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2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

anandtech.com

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Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#581

Post by bonestamp2 »

offtop5 wrote: post #480
bredren wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FCP 10.5 dropped on 11/2: • Improved performance and efficiency on Mac computers with Apple silicon • Accelerated machine learning analysis for Smart Conform using the Apple Neural Engine on Mac computers with Apple silicon Discussion: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/apple-updates-final-cut...

Thanks , my M1 macbook pro gets here tommorow so we'll see what happens

They said in the keynote that Logic had major improvements under arm as well. I can't remember if it's actually shipping yet.

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#582

Post by StreamBright »

sudosysgen wrote: post #525
JAlexoid wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And where are those chips going to be made? The issue with Intel's dominance is it's complete dominance on the supply side as well. You fail to realize that this isn't like 3D printing, or other low volume manufacturing. You can't just setup a 100nm Si lithography lab in your spare room and churn out RISC-V chips. In 5 years - realistically we will have a few high performance(non-mobile) ARM chips manufactured at eco…

China already has 14nm online, and should have 7nm in a year or two, so that means that we will probably see some real RISC-V chips from there soon, if sanctions continue. So I think that we will have a four way competition between Intel, AMD, Apple, and Chinese RISC-V chips. That being said, I don't see x86 dying, I think AMD and eventually Intel when they wake up will be competitive.

I don't see X86 dying either, I think it will be dominant in the desktop/laptop segment for a long time. I am not sure why Longsoon uses Mips64 over RISC-V. Is RISC-V generally available and ready for prime times?

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#583

Post by SulfurHexaFluri »

stevehawk wrote: post #524
xuki wrote: post #92

Performance per watt of this thing is INSANE, take a look at the battery left after compiling WebKit, compared to older Mac: https://techcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/WebKit-Com... https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/17/yeah-apples-m1-macbook-pro... IMO the all day battery will be THE killer feature of the new laptops.

will it? do people really spend that much time away from an outlet while on their laptop?

My school had a policy of no chargers at school due to safety regulations (Fires/tripping) so the macbook air made an excellent choice.

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#584

Post by read_if_gay_ »

amwelles wrote: post #512
read_if_gay_ wrote: post #499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar setup (desktop Mac plus iPad Pro with keyboard), and similarly happy with it, but I'm afraid once the COVID situation has been resolved I'll need a MacBook again. The iPad works surprisingly well as a laptop replacement, and I can get things done on it, but it's not an optimal environment for serious work.

I’m curious what you consider serious work? I write a lot on the iPad, can answer emails, get my shopping done, etc. I definitely wouldn’t use it for programming, but I know some people have set it up to do so.

Yeah, programming. I agree it's a pleasure to do the other tasks you mentioned on the iPad, but coding is cumbersome (although still possible). I'm using a VPS and Blink, the upshot is that you become decently efficient working with tmux/vim/etc.

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#586

Post by paulpan »

CapriciousCptl wrote: post #4

From the article's conclusion... "The M1 undisputedly outperforms the core performance of everything Intel has to offer, and battles it with AMD’s new Zen3, winning some, losing some. And in the mobile space in particular, there doesn’t seem to be an equivalent in either ST or MT performance – at least within the same power budgets." This is the first in-depth review validating all the hype. Assuming the user experie…

Unsung hero here is TSMC and their industry-leading 5nm fabrication node. Apple deserves praise for its SOC architecture on the M1 and putting it together, but the manufacturing advantage is worth noting.

Apple is essentially combining the tick (die/node shrink) and tock (microarchitecture) cadences together each year, at least the past 2-3 years. The question, perhaps a moot one, is how much the performance gains can be attributed to either? The implication is that the % improvement due to tick is available to other TSMC customers, such as AMD, Qualcomm, Nvidia, and maybe even Intel.

We'd have to wait until next year (or 2022) once AMD puts Zen4 on 5nm and see an apple-to-apples comparison on the per thread performance. But of course by then Apple will be on TSMC 3nm or beyond...

EDIT: confused myself with tick and tock

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#587

Post by TsomArp »

testfoobar wrote: post #538
megablast wrote: post #515

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chrome is just awful on a mac. I am not sure why anyone uses it. FF is much nicer to use.

I particularly like Chrome profiles. I have a few profiles with their own bookmarks/histories/open tabs/etc. For example, one of my profiles is "Shopping". Another is "Work" and yet another is "Social Media". Context switching profiles at a macro level - as opposed to intermingling work/shopping/social - is beneficial to me. When I switch over to "Shopping", I have my tabs on whatever purchase I'm researching open. I…

Is that a Chrome for Mac feature? Never seen it before. Care to elavorate?

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#589

Post by rowanG077 »

zitterbewegung wrote: post #575
gnicholas wrote: post #558

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw that comment in a couple different places. Presumably Chrome is running through Rosetta 2, whereas Safari is native to the M1. I imagine once Chrome is available natively, performance will be somewhat better, though probably still not as good as Safari.

IIRC Chrome is a battery hog / memory hog on all platforms. Am I wrong in this regard?

Afaik it's a memory hog but it doesn't really use more or less battery then other browsers.

Re: 2020 Mac Mini – Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test

#590

Post by xuki »

Razengan wrote: post #484
xuki wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is the kind of company that will choose to slim down the laptop instead of making it 2 day battery life.

Apple is the kind of company that will choose to slim down the laptop and improve the performance AND increase the battery life. Like they just fucking did with the M1 MacBooks.

Yeah, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. They know the battery range they need and keep it there, to make room for other features.
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