Everything you need to know that makes Apple M1 Chip the Unstoppable
Gone were the days when it was impossible to have a computer without a dedicated GPU card and still enjoy gaming.
Nowadays, you can easily find a computer with 2 in 1 chip that will take care of your computing and graphic tasks.
And Apple has just topped this segment by introducing its all-new M1 chip and promises to be the most significant technological advancement for Macs ever.
What’s exactly is Apple’s M1 Chip?
M1 chip is all about combining multiple computer functions into a single chip, technically called system on chip (SoC) and customized for each model.
M1 chip integrates several different components, including CPU, GPU, unified memory architecture (RAM), Neural Engine, Secure Enclave, SSD controller.
Also, it consists of an image signal processor, encode/decode engines, a Thunderbolt controller with USB 4 support, and much more.
Let’s talk about all this in detail :
Central Processing Unit (CPU)
The M1 chip consists of an 8-core CPU with four high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores.
The high-performance cores are responsible to offer the best performance for power-intensive single-threaded tasks. The performance cores feature ultra-wide execution architecture, 192KP instruction cache, 128KB data cache, and shared 12MB L2 cache.
Whereas the four efficiency cores are dedicated to less intensive works such as web browsing and only use a tenth of the power to preserve battery life. The efficiency cores feature comprehensive execution architecture, 128KB instruction cache, 64KB data cache, and shared 4MB L2 cache.
These cores can work alone, whereas for demanding tasks, all eight cores can be engaged at the same time also.
Apple claims it’s the fastest ever CPU core, and the benchmark scores back them as well :
GPU
Like 8 core CPU, Apple M1 also has 8 core GPU except for the entry-level MacBook Air models with one of the cores disabled, resulting in 7 core GPU.
All the 8 GPU cores together can run 24,576 threads simultaneously, 2.6 teraflops of throughput, 82 gigatexels per second, and 41 gigapixels per second within 128 compute units (CUs).
According to Apple, the M1 chip has the fastest integrated graphics in a personal computer.
Memory
The M1 chip is built with unified memory architecture (UMA). It lets the CPU, GPU, and other processor components don’t need to copy data between one another and access the same data pool. UMA also adds up in increasing the speed. It comes at 4266Mhz SDRAM in either 8GB or 16GB.
Neural Engine
The Neural Engine inside M1 is designed to accelerate machine learning tasks across the Mac for video analysis, voice recognition, image processing, and more. It consists of 16 core and is capable of 11 trillion operations per second.
Incredibly Fast with Minimum Battery Usage
The M1 chip is just unstoppable with up to 3.5x faster CPU performance, up to 6x faster GPU performance, and up to 15x faster machine learning capabilities than the Intel chips used in prior-generation machines.
Even with the incredible speed of the M1, it does not compromise on battery. It is the most battery-efficient chip than any other Mac chip Apple has released to date.
The battery in an M1 Mac lasts up to 2x longer than in prior-generation Macs.
The M1 chip has the best CPU performance per Watt
At 10W, which is the MacBook Air‘s thermal envelope, the M1 delivers up to 2X faster CPU performance while using just 25% of the power of the latest PC chips.
The M1 chip improves 3X performance in power per Watt.
How secure is M1?
The M1 chip has a built-in Secure Enclave that manages Touch ID and a storage controller with AES encryption hardware for SSD performance, making it faster and more secure.
How is M1 Chip different from Intel Chip?
Intel chips were built on the x86 architecture, whereas the Apple Silicon M1 uses an Arm-based architecture. The M1 chip is the most powerful chip Apple has created to date and beats out even the topmost quality chips used in Intel Mac. The M1 has the fastest single-core performance of any Mac as it is the first SoC to use 5-nanometer technology that packs in 16 billion transistors, which improves the chip’s performance.
How will you run Apps on M1 Mac?
Because the M1 chip has a completely different architecture from the Intel chip, you just can’t simply run Intel chip apps on the M1 chip. To get rid of this, Apple has developed the Rosetta 2 translation layer that allows x86 apps to run on the M1 chip.
With Rosetta 2, Intel machines’ apps will continue to run on M1 Macs with some limited performance compromises.
Everything should function as expected when transitioning to M1 Macs, and over a few years, most popular Mac apps will likely be built to run on the M1 Macs natively. Right now, there is one major compromise when choosing an M1 Mac, and that’s Windows support.
Official support could come in the future, which largely depends on Microsoft’s permission.
What Macs will get the M1 chip?
All of them. Every single Mac Apple makes will eventually transition to Apple silicon. For now, Apple has released the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini with M1 chip, replacing the low-end machines having Intel chip.
It would not be very intelligent to buy an Intel Mac mini or 13-inch MacBook Air at this point because the M1 chip outperforms the Intel chip on any given day.
So be wise and buy an M1 Mac.
