Apple Silicon Mac Reviews: M1 Chip Delivers Exceptional Performance, Thermals, and Battery Life

[echodriver]

Great showing from Apple which will hopefully give AMD and Intel some incentive to push the boat out even further

I think it really goes to show how gimped Intel has been in their mobile space and how much it has held back laptop computing since they have a virtual monopoly on notebooks

Look at AMD's 4xxx series APU's... they're not as great as the M1 in single core performance, but blow it away in multi-threaded performance at the same TDP's (look up 15W 4600U and 25W 4800U comparisons against the MBP 13 and Mac Mini) - and that's on the 7NM process with Zen 2 architecture (the +19% IPC uplift on the Zen 3's APUs still on 7NM means the 5xxx series should be impressive)

Problem is, it looks like a lot of OEMs are locked into Intel when the AMD mobile CPU's are actually the best x86 ones you can buy today, but they're hard to find.

Talk about a bad year for Intel 😅

 

[citysnaps]

I think the main complaint about that is going to be efficiency. Apple saved quite a bit of coin by using the same power supply as the Intel Macs, but if the M1 MM is only drawing 30 watts full tilt, a 60 watt power supply would make the M1 Mac mini much more efficient at idle than putting an overspec power supply. Power supplies are least efficient when you're drawing further away from peak power rating. ie. A 5 watt load on a 20 watt power supply will draw closer to 5 watts than a 5 watt load on a 150 watt power supply which would can draw 7.5 watts due to less efficiency. We see the same thing in the PC Gaming world where gamers will drop a $300+ 1200 watt power supply in a computer that will draw only 300 watts at full tilt.

You're neglecting the potential power sourcing capability of the two USB-C ports. Could be 100 Watts (unlikely) for a single port. Or, two at 30 watts. Or ?

 

[magbarn]

You're neglecting the potential power sourcing capability of the two USB-C ports. Could be 100 Watts (unlikely) for a single port. Or, two at 30 watts. Or ?

Unless Apple changes something, the highest I've been able to draw on my usb C ports on my macs is just 10 watts.
I'm pretty sure none of the Macs have enough headroom to simultaneously power all their ports at max wattage

 

[citysnaps]

Unless Apple changes something, the highest I've been able to draw on my usb C ports on my macs is just 10 watts.

And Apple can potentially change something on the M1 Mini, with USB-C ports sourcing more power to a device that negotiates for more. Especially since the current power supply can provide more.

 

[Patriks7]

So really, what's the catch here? How is Apple blowing Intel away to such an extent on their first try?

 

[magbarn]

So really, what's the catch here? How is Apple blowing Intel away to such an extent on their first try?

Maybe because so much silicon is wasted on converting archaic x86 instructions, while Apple can use much more die space for straight processing?

 

[magbarn]

And Apple can potentially change something on the M1 Mini, with USB-C ports sourcing more power to a device that negotiates for more. Especially since the current power supply can provide more.

We'll find out tonight when I get my mac mini and see if I can draw more than 10 watts from the USB C ports...

 

[bklement]

So really, what's the catch here? How is Apple blowing Intel away to such an extent on their first try?

Highly doubt it's their first try. I guess they were testing macos with their chips for some generation now, and probably the a12 version convinced them they can pull this off.

 

[citysnaps]

So really, what's the catch here? How is Apple blowing Intel away to such an extent on their first try?

1. Johny Srouji and incredibly talented engineers working under him starting fresh 12 years ago.
2. Loads of Apple R&D $
3. Commitment from Cook and management to stop being beholden to Intel and piss-poor incremental improvements and timid road map.
4. Intel being stuck in the past with a decades-old architecture.

 

[citysnaps]

We'll find out tonight when I get my mac mini and see if I can draw more than 10 watts from the USB C ports...

Do you have a device that will negotiate for more than 10 watts?

 

[magbarn]

Do you have a device that will negotiate for more than 10 watts?

My iPP 12.9 Gen3 through its USBC port and my iphone 12 pro through its lightning-usbC cable.

 

[MJaP]

So in a nutshell...

1) Battery life is insanely good, especially if you use optimized apps
2) CPU performance in native Apple silicon apps is on par and sometimes quicker, sometimes slower than 16" MacBook which is impressive.
3) CPU performance in non-native Apple silicon is impressive but slower than the 16" MacBook
4) Graphics performance is poor to average and about a third of what you get on a 16" dedicated graphics card but better than Intel Iris.
5) iPad apps because they are designed for a touchscreen are awkward if they use a lot of touch (like a on screen joystick), but usable if you're just selecting options.
6) A few apps don't work, or don't guarantee to work well.
7) Limited ports
8) Verdict: They're very impressive for a first gen product, if you're just going to use Apple optimized apps go for it, if you use it for business don't risk it.

 

[groovyf]

Just plugged in my new mbp with m1 in my lg 49wl95c-w with usb c. Max resolution I can get is 3840x1080...!

I have also the latest intel mbp here and it works just fine in 5120x1440!

Now that‘s something no-one has picked up on yet. I’ve a 38” dell ultrawide which does 3840x1600. I wonder if it would fail to push that resolution.
Did you try all the scaling options?

 

[EdT]

Still need physical distance between outermost lens surface and image sensor - plus space for whatever additional lenses are in the stack since just a single element isn't going to do the job. Plus there's the sensor size / low light performance tradeoffs, and the required lens/sensor spacing being dependent on sensor size. Oh and you want 1080 vs 720? All else the same, that'll require a larger sensor and correspondingly deeper lens/sensor assembly - or keep the same depth and sacrifice low-light capability.

Physics is a cruel byatch.

I normally block my camera anyway. Plus, if you looked like I do then you would prefer an extremely pixelated version of your image to the gut wrenching horror that is reality.

But on a serious note if there flat out isn’t room then there isn’t room. I think concentrating on the processor and leaving everything else the same sped up the timeline and is a significant reason that they could get 3 models out in time for the Christmas Season instead of only one or two. These models probably won’t be up for a refresh for a year or 2, but they will lay the groundwork for the higher end models to come. If those models have the same type of lack of improvement to cameras and ports when they are released then some complaints are justified: they had more time to fix them and they are higher end models.

 

[deeddawg]

I normally block my camera anyway. Plus, if you looked like I do then you would prefer an extremely pixelated version of your image to the gut wrenching horror that is reality.

But on a serious note if there flat out isn’t room then there isn’t room. I think concentrating on the processor and leaving everything else the same sped up the timeline and is a significant reason that they could get 3 models out in time for the Christmas Season instead of only one or two. These models probably won’t be up for a refresh for a year or 2, but they will lay the groundwork for the higher end models to come. If those models have the same type of lack of improvement to cameras and ports when they are released then some complaints are justified: they had more time to fix them and they are higher end models.

LOL - yeah, for work, I don't need a high res webcam to show off that I didn't bother shaving yet today.

FWIW - grabbed my digital calipers and measured my early-2020 MBA lid thickness at the camera location.

3.3mm total thickness include the case top and screen glass.

While I don't much know what thickness these sorts of cameras truly require, that doesn't seem like a whole lot of space to work with

Maybe in a couple years we'll start seeing a toplid camera bump.

 

[macbook123]

Did any of these folks review the 8 GB version of the new Air? Seems the one that matters most, and the one that's most frightening because of shared RAM.

 

[reyesmac]

The way things are going is it possible to slap an iPad and a MacBook bottom case together and call it a MacPad? Frankly, the thought of owning an iPad I can use as a Mac (even if its only at Mac mini M1 speeds) is enough to get me to buy one. If they get too comfortable though they will prolong the release of newer models because these are "fast enough". The mini looks great but I remember them not being updated for years, they better not pull that with apple silicon versions.

 

[Attirex]

Intel = what happens when you have a more-or-less industry monopoly.....there is zero innovation and no one even realizes how much better things could be or what's possible. Now with Apple Si, everyone does, and Intel should prob be crapping collective pants.

 

[EdT]

Intel = what happens when you have a more-or-less industry monopoly.....there is zero innovation and no one even realizes how much better things could be or what's possible. Now with Apple Si, everyone does, and Intel should prob be crapping collective pants.

I don’t know if the type of chip that the x86 line is, CISC, makes it harder to shrink than an ARM based one.

 

[creediddy]

I compared the benchmarks and this little laptop is at leqst 4x the power of my desktop iMac.
What will the M1X be like!

I know right. The cool thing about the M1 is that Apple can scale this to 12-16 cores on the iMac and Mac Pro's in the future. I think they have a hit on their hands.

 

[Saturn007]

It'd be great if the article was updated to note how much RAM was in the laptops being reviewed. How many were using a basic configuration of “only” 8GB Vs. 16GB? How many were using an SSD of 256gb vs. 512gb or more?

Do those differences make a difference?!

 

[entropys]

Yeah, it seems to be an artificial limitation or MST (multi stream transport?) is not implemented in the silicone. Apparently MST isn’t a mandated feature of the DisplayPort spec. 🤷‍♂️
It’s pretty scummy of Apple if true, it has to be said.

I have no use for dual external displays on a laptop of the MBA class, but to not have it on the MBP is unacceptable.

I don’t believe Apple has ever supported MST with drivers in MacOS. It’s thunderbolt or bust for daisy chaining displays. Which is quite annoying.

 

[deeddawg]

It'd be great if the article was updated to note how much RAM was in the laptops being reviewed. How many were using a basic configuration of “only” 8GB Vs. 16GB? How many were using an SSD of 256gb vs. 512gb or more?

Do those differences make a difference?!

Typically only if the system constrained by RAM or if SSD performance is impacting things.

Neither of which will make much difference in the typical sorts of benchmarks AFAIK, and honestly I can't think of any real world use-cases for these level systems in which the SSD speed difference between a 256 or 512 device will have any discernible real world impact.

What normal usage scenarios are you contemplating in which the SSD speed being say 2.1GB/s vs 2.2GB/s would make difference you'd notice?

 

[JPloof]

Just picked up a fully loaded 13" MacBook Pro. Super speedy so far. However, is anyone having google drive file stream issues? I wish I didn't need file stream but do to access work documents - but it doesn't seem to be installing properly at the moment....even with rosetta.......

 

[Brien]

Intel is doomed.

Also, 1080p really should be the BASELINE for a webcam. Especially in a WFH pandemic. Not sure why Apple is so resistant... maybe with the rumored 12/14" redesign. Face ID maybe too? Hmm.