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Why did Apple put the full-powered 8-core CPU 8-core GPU M1 in the iPad Pro but a skimped 7-core GPU version in the MBA?
- Thread starter Adeapplephone
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Marketing shenanigans? People are more likely to pay extra to upgrade their laptop.
Popular explanation is binning. Using up chips that had 7 working cores in the cheapest model.
Simple. The iPad Pro is the top model of its range while the Macbook Air is the bottom of the Macbook range.
Doesn't look good to cripple the top model!
Doesn't look good to cripple the top model!
Because the iPad Pro always had a fully functioning A14X/M1 chip historically. And the iPad Pro is much more high-end device than a MBA and MBP from a hardware perspective (pretty much everything is better on an iPad Pro. The only thing that is saving the 13“ MBA and 13“ MBP is Apple allowing it to run OS X, which Apple forbids the iPad Pro to do).
Yes, the iPad Pro is a premium product. When you add a Magic Keyboard it is more expensive than any Apple laptop not running with at least an M1 Pro. The MBA is an entry level value product.
As mentioned above, my guess is binning. Apple expects the entry level MBA to sell in the most quantity, so it gets the chip that can best be mass-produced (ie: the 7-core M1 chip). The upgraded MBA models and the iPad get whatever is left - the 8-core M1 chip variant.
So it may well be that there aren't enough 7-core M1 chips left over to go into the iPad Pro, and no point crippling it by disabling a GPU core.
7 is quite capable for most users needs. Most users do not professionally create content that is more efficiently achieved on a pro model.
I’m a professional web developer as an example, the 7core MBA is quite enough for that type of work.
I’m a professional web developer as an example, the 7core MBA is quite enough for that type of work.
Purely marketing, to keep the MBA starting price $999. Apple charges $50 for enabling that “extra” GPU core. It’s essentially free money for Apple.
If you look at GPU as a percentage of die size, it is smaller than the CPU cores and neural cores. If it was really about binning, you would see an option with fewer CPU cores.
If you look at GPU as a percentage of die size, it is smaller than the CPU cores and neural cores. If it was really about binning, you would see an option with fewer CPU cores.
They put the 8 core GPU M1 in the 13" MBP and that's part of the way to justify the extra cost. You need to differentiate at these price points and this is one way. For all we know the 8th core is just disabled by FW. Nobody really knows.
It's a good question.
iPad OS is so gimped, you'd think they could just allocate all the binned 7C version for the iPad Pros
Nobody would notice or care or be impacted at all on the iPad side
iPad OS is so gimped, you'd think they could just allocate all the binned 7C version for the iPad Pros
Nobody would notice or care or be impacted at all on the iPad side
It's not clear why this is a question at all. The entry-level MBA has a binned chip to reduce costs. Look at the 14" MBP and you'll see the same thing: binned chip on the entry-level machine to keep costs down. And although I probably wouldn't buy either of them, in real world terms both are extremely capable.
Some chips do not pass inspection on all cores. These are “binned” and set aside for lower cost systems. It avoids waste and helps keeps costs down.
It is very unlikely that the core on the 7-core model is defective. These cores occupy such a small part of the chip that only very few SoC will have a GPU defect.
A more likely explanation is that some chips draw more power than Apple wants them to, so they disable one core to bring the power consumption down to the spec.
Or to put it another way, the binned SoCs fail verification with all cores at max clock but pass with a GPU core disabled.
There is a hack that will allow you to run OS X (emulated) on the iPad, if you’re silly enough to want to.
OS X was never supported in the M1 MBA or MBP. Minimum is MacOS 11 Big Sur.
Sounds like another 8GB = 16GB moment. More likely disabled core for differentiation than having that many not pass.
Apple would be crazy to design a high volume product like $999 MacBook Air by relying on chips with a “failed” GPU core. It doesn’t make any sense. Comes from the same family of people who suggest iPhone SE is made from warehouses of leftover parts.
Part binning is standard practice in the computer industry.
Explainer: What is Chip Binning?
You bought a new CPU and it seems to run cool, so you try a bit of overclocking. The GHz climb higher. Did you hit the silicon...
www.techspot.com
Yes, for processor offerings in between the low-end and high-end. Nobody designs a high volume product like $999 MacBook Air by praying for enough failed chips to meet demand. You design the chip and set a clock speed that results in a high yield to match the product with the highest volume.
And it simply doesn't make sense if you look at the area of the GPU relative to the size of M1. The logic area is far larger than the GPU.
Some people are applying a general concept in semi design without thinking about the circumstances of the situation.
You don’t need to pray for enough “failed” chips to meet demand. You simply disable enough cores in the good chips to make them on par with the failed ones in order to hit your quota.
Imagine you project to sell 100 MBA and 10 iPad Pro. Your production yield is 80 7-core M1 chips and 30 8-core chips. You then disable a core in 20 of the 8-core chips to get the 100 7-core processors you need for your MBA. As for the iPad Pro, it doesn’t matter what chip version it gets; they just all need to be the same.
If production yields of the M1 chip improves in future, we may see Apple offer a 8-core MBA as the entry level model, but users are not going to see a noticeable improvement in performance.
That's exactly what I'm getting at. These 7-core GPU products are disabled for marketing purposes rather than yield reasons.
Apple only sells two stock configurations of MacBook Air, one of which is 7-core. The cost structure only makes sense if the vast majority of M1 chips have 8-cores working. Otherwise, given how popular the MacBook Air is, Apple would be taking a hit every time someone buys a 7-core GPU.