MacBook Air - 7 Core vs 8 Core GPU Weight

[Tenkaykev]

The SoC is the same. The 7 core are rejected 8 core with a failure in one of the GPU. It's called binning. The rejected core is disabled after test with a fusible link.

I was thinking about yield variance and the efficiencies of the various cores. This came to mind as I was remembering the days of yore when you could buy processors marketed as being over clockable ( and one hack that springs to mind was drawing a line with a graphite pencil between two exposed pads on one particular processor which enabled overclocking )

Going back to the yield variance, the Geekbench and Cinebench charts for the M1 processor do show a range of scores with some overlap. I did the thermal pad mod on my base 8/7/256 Air and was consistently getting benchmark scores that were the equivalent to the 8/8 scores on the M1 Pro.

I wondered if, for example, one of the M1 graphics cores could test below specification, resulting in binning and allocation to the 8/7 models, while the remaining processor cores were actually of the highest quality.

 

[dmccloud]

what color? the space grey model might have an extra coating compared to the silver.

The color is baked into the aluminum - otherwise even the smallest scratch would show raw aluminum under the surface...

 

[Maconplasma]

what color? the space grey model might have an extra coating compared to the silver.

The color is baked into the aluminum - otherwise even the smallest scratch would show raw aluminum under the surface...

Hi guys! Please don't take this the wrong way but you're both incorrect. The MacBooks are made of anodized aluminum. They start with a silver metal but they are dipped in an acid bath to create the color. Colors like the rose gold have an added dye to the acid bath and the metal housing is dipped in the bath until the desired color is achieved. Depending on the shade needed colors like the space grey are achieved by continually dipping the metal into the acid bath until the desired darker shade appears. This is why when the MacBook is scratched you see the original silver color appear.

The MacBook housing colors are not baked on nor are the coated. It's just an acid bath that soaks into the top layer of the metal housing.

 

[MBAir2010]

a silver metal but they are dipped in an acid bath to create the color. Colors like the rose gold have an added dye to the acid bath and the metal housing is dipped in the bath until the desired color...

which adds to the weight of the MacBook. eh?

 

[mi7chy]

10 grams is about the weight of two US nickels. My guesses are either normal variance in weight or change of material in one of the components. Don't think it's larger heat sink to accommodate 8 vs 7 cores since it would be too materially complex and costly for logistics when they can use one greater heat sink for both variations. Need to collect more samples to get a better idea. Let me throw mine on the Onyx scale.

 

[Maconplasma]

which adds to the weight of the MacBook. eh?

No no. There's no way it could add to the weight. It's only an acid bath that changes the color structure.

 

[Tagbert]

I weighed a 7 core MBA M1 = 1281g
I weighed a 8 core MBA M1 = 1291g

I weighed multiple times and got same result. So 1 core = 10g?

Thats all.

Have you just weighed one with 7gpu and one with 8cpu? That is a pretty small sample size.

If you were to weigh different instances of each you might see some variation, as well.

If you found a constant variation, my bet would be on different component suppliers, perhaps for the battery.

 

[mikeboss]

mine:

8 core MBA M1 (silver) with 16/512 GB: 1292g

 

[LED]

My base MBA M1 (8/256) weighed in at 1267g

 

[Veeper]

My base MBA M1 (8/256) weighed in at 1267g

You probably hardly have anything installed.

 

[LED]

You probably hardly have anything installed.

All my apps are M1 optimized

 

[Chairman.Jobbie]

My base MBA M1 (8/256) weighed in at 1267g

I weighed MBA 16gb ram / 512 SSD space grey versions so needs to be a like for like comparison.

 

[Chairman.Jobbie]

Have you just weighed one with 7gpu and one with 8cpu? That is a pretty small sample size.

If you were to weigh different instances of each you might see some variation, as well.

If you found a constant variation, my bet would be on different component suppliers, perhaps for the battery.

Just 1 of each. This wasn't a scientific double blind etc etc study - it was just what I had and noted it as interesting.. that's all. Anyone with the same 7 core config should weigh it - but its no big deal.

The weight difference is probably is partly a bit of glue and maybe some other minor variable.