Devices: M1 Chip
Apple has launched 3 new products which has M1 Chip:
- MacBook Air
- MacBook Pro
- A Mac mini
All three of these devices are running their new M1 processor, apple custom Apple Silicon. From what we have seen so far, the CPU performance looks impressive.
M1 Chip
We expected it to be good like we have seen what a thermally limited A-14 based phone like their iPhones can do so older models are the Intel-based units, which cannot produce that level of performance.
But this time they have uncorked it and they throw a fan in there. They just have better thermal properties you can do some powerful stuff, so the CPU performance looks awesome.
The GPU performance looked pretty good as well but keep in mind that they were comparing that stuff to intel’s older integrated graphics, so it looks competitive, but it does not look amazing.
M1 Chip core:
Now the M1 Chip has eight CPU cores and eight GPU cores and it is the same chip used across all three devices the only difference being that the base model MacBook Air has one of those GPU cores other disabled or they’re bidding the chip whatever the reason being the MacBook Air on the bottom end has slightly less graphical performance than the rest of the devices.
The only difference between all three products is their thermal capabilities:
- The base model like the MacBook Air has a fan-less configuration.
- The MacBook Pro with its single fan can probably maintain faster clock speeds a little bit better.
- The Mac mini because the thickness of the bunch will probably maintain the fastest Clock speeds for the longest period.
That is highly differentiated the kind of performance between that is why they don’t have clock frequencies mentioned in the material it because it doesn’t matter all three of them have the same Clock frequency at the top. It is just how long can they maintain that Clock frequency is the difference between them based on the thermal capabilities of the cooling solution.
Graphics:
The graphics capabilities of the M1 Chip ship comes in around 2.6 teraflops. that is with all eight GPU cores active this is very competitive is a lot better than what Intel was offering before and it’s even better than what ryzen like AMD’s ryzen chips offer right now with their integrated solutions.
It is capable hardware and apples usually good at leveraging their hardware to do some impressive stuff.
The GPU capabilities of M1 Chip are somewhat limited right if you compare this to what the 16-inch MacBook Pro has with their current AMD offering, which is just so much better than M1.
The GPUs will be powerful like maybe it will be an M2 chip or like an M1 X chip whatever it is I’m looking forward to that, I like my graphics OK.
Power efficiency:
The Power efficiency, I think this is the thing that is going to affect the vast majority of people. Everyone need not super powerful processors and stuff like that but when it comes to power efficiency everybody can appreciate it.
It is the main feature that makes M1 Chip worth considering right now because you cannot get this type of power efficiency on any other laptop right now.
I have seen so many laptop companies claim their battery life hours, but you have never seen 20.
it has never been done before on a 13-inch device with 20 hours of video playback, it is like bonkers. that is a solid 50% more for the same battery size of the previous generation.
It is as if a new battery tech, imagine there is some new carbon-based battery that came out. that is what it feels like this has significant, so we can use them portably away from our office away from home to get 50% more fuel is insane and people are complaining about bezels on the screen, that is funny.
Pricing:
Originally when they first came up with this stuff, I was hopeful that they would reduce the price on it because we have control, and you are making your chips you can theoretically reduce the price of your products.
The two laptops remain the same and only the Mac mini has reduced by $100. Now my take on it, you do get way more hardware way more performance with this new stuff than you did before for your dollars.
I really would have liked to see a price drop but it’s Apple, it’s kind of expected.
One thing I do not like is that the pricing of the storage upgrades is still quite expensive it’s $200 to go from 256 to 512 gigs of storage, which is nasty in 2020.
Connectivity
They still only have 720P webcams. they have improved the signal processing on it. Just going to be cleaner images but it is still 720P resolution.
They do have Wi-Fi 6 and USB-C4, but you cannot connect external GPU’s to these devices.
They also have an instant-on feature which may seem insignificant, but I have seen it implemented in some windows laptops it is nice.
You flip open later working right away it seems up to mark, I know you watch down were like who cares but when you use it and you get used to it then might be you’ll probably appreciate it.
My take: M1 Chip
My early impressions of M1 Chip and the hardware are impressive and wanted to test research on it. I feel like I want to test not just like the Apple apps but because I am an Adobe user, and a lot of their stuff is not native to the new M1 hardware yet. I want to see 360 performance on it.
