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

(www.macrumors.com)
1080 points antipaul | 2 comments | 12 Nov 20 00:56 UTC | HN request time: 0.547s | source
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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

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gjsman-1000 ◴[12 Nov 20 04:31 UTC] No.25066469[source]▶
OK... but let's say it's 95% there, even. How much power does an M1 draw compared to a 5950X? It's not even funny. And the M1 is running at a lower clock.
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acomjean ◴[12 Nov 20 05:40 UTC] No.25066829[source]▶
It’s very impressive. It seems like the open computing platforms where you have control of your hardware/ os are in real trouble.

I use Mac at work, but Linux at home, if the hardware isn’t competitive....

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michaelmrose ◴[12 Nov 20 05:54 UTC] No.25066910[source]▶
- Mac has ~10% of the global market for end user machines. It doesn't now, never has, and never will own the market nor does it desire to sell cheap enough machines to do so.

- Given that you can't add ram after the fact and 256GB is anemic the cheapest laptop that is a reasonable choice is $1400.

- The cheapest desktop option is $6000 with an 8 core cpu or 8000 with a 16 core.

- The average end user spends $700 on a computer

- We literally have marketing numbers and a worthless synthetic benchmark.

I think it entirely fair to say that the new macs are liable to be fantastic machines but there is no reason to believe that the advent of apple cpu macs marks the end of open hardware. Were you expecting them to sell their cpus to the makers of the cheap computers most people actually buy?

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kayoone ◴[12 Nov 20 07:20 UTC] No.25067333[source]▶
> The cheapest desktop option is $6000 with an 8 core cpu or 8000 with a 16 core.

No, it is $600 with an 8 core M1 chip, the new mac mini. Also the iMac is arguably a desktop option, even if not really upgradeable.

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1. michaelmrose ◴[12 Nov 20 08:08 UTC] No.25067607[source]▶
You mean a non portable laptop?
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2. read_if_gay_ ◴[12 Nov 20 09:06 UTC] No.25067924[source]▶
What is your point even? The Mac mini isn’t really a desktop because it shares its chip with some of their mobile devices? When and where has that ever been the criterion for desktop PCs?