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Malus120

macrumors 6502a
Jun 28, 2002
696
1,456
For those who don't know, this is just how it's going to be from now on...

I imagine a lot of Mac users today are too young to remember the PPC era, have only known Apple dominance in the mobile sector, and haven't really thought much about AMD.
Therefore, people didn't really understand what Apple shifting to its own chips for the Mac would mean.
It means that yes, sometimes Apple will be faster/more power efficient/have bespoke features the competition doesn't, but it also means that sometimes they will fall behind in some areas and as Mac users we'll just have to live with it.

Get used to seeing Apple, AMD, and Intel (as well as Nvidia on the GPU side) leapfrog each other. That's what healthy competition looks like.

That said, this product isn't even released yet and we have no idea what Apple will have ready by the time it is. It's a bit early to say "Oh no, Apple Silicon's in trouble!"
 
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pshufd

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2013
10,147
14,573
New Hampshire
I have an M1 Mac mini, a 2010 iMac and a 2014 iMac on my desk. The 2010 iMac is just a third monitor for my M1 Mac mini. I do my professional stuff on the M1 mini and my office stuff on the 2014 iMac. I could probably do everything off the mini if it supported four monitors. I am going to try that out one of these days though I do love the 2014 iMac.

The M1 Macs were a revelation as they provided a big performance boost at very low power consumption. I quite enjoy a cool and quiet environment though the heat from Intel CPUs can be nice in the winter.

I think that it's great that Intel and AMD are racing for high single-core scores, but, the vast majority of computing is likely satisfied by an M1 system. I sometimes wonder what the impact on power grids Apple Silicon has had.

I have a big Windows build which I use for a few hours a week but I turn it off most of the time now.

If only Apple would make a 27 inch consumer-class iMac.
 

rgwebb

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2005
483
1,270
Also, I am betting on performance per watt ends up being more important for CPU/GPU as more states regulate PSU size as a energy rationing technique.

An average gaming machine is going to need over 1000w PSUs pretty soon from the looks of what is going on with Intel and Nvidia.
 

pshufd

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2013
10,147
14,573
New Hampshire
There’s of course a benefit for laptop users. But generally you’re right.
It’s also funny that geekbench etc only matter (a lot even) if it’s fitting certain people‘s agenda and suddenly when something else seems to be ahead they suddenly don’t anymore.
And last but not least, Windows (and most likely Linux too) has quite a few things things where it’s way ahead of MacOS and most users would be happy if Mac finally caught up in those regards.
But are either too proud or blinded to admit that something from that “crappy MS company“ could avtually lead to something good sometimes

I find that Geekbench 5 is accurate in measuring relative performance for my workloads but use it mainly in looking at older used hardware. I use systems with GB multicore of 2,000 and up. 7,000 is really nice to have but I suspect that most people are fine around 3,000 and up. That's the thing about M1 - it immediately bumped everyone up to 7,000 which is far more than most need.

The single-core score improves responsiveness but I can wait 100 milliseconds for stuff to echo. I don't find any real difference in actual productivity above a certain level.
 

pshufd

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2013
10,147
14,573
New Hampshire
Also, I am betting on performance per watt ends up being more important for CPU/GPU as more states regulate PSU size as a energy rationing technique.

An average gaming machine is going to need over 1000w PSUs pretty soon from the looks of what is going on with Intel and Nvidia.

I had not heard of states doing this unless you are talking about rationing by price. The main power company in my state filed to double prices a few months ago due to much higher natural gas prices. I am pretty sure that they will get approval. I have not seen it flow through to my electricity bills but I'm sure that it's only a matter of time.

Gamers spend a ton of money on their hardware and I don't know that they care about electricity consumption.

Air Condition probably costs a lot more than gaming computer consumption and I'd guess that a lot of people are having a hard time with that this summer. The thing is that the gaming machine, besides consuming a lot of power itself, requires more cooling, so it contributes to air conditioning costs.

I have a car maintenance appointment this morning and my 2021 MacBook Pro wasn't fully charged. It is so nice when it doesn't matter. I would always take a charging brick on my old Intel MacBook Pro when I had to use it outside of home or office. It's nice to not have to carry one around.
 

StoneJack

macrumors 68030
Dec 19, 2009
2,730
1,983
For those who don't know, this is just how it's going to be from now on...

I imagine a lot of Mac users today are too young to remember PPC era, have only known Apple dominance in the mobile sector, and haven't really thought much about AMD.
Therefore, people didn't really understand what Apple shifting to its own chips for the Mac would mean.
It means that yes, sometimes Apple will be faster/more power efficient/have bespoke features the competition doesn't, but it also means sometimes they will fall behind in some areas and as Mac users we'll just have to live with it.

Get used to seeing Apple, AMD, and Intel (as well as Nvidia on the GPU side) leapfrog each other. That's what healthy competition looks like.

That said, this product isn't even released yet and we have no idea what Apple will have ready by the time it is. It's a bit early to say "Oh no, Apple Silicon's in trouble!"
I remember 68 Motorola chip and Marathon games :)
 

MajorFubar

macrumors 68020
Oct 27, 2021
2,174
3,825
Lancashire UK
Does matter for laptop users. For many CPU-constrained workloads M1 Pro is the fastest mobile CPU currently on the market. And it doesn’t throttle on battery while delivering full work day battery life. If you are a pro on the go, this is a killer product.
While I agree with you from that perspective, I find it hard to believe that users demanding the most performance give a monkey's whatsits about the energy their products use. Power per Watt wasn't even a metric Joe Public had heard about until Apple invented it to show why their M1 was better than a 3090.

Full disclosure I do love the M-series processors, I've bought two Macs with them, but I also find it hilarious how a whole heap of consumers have fallen for the very clever marketing campaigns around them.
 

rgwebb

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2005
483
1,270
I had not heard of states doing this unless you are talking about rationing by price. The main power company in my state filed to double prices a few months ago due to much higher natural gas prices. I am pretty sure that they will get approval. I have not seen it flow through to my electricity bills but I'm sure that it's only a matter of time.
I believe California, Oregon, and Washington state have such restrictions on desktop PSUs.
 

pshufd

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2013
10,147
14,573
New Hampshire
I believe California, Oregon, and Washington state have such restrictions on desktop PSUs.

How can they prevent you from using a higher-powered PSU? Can't you just go and buy one and put it in yourself if they restrict OEMs? I build my own Windows desktops so I just order whatever I think is sufficient.
 

rgwebb

macrumors 6502
Nov 27, 2005
483
1,270
How can they prevent you from using a higher-powered PSU? Can't you just go and buy one and put it in yourself if they restrict OEMs? I build my own Windows desktops so I just order whatever I think is sufficient.
The same way the government prevents people from buying cigarettes or alcohol under age: vendors comply with the laws of the state to avoid legal action taken against them. It doesn’t stop all activity but it does stop most of it.
 

ninecows

macrumors 6502a
Apr 9, 2012
760
1,249
The same way the government prevents people from buying cigarettes or alcohol under age: vendors comply with the laws of the state to avoid legal action taken against them. It doesn’t stop all activity but it does stop most of it.
Which is good. We (as in the human race) are already building more coal fueled power plants to satisfy peoples need for mining crypto currency. That’s just another peak on the stupidity of mankind.
 

altaic

Suspended
Jan 26, 2004
712
484
I believe California, Oregon, and Washington state have such restrictions on desktop PSUs.

The same way the government prevents people from buying cigarettes or alcohol under age: vendors comply with the laws of the state to avoid legal action taken against them. It doesn’t stop all activity but it does stop most of it.

Good grief. Someone please tell me this guy is just making nonsense up. It’s hard to tell these days. Gotta spend every other bloody moment fact checking 🤬
 
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iBug2

macrumors 601
Jun 12, 2005
4,540
863
Are they, really?
Because it would be logical to go all-out if I had a monster chip that would crush my competitors.
M1 was really impressive, but M2 is showing that things don't scale all that well without thermal throttling. We'll see how things go with their 2022 refreshes, but I am not so sure.
Apple is going all out within their TDP. If they decide to release a actively cooled tower with a higher clocked chip, we'll see what they can do in that TDP. So far they are not interested in that.
 

MauiPa

macrumors 68040
Apr 18, 2018
3,438
5,084
M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, M2 Ultra will all have the same single-core performance.
does that matter because windows is still single threaded, single core or something? MacOS is not, so single core scores matter to nothing. So maybe you can explain why you care? Or is it just searching for something, anything really? Kind of like comparing a low end SOC to a high end and saying, oh my, look how much faster the high end is. Maybe we could re-write the post: the new I9 scores are out and it is not looking good for Intels' I3s, sorry Intel"
 

MauiPa

macrumors 68040
Apr 18, 2018
3,438
5,084
When the M1 came out, I was the first one to quote benchmarks and say how ahead Apple was against AMD and Intel's 11th gen chips. For laptops, it was the biggest leap of the last 10 years. Now that Intel will have a chunky performance lead over the M2 later this year, it would only be hypocritical to dismiss benchmarks when they don't favor Apple chips.
Really? You think that i9 will really power a laptop without some serious thermal throttling? Or maybe you could go the route of some Intel laptop vendors and make it a super thick and super heavy uber cooled job? More likely a desktop. also, I'm sure you have even read the posts where your new super duper i9 is only as fast as the Mac Studio with the M1 Ultra, so there is that as well. But keep trying, maybe something will make sense
 

pshufd

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2013
10,147
14,573
New Hampshire
The same way the government prevents people from buying cigarettes or alcohol under age: vendors comply with the laws of the state to avoid legal action taken against them. It doesn’t stop all activity but it does stop most of it.

I just read a news article about it. It only applies to pre-built systems. I'd guess that I could just order a 1,000 Watt PSU from Amazon of Newegg if I wanted to. I was pretty shocked that Vermont was included in the state list. Though I think that closing Vermont Yankee (nuclear) may have something to do with their energy problems.

I live in the Live Free or Die state and can't see that happening here. We have wind, nuclear and natural gas fired and export a fair amount of electricity to other states.
 

pshufd

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2013
10,147
14,573
New Hampshire
Good grief. Someone please tell me this guy is just making nonsense up. It’s hard to tell these days. Gotta spend every other bloody moment fact checking 🤬

Powerful Gaming PCs Banned in California​

The law, known as the ‘California’s Energy Consumption Tier 2’, is effectively a new set of regulations that requires an electrical product to not exceed a certain potential power consumption within a 12-month period. So, the bottom line (and relevant one for our readers) is that many PC systems, and specifically pre-built ones, are no longer legal for sale in the state of California.

This law has first come into the public spotlight as it was confirmed that Dell was no longer allowing shipment of their Aurora R10/R12 gaming desktop systems as they did not, apparently, comply with this new law. – As noted above, however, this policy for Dell has extended beyond California with various states seemingly now declaring war against seemingly inefficient PCs and how much they might gobble up from the wall socket.

https://www.eteknix.com/california-bans-powerful-pre-built-gaming-pcs/
 
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pshufd

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2013
10,147
14,573
New Hampshire
Really? You think that i9 will really power a laptop without some serious thermal throttling? Or maybe you could go the route of some Intel laptop vendors and make it a super thick and super heavy uber cooled job? More likely a desktop. also, I'm sure you have even read the posts where your new super duper i9 is only as fast as the Mac Studio with the M1 Ultra, so there is that as well. But keep trying, maybe something will make sense

I haven't seen any reviews on AMD or Intel beating M1 laptops in terms of battery life and performance.
 

Ethosik

Contributor
Oct 21, 2009
8,142
7,120
Also, I am betting on performance per watt ends up being more important for CPU/GPU as more states regulate PSU size as a energy rationing technique.

An average gaming machine is going to need over 1000w PSUs pretty soon from the looks of what is going on with Intel and Nvidia.
Yeah there are people out there that do want performance per watt. In the middle of summer now and I have already had to “ban” my Windows desktop with an i9 and 3080Ti a few days since the office would get to 79 degrees and it was too uncomfortable to work. Switching to the Mac studio on those days made the temps immediately drop a few degrees.

I even had fans (not computer fans but room fans) going full blast. The main AC could not keep up.
 
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terminator-jq

macrumors 6502a
Nov 25, 2012
719
1,514
The M2 so far has been more evolutionary than revolutionary. We will have to wait and see what’s next for the M2 family but there are already rumors of the M2 Pro/Max being on 3nm (or perhaps 4nm) which could boost single core performance past the standard M2 possibly putting Apple back in the lead.

I think the M3 with 3nm is where Apple is going to pull well ahead once again as they did with the original M1. Time will tell but Apple will need to step things up in both the CPU and GPU department to keep their machines competitive.
 

pshufd

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2013
10,147
14,573
New Hampshire
The M2 so far has been more evolutionary than revolutionary. We will have to wait and see what’s next for the M2 family but there are already rumors of the M2 Pro/Max being on 3nm (or perhaps 4nm) which could boost single core performance past the standard M2 possibly putting Apple back in the lead.

I think the M3 with 3nm is where Apple is going to pull well ahead once again as they did with the original M1. Time will tell but Apple will need to step things up in both the CPU and GPU department to keep their machines competitive.

3nm MacBook Air 15 would get my attention to replace my 2015 MacBook Pro 15 which is my backup laptop.
 

Dustman

macrumors 65816
Apr 17, 2007
1,381
238
The thing is, most people aren’t getting an i9 in the PC world, but 100% of Apples customers get their absolute best single core performance regardless of which model they buy.

The majority of intel customers will never feel that performance, but the majority of Mac users will.
 
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