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Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

9to5mac.com

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Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#981

Post by officeplant »

jacurtis wrote: post #786
karpodiem wrote: post #734

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely they have different clock rates, but Apple isn't referencing clock rates in their marketing material for Macs with M1 chips.

Yeah I am surprised more people are ignoring this. If the two computer models have identical chips, then why does Apple even bother putting a fan in the pro? To me the fact that the Air is fanless and the pro has a fan would indicate to me that they have different clock rates on the high end. I am sure the Air is capped lower than the Pro in order to make sure it doesn't overheat. It is probably a firmware lock, and…

The fan is only there for sustained loads. They all have identical chips (aside from the 7 core gpu option Air). They all hit the same pstates and then throttle accordingly due to temperature.

The MBP and Mini are there for people who want maximum sustained performance.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#982

Post by officeplant »

ameen wrote: post #225
kevindong wrote: post #186

Completely unconfirmed speculation incoming: There's a solid chance that the logic board is exactly the same on all of the Macs announced today and the only difference is the cooling solution. If you play around with the Apple Store configurator, the specs are all suspiciously similar between every new Mac. https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-air https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/13-inch https://w…

I guess the cooling let’s them tweak the CPU clocks accordingly? Wonder if we can hack the Mac mini with water blocks and squeeze higher clocks. The memory limitation makes it a dud though.

You won't be able to go beyond the built in P-states which in the end is a power limit not a thermal one.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#983

Post by Polylactic_acid »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #874
Polylactic_acid wrote: post #716

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a rails dev and I constantly struggle with 16GB. Once you start up rails, background workers, webpack, vs code, MS teams, a database, plus your web browser you very quickly run out of memory.

Wasting that much is a choice. I develop Django and unfortunately have to run a 4GB Windows 10 vm in the background for work, still have plenty of ram and don’t even have swap enabled.

Its not a choice because not a single item on that list can be closed and let me do my job. So rather than petitioning to replace 10 years of existing software development, I'll ask for a 32gb laptop.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#984

Post by lowbloodsugar »

ogre_codes wrote: post #431
lowbloodsugar wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right? "Oh we can't give you a 64GB MBP because Intel can't use low power dram yet". Launches Apple Silicon with 16Gb.

Did you expect they would launch every single configuration on day 1? Apple said the transition is going to take 2 years. This is day 1. You can still buy Intel based Macs with 64GB RAM. When Apple phases those out and you still can't buy 64GB Macs, then you can complain. What are the chances that happens?

I confess, that now I've looked at all the details, I can't argue that they've done the right thing. It seemed to me that it was daft to launch an MBP13 with less RAM than the intel, but in fact the M1 is so far ahead in every other respect that it would be foolish not to give people that option.

I might have to get an Air for myself, just to have an ARM based computer again, like it's 1988.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#985

Post by totalZero »

joking wrote: post #932
Deukhoofd wrote: post #902

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment reminds me of the classic "640K ought to be enough for anybody" quote.

it's not, is that 16gb of ram is actually enough for 99% of people. I see many more downsides on the lack of upgradeability after buying it and on the cost of the ssd and ram factory upgrades than on the lack of availability of a 32gb ram version, which will probably follow up when they make the new revision of the soc for the 16 inch laptop and to replace the higher tier 13 inch intel models, that they are still sel…

I think the point is about RAM inflation into the future, rather than the size of the present-day market segment that uses large amounts of RAM.

When I buy an Apple computer, I pay a premium but I plan to use that computer for several years.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#986

Post by totalZero »

Dunedan wrote: post #145

I honestly expected more. While compute performance and power efficiency seems to be really good, the M1 chip is apparently limited to 16GB RAM, 2TB storage and 2 Thunderbolt/USB4 controllers. Comparing the new 13" MacBook Pro with the previous one that's a regression in every aspect as the Intel-based ones allow up to 32GB RAM and 4TB storage and offer 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports.

I don't think the devices' RAM is limited to 16GB by anything other than choice.

Think about it. If you want to introduce a new architecture, you can sell a bunch of entry-level devices to pandemic-constrained consumers during the holiday season. Their take-up of the product will spur development and flesh out the software ecosystem for Apple Silicon devices.

Once you cultivate the software ecosystem, more advanced users (professionals with very specific needs) can migrate toward the new architecture.

They're basically using Christmas to slingshot the new chip into the mainstream.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#987

Post by alexdowad »

I found it interesting, and curious, that Apple has included hardware specifically for "machine learning" on the M1 chip.

It's hard to imagine that anyone will be training ML models on their Mac laptop. So presumably, this must be some kind of accelerator for executing models which have been trained elsewhere... right??

What do they expect those models will be used for?

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#988

Post by BillinghamJ »

navanchauhan wrote: post #867
CraftThatBlock wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple said that only virtualization will be supported on their ARM chips. Locked through the bootloader (although wouldn't be surprised if exploits are released to load up Linux/Windows)

I am totally relying on my memory but didn't Craig Federighi say that you will be able to disable secure boot ( at WWDC either in the keynote or in an interview with MKBHD )

Yes, the boot loader is not fully locked down. It'll presumably take a while to figure out how to run other software on it, but it should definitely be possible

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#989

Post by josteink »

linuxhansl wrote: post #366

Do I need to worry now that a walled-garden company - with all its advantages - pulls ahead of open ecosystems? I only use Linux at home. Will I be doomed to inferior H/W going forward? This is not a rhetorical question or a flame... It's an honest question... Is Apple pulling ahead of everybody else and soon going to be our only option?

> Will I be doomed to inferior H/W going forward?

H/W is more than performance alone.

Personally I would consider a closed platform which can only run a single proprietary operating-system inferior, no matter what performance it has to show for.

Re: Apple unveils M1, its first system-on-a-chip for portable Mac computers

#990

Post by whywhywhywhy »

Aperocky wrote: post #608
beervirus wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sucks that the SSD is (presumably) not upgradeable anymore. Apple generally charges a ton for the larger SSD offerings, but it used to be that you could just buy a base model and replace the thing later.

Use external drives. They're cheaper and way larger.

It only has two ports and multiport dongles are not reliable enough for external storage, you can only trust the single USB-C to USB-A dongles for that so it means giving up a port.

I have a base level 2 port MBP from work and having to do any work with large files has been a nightmare because of this, having to juggle power/monitor and storage constantly.

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