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Apple introduces M4 chip

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Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#861

Post by pulse7 »

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.

"device I can barely do anything with" -> Apple can do anything with iPads, but we - regular SW developers - are cut off... :)

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#862

Post by kalleboo »

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.

> 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.

The Mac Pro does not have a soldered-in SSD. They even sell user-replaceable upgrades. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MR393AM/A/apple-2tb-ssd-u...

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#863

Post by jurmous »

illusive4080 wrote: post #112
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) ?

From their specs page, battery life is unchanged. I think they donated the chip power savings to offset the increased consumption of the tandem OLED

Likely there is also a smaller battery as the iPad Pro is quite a bit thinner

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#864

Post by shinycode »

7speter wrote: post #624
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…

>I personally really really welcome as I don't want the AI future to be centralised in the hands of a few powerful cloud providers. Watch out for being able to using ai on your local machine and those ai services using telemetry to send your data (recorded conversations, for instance) to their motherships.

I agree but for a different reason.

Now the subscription is 20$ a month and the API price is accessible. What will happen when they all decide to x100 or x1000 the price of their API ? All the companies that got rid of people in favor of AI, might have lost the knowledge as well. This is dangerous and might kill a lot of companies no ?

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#866

Post by codercotton »

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.

macOS should be an iPadOS app. The hardware is ready! Have a folder mapped into iPadOS Files. Not sure much else is needed.

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#867

Post by edanm »

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…

And yet Siri is super slow because it does the processing off-device, and is far less useful than it could be because it is cobbled with restrictions.

I can't even find a way to resume playing whatever Audible book I was last playing. "Siri play audible" or something. As far as I know, this is impossible to do.

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#868

Post by kalleboo »

999900000999 wrote: post #88

I'm extremely happy with my M1 iPad. The only real issue is aside from the screen eventually wearing out ( it already has a bit of flex), I can't imagine a reason to upgrade. It's powerful enough to do anything you'd use an iPad for. I primarily make music on mine, I've made full songs with vocals and everything ( although without any mastering - I think this is possible in Logic on iPad). It's really fun for quick j…

The USB-C port is on it's own separate board, so it's repairable with minimal waste https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/iPad+Pro+12.9-Inch+5th+Gen+USB-...

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#869

Post by vineyardmike »

jonplackett wrote: post #699
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…

I think it will be a winning strategy. Lag is a real killer for LLMs. I think they'll have another LLM on a server (maybe a deal for openai/gemini) that the one on the device can use like ChatGPT uses plugins. But on device Apple have a gigantic advantage. Rabbit and Humane are good ideas humbled by shitty hardware that runs out of battery, gets too hot, has to connect to the internet to do literally anything. Apple…

I run a few models (eg Llama3:8b) on my 2023 MacBook Air, and there is still a fair bit of lag and delay, compared to a hosted (and much larger) model like Gemini. A large source of the lag is the initial loading of the model into RAM. Which an iPhone will surely suffer from.

Humane had lag and they used voice chat which is a bad UX paradigm. VUI is bad because it adds lag to the information within the medium. Listening to preambles and lists are always slower than a human eyes ability to scan a page of text. Their lag is not due to LLMs, which can be much faster than whatever they did.

We should remind ourselves that an iPhone can likely suffer similar battery and heat issues - especially if it’s running models locally.

Re: Apple introduces M4 chip

#870

Post by kalleboo »

spxneo wrote: post #550

almost went for M2 128gb to run some local llamas glad I held out. M4 is going to put downward pressure across all previous gen. edit: nvm, AMD is coming out with twice the performance of M4 in two months or less. If the M2s become super cheap I will consider it but M4 came far too late. There's just way better alternatives now and very soon.

> AMD is coming out with twice the performance of M4 in two months or less

M4 Pro/Max/Ultra with variants double+ the performance by just scaling cores are probably also going to be announced at WWDC in a month when they also announce their AI roadmap

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