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Apple unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max

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Re: Apple unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max

#961

Is this still ARMv8? I think ARMv9 SKUs from others are just around the corner, and that's going to be a pain point for Apple.

https://developer.arm.com/documentation/102378/0201/Armv8-x-... Apple implements all armv8.5 features and some 8.6 features. The 9.0 competitors are at the same level as 8.5. Cortex-X4 is at 9.2 which is not yet in any SoC. The only difference between armv8.5 and armv9.0 is one single extension that is required on 9.0, namely SVE2 (scalable vector extensions 2).

SVE2 is the big one.

Re: Apple unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max

#962
post #865

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Metal can only allocate a smaller portion of “VRAM” to the GPU — about 70% or so, see; https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/tech-talks/10580 If you want to run larger models, then CPU inference is your only choice.

Aren't these things supposed to have cores dedicated to ml?

They are not as fast as the GPU (but much lower power).

Also, not many implementations can even use it.

Re: Apple unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max

#963
post #640

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess we'll have to wait for benchmarks but I did find this interesting: Apple's PR release for M2 pro: "up to 20 percent greater performance over M1 Pro" Apple's announcement for M3 pro: "up to 20 percent faster than M1 Pro" (they didn't bother to compare it to M2 pro)

That’s not what it says. Actual quote: > The 12-core CPU design has six performance cores and six efficiency cores, offering single-threaded performance that is up to 30 percent faster than M1 Pro.

I was referring to the graphic they showed during the announcement that verbatim said the CPU was "up to 20% faster than M1 Pro".

https://images.macrumors.com/t/wMtonfH5PZT9yjQhYNv0uHbpIlM=/...

Re: Apple unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max

#964
post #865

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Metal can only allocate a smaller portion of “VRAM” to the GPU — about 70% or so, see; https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/tech-talks/10580 If you want to run larger models, then CPU inference is your only choice.

Aren't these things supposed to have cores dedicated to ml?

You’re thinking of the neural engine. I’m not sure that llama.cpp makes use of this. They’d have to turn it into a CoreML model to do so.

Re: Apple unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max

#965

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've been doing more multiples of 6/12 lately, I supposed it's related to the available chip sizes for the LPDDR5X. M2 and M3 go up to 24GB M3 Pro is available in 18GB and 36GB M3 Max is available in 36GB, 48GB, 64GB, 96GB, and 128GB

Why do I need to select the most expensive M3 Max version (the one with 16 cores) to get 48 or 64 gigs of RAM. The M3 Max with 14 cores only allow 36 or 96 gigs. Just let me choose 14 cores and 64 gigs.

They don't just differ by cores, they have different memory bandwidth - presumably because they have different width memory busses into the SoC.

Their designs, being primarily mobile-focused, are rather hard-coded to specific memory configurations.

Re: Apple unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max

#966
post #869

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel very disappointed that the laptops lack decent i/o. They spend all this time talking about how advanced the GPU is, but it's a $1,600 laptop that can only power one external display or a 2,000 laptop that can only power two displays? yep. powering 2+ screens on a mac is not a straightforward process. for the prices Apple is charging on their "pro" machines, it should be simple to plug in 2 or even more scree…

Genuinely curious: what is your workflow that it requires more than 2 external monitors? Pro video?

Amateur video and full-stack software dev were the times I really appreciated having 3 monitors, running tons of things at once that all interact with each other.

Nowadays with my big corp SWE job, things outside my control make my workflow a lot slower, and I don't benefit from using more than just 1 screen. I work on multiple things at once, but they're totally separate, so I tab between them on my laptop.

Re: Apple unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max

#967

Interesting that the Myst remake is being used specifically as an example, with how the original was created on Macs using HyperCard.

> Myst

I was just coming here to ask about the Myst reference, since I played that 25 (?) years ago and wondered why they mentioned it. So there's a remake?

Re: Apple unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max

#968
post #816

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Windows desktop has generated significantly more e-waste per year than the Macs I have owned. Full stop. I've upgraded SSDs from 500gb to 1TB to now 2TB, upgraded graphics cards, and replaced a massive broken aluminum and copper heatsink. All in the last two years. I've had the same MacBook, in a similar timeframe. It gets just as much use. Its still rock-solid. Your concern is a hypothetical one. The inability to…

Why are your old parts getting wasted? You can sell or repurpose them.

Sure; and you can also sell and repurpose your old Macs. That's independent of the problem everyone seems to yell about concerning Apple and e-waste; the ground reality that I've observed, and I think most people would agree with, is that I see a helluva lot more old iPhones and old Macs in peoples' day-to-day computing rotation than I do old Androids and old Windows PCs. Apple spent half the M3 announcement talking about performance in comparison to Intel Macs, because they know the statistics; there's tons of those things still kicking.

Re: Apple unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max

#969

I feel very disappointed that the laptops lack decent i/o. They spend all this time talking about how advanced the GPU is, but it's a $1,600 laptop that can only power one external display or a 2,000 laptop that can only power two displays? Plus they are nerfing the desktops by only offering the all-in-ones with m2, so you can walk into a store and want to buy any other desktop now you are paying a huge premium for o…

The single external display driver can drive more than one display at resolutions at 4k or lower. You can daisychain two 4k monitors on a Mac that has only one external display driver when you use the Displaylink adapter (it’s a driver). It somehow internally reuses the same display output for both displays. The USB-C can power one 6k or 2 4k monitors. The HDMI port on M2 Pro and newer can power one 8k.

any experience with the displaylink driver? i always read that its a performance hog and comes with all kinds of issues. I'm running an m1 air and having daisychaining work properly would safe me from switching to an m1 pro + thunderbolt dock. I don't want to give up my single usb-c cable solution.

Re: Apple unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max

#970

I love Apple but they wasted a 30 minute midnight event in the UK to announce new Mac chips and a new colour of Mac. I think this could’ve been a press release and tech reviews hands on. I don’t think they’ll do this again but it wasn’t that good. Yeah filming was obv. But the event purpose I don’t think made sense for 30 minutes when it could’ve been a press release and tech reviewed hands on.

It was also showcasing the iPhone 15 Pro camera, as the entire event was filmed with that device
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