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Probably a bad idea to get an M1 Max or Ultra. 5nm is old tech
- Thread starter macguy360
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The M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra are going to be really fast for years. And the more powerful chip you buy now, the more that is true. They are all incredibly powerful chips and since Apple now controls the hardware (chip) and software with the M1 series, I expect optimization to be far better than years past with Intel and PowerPC Macs.
Yep. For example, the slimmed down versions of Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The Xbox One X is technically a little faster. So, that’s something, but was only a practical upgrade if you were moving from a 360.
Good post! Accepting that any computer you buy will almost certainly be "last year's model" next year, and eventually obsolete is just part of life and the impermanence of material possessions.
As you say, what matters is the machine's fitness for purpose and the usage you get out of it.
I try to view technology purchases in terms of cost of ownership. If I buy a $4000 computer that I expect to use for 4 years, then it would be cost me $1000 / year to own, assuming it had zero residual value. However, you can add resale value (or the "value" of gifting it to someone), tax write-offs / discounts for business use etc, and substantially reduce the cost. I estimate that my last BTO MBP16 probably cost me about $700 to own for 2 years. Because I used it for work, I was able to deduct a significant portion of its cost from my income (and getting a tax refund), and I sold it for about 43% of the original cost.
Another consideration is that if you don't need the absolute latest and greatest, and plan on keeping a computer for more than about 3-5 years, then buying a 1-3 year old computer can be a great deal. There is a fairly rapid depreciation after 1-2 years when newer models come out (and the market may be plentiful due to "cutting-edge" users looking to upgrade). For enterprise gear look for 3-5 year-old tech that businesses are replacing - these are often really cheap. I bought a 3-year-old Dell T3600 work-station with 6-core Xeon and Nvidia quadro GPU a few years ago for about a fifth of the original price and upgraded the RAM (and later the GPU), and it's still doing a good job.
it is never a good time to buy and always a good time to buy
might as well wait for Apple Glasses at this juncture…that entire human user interface paradigm is defunct.
OMGolly, so hilarious! I shouldn’t get a computer now because another computer will be faster pretty soon? Welp, too late for that?? meanwhile, pretty much zero operations and the new machine require waiting?? At all??
Also, lovely screen??
Also, lovely screen??
Actually, that would be 0.5nm... unless I read you wrong. Speaking of which... wasn't there some thing called Moores's Law that was supposed to prevent these radical reductions of fab size or something? I remember reading about it several years ago... how did we get past these theoretical limitation of fab size... was there some limitation (quantum electrical leakage) or something? It's like it was there and then it was forgotten about! How'd that happen? ?
The Verge said:
The world's smallest transistor is 1nm long, physics be damned
The Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts.
The following is a very recent article, also mentioning MoS2:
Vertical MoS2 transistors with sub-1-nm gate lengths - Nature
Ultra-scaled transistors based on two-dimensional MoS2 with physical gate lengths of 0.34 nm are reported, which show relatively good electrical characteristics and can be switched off.
In addition to utilizing new/different materials, the overall designs have changed:
SoC vs. MCM vs SiP vs. SoP | Semiconductor Digest
IC integration to system-on-a-chip (SoC) continues to be the dream of all semiconductor companies.
Apple has been using SiP/SoC for several years already:
Apple silicon - Wikipedia
Components of the Apple Watch S1 SiP Revealed [Photo]
ABI Research’s TeardownIQ has performed a teardown of the Apple S1 'System in Package' (SiP) used to power the Apple Watch.
www.iclarified.com
Apple unveils M1 Ultra, the world’s most powerful chip for a personal computer
Apple today announced M1 Ultra, the next giant leap for Apple silicon and the Mac.
www.apple.com
Further/deeper explanation, including multiprocessor CPUs, SiP, and 3D (stacking):
I won’t pretend to understand all of those details/equations/... (e.g., 12.5 Molecular Electronics and about half of 1.3.1 Moore's Law Scaling).
Perhaps someone such as @cmaier can translate into layman’s terms.
Related:
AMD talks about its upcoming 3D V-Cache design at ISSCC
Those AMD boffins are doing some good work.
Um......I'm still on an M1 MacBook Air from 2020. Is it going to explode as soon as 3 nm processors come out???
If this is what you think, please spare us from your thoughts about how prehistoric Intel tech is ?
Important note: The nm numbers are marketing terms and not accurate to actual scaling anymore.
The Apple Studio and MacBook Pros contain the most advanced silicon available in any shipping device right now. There isn't going to be some massive jump that will make this obsolete overnight. That jump already happened.
Tesla (D1 Dojo), Nvidia and AMD have a few things they are working on that are on the same level; but nothing that is shipping currently.
The Apple Studio and MacBook Pros contain the most advanced silicon available in any shipping device right now. There isn't going to be some massive jump that will make this obsolete overnight. That jump already happened.
Tesla (D1 Dojo), Nvidia and AMD have a few things they are working on that are on the same level; but nothing that is shipping currently.
OR
Purchase what you like, want to have and can afford. Don't always make decisions on an ROI basis.
Clothes, cars, antiques, holidays + tech.
Don't waste your money! By the time they come out with Onm, they will already have -36nm tech in the pipleine.
Every year there's an article about how, this time for sure, we're about to break physics forever... It's usually on the page after how we just did something cool to keep physics working after the previous year's scare.The world's smallest transistor is 1nm long, physics be damned
The Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts.www.theverge.com
The following is a very recent article, also mentioning MoS2:
Vertical MoS2 transistors with sub-1-nm gate lengths - Nature
Ultra-scaled transistors based on two-dimensional MoS2 with physical gate lengths of 0.34 nm are reported, which show relatively good electrical characteristics and can be switched off.www.nature.com
In addition to utilizing new/different materials, the overall designs have changed:
SoC vs. MCM vs SiP vs. SoP | Semiconductor Digest
IC integration to system-on-a-chip (SoC) continues to be the dream of all semiconductor companies.sst.semiconductor-digest.com
Apple has been using SiP/SoC for several years already:
Apple silicon - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Components of the Apple Watch S1 SiP Revealed [Photo]
ABI Research’s TeardownIQ has performed a teardown of the Apple S1 'System in Package' (SiP) used to power the Apple Watch.www.iclarified.com
Apple unveils M1 Ultra, the world’s most powerful chip for a personal computer
Apple today announced M1 Ultra, the next giant leap for Apple silicon and the Mac.www.apple.com
Further/deeper explanation, including multiprocessor CPUs, SiP, and 3D (stacking):
I won’t pretend to understand all of those details/equations/... (e.g., 12.5 Molecular Electronics and about half of 1.3.1 Moore's Law Scaling).
Perhaps someone such as @cmaier can translate into layman’s terms.
Related:
AMD talks about its upcoming 3D V-Cache design at ISSCC
Those AMD boffins are doing some good work.www.pcgamer.com
Argh. I swore to myself I wasn't going to contribute to this silly, silly thread...
You can never keep up with the latest. But even the latest doesn’t render slightly older tech obsolete if it suits your needs.
The impression around here is that many posters carp on about anything less than top-of-the-line and the latest being garbage. While some posting here do indeed need the most powerful and fastest I suspect many if not most don’t. The most vocal here do not represent the mainstream of Apple’s customers.
Very few real buyers really need the power you get from a new MacBook 14 or 16in. or new Studio Mac, particularly the maxxed out versions. But being fans they go on about they’re the only worthwhile things to get even as they complain about the price. The vast majority of buyers will be well served for years by MacBook Airs, iMacs and Mac Minis.
You can see the same thing with car enthusiasts. They go on and on about performance specs and power that would be needed only on a race track, even while most vehicles on the market have performance and handling capabilities far, far beyond the driving skill of most drivers. Yeah, it’s fun, but it’s also ridiculous.
The impression around here is that many posters carp on about anything less than top-of-the-line and the latest being garbage. While some posting here do indeed need the most powerful and fastest I suspect many if not most don’t. The most vocal here do not represent the mainstream of Apple’s customers.
Very few real buyers really need the power you get from a new MacBook 14 or 16in. or new Studio Mac, particularly the maxxed out versions. But being fans they go on about they’re the only worthwhile things to get even as they complain about the price. The vast majority of buyers will be well served for years by MacBook Airs, iMacs and Mac Minis.
You can see the same thing with car enthusiasts. They go on and on about performance specs and power that would be needed only on a race track, even while most vehicles on the market have performance and handling capabilities far, far beyond the driving skill of most drivers. Yeah, it’s fun, but it’s also ridiculous.
