Apple: Mac Mini M1 Uses One-Third the Electricity of Intel CPU

[ivnj]

If you haven't already upgraded now is a good time. One third is a lot. Pays for it self over time.

Apple: Mac Mini M1 Uses One-Third the Electricity of Intel CPU - ExtremeTech

Apple has posted the official figures for power consumption on the M1 Mac mini. The new system draws less than a third the power of an equivalent Intel system.

www.extremetech.com

 

[MacCheetah3]

I was looking into this earlier, and it's interesting.

I noticed (via Mactracker) that the 2012 Mac mini has an idle consumption of 11 watts and max of 85 watts. Actually, (via Apple) most Mac minis have a max of 85 watts except the 2018, which is one of the worst at 20 wats idle and 122 watts max. Besides the M1, ~6 to 7 watts idle and 39 watts max, the 2014 Mac mini does well at 6 watts idle and 85 watts max because those models utilize ultra-low-power Intel Core processors.

On a related topic, Apple provides thermal output. Not surprising, the M1 does the best with a max of about 133 BTU/h and the 2018 the worst, reaching 417 BTU/h.

 

[decat]

Since we are forced to do home working I've set up a desk in the attic. The wall socket's power consumption is monitored. When running my work laptop + extra screen + an 2011 iMac + lights & internet switch it measured between 200 & 250 watts. Yesterday the M1 Mini arrived and the power consumption at the socket dropped to around 75 watts.

As I type it's 60w for the switch, screen, lights & Mini M1.
Just the Mini & switch pull about 22w, just the switch around 15w which gives indeed 6 to 7w at idle.

edit: did a quick calc with energy prices here I Belgium.
Running the old setup for a year would cost around 150 EUR / 180$.
The new setup costs: 56 EUR / 67$.

 

[Boyd01]

So, let's say you also need Windows. Does running an M1 Mini plus a Windows PC still use less power than an Intel Mini with Parallels?

I think these M1 Macs are very impressive, but they just don't do what I need, which is also running Windows and legacy MacOS under Parallels. I got my 2018 Mini before the M1 was released, so it wasn't even an option. However, I replaced three old computers (two Macs and a Windows PC) with one 2018 Mini, and am pretty sure I'm coming out ahead when it comes to energy usage with only one computer, one screen and one set of peripherals.

 

[MacCheetah3]

So, let's say you also need Windows. Does running an M1 Mini plus a Windows PC still use less power than an Intel Mini with Parallels?

Playing devil's advocate for a bit... It might if the PC is a non-gaming centric laptop and we're comparing the setup to the 2018 Mac mini. ;-) My HP Envy has a 45 watt AC adapter, which seems like a probable power consumption given that it uses an ultra-low-power (15 watt) quad-core i7. Some monitors have switchable inputs. And so on...

But in all seriousness, you're correct, it's dependent on use case(s) and certainly not absolute.