Apple Silicon M1 Chip in MacBook Air Outperforms High-End 16-Inch MacBook Pro

[cycomiko]

I remember using the first ARM computer BBC micro. Had them in my highschool. We also had an Acorn Archimedes later on, which was going to thrash the 68000 Mac/Commodore/Ataris of the day, plus the 286 of the PC around that era.

Maybe it will take its place now nearly 40 years later.

 

[Kebabselector]

I remember using the first ARM computer BBC micro. Had them in my highschool. We also had an Acorn Archimedes later on, which was going to thrash the 68000 Mac/Commodore/Ataris of the day, plus the 286 of the PC around that era.

Maybe it will take its place now nearly 40 years later.

I thought the BBC was the 6502 processor, the Archimedes was the first Acorn Risc based micro.

 

[Varanaya]

RIP Intel/AMD.

GG WP Apple.

I don't think there are ANY x86 processors that match this single-core speed.

Dude you tripping. Ryzen 5000 averages around 1750-1800 single core. Lmao, you gotta realise, it's still an arm CPU.

 

[waquzy]

7433 häm...
my MBP 2015 (so it is 5+ Years old) maks easly over 15'000 on Geekbench
Edit: it was Geekbench4 - got it!

that a 5nm chip is faster in singlecore was predictable

and the numbers shows: it is not a 8-core chip - it has 4 cores and 4 coprocessors (differ cisc and risc)

You are running Geekbench 4 my friend, go back and run the Geekbench 5 and then come back with the results!

 

[nacholibre]

Okay, one very important question. Does this run via Rosetta 2? Because I doubt Geekbench that they've already ported the app? If this is from Rosetta 2, imagine when it's compiled for the new chip.

 

[magicMac]

Amazing performance per watt. But what actually is the TDP of the M1 anyway ? Apple has shown comparisons at 10W but also shown it going above that, 15W max ? their graph is not very detailed...

 

[Kebabselector]

Okay, one very important question. Does this run via Rosetta 2? Because I doubt Geekbench that they've already ported the app? If this is from Rosetta 2, imagine when it's compiled for the new chip.

It was mentioned earlier that Geekbench released a native version yesterday.

 

[magicMac]

Okay, one very important question. Does this run via Rosetta 2? Because I doubt Geekbench that they've already ported the app? If this is from Rosetta 2, imagine when it's compiled for the new chip.

Geekbench 5 just updated for me now to add "support for apple silicon" so i do believe theses scores are native ARM executed version of the tasks, ported over from the iOS geekbench.

 

[Serban55]

“So, what's the likely catch? I'm willing to believe this processor is exceptionally powerful per watt, and give Apple credit where credit is clearly due, but there must be a tradeoff somewhere. Intel, AMD, even IBM or Qualcomm, know a lot about CPU design and have been fighting over the best engineers for decades”

1) for once, Intel was the big one thanks to his brain guy that now works at Apple for over 7-8 years. Thats why Intel was what it was and now it is what is it.
2) this is the result of controlling your own hardware and your own software. That m1 is just for the apple devices and thats it
No one has, for now its own soft and own chip like apple
Microsoft has windows but it must collaborate with qualcome for the arm windows device and their emulation is a joke compared to rosetta2
So ..this is the result when you steal the best chip guy today, when you build your own soft+hardware that works together and for now apple has monopoly for this desktop class architecture. Lets hope others will come soon for competition otherwise antitrust will try to trash Apple
No wonder android was made

 

[Falhófnir]

Okay, one very important question. Does this run via Rosetta 2? Because I doubt Geekbench that they've already ported the app? If this is from Rosetta 2, imagine when it's compiled for the new chip.

It's now native, they've had the developer kit available for a few months to help get it working. Speaking of which I wonder if Apple will be swapping out the dev kits for full production minis now?

 

[LeeW]

Hurry up and deliver my new machine already

 

[Substance90]

The Xeon based iMac Pro on my desk and the 8-core 16" MBP on my night stand are crying. R.I.P

 

[coredev]

It strikes me as unlikely that Apple has simply beaten all of them in all use cases, with less power, on their first desktop class CPU. It's not that I'm calling BS, just that engineering doesn't usually work that way; there's usually a tradeoff made somewhere.

I think it pays off not to have the Pentium legacy hanging around in your architecture.
And remember that Apple called even the A7 it's first desktop class CPU, so they are doing this for a while and spent a lot of money on this over the years. It would be interesting to compare Apple's chip R&D cost to that of Intel or AMD.

 

[laurieballard]

I bought the 2020 i5 MBP this year (Four port one) and see no reason to be disappointed.

Sure, the processor is clearly quicker from the Geekbench scores but mine doesn't slow down for what I do so I clearly don't need the extra power of the M1 at the moment anyway.

Two ports wouldn't be enough for me anyway, I can't be bothered to carry round a USB-C hub and keep plugging this in, its just a faff I don't need and I suspect many feel the same and wouldn't consider upgrading until at least the 14" one comes out with (hopefully) four ports.

It does seem to be a decent upgrade in terms of power but unless you are struggling with your current MBP/MBA in terms of performance, I would just stick it out for another year and see what they come out with in 2021.

 

[ginuz]

Do we expect the geek bench score to be the same for the Air and the Pro?

EDIT: Just read the last paragraph.

Am I wrong or the Pro got worse multicore benchmark than the Air??? That's strange, isn't it?

 

[mr_jomo]

anyone else who are skeptical like me with Geekbench, Good news for us.

Maxon has released Cinebench 23 with M1 support. We would finally be able to see the real-world performance comparison between Apple silicon & x86

https://www.maxon.net/en-us/products/cinebench-r20-overview/

Shouldn't be long no before review embargo is up - looking forward to exactly this. Apart from raw numbers, the Air vs Pro vs Mini will be very interesting!

 

[ekwipt]

Why is the Macmini multi core worse than the MacBook Air?

 

[kcslc]

Crazy stuff! Let’s see them take gaming to a new level too! Chip in an Apple TV or a new console?? Take on the big 2?

Do it Tim!!

Ugh. No. I don’t want to see what an Apple developed controller looks like (Apple TV remote!! Touch controls!!!!11) also, equal power to an Xbox series x, Apple will charge $1999. Plus $999 for a stand.

 

[KPOM]

How did they get these scores on machines not shipped yet? The article says nothing, just accepts it all as fact.


And why does that MBP M1 with more RAM have a lower multi core score?

My guess is that reviewers who have received units from Apple have been running the tests. Scores can vary, particularly if background processes, such as Spotlight indexing, are running. That’s why good reviewers will usually run the benchmarks multiple times.

 

[laz232]

I remember using the first ARM computer BBC micro. Had them in my highschool. We also had an Acorn Archimedes later on, which was going to thrash the 68000 Mac/Commodore/Ataris of the day, plus the 286 of the PC around that era.

Maybe it will take its place now nearly 40 years later.

the BBC Micro was _not_ an ARM computer. It was a computer made by Acorn, which later designed the Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) architecture CPU used in their Archimedes series, which later became the Advanced RISC Machine or (ARM) arch....

 

[votdfak]

The last sentence is almost literally what the “I’m a PC” guy said at the end of the keynote. You don’t see how wrong you are when you are taking the position that everyone else uses as a strawman?

Do you think Intel/AMD have something hidden in a drawer and they'll be forced to release because Apple just wiped the floor with their CPUs?

 

[laz232]

The Xeon based iMac Pro on my desk and the 8-core 16" MBP on my night stand are crying. R.I.P

Strange - my 2018 MBP is doing fine, because I don't care about the GB scores and need my computer run Windows and Linux VMs, which this M1 chip does not do....

 

[diego.caraballo]

So, what's the likely catch? I'm willing to believe this processor is exceptionally powerful per watt, and give Apple credit where credit is clearly due, but there must be a tradeoff somewhere. Intel, AMD, even IBM or Qualcomm, know a lot about CPU design and have been fighting over the best engineers for decades.

It strikes me as unlikely that Apple has simply beaten all of them in all use cases, with less power, on their first desktop class CPU. It's not that I'm calling BS, just that engineering doesn't usually work that way; there's usually a tradeoff made somewhere.

Intel/AMD/Qualcomm probably already have chips with even better performance per Watt. But they practice the “small yearly improvements” game. It works for them since they have the control of the market and the customers are forced to choose one of them. Apple now kicked the table and the traditional CPU manufacturers will “magically” launch new chips with higher performance. Kudos to Apple. It’s the iPhone history all over again. The first smartphone to have a responsive glass touch panel, with a nice screen, GPS, decent camera...while the others were releasing plastic-based phones with really small improvements year by year. The competition will catch soon, but it’s great for all consumers.

 

[laz232]

Do you think Intel/AMD have something hidden in a drawer and they'll be forced to release because Apple just wiped the floor with their CPUs?

20 years of software compatibility... I know for a fact that all the SW used to design the M1 CPU and the Macs is running on RedHat and Windows 10 on x86 arch...

 

[The Game 161]

Makes you wonder how powerful the 16 inch MacBook Pro will be with M1