←back to thread

Apple Silicon M1 chip in MacBook Air outperforms high-end 16-inch MacBook Pro

(www.macrumors.com)
1080 points antipaul | 8 comments | 12 Nov 20 00:56 UTC | HN request time: 1.209s | source | bottom
Show context
zdw ◴[12 Nov 20 04:30 UTC] No.25066465[source]▶
AMD's Zen 3 (Ryzen 5xxx series) are beating the Apple M1 in single core score: https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/singlecore

As another datapoint Ian (of Anandtech) estimated that the M1 would need to be clocked at 3.25Ghz to match Zen 3, and these systems are showing a 3.2Ghz clock: https://twitter.com/IanCutress/status/1326516048309460992

replies(9): >>25066469 #>>25066520 #>>25066537 #>>25066720 #>>25067051 #>>25067086 #>>25068425 #>>25068547 #>>25069628 #
1. tintor ◴[12 Nov 20 04:44 UTC] No.25066537[source]▶
5950X is 105W desktop CPU. Apple M1 is for laptops and Mac Mini.
replies(2): >>25066546 #>>25066549 #
2. gjsman-1000 ◴[12 Nov 20 04:46 UTC] No.25066546[source]▶
You can buy it in a Mac Mini, and an iMac eventually no doubt. The "laptop"/"desktop"-grade chip distinction is pretty arbitrary here.
replies(2): >>25066623 #>>25067067 #
3. kcb ◴[12 Nov 20 04:46 UTC] No.25066549[source]▶
Single core performance usually isn't much different between laptop and desktop CPUs.
replies(1): >>25066590 #
4. derefr ◴[12 Nov 20 04:55 UTC] No.25066590[source]▶
These top scores are achieved with heavy overclocks combined with ridiculous cooling rigs. You can't really do that to a laptop. (I mean, you can in theory, but at that point it's not a laptop any more. It's ripped in half and strapped to a water block.)
5. Existenceblinks ◴[12 Nov 20 05:02 UTC] No.25066623[source]▶
The distinction theme between labtop and destop is customization, integration, and maximization. Apple Silicon is not going to destroy case/fan/liquidcooler/fancyLED/GPU/Motherboard/etc industry. It's still crystal clear distinction.

EDIT:// sorry, i misread/skip the "chip" part.

6. ogre_codes ◴[12 Nov 20 06:29 UTC] No.25067067[source]▶
> The "laptop"/"desktop"-grade chip distinction is pretty arbitrary here.

This is the first of their CPUs. The iMac will almost certainly be running a higher end CPU which at the very least supports more RAM. It's likely the 16" MacBook Pro and the higher end 13" MacBook Pro will share a CPU with the iMac the same way the Mac mini and the MacBook Air share a CPU.

replies(1): >>25067121 #
7. chithanh ◴[12 Nov 20 06:39 UTC] No.25067121{3}[source]▶
I think the holdup for the iMac is not the CPU, but rather Apple's discrete GPU which is not ready yet.

For replacing the Xeon-W in the Mac Pro and iMac Pro, they will also need a higher performing CPU, sure.

replies(1): >>25069192 #
8. deergomoo ◴[12 Nov 20 12:42 UTC] No.25069192{4}[source]▶
I hope they offer an option for integrated-only for all their product lines going forward.

The 16" MacBook Pro is only available with a discrete GPU, which I don't need but causes me tons of issues with heat and fan noise. The dGPU has to be enabled to run external monitors, and due to an implementation detail, the memory clocks always run at full tilt when the resolution of driven monitors doesn't match, resulting at a constant 20W power draw even while idle.