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Apple introduces M4 chip

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Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#461

Post by joelthelion »

rsp1984 wrote: post #457

Together with next-generation ML accelerators in the CPU, the high-performance GPU, and higher-bandwidth unified memory, the Neural Engine makes M4 an outrageously powerful chip for AI. In case it is not abundantly clear by now: Apple's AI strategy is to put inference (and longer term even learning) on edge devices. This is completely coherent with their privacy-first strategy (which would be at odds with sending dat…

>n case it is not abundantly clear by now: Apple's AI strategy is to put inference (and longer term even learning)

I'm curious: is anyone seriously using apple hardware to train Ai models at the moment? Obviously not the big players, but I imagine it might be a viable option for Ai engineers in smaller, less ambitious companies.

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#462

Post by asow92 »

Naomarik wrote: post #441
asow92 wrote: post #332

Why are we running these high end CPUs on tablets without the ability to run pro apps like Xcode? Until I can run Xcode on an iPad (not Swift Playgrounds), it's a pass for me. Hear me out: I don't want to bring both an iPad and Macbook on trips, but I need Xcode. Because of this, I have to pick the Macbook every time. I want an iPad, but the iPad doesn't want me.

Didn't have to look long to find a comment mirroring how I feel about these devices. To me it feels like they're just adding power to an artificially castrated device I can barely do anything with. See no reason to upgrade from my original iPad Pro that's not really useful for anything. Just an overpowered device running phone software.

I feel the same way. I just can't justify upgrading from my 10.5" Pro from years ago. It's got pro motion and runs most apps fine. Sure, the battery isn't great after all these years, but it's not like it's getting used long enough to notice.

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#463

Post by bee_rider »

cletus wrote: post #227
izacus wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple usually massively exaggerates their tech spec comparison - is it REALLY half the power use of all times (so we'll get double the battery life) or is it half the power use in some scenarios (so we'll get like... 15% more battery life total) ?

IME Apple has always been the most honest when it makes performance claims. LIke when they said an Macbook Air would last 10+ hours and third-party reviewers would get 8-9+ hours. All the while, Dell or HP would claim 19 hours and you'd be lucky to get 2 eg [1]. As for CPU power use, of course that doesn't translate into doubling battery life because there are other components. And yes, it seems the OLED display uses…

Controlling the OS is probably a big help there. At least, I saw lots of complaints about my zenbook model’s battery not hitting the spec. It was easy to hit or exceed it in Linux, but you have to tell it not to randomly spin up the CPU.

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#464

Post by luyu_wu »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #39
praseodym wrote: post #10

"With these improvements to the CPU and GPU, M4 maintains Apple silicon’s industry-leading performance per watt. M4 can deliver the same performance as M2 using just half the power. And compared with the latest PC chip in a thin and light laptop, M4 can deliver the same performance using just a fourth of the power." That's an incredible improvement in just a few years. I wonder how much of that is Apple engineering a…

On one hand, it's crazy. On the other hand, it's pretty typical for the industry. Average performance per watt doubling time is 2.6 years: https://newsroom.arm.com/blog/performance-per-watt#:~:text=T... .

Note that performance per watt is 2x higher at both chips peak performance. This is in many ways an unfair comparison for Apple to make.

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#465

Post by grecy »

Aurornis wrote: post #342
KeplerBoy wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If these things will ever get MacOS support it will be useless with 8 GB of Ram. Such a waste of nice components.

I have a minimum of 64GB on my all my main developer machines (home, work, laptop), but I have a spare laptop with only 8GB of RAM for lightweight travel. Despite the entire internet telling me it would be "unusable" and a disaster and a complete disaster, it's actually 100% perfectly fine. I can run IDEs, Slack, Discord, Chrome, and do dev work without a problem. I can't run a lot of VMs or compile giant projects wi…

I'm editing 4k video and thousands of big RAW images.

The used M1 MacBook Air I just bought is by far the fastest computer I have ever used.

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#466

Post by lozenge »

paulpan wrote: post #183
EduardoBautista wrote: post #13

The 256gb and 512gb models have 8gb of ram. The 1tb and 2tb models have 16gb. Not a fan of tying ram to storage. https://www.apple.com/ipad-pro/specs/

I don't think it's strictly for price gouging/segmentation purposes. On the Macbooks (running MacOS), RAM has been used as data cache to speed up data read/write performance until the actual SSD storage operation completes. It makes sense for Apple to account for with higher RAM spec for the 1TB/2TB configurations.

The write speed needs to match what the camera can output or the WiFi/cellular can download. It has nothing to do with the total size of the storage.

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#467

Post by slashdev »

ipqk wrote: post #305
slashdev wrote: post #72

I've got a Mac Pro paperweight because the motherboard went. It's going to the landfill. I can't even sell it for parts because I can't erase the SSD. If they didn't solder everything to the board you could actually repair it. When I replace my current Dell laptop, it will be with a repairable framework laptop.

hopefully at least electronics recycling.

Where do you usually take it for that?

If I find a place in walking distance, maybe.

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#468

Post by astrange »

krunck wrote: post #460
rsp1984 wrote: post #457

Together with next-generation ML accelerators in the CPU, the high-performance GPU, and higher-bandwidth unified memory, the Neural Engine makes M4 an outrageously powerful chip for AI. In case it is not abundantly clear by now: Apple's AI strategy is to put inference (and longer term even learning) on edge devices. This is completely coherent with their privacy-first strategy (which would be at odds with sending dat…

Yes, that would be great. But without the ability for us to verify this who's to say they won't use the edge resources(your computer and electricity) to process data(your data) and then send the results to their data center? It would certainly save them a lot of money.

You seem to be describing face recognition in Photos like it's a conspiracy against you. You'd prefer the data center servers looking at your data?

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#469

Post by _akhe »

e44858 wrote: post #440
_akhe wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Think the play is "consumer AI". Would you really write code on an iPad? And if you do, do you use an external keyboard?

Tablets are the perfect form factor for coding because you can easily mount them in an ergonomic position like this: https://mgsloan.com/posts/comfortable-airplane-computing/ Most laptops have terrible keyboards so I'd be using an external one either way.

Those keyboards are absolutely ridiculous, sorry.

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#470

Post by themagician »

quasarj wrote: post #455
themagician wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Welcome to being old! Watch a 20-year old creative work on an iPad and you will quickly change your mind. Watch someone who has, "never really used a desktop, [I] just use an iPad" work in Procreate or LumaFusion. The iPad has amazing software. Better, in many ways, than desktop alternatives if you know how to use it. There are some things they can't do, and the workflow can be less flexible or full featured in some…

They can have my keyboard when they pry it from my cold dead hands! And my mouse, for that matter.

Oh, I'm with you. But the funny thing is, they won't even want it.

I have two iPads and two pencils—that way each iPad is never without a penicl—and yet I rarely use the pencil. I just don't think about it. But then when I do, I'm like, "Why don't I use this more often? It's fantastic."

I have tried and tried to adapt and I can not. I need a mouse, keyboard, seperate numpad, and two 5K Displays to mostly arrive at the same output that someone can do with a single 11" or 13" screen and a bunch of differnt spaces that can be flicked through.

I desperatedly wanted to make the iPad my primary machine and I could not do it. But, honestly, I think it has more to do with me than the software. I've become old and stubborn. I want to do things my way.

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