AnandTech Calls Apple's Fastest CPU Core Claim for M1 'Extremely Plausible'

[gnasher729]

How does the current intel iMac Pro compare?

I downloaded the latest Beta of Big Sur yesterday on it and it's crazy fast.

Now, I don't want to sound like I'm promoting a conspiracy here but this is the first Big Sur beta that has performed beyond my expectations. Super fast loading times.

Apple is replacing dual core and quad core Intel CPUs with quad core (plus four powersaving cores) ARM processors. They now have a 4+4 core chip. Soon they'll have an 8+4 core chip, and more Macs will have a brain transplant. Transition is supposed to take two years.

 

[UK-MacAddict]

Looking forward to see what they do with proper desktop class Apple Silicone.

Hopefully with less thermal constraints they will really go to town on the power front.

Praying they keep the RAM user upgradeable and stick a nice GPU in it. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080? Lol

 

[Tuur]

Anandtech explains that the chip appears to have a 12MB cache?

Well done Sherlock.

 

[HandITOVER]

SMH.

 

[Ice-Cube]

I'm sure we will see an iPhone replacing the laptop soon. Just hook it up to a monitor, switch to Mac OS, and presto you have a working Mac.

 

[CmdrPhil]

Finally, a real, scientific graph, data labels and all.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

This report makes me even more exited about the new Air.

Cannot wait to try it out later this month**

** Expected delivery on or before Nov 30

 

[siom]

This is so exciting! Finally we're not talking about better cameras, I was so tired of it, photos are not THAT important...

If these results prove to be real in the wild that would be an amazing achievement and I think the beginning of the end of x86. I mean, why would you keep developing chips based on x86 when ARM is lightyears ahead?

 

[HandITOVER]

SMH.

 

[yurc]

Minor correction, but Rizen should be 'Ryzen'

 

[thunng8]

Yeah. Opening and closing apps, the speed has significantly increased on previous Betas.

I'm interested to see if there are any stats on the M1 compared to 3.2 GHz 8-Core Intel Xeon W

M1 is a lot faster in single thread. Should almost match the 8 core Xeon in multithread.

 

[Digital Dude]

Heah Apple! I thought we weren't supposed to be concerned with specifications anymore. It's all about the "experience" so 'there's nothing to see here'. Bring on the pastels and stretchy watch bands!

 

[Kabeyun]

Fear not. People will still twist themselves into pretzels to complain that Apple doesn’t innovate. Like this gem below which borders on the nonsensical.

Its not exactly an innovation as in before there was no processor and not there is the M1.

 

[Wando64]

Its not exactly an innovation as in before there was no processor and not there is the M1.

If only there was a word in the English dictionary for the creation/adoption of a new idea, design, method or product.

 

[MacModMachine]

Fear not. People will still twist themselves into pretzels to complain that Apple doesn’t innovate. Like this gem below which borders on the nonsensical.

my favourite is ram complainers....who have no idea how memmory works on ARM based chips.

16gb is plenty , for even users with 32gb intel machines.

a 6gb ipad pro can edit 20gb images no problem....i wonder what the 16gb m1 can do...

another is the battery , the batter life will be very accurate. not like the variable power envelope of intel which can scale from 4 hours under load to 10-12 surfing web. the m1 cpu is no longer what consumes the most power. battery life wont change much under load.

 

[dazzer21-2]

Looking forward to see what they do with proper desktop class Apple Silicone.

Hopefully with less thermal constraints they will really go to town on the power front.

Praying they keep the RAM user upgradeable and stick a nice GPU in it. Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080? Lol

I think the days of user-upgradeable RAM are long gone, now. It's all on the SOC, as is the GPU. Apple have the system completely locked down now. The only thing we can pray for now is that they keep their prices right down. If they have a 16GB version and still want and extra £200 for an upgrade to 32GB when aftermarket RAM is potentially outmoded and Apple can effectively have the Mac RAM market to itself, hopefully the upgrade price will come down. Sounds like the SSDs are proprietary as well! Apple's new slogan should be "Think Before You Buy".

 

[Zdigital2015]

It never really make a lot of sense to have an additional of 4 low power core. The 🔋 power-saving is not widely scrutinize and it's better to replace with the same model of core but capable of scaling down power usage for less demanding application.

Please tell us all where you obtained your degree in Electrical Engineering and how long you have been designing CPUs? Take your time, we’ll wait.

 

[Veinticinco]

If only they could have matched such a magnitude of improvement in the design and feature component stakes.

 

[amaze1499]

Fear not. People will still twist themselves into pretzels to complain that Apple doesn’t innovate. Like this gem below which borders on the nonsensical.

Define innovation so. SoC is neither new or innovative. The principle is still the same. It’s still a massive improvement over previous products, it also enables Apple to control the market better than before.

Definition of innovation
1: a new idea, method, or device : NOVELTY
2: the introduction of something new

 

[Joe 🦅🇬🇧]

It might be the fastest on earth but that is just one side of the coin. The other side is how the software you run can utilise this power & speed.

For years we heard that A* chips where the fastest on each iPad Pro and yet we can’t even get a decent desktop-like experience of iMovie (or any movie production software for that matter). Same with image processing software: we just had a OK version of Adobe Photoshop while the first iPad Pro was released 5 years ago.

What worries me a bit is that most of this ‘super M1 power’ will be used/wasted in Rosetta Intel-M1 translation that would, for the normal user, feel like the same as before ... until of course new M1 software is released. That could take years.

 

[Wando64]

my favourite is ram complainers....who have no idea how memmory works on ARM based chips.

16gb is plenty , for even users with 32gb intel machines.

a 6gb ipad pro can edit 20gb images no problem....i wonder what the 16gb m1 can do...

another is the battery , the batter life will be very accurate. not like the variable power envelope of intel which can scale from 4 hours under load to 10-12 surfing web. the m1 cpu is no longer what consumes the most power. battery life wont change much under load.

No doubt the same lot that have been complaining ad nauseam about the RAM levels on iPhones and iPads.
I predict they will be very frustrated with Apple for years to come.

 

[Wando64]

For years we heard that A* chips where the fastest on each iPad Pro and yet we can’t even get a decent desktop-like experience of iMovie (or any movie production software for that matter).

You should really try Lumafusion before saying any more.

 

[AZcjohnson]

The real question is, how much do they have to throttle the Macbook Air to run it fanless?

 

[Edsel]

Oh Boy! Wait till you Apple fanboys read about Intel's release of their i15 architecture. Intel marketing has proclaimed it the; "i15 Hyper Super Duper Turbo Mega SS Speed Demon 80286Q Evo Tera Zoom Multi Core Magic Processor"

 

[Wando64]

The real question is, how much do they have to throttle the Macbook Air to run it fanless?

I am stating the obvious, but if you only need short bursts of power probably there will not be any throttling at all.
My wife has an Intel 2020 MBA and I wouldn't be surprised if it had cobwebs on its fans.