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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: 0.001s | source
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faitswulff ◴[12 Nov 20 04:22 UTC] No.25066407[source]▶
This really flips the argument that Mac hardware is overpriced and underpowered on its head. Now Apple computers are a premium product from a performance perspective, as well.
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torbital ◴[12 Nov 20 05:16 UTC] No.25066717[source]▶
But now they are locking down their software hard. So there is really no free lunch.
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the_lucifer ◴[12 Nov 20 05:25 UTC] No.25066753[source]▶
Someone here posted when the M1 powered Macs launched that they're essentially ASICs now and that made me do a double take. Since you cannot change the operating systems anymore, aren't these essentially ASICs?
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asimpletune ◴[12 Nov 20 06:12 UTC] No.25066992[source]▶
Not even close. An ASIC is a program on a chip. These are still general purpose, programmable computing machines.
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qeternity ◴[12 Nov 20 08:19 UTC] No.25067658[source]▶
An FPGA is a program on a chip. An ASIC is literally just a chip. Calling the M1 an ASIC is insulting to the Apple hardware team.
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1. zaro ◴[12 Nov 20 10:01 UTC] No.25068277[source]▶
ASIC stands for application specific, and since thei IC is application specific - used only in certain hardware along certain software, it's kind of correct to call it ASIC.
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2. rusticpenn ◴[12 Nov 20 11:41 UTC] No.25068768[source]▶
I am unsure, since the application here is general purpose computing.