Apple M5 chip • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple M5 chip

#471

Post by hartator » Wed, Oct 15, 2025, 4:57 PM UTC

cj wrote: post #434

paxys wrote: post #392

M5 is 4-6x more powerful than M4, which was 5x more powerful than M3, which was 4x more powerful than M2, which was 4x more powerful than M1, which itself was 6x faster than an equivalent Intel processor. Great! Looking at my Macbook though, I can say with utmost certainty that it isn't 4000x faster than the Intel one I had 5 years ago. So, where is the disconnect here? Why is actual user experience not able to keep…

I’m not sure I see the disconnect. At our company we used to buy everyone MacBook Pros by default. After the M-series chip, the MBPs are just too powerful and no longer necessary for the average white collar worker (they seem like “actual” pro machines, now) to the point where we now order MacBook Airs for new employees. I feel like until recently, you really needed a MBP to get a decent UX (even just using chrome).…

> After the M-series chip, the MBPs are just too powerful and no longer necessary for the average white collar worker (they seem like “actual” pro machines, now) to the point where we now order regular MacBooks (not Pro’s) for new employees

Regular MBs are not really a thing anymore. You mean Airs?

Re: Apple M5 chip

#472

Post by jrmg » Wed, Oct 15, 2025, 4:59 PM UTC

cmcaleer wrote: post #461

thebitguru wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has also seemingly stopped caring about the quality and efficiency of their software. You can see this especially in the latest iOS/iPadOS/macOS 26 versions of their operating systems. They need their software leadership to match their hardware leadership, otherwise good hardware with bad software still leads to bad product, which is what we are seeing now.

It is frankly ridiculous how unintuitive it was to add an email account to Mail on iOS. This is possibly the most basic functionality I would expect an email client to have. One would expect that they go to their list of mailboxes and add a new account. No. You exit the mail app -> Go to settings -> apps -> scroll through a massive list (that you usually just use for notification settings btw) to go to mail -> mail a…

There’s an “Accounts...” entry in the main “Mail” menu.

You can also click the “+” button at the bottom of the list of accounts in the “Accounts” panel in Mail's settings window.

Re: Apple M5 chip

#473

Post by mittermayr » Wed, Oct 15, 2025, 5:00 PM UTC

vachina wrote: post #458

mittermayr wrote: post #212

This morning I was looking to maybe replace my Macbook Pro 2018, which had the horrible keyboard and finally seems to be crippled enough to not be fun to use anymore — now this! However, I have been disappointed by Apple too many times (they wouldn't replace my keyboard despite their highly-flamed design-faux-pas, had to replace the battery twice by now, etc.) Two years ago I finally stopped replacing their expensive…

LG Gram SuperSlim. Very light (900grams). I once went hiking with it and forgot the laptop was still in the bag. But its really only capable of high performance in short bursts because of the extremely small thermal mass.

thanks for the hint, spec-wise, this is exactly what I meant, 1tb ssd, 16gb ram, 16 hours of battery, very nice. then I saw it's 1700 EUR where I am at the moment, so pretty much Macbook Pro price :(

Re: Apple M5 chip

#474

Post by tempodox » Wed, Oct 15, 2025, 5:01 PM UTC

bangaladore wrote: post #445

random3 wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The disconnect is that you're reading sideways. First line on their website: > M5 delivers over 4x the peak GPU compute performance for AI compared to M4 It's the GPU not the CPU (which you compare with your old Intel) and it's an AI workload, not your regular workload (which again is what you compare)

And they are comparing peak compute. Which means essentially nothing.

Do not trust any statistics you did not fake yourself.

Re: Apple M5 chip

#475

Post by sotix » Wed, Oct 15, 2025, 5:01 PM UTC

SkyPuncher wrote: post #326

mumber_typhoon wrote: post #44

The M5 MacBook Pro still gets the Broadcom WiFi chip but the M5 iPad Pros get the N1 and C1X (Sweet). All in all, apple is doing some incredible things with hardware. Software teams at apple really need to get their act together. The M1 itself is so powerful that nobody really needs to upgrade that for most things most people do on their computers. Tahoe however makes my M1 Air feel sluggish doing the exact same task…

There are so many software related things that drive me absolutely loony with Apple right now. * My iPhone as a remote for my Apple TV has randomly stopped deciding it can control the volume - despite the "Now Playing" UI offering an audio control that works. There auth screens drive me crazy: * Why cannot I not punch in a password while Face ID is working? If I'm skiing, I know Face ID isn't gong to work, stop makin…

Why can I not use my password manager for my Apple ID but can use it for any other password field? Instead I have to switch to my password manager, copy the password, reopen the App Store, select get app, and paste the password in the Apple ID login pop up in the 10 seconds before my password clears from my clipboard.

Re: Apple M5 chip

#476

Post by hamdingers » Wed, Oct 15, 2025, 5:01 PM UTC

Hamuko wrote: post #26

alexanderson wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple has always been a hardware company first - think of how they sell consumers computers with the OS for free, while Microsoft primarily just sells the OS (when comparing the consumer business; I don’t want to get into all the other stuff Microsoft does). Now that they own the SoC design pipeline, they’re really able to flex these muscles.

Not really. Back in the day you wouldn't buy a MacBook because it was powerful. Most likely it had a very shitty Intel CPU with not a lot of cores and with thermal challenges, and the reason you bought it was because macOS.

Nope, many bought it in spite of macOS because it was a durable laptop with an excellent screen, good keyboard, and (afaik still) the only trackpad that didn't suck.

Re: Apple M5 chip

#477

Post by hamdingers » Wed, Oct 15, 2025, 5:03 PM UTC

ksec wrote: post #99

mcv wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want this hardware available for other systems.

Modern ARM C1 Ultra Core is only 10% slower than M5, likely even less when you factor in system level cache and memory. So the gap isn't as wide as most people think it is.

What laptops is that chip featured in?

Re: Apple M5 chip

#478

Post by robenkleene » Wed, Oct 15, 2025, 5:04 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #412

lelandfe wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a UI/UX nerd, it’s a coin flip on intentionality. I’ve been noticing so many rough edges to Apple’s software when it used to astound. iOS Settings search will flash “No Results” as you begin to type which is comically amateurish. The macOS menu bar control panels can’t be keyboard navigated... It’s just silly. I’ve been debating making a Tumblr-style blog, something like “dumbapple.com,” to catalogue all the dumb…

"iOS Settings search will flash “No Results” as you begin to type which is comically amateurish." I'd love to agree that comically amateurish, but apparently there's something about settings dialogs that make them incredibly difficult to search. It takes Android several seconds to search its settings, and the Microsoft start menu is also comically slow if you try to access control panels through it, although it's jus…

The parent isn't commenting about the speed of search, just that saying "No Results", when they really mean "we're still checking for results" is bad UI (which I agree with).

Re: Apple M5 chip

#479

Post by cj » Wed, Oct 15, 2025, 5:07 PM UTC

hartator wrote: post #471

cj wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure I see the disconnect. At our company we used to buy everyone MacBook Pros by default. After the M-series chip, the MBPs are just too powerful and no longer necessary for the average white collar worker (they seem like “actual” pro machines, now) to the point where we now order MacBook Airs for new employees. I feel like until recently, you really needed a MBP to get a decent UX (even just using chrome).…

> After the M-series chip, the MBPs are just too powerful and no longer necessary for the average white collar worker (they seem like “actual” pro machines, now) to the point where we now order regular MacBooks (not Pro’s) for new employees Regular MBs are not really a thing anymore. You mean Airs?

Yes, fixed!

Re: Apple M5 chip

#480

Post by shwaj » Wed, Oct 15, 2025, 5:07 PM UTC

londons_explore wrote: post #171

HumblyTossed wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"stuck". An infinitely small percentage of people can take advantage of 320Mhz. It's fine.

Today. But in 3 years time it'll be widespread and your Mac will be the one with the sluggish WiFi connection that jams up the airwaves for all other devices too.

How does it “jam up the airwaves” if its operating at a different frequency than the devices you say it will be jamming?