This is as much a ringing endorsement of AMD Ryzen as it is of the M1. The 15W 4800U is just as impressive as the M1, and the performance per watt gap seems small enough to bridge with AMDs upcoming 5nm switch.
In single core tests the 4800u is running that core at 4.2Ghz. Yet it gets soundly bested by the M1 @ 3 - 3.2Ghz (running at a 50%+ advantage, 65%+ clock per clock). The M1 has an enormous IPC advantage.
In a multicore test the 4800u has 8 performance cores with HT. It only marginally beats an M1 with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores (by the scaling the efficiency cores look like they're 1/4 performance or worse -- these are very lightweight cores).
Again, it's the best of the rest, but Apple clearly holds an enormous lead here. Somehow everyone is focused on 5nm, but the A13 on 7nm was still in a substantial lead. The 4800u on 5nm is only going to be marginally better.
Apple clearly sandbagged this first entrant because they're packing it into their "entry level" devices. In six months or whatever they'll unveil the 6+2 core device in the mid range, the 12+2 in the high range, etc, and we'll be back at these discussions.
(Speaking generally) - This whole discussion about Apple Silicon is fascinating because the goal posts have moved so much. Looking back to HN discussions a year ago and everyone was talking about some pathetically weak entrant that would be a joke, etc. Now people are celebrating that it doesn't beat a 24-core, 300W Threadripper. Now the narrative is that it isn't impressive because the v1 didn't overwhelming destroy everything else in the market.