How Apple Just Changed the Entire Industry (related to M1 chipset)

[rdale]

No, I just object on principle to running a new OS until it's shaken out, which probably won't be for 6 months yet. Besides, Scrivener for Big Sur isn't shaken out yet. I used to be required to run the "latest and greatest" when I did software development. Now I'm retired and perfectly willing to let someone else find the land mines.

Ah, of course. I don't know why that didn't occur to me. And I'm right there with you. At work I'm stuck on the other extreme of obsolescence, having to make new architectures work with legacy systems that we can't move off of just yet. Such experience has instilled in me a reluctance to deal with fragile ecosystems no matter what edge I'm on.

[Orpheus]

A review of a MacBook from the Verge. And remember he is talking about Apple's entry level machines.

Excerpt:

Apple’s first-gen M1 chips have already upended our concept of laptop performance

Apple’s first M1 MacBooks are here, and the world of laptops has changed overnight.

When Apple first announced that it would be transitioning its computers — specifically, the MacBook Air and entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, its most popular PCs — to a new and wildly different type of processor, there were plenty of reasons to be skeptical. Apple was making huge claims for battery life and performance, things that the first wave of Arm-based laptops from Qualcomm and Microsoft failed to deliver.

But deliver Apple did, with computers powered by a new M1 processor that aren’t just close to their previous Intel counterparts, but crush them in nearly every respect — and not just the base model Intel chips that the M1 purports to replace, either. In both early benchmarks and head-to-head comparisons for compiling code, Apple’s M1 chip appears to hold its own against even Intel’s most powerful Core i9 chip for laptops.

Continue at : https://tinyurl.com/yydjpkzo

or

https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/19/215 ... ompetition

[Orpheus]

And here is a more detailed review of the MacBook Air and MacBookPro on The Verge.

Text version https://www.theverge.com/21570497/apple ... -m1-review

But I watched the video version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEaKQ0p ... e=emb_logo

[devinganger]

I'm not sure what you're pushing back against. I'm speculating on how powerful it could be if Apple took the processing power of 10 M1 Minis and just slapped them into the case of a Mac Pro desktop, all without having to add more electrical draw into the system.

I'm not pushing back against you. In total agreement there!

I'm more pushing back against the hyperbole of "Apple just changed the industry" when the ARM revolution has been years in the making at the hands of a LOT of companies, *Apple among them.* This is Apple doing what Apple does best -- leading not by being the first to do something, but by being the first to put a cohesive experience together and tie together all the various loose ends that others have left hanging. They're not so much revolutionary as they are evolutionary in a transformative way. And that's not knocking Apple -- they have managed to do this time after time after time now, and there are few other companies out there who manage the trick once, let alone as many times as Apple does.

It only looks sudden and spontaneous to those who haven't been paying attention.

[gr]

My venerable MacBook Air 11's battery just failed, and I'd be lying if I said that part of me isn't hoping it's more than that so that I have an excuse to get an M1 Air…

Don't get me wrong---"Mr Steed" has been a workhorse, and at a mass that equals iPad plus keyboard, I've taken him everywhere. I'll get a new battery if that's all it takes to get him running, but if there's more wrong than that, I think I'll name my M1 MBA "Bond. James Bond." .

Didn't see that one coming. I was sure we were going Emma Peel with that.

[Silverdragon]

No, Mrs Peel is my iPad...has been since before my Mac became Mr Steed...

[gr]

Now I am happy.

[Silverdragon]

The Good News: My MBA 11, "Mr Steed", has a simple battery failure, so I'll be running in about a week for only USD $129 plus tax.

The Bad News: My MBA 11, "Mr Steed", has a simple battery failure, so I've no excuse to buy a new M1 MBA.

[devinganger]

The Good News: My MBA 11, "Mr Steed", has a simple battery failure, so I'll be running in about a week for only USD $129 plus tax.

The Bad News: My MBA 11, "Mr Steed", has a simple battery failure, so I've no excuse to buy a new M1 MBA.

Then I am both happy and sad for you!

[gr]

And I am had and sappy.

[Silverdragon]

and I sat there in the Apple store, both hoping for and dreading the verdict...

At least I can delay Big Sur for a few months more. With a new battery, Mr Steed will likely last me until Intel Macs are phased out.