Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

What does "Core" mean?

MarkC426

MarkC426

macrumors 68040
May 14, 2008
3,699
2,097
UK
kc9hzn said:
Well, most of Intel’s chips, even i5s and the like, support hyperthreading (which requires software to support it, or use OpenCL/GrandCentralDispatch). But even most modern single core chips without hyperthreading are capable of executing threads, thanks to the instruction pipeline. As long as a machine code instruction is in some stage of the pipeline, other instructions can be added at different stages (as long as the pipeline isn’t saturated). This is actually one of the traditional differences of CISC based processors (like the 6502, the 68k, and x86) and RISC based processors (like the PowerPC and ARM/Apple Silicon). RISC processors typically have instructions that are all the same size in processor memory, while CISC processors have instructions that may be compound instructions and do differ in size. As a result, RISC machines have historically typically done a better job of fitting more instructions into the instruction pipeline than CISC machines (Intel has tweaked its instruction language to be more RISC like over the Core and i3/5/7/9 era, even while maintaining full compatibility with x86 proper, so it’s not obvious how much of this pipeline advantage actually still exists).

As for the gains of the M1 series over Intel, that’s down to Apple having developed the best performing compute core in the business (performance per watt as well as performance per clock speed unit, an M1 core clocked at the same speeds Intel and AMD are using would likely outperform them in terms of raw benchmark numbers, it seems) and to Apple including a bundle of accelerator hardware at the processor level (GPU for graphics, audio of some sort [of course], video acceleration hardware, Neural Engine for accelerating neural network [think AI] workflows, and I’m pretty sure the Secure Enclave also accelerates crypto functions).
Click to expand...
Ok your just embarrassing ME now......:p

I am by know means any kind of expert in this subject, purely a layman's comment, based on thread title...;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: kc9hzn
ericwn

ericwn

macrumors G5
Apr 24, 2016
12,118
10,912
jwolf6589 said:
Good because I don’t do design. Yes I know Macs are best for design but millions of people use Windows for Office tasks and I prefer a Mac.
Click to expand...

The prejudice that macs are anything special for design purposes is pretty far fetched.
 
Last edited:
ericwn

ericwn

macrumors G5
Apr 24, 2016
12,118
10,912
jwolf6589 said:
I do not understand
Click to expand...

There’s no much if anything that makes a Mac a far better tool for designers as most software is available on the mainstream platform too. Desktop publishing in the 90s, sure, that used to be a Mac domain but it’s a general purpose platform these days and the difference to Windows at the end of the day is basically just personal preference.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BigMcGuire
jwolf6589

jwolf6589

macrumors 601
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
4,919
1,643
Colorado
ericwn said:
There’s no much if anything that makes a Mac a far better tool for designers as most software is available on the mainstream platform too. Desktop publishing in the 90s, sure, that used to be a Mac domain but it’s a general purpose platform these days and the difference to Windows at the end of the day is basically just personal preference.
Click to expand...
Perhaps. At work I use Windows 10.
 
jwolf6589

jwolf6589

macrumors 601
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
4,919
1,643
Colorado
MRxROBOT said:
Roku is by far my favorite Media OS. I do own an Apple TV that I longer use for anything other than a home hub. Apple TV App works great on it so I don't feel like I'm missing anything.
Click to expand...
But your iPhone media does not show up on Roku. Only appletv has the photos app.
 
mreg376

mreg376

macrumors 65816
Mar 23, 2008
1,233
418
Brooklyn, NY
06tb06 said:
I prefer a Mac for just about everything except gaming. I might be a minority, but I also prefer the preinstalled productivity apps (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) over Office apps.
Click to expand...
The pre-installed apps are excellent, but unfortunately for interactivity with other people and systems I am forced to use Microsoft Office.
 
MRxROBOT

MRxROBOT

macrumors 6502a
Apr 14, 2016
779
806
01000011 01000001
jwolf6589 said:
But your iPhone media does not show up on Roku. Only appletv has the photos app.
Click to expand...
Oh, well if that’s something you use, than I can see why you would prefer it. I never used that and don’t have any plan to. However, if I so chose, I can screen mirror my photos from iPhone.
 
L

Lihp8270

macrumors 65816
Dec 31, 2016
1,143
1,608
macar00n said:

Edit: LOL apparently ****** is blocked? I guess there's no way to answer this question. We don't have the technology.

Edit 2: I guess I can't even say it. No idea why "**************************" acronym is censored.

Edit 3: Okay, even the acronym spelled out is censored. Imagine how many times people had to ask easily Googleable questions for that to happen. That's genuinely hysterical
Click to expand...
Was that a link to ******?
 
  • Like
Reactions: MRxROBOT and macar00n
N

NewUsername

macrumors 6502a
Aug 20, 2019
591
1,323
jwolf6589 said:
Does this mean faster? For example my mom has a 2017 MacBook Air 2-core with the i7. Is mine faster?
Click to expand...
It’s not easy to compare CPUs. To be very general, you could compare it like this:

Apple Silicon is better than Intel. Within Intel, i7 is better than i5, and i5 is better than i3.
Newer is better than old.
More cores is better than few cores,
More GHz is better than less GHz.
For Intel: Desktop CPUs are better than laptop CPUs

If you’re not into technical stuff, you’ll see this makes comparisons quite difficult: your mom’s MacBook Air is three years older and only has two cores, but it has an i7 and more GHz. Does that compensate?

Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. But how do you quantify that? Well, the most common method is benchmark software, and the most popular one is Geekbench. There’s a website called Geekbench Browser (https://browser.geekbench.com/mac-benchmarks) where you can find almost all Mac models and compare their single-core and multi-core score (both are important). The higher the number, the faster the CPU. (Though don’t forget benchmarking also has its own limits).

So now let’s look up your laptop:

MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2020)
Intel Core i5-1038NG7 @ 2.0 GHz (4 cores)
Single-core score: 1136
Multi-core score: 4208

Your mom’s laptop is actually not in the Geekbench Browser (some Mac models are missing) but the 2017 i7 model is identical to the 2015 i7 model. If you look up this one, you’ll see the following results:

MacBook Air (13-inch Early 2015)
Intel Core i7-5650U @ 2.2 GHz (2 cores)
Single-core score: 739
Multi-core score: 1540

So you can see your laptop is faster by a huge margin.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jwolf6589
K

kc9hzn

macrumors 68000
Jun 18, 2020
1,824
2,193
MarkC426 said:
Ok your just embarrassing ME now......:p

I am by know means any kind of expert in this subject, purely a layman's comment, based on thread title...;)
Click to expand...
Eh, it’s mostly just what I remember from my CPU design and assembly language course back in college a couple years ago, extrapolated with additional general knowledge. But I am a software developer by trade, so I do need to know some of these things (kinda like how a patent lawyer still needs to know some broad strokes general aspects of criminal law, at least in terms of how they apply to the law he or she practices). ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: MarkC426
S

sam_dean

Suspended
Sep 9, 2022
1,262
1,091
jwolf6589 said:
My MBP is 4-core and uses an i5 intel CPU which is plenty fast for my use of Office apps, and light use of photos/video. Newer models are up to 8-core with the M1 chip. What does the "core" mean? Thanks..
Click to expand...
It's a new measure on how fast your SoC or CPUs is relative to its same brand, same year model and process node (i.e. 5nm vs 3nm)

If you are to buy in the future just keep it simple and buy to your $ budget.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jaymc
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom