Apple’s very own M1 Chip is now out there and the initial reviews and criticism are flocking in. The rate is not overwhelming but we have hit new grounds. Apple has really changed the game for themselves. Previously, they were sourcing their processors from Intel. But now, they can surely cut that grass-root. This change is likely to be noticed not just economically but in terms of performance as well. So, here is all that had flown in so far about this amazing new g-wiz sorcery.
The Arrival of a New Technology
Apple had launched the M1 Chip in the 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini models that were released in 2020. This has been a dream coming true for Apple for a long time coming. Finally, they’ve done it. Apple had been using Intel chips made by The Cupertino Company since 2006. Now it’s time they tackle Intel head-on.
So far the M1 chips have proven to be faster and more efficient to the user’s satisfaction and had received high praise and ratings, especially when it comes to battery life. But, Apple claims that users will sense the spunk of it with 3.9x faster video processing and 7.1x faster image processing.
A Holistic Benchmark in The Chips Industry
The GPU, CPU, unified memory architecture (RAM), Secure Enclave, Neural Engine, SSD controller, image signal processor, encode/decode engines, Thunderbolt controller with USB 4 support and the rest is integrated in the M1 chip system. These are some of the essentials that Mac operation requires. The processor architecture of this chip set is similar to iPhone and iPad. As a result, now you can run all the apps you have in your phone or pad in your MacBooks with the new M1 Chip.
There are 16 billion transistors on the M1 Chip. As a result, you get the best CPU performance per watt on low-power silicon Apple has ever produced. There is little semblance with the A14 chip in the latest iPhone and iPad Air models. It’s built on a 5-nanometer process by the same Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company who had been making Apple’s chips for a long time now. So, it makes perfect sense.
Briefly, the chip has a ARM-based architecture, 8-core CPU capable of simultaneously running close to 25,000 threads, 5nm process 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR4X-4266 MHz SDRAM for memory and for graphics; integrated 8-core GPU with 2.6 teraflops of throughput delivering performance superseding the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti and Radeon RX 560. Safe to say, it’s an all-rounder System on a Chip (SoC) that Apple did better than any of their competitors. The M1 chip has an OpenCL score of 19305 in the Geekbench OpenCL Benchmark Chart. Check it out! Besides, there is one more trick up their sleeves; a built-in Neural Engine to quicken machine learning. Just to give you an idea, a 16-core Neural Engine is capable of 11 trillion operations per second. It is almost 15 times faster than the predecessors. One small step for Apple is a huge leap for mankind.
Now We Have Marathon Battery Life
Finally, we have to talk about the Battery Life gain that is the new game-changer. The transition to the new chip has proven to be worthy all the way when it comes to efficiency. The 8 core set up can be understood to have 4 heavy-duty and 4 low-consuming cores. It balances energy consumption for processing based on required power. It’s capable of running all 8 cores for as long as necessary. But, the power consumption will remain low steadily. The newer models of Mac that have the Chip integrated had run for up to 20 hours like a breeze. That is 2x faster performance in 25% of the power in prior technologies.
Does M1 Chip Have The Perfect System, Yet?
The time-old adamancy of Apple to exclude their customers in their own system had always been a security measure. The new M1 is supposed to be impenetrable. The M1 has a built-in Secure Enclave so that you don’t have to suffer from insecurity. Besides, you get AES encryption hardware for SSD performance. And definitely, Apple will go through hills and seas to support their newest technology; send you some dreadful initial updates to eventually make their system a bomb shelter Yet, a few months ago, Tencent Xuanwu Labs had announced that it was breaching through the MacBook with an M1 Chip in it. They found a way in through exploiting some vulnerability they can bypass the restrictions in the system on app permissions. There was a demonstration of upgrading from the natural root advantages.
In another light, some owners are sharing concerns about their SSD’s lifespan. The M1 chip is made to deliver optimum performance. Thus, some have noticed that the SSDs are being put through constant and heavy load. SSDs have an estimated lifetime of around 7-8 years. Replacing one can be a costly move. Besides, it is obvious that not only the SSD, the entire PC’s long term health will be weakened by it. But, speculations can’t be confirmed as of yet. The M1 has been around not for long enough to be known by anyone what will happen.
Well, nothing is perfect as the wise men say. You mustn’t be wrong if you feel a little disappointed. The reason is that people expect Apple to do the best there is. And as expected, they do. There is no doubt that Apple will find proper fixes to their systems with the M1 to make it invincible. Then again, a new challenge will also attract a new group of vigilantes and hackers. Unless there are no major security incidents in the news, their product can still be called one of the best you can buy today, yesterday, and tomorrow.
Is This New Technology Going to Sweep the Markets?
Not necessarily so. There is a worldwide following of Apple products, but so is an ample share of people who find Apple’s technology confining. Besides, Apple has no intentions of selling their chips to any other brand or business. With some certainty, it is not likely to happen. Although Intel had done it first, now Apple is making their own, which will be a hiatus for the other leading tech giants in the race. This means Intel’s monopoly of selling Chips is starting to crumble.
Still in Its Early Stages
Anything ‘’New’’ brings with it’s own set of affliction. Basically, not that the M1 Chip has been developed in a new light of architecture, it will not be able to run x86 apps, currently the dominant one, without an emulator or the like.
Apple has kept developer options to create Universal app binaries to run on both Apple Silicon and Intel chips. Microsoft has already released a version of MS Office that natively runs on M1 Chip laptops. Adobe is saying that they are working on an M1-native creative suite too.
The Bottom Line
It seems like the Apple M1 Chip has had a flying start. Indeed, the world wasn’t ready and moreover, we had undergone a major setback last year retrograding the world economy. But, now things are starting to revitalize and the Apple M1 Chip is perhaps what we needed to cover up all the time in lockdown. It’s fast, it’s efficient and it’s Apple, to sum up. Stay tuned for the latest. For now, that is all we know about the Apple M1Chip.
