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Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro

macrumors.com

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Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro

#631

Post by patrec »

faitswulff wrote: post #255

This really flips the argument that Mac hardware is overpriced and underpowered on its head. Now Apple computers are a premium product from a performance perspective, as well.

> Now Apple computers [...]

Apple no longer sells computers. You can rent some shiny gizmo from them to run software of their choosing provided by people they deign to allow on their platform and in a manner they approve of¹. It's not really yours anymore.

¹ "But you can still do X". Well, and last year you could still do W, and the year before that V.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro

#632

Post by pjmlp »

sliken wrote: post #103
martinald wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely a version that can beat a 8 core Xeon is made for 'actual professionals'?

Dunno, seems like most professionals would want to use docker, virtual machines, or enough video/data to want more than 16GB ram. Or maybe even plug in more than a charging cable and one more device. Or run more than one external monitor. Doesn't seem very "pro" to me. The MBP16" intel has 4 x USB-c ports, can drive two monitors, and can have >= 32GB ram.

Apparently I am not a professional, since I don't use docker and leave VMs for servers.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro

#633

Post by Fnoord »

rorykoehler wrote: post #193
rickbutton wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

why would it be only 1 external display? Can you not plug into a thunderbolt dock and use multiple external displays? I do exactly that with my 2012 MacBook Pro.

You can use sidecar with an ipad for a second external display.

With some iPads. Not all. I was thinking of using an older iPad for this purpose, but alas. Won't work. Too old.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro

#634

Post by graycrow »

Tepix wrote: post #592
throwaway4good wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The results seem a little weird but if remotely true then these machines are going to sell like cup cakes. Why would anyone (who is not forced) buy an Intel PC laptop when these are available and priced as competitive as they are?

The Macbook Air with 16GB RAM and 512GB isn't really priced competitively here in Germany. It's almost 1600€.

€1665 in Czechia, and we have much lower purchasing power.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro

#635

Post by guax »

qeternity wrote: post #546
asimpletune wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not even close. An ASIC is a program on a chip. These are still general purpose, programmable computing machines.

An FPGA is a program on a chip. An ASIC is literally just a chip. Calling the M1 an ASIC is insulting to the Apple hardware team.

Yes, M1 is not just a chip, is a magical piece of the rib of steve jobs himself. I agree though its not an ASIC even though it have ASIC things inside of it, just like any other modern processor.

It is much more complete SoC then other procs which makes its performance even more impressive if this indications hold up, I am still very skeptical, nothing comes for free and the real world is a b

Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro

#636

Post by sneak »

derbOac wrote: post #626
sneak wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ugh, I didn’t realize that the system apps would bypass VPNs, too. That’s terrible. :( https://appleterm.com/2020/10/20/macos-big-sur-firewalls-and... Looks like it will be impossible to use Apple Silicon (without external network hardware) without revealing your track log to the CIA. How cool is that?!

I'd like to see a good piece on these new Mac systems from the perspective of exactly what they mean in terms of software lockdown.

Mine should be here in a week or two, and doubtless I’ll be complaining on my blog with receipts. I can’t promise “good” but I’ll present the facts.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro

#637

Post by Fnoord »

wlesieutre wrote: post #253
sliken wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dunno, seems like most professionals would want to use docker, virtual machines, or enough video/data to want more than 16GB ram. Or maybe even plug in more than a charging cable and one more device. Or run more than one external monitor. Doesn't seem very "pro" to me. The MBP16" intel has 4 x USB-c ports, can drive two monitors, and can have >= 32GB ram.

Most professionals aren't software developers and don't need to run virtual machines. But regardless of professional requirements, "Pro" in Apple's product line just means "the more expensive slightly better version." Nobody's arguing that AirPods Pro are the wireless earbuds of choice for people who make money by listening to wireless earbuds.

Hm, a good VM is one you don't even notice. Say you run Qubes. Not necessarily for development (I would argue Nix is the best OS for DevOps). If all goes well, such an OS becomes very adequate for an average user. For example, a hardware VM could allow you to run a browser more secure.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro

#638

Post by BluePen8 »

sliken wrote: post #103
martinald wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely a version that can beat a 8 core Xeon is made for 'actual professionals'?

Dunno, seems like most professionals would want to use docker, virtual machines, or enough video/data to want more than 16GB ram. Or maybe even plug in more than a charging cable and one more device. Or run more than one external monitor. Doesn't seem very "pro" to me. The MBP16" intel has 4 x USB-c ports, can drive two monitors, and can have >= 32GB ram.

The MBP16 actually can do 4 displays if they're only 4k displays. It's why I bought one over a MBP13 which can only do 2.

The two limit seems to be for 6016x3384 which I assume is 5k.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro

#639

Post by zaro »

qeternity wrote: post #546
asimpletune wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not even close. An ASIC is a program on a chip. These are still general purpose, programmable computing machines.

An FPGA is a program on a chip. An ASIC is literally just a chip. Calling the M1 an ASIC is insulting to the Apple hardware team.

ASIC stands for application specific, and since thei IC is application specific - used only in certain hardware along certain software, it's kind of correct to call it ASIC.

Re: Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro

#640

Post by Betelgeuse90 »

kmlx wrote: post #579
throwaway4good wrote: post #554

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The results seem a little weird but if remotely true then these machines are going to sell like cup cakes. Why would anyone (who is not forced) buy an Intel PC laptop when these are available and priced as competitive as they are?

> Why would anyone (who is not forced) buy an Intel PC laptop when these are available and priced as competitive as they are? as a power user I will not be touching anything apple ARM until all my hundreds of software apps are certified to work exactly the same as on x86_64. i will not rely on rosetta to take care of this. i need actual testing. besides this, 8GB of RAM is how much a single instance of chrome uses. i…

They also doubled (!!!) the SSD speeds, at least according to their slides. Presumably swapping will be much more seamless, so I'm not sure low RAM would be a huge issue for most day to day tasks.
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