Apple Announces The Apple Silicon M1: The end of x86?

[2ilent8cho]

Agreed on the lack of Apple logo, the front looks very plain without it!

 

 

 

Ok, that's seriously impressive! I've got the 16" MBP (one of my last splashes out with my employee discount!) and fans go mental on that playing games, not even heavy ones at that. Just activating the discrete AMD GPU and putting some load on it is enough.

 

I've got the 16" MacBook Pro too, but I just use the 13" M1 Pro for gaming instead as Apples entry level, low end M1 CPU runs them better whilst emulated than the i9 with the AMD Radeon 5500 in my 16" does nativity which is bonkers. Really sad Apple did not show off the high end devices yesterday, as I'm itching to see what their non entry level processors can do.

[tg12]

Imagine what the next iteration of the Mac processor is going to be like based on the M1 being a first generation product, I assume there's lots that can be improved upon. Having said that, the M1 design has been spun off from the A-series chips in iPhones and iPads, so it's not like Apple were coming into engineering ARM-based processors blind!

[paulkerton]

One thing I did find strange is that the Apple logo is now missing from the front. I think it would look good with the same shade they use on the back.

It does come with colour matched stickers, sized to fit the chin. It does seems strange that a lifestyle brand like Apple haven't forced the logo on there though.

 

Edit : Apparently they're too big for the chin! Strange.

[tg12]

Apple as a brand are big enough now that they don't need the logo front and centre like they once did. You could start to see that change when the MacBook logo stopped lighting up. It used to be done to draw the eye in and get recognition, but I think they're now at a point where that isn't really necessary any longer. The AirPods Max are a good example of this. Super high end product, would get a lot of attention drawn to it, but the logo is tiny and hidden under the removable ear cups.

[DalekSec]

You could start to see that change when the MacBook logo stopped lighting up.

 

Agreed with rest of your points, but interesting fact on why the logo no longer lights up on the MacBooks.

 

With apple trying to make them as thin as possible the cut out made them less structurally sound, but more importantly, it was so thin that when outside sunlight would shine through the plastic and you'd have a bright mark in the centre of your screen!

[tg12]

Agreed with rest of your points, but interesting fact on why the logo no longer lights up on the MacBooks.

 

With apple trying to make them as thin as possible the cut out made them less structurally sound, but more importantly, it was so thin that when outside sunlight would shine through the plastic and you'd have a bright mark in the centre of your screen!

Oh yes, there were engineering reasons behind it too, obviously!

[flyinghaggis]

ExtremeTech - The Apple M1 Pro and M1 Max’s Power Efficiency Should Rattle Intel, AMD

 

Granted they're very expensive but judging by the benchmarks Apple has a mobile CPU that can seemingly compete with the best similarly priced AMD/Intel have to offer whilst using a fraction of the energy

[FN-GM]

I'm a little disappointed they haven't addressed the multiple display limitation in the Macbook Air. I am keen to buy one but holding out.

[Ironside]

ExtremeTech - The Apple M1 Pro and M1 Max’s Power Efficiency Should Rattle Intel, AMD

 

Granted they're very expensive but judging by the benchmarks Apple has a mobile CPU that can seemingly compete with the best similarly priced AMD/Intel have to offer whilst using a fraction of the energy

 

Time to see what Alder Lake can do. If it can do anything like Apple M1 Pro/Max battery-wise then Intel and hopefully in future AMD will be fine with X86 for now, if not I imagine there'll be bricks in underpants and nervous looks at microsoft working on Windows 11 on ARM as the industry gets ready to shift.

[FN-GM]

The new M2 chip was announced today. But it still has limited display support! Majorly disappointed.

 

Tempted to get a Dell XPS to replace my current MacBook.

[Patrick]

Agreed, whilst the limitation doesn't affect me it's disappointing they haven't addressed the main complaints. I have an M1 MacBook Air and the new model didn't blow me away really and I've no interest in upgrading as of yet. Especially as it costs a fair wedge more.

[flyinghaggis]

It does seem like a bit of an oversight not addressing multi-monitor support. At least the webcam has been upgraded with a smaller bezel (and a notch!). As good as the CPU sounds it seems a shame that a £1250 laptop in 2022 still comes with only 8Gb RAM and a 256Gb SSD. How have the M1 Mac owners on this forum found the 8Gb RAM or did you upgrade to 16Gb?

[tmoon-mint]

Looking at the price point I was disappointed that the base model wasnt 512GB storage and 16GB RAM to be honest. I am looking at upgrading my 2015 Macbook Pro which has seen better days.

 

Looking at sticking with the M1 model which is quite a bit cheaper. I have used an M1 Mac Mini and it had all the performance I need.

[XiJ]

My 8gb is just gone for what I do. I’ve never needed more. It seems MacOS / apple silicon requires less memory at first glance. (I haven’t done any serious research in that)

 

The MacBook Air 2020 I have is just brilliant for my needs. Portable and light with plenty of battery life and power. I also don’t feel a need to upgrade.

 

But yeah you’d think that multi monitor support would be a basic requirement really. Maybe it’s for the ‘pro’ level macs.

 

I also have a work supplied 13 dell xps which is lovely. The MBA is quieter and just as powerful though. And it integrates with my iPhone etc so well

[paulkerton]

Looking at the price point I was disappointed that the base model wasnt 512GB storage and 16GB RAM to be honest.

Apple Tax is not just the 30% they take from the App Store, or the huge amount they avoid paying by funnelling profit through Ireland, its the premium you pay for their equipment too.

[tmoon-mint]

Apple Tax is not just the 30% they take from the App Store, or the huge amount they avoid paying by funnelling profit through Ireland, its the premium you pay for their equipment too.

 

Since an equivalent Microsoft Surface is a similar price to the M1 Macbook Air I wouldnt say this was exclusively an Apple thing.

[paulkerton]

Since an equivalent Microsoft Surface is a similar price to the M1 Macbook Air I wouldnt say this was exclusively an Apple thing.

 

Which Surface is equivalent? Not exactly an easy equivalent to draw...

[Norphy]

The new M2 chip was announced today. But it still has limited display support! Majorly disappointed.

 

Tempted to get a Dell XPS to replace my current MacBook.

 

It does seem odd that the M1 series have just two DisplayPort channels per 7/8 CPU cores. As you get higher up the chain with the Pro, Max and Ultra variants with more GPU cores, you get more monitors so I guess there must be a hardware limitation with the GPU Apple have implemented in the M1 and M2. Hopefully the M3 will fix it...

 

Since an equivalent Microsoft Surface is a similar price to the M1 Macbook Air I wouldnt say this was exclusively an Apple thing.

 

It definitely isn't. A "Premium" laptop from Dell, HP or Lenovo costs a similar amount too. Not to mention that Google charge a 30% commission from the App Store as does the Steam store.

 

I don't think Apple are a shining paragon of virtue by any means, but they're hardly the devil either. I'd rather pay them than Google, at least they're not selling your data on to the highest bidder.

[tmoon-mint]

Which Surface is equivalent? Not exactly an easy equivalent to draw...

 

I based it on the Surface Laptop 4 which I would say is the closest you will get to a Macbook Air in the Microsoft lineup. Both are around the £900 mark.

[DalekSec]

I based it on the Surface Laptop 4 which I would say is the closest you will get to a Macbook Air in the Microsoft lineup. Both are around the £900 mark.

 

Agreed, Premium laptops such as the XPS, Surface Laptop and M2 Air are normally around the same price. People forget there is a lot more than just cpu, ram and storage specs to a price tag.

 

Apples speakers for example, nothing comes close to them in my experience, amazing screen, amazing trackpad. In a very slim and light case. Apple put a ton of R&D into their products and it shows.

[paulkerton]

I don't think Apple are a shining paragon of virtue by any means, but they're hardly the devil either. I'd rather pay them than Google, at least they're not selling your data on to the highest bidder.

Of course they're not...

 

https://searchads.apple.com/

[Brimstone]

Of course they're not...

 

https://searchads.apple.com/

A complete missunderstanding of what Apple Search Ads is....

 

Apple Search Ads doesn't buy or share users' personal information with other companies.

[paulkerton]

A complete missunderstanding of what Apple Search Ads is....

 

Apple Search Ads doesn't buy or share users' personal information with other companies.

And neither do Google.

We never sell your personal informationYour personal information is not for sale. While advertising makes it possible for us to offer products free of charge and helps the websites and apps that partner with us to fund their content, we do not sell your personal information to anyone.

[FN-GM]

Can we keep the conversation to topic please? We are taking about hardware here. I don’t want this to turn into an argument [emoji846]

 

 

In regards to the RAM I have found that the Apple devices aren’t as resource hungry as Windows so maybe this offsets this? Has anyone experienced similar?

 

Something that has just cross my mind. Here at my place every single desk is equipped with 2 monitors, a dock and a stand for the laptop to be used as well. If we went Mac we would end up downgrading everyone’s setup!

[DalekSec]

In regards to the RAM I have found that the Apple devices aren’t as resource hungry as Windows so maybe this offsets this? Has anyone experienced similar?

 

Definitely, Windows 10/11 struggles a lot with 8GB of RAM, where as our Macs do not. I have a Mac Mini 2012 with 8GB of ram and an i5. Stuck an SSD In it and it runs like a dream still