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Is a 1.1 gHz Core M powerful enough for me?

B

ByteTheBooty

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 8, 2015
133
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I was pretty sure I was going for the new Macbook but when I saw that it only had a 1.1gHz processor, Im not sure anymore. Previously I had a MBA 13inch with a 1.4 gHz and it was never slow with me.

I mainly browse the web and use pages and keynote and preview, I often have 20+ pages and preview windows and a bunch of tabs open...

I also play some games like sims and Civ V (which were running ok on my MBA)

So is this 1.1 gHz core M going to be too slow? Should I opt for the rMBP?
 
Nobody really knows what the performance is going to be like. But the general consensus is that it should more than handle that kind of usage. Maybe not the games, though.
 
The base frequency is not particularly relevant, it's the Turbo speed that makes the difference for processor-intensive tasks. What we don't know yet, though, is how quickly it will heat up and throttle down that speed with its fanless design. We will only know that when we start seeing some benchmarks properly done.
 
It is extremely unlikely this machine will be able to run The Sims effectively.

It's not going to be good at processor heavy 3D rendering. Not at all.
 
PDFierro said:
Nobody really knows what the performance is going to be like. But the general consensus is that it should more than handle that kind of usage. Maybe not the games, though.
Click to expand...

Performance on Core M based PC notebooks has been rather.... pathetic. It's almost better to think of it as a trumped up Atom than a slow Core processor.
 
Core M performance is close to i5-5300U but more consistent without throttling. The high resolution might tax it though.
 
So, if I want to play Diablo 3 on this thing... is that possible at all? I mean, my rMBP 13" (2014) turns on the fans quite immediately. Will the new one just turn off then?

Thanks for your guesses. I have absolutely no idea how capable this processor stuff is.:rolleyes::)
 
Thares said:
So, if I want to play Diablo 3 on this thing... is that possible at all? I mean, my rMBP 13" (2014) turns on the fans quite immediately. Will the new one just turn off then?

Thanks for your guesses. I have absolutely no idea how capable this processor stuff is.:rolleyes::)
Click to expand...

I wouldn't bet on it, especially not in the native (very high) resolution. Maybe in a lower resolution with some details turned off.
I'd generally not recommend anything designed for portability for gaming.
 
melb00m said:
I wouldn't bet on it, especially not in the native (very high) resolution. Maybe in a lower resolution with some details turned off.
I'd generally not recommend anything designed for portability for gaming.
Click to expand...

Of course not in the high resolution. Even my rMBP isn't able to give a better performance than the 2 year older MacBook Air I had before (which is kind of disappointing). So I figured, maybe even the new MacBook will be able to run the game in low settings.

Well, we will see. Thanks for your opinion!
 
games are useless bec HD5300 is on par with 2012 HD4000
The CPU on the other side is a little more powerfull than the 1.4 dual core haswell
The first number on the cpu since sandy bridge is always for the idle function
look at the other number for performance and this number is 2.4ghz
 
pasadena said:
Nobody knows yet.

But what you describes seems more RAM-intensive than CPU-intensive. Except the games, maybe.
Click to expand...

Yes we do know. Core M is awful.
Look at Windows computers that use Core M. It's awful.

There is no way this computer will handle running Civ V comfortably - not because of the iGPU, but because the CPU is so poor.

If you want to occasionally play games, I recommend getting a MacBook Air more than this.
 
I would rule out gaming on this thing.

If you want a computer that is ultra portable, but not an ipad, this thing is for you.

Do not expect much from the CPU.
 
I'm looking at getting this new Mac book for my work soon. I will be doing daily tasks like running on Safari, mail, keynote, pages, Adobe allustrator, Evernote, PushBullet and spotify, all at once. Will this new Mac book be suitable for me? Thank you.
 
I have an older maxed out 17 late 2011 and I can get a beachball lock up in 2 hours of just surfing, by having too many tabs. So this will be very under powered for any serious use.
 
Thares said:
So, if I want to play Diablo 3 on this thing... is that possible at all? I mean, my rMBP 13" (2014) turns on the fans quite immediately. Will the new one just turn off then?

Thanks for your guesses. I have absolutely no idea how capable this processor stuff is.:rolleyes::)
Click to expand...

Considering Windows laptops with Core M and fanless design cannot run League of Legends at 1080p low setting (~15 FPS) I don't expect this computer to properly run Halo 1. Diablo 3 would not be possible to play on this computer.
 
Core M is not an aweful chip. It benchmarks around the same as a first gen dual core i7, but coupled with a modern chipset, high speed ssd, far better graphics, etc. It's not that far behind the 1.4 GHz Haswell i5.

I'm sure it will even handle some light video editing, sounds like a fine machine to cut your project on the go and then do the rendering at a faster machine at home.
 
The 1.1 Core M in the MacBook will perform very closely to the last-gem MacBook Air. It will be somehow slower in games though. There is a good chance that it will work reasonably well with games like the sims (and it will definitely run Civ V without any issues), but I'd recommend to wait for some benchmarks first.
 
Something like Civ V should be easily do able. I ran Civ V on the Dell venue pro 8 with atom.
 
So the same chip 1.1 ghz with HD 5300
Civ 5 is a demanding game or its the other side of the spec req? or its just like diablo and wow somewhere in between ?
 
Mcdevidr said:
Something like Civ V should be easily do able. I ran Civ V on the Dell venue pro 8 with atom.
Click to expand...

how about dirt 3?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTYKNYLzW5A

Serban said:
So the same chip 1.1 ghz with HD 5300
Civ 5 is a demanding game or its the other side of the spec req? or its just like diablo and wow somewhere in between ?
Click to expand...
I don't think civ 5 is that demanding considering the fact that its quite old.

Just to add to this discussion, here's a list of games that intel has deemed to be playable on the hd5300:
http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/hdgraphics-corem/sb/CS-035025.htm
 
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If you approach this as an iPad-like device that happens to run OSX, and includes a trackpad/keyboard, you're going to have a better experience. If the first applications you consider are games, quite simply, this isn't the ideal Mac for that application. Until we see useful benchmarks, no defined answers... But I can say similarly spec'd PCs never do so well with games, particularly 3D driven ones, I wouldn't expect much. Better to pursue desktop machines or much larger laptops with video cards if you seriously want portable gaming. And they'll come out at similar prices or less, for so much more.
 
Sounds like you have never done video editing.

Cloudsurfer said:
Core M is not an aweful chip. It benchmarks around the same as a first gen dual core i7, but coupled with a modern chipset, high speed ssd, far better graphics, etc. It's not that far behind the 1.4 GHz Haswell i5.

I'm sure it will even handle some light video editing, sounds like a fine machine to cut your project on the go and then do the rendering at a faster machine at home.
Click to expand...
 
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