wrote: post #332
dmix wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I note how even in the Apple marketing they compare it to generations 3 or 4 chips ago Apple is just marketing to the biggest buyer group (2 generation upgrades) in their marketing material? This isn’t like iPhones where people buy them every 1-2 years (because they break or you lose it etc), laptops have a longer shelf life, you usually run to the ground over 2+ yrs and then begrudgingly upgrade.

The + is doing some heavy lifting there. I’m on a 2019 XPS running Fedora with niri. It doesn’t feel like it’s kicking the bucket any time soon.

And my 2019 Intel MBP is still working too. Use it every day.

The idea of a 6x (or whatever) performance jump is certainly tempting. Exactly as they intend it to be. If I was in charge of replacing it I would be far more likely to buy than if I had an M3.

They’re trying to entire likely buyers.

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