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Ask HN: Why hasn't x86 caught up with Apple M series?

447 points stephenheron | 4 comments | 25 Aug 25 21:50 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

Hi,

My daily workhorse is a M1 Pro that I purchased on release date, It has been one of the best tech purchases I have made, even now it really deals with anything I throw at it. My daily work load is regularly having a Android emulator, iOS simulator and a number of Dockers containers running simultaneously and I never hear the fans, battery life has taken a bit of a hit but it is still very respectable.

I wanted a new personal laptop, and I was debating between a MacBook Air or going for a Framework 13 with Linux. I wanted to lean into learning something new so went with the Framework and I must admit I am regretting it a bit.

The M1 was released back in 2020 and I bought the Ryzen AI 340 which is one of the newest 2025 chips from AMD, so AMD has 5 years of extra development and I had expected them to get close to the M1 in terms of battery efficiency and thermals.

The Ryzen is using a TSMC N4P process compared to the older N5 process, I managed to find a TSMC press release showing the performance/efficiency gains from the newer process: “When compared to N5, N4P offers users a reported +11% performance boost or a 22% reduction in power consumption. Beyond that, N4P can offer users a 6% increase in transistor density over N5”

I am sorely disappointed, using the Framework feels like using an older Intel based Mac. If I open too many tabs in Chrome I can feel the bottom of the laptop getting hot, open a YouTube video and the fans will often spin up.

Why haven’t AMD/Intel been able to catch up? Is x86 just not able to keep up with the ARM architecture? When can we expect a x86 laptop chip to match the M1 in efficiency/thermals?!

To be fair I haven’t tried Windows on the Framework yet it might be my Linux setup being inefficient.

Cheers, Stephen

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al_borland ◴[26 Aug 25 00:03 UTC] No.45020684[source]▶
I’ve been thinking a lot about getting something from Framework, as I like their ethos around relatability. However, I currently have an M1 Pro which works just fine, so I’ve been kicking the can down the road while worrying that it just won’t be up to par in terms of what I’m used to from Apple. Not just the processor, but everything. Even in the Intel Mac days, I ended up buying a Asus Zephyrus G14, which had nothing but glowing reviews from everyone. I hated it and sold it within 6 months. There is a level of polish that I haven’t seen on any x86 laptop, which makes it really hard for me to venture outside of Apple’s sandbox.
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1. spankibalt ◴[26 Aug 25 05:46 UTC] No.45022709[source]▶
> "There is a level of polish that I haven’t seen on any x86 laptop, which makes it really hard for me to venture outside of Apple’s sandbox."

Hah, it's exactly the other way around for me; I can't stand Apple's hardware. But then again I never bought anything Asus... let alone gamer laptops.

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2. nik736 ◴[26 Aug 25 06:31 UTC] No.45022993[source]▶
What exactly is wrong with Apple hardware?
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3. happymellon ◴[26 Aug 25 06:43 UTC] No.45023073[source]▶
For me, the keyboards in the UK have an awful layout.

Not sure why they can follow ANSI in the US but not ISO here. I just have to override the layout and ignore the symbols.

4. spankibalt ◴[26 Aug 25 07:24 UTC] No.45023338[source]▶
I very much prefer penabled detachables, a much better form factor than the outdated classic laptop, with a focus on general-purpose computing, such as HP's ZBook x2 G4 detachable workstation. The ideal machine would be a second iteration of that design, just updated to be smaller as well as more performant and repairable. Of course that's not gonna happen, as there's, apart from legal issues, no money in it.

Apple on the other hand doesn't offer such machines... actually never has. To me, prizing maintainability, expandability, modularity, etc., their laptops are completely undesireable even within the confines of their outdated form factor; their efficient performance is largely irrelevant, and their tablets are much too enshittified to warrant consideration. And that's before we get into the OS and eco-system aspects. :)