Apple Announces New MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max Processors

[Tsing]

Image: Apple



Apple today announced a new and completely reimagined MacBook Pro. Available in 14- and 16-inch models, the new MacBook Pro is the first to leverage Apple’s new pro chips, the M1 Pro and M1 Max, which feature up to a 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, and performance that’s up to 70 percent faster than its predecessor. Apple’s new MacBook Pro models start at $1,999 and will be available beginning on October 26, 2021.









From Apple:



M1 Pro and M1 Max revolutionize the MacBook Pro experience and mark a huge step forward in the transition to Apple silicon on Mac. MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max applies a system-on-a-chip (SoC) architecture to pro systems for the first time, featuring fast unified memory and increased memory bandwidth for unparalleled performance with best-in-class performance per watt and industry-leading...

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[Brian_B]

Hmm wow.

M1 was 8 core CPU, 8 core GPU. And not much mention of any internal improvements other than memory bandwidth.

Could be neat.

 

[Uvilla]

Could be a POS, but it would still sell. That said, it won't be.

 

[Grimlakin]

Apple knows they don't need leaps in technology from one generation to the next. It's the 2+ generation upgrades that are looking for leaps in performance.

 

[rat]

Why the **** does a laptop screen also need a ****ing notch? Seriously?

 

[Grimlakin]

Why the **** does a laptop screen also need a ****ing notch? Seriously?

Lol I didn't even notice it.

 

[Brian_B]

Why the **** does a laptop screen also need a ****ing notch? Seriously?

Yeah, that is stupid. I don't mind it so much on my phone -- there I want something small enough to fit in my pocket and 2-3mm is a bigger deal.

In a laptop? It's a rounding error. And now all programs have to work around it... so regardless of if you have a notch or not, your still going to have lost that as if you had one anyway.

 

[Brian_B]

Couple of other interesting points.

The new M1 is 8 high speed cores, 2 energy efficient cores.

The previous was 4/4. ADL is (up to) 8/8. The asymmetrical design in the new Apple CPU is an interesting change in what was the trend.

I always kinda wondered, if your spinning up 4 (or more) slow cores, would it be better to just spin up 1 or 2 faster cores instead -- at least in the philosophy of "race to idle"? I haven't really watched the breakdown on my M1 MBP - it's possible, but not exactly convenient to see in this manner. But something like 8 slow cores... it seems like a waste, unless this is just similar to SMT, where the core design is built in blocks of 1L/1b

Other minor notes: It's still an M1 in name, with the suffixes "Pro" and "Max", which makes me think there were not a lot of internal improvements. It's the same process node (the older M1 was also 5nm). The big change is obviously more GPU cores, the shift in CPU core allocation and count, and they mention faster memory access:

The memory interface on the original M1 was 68GBps, the M1P is 200, the M1M is 400. Quite a large jump. Looks like part of that is additional memory channels, with a slight boost to bandwidth per channel, as the M1 supported up to 16G, the M1P is 32G, the M1X is 64G

The display interface also got a boost - the M1P can power two 6K (Apple XDR) external displays via USB3/TB, the M1M up to 4 (three 6K , 1 4K)

The (still rumored, no confirmation on benches) new graphics performance looks to be impressive as well. The existing M1 clocked in around 2.6 TFlops, the M1P is up to 5.2, and the M1M around 10.4 TF. If that ends up panning out to be close, that puts the M1M in the same league as a 2080 RTX and the latest generation of consoles.

 

[Grimlakin]

I suppose this is what happens when you have a trillion dollar company enter the market with what equates to neigh unlimited resources. If they can turn this into a technical and marketing success and make mac books good to game on that will be a relatively giant shift in the market.

 

[Brian_B]

I suppose this is what happens when you have a trillion dollar company enter the market with what equates to neigh unlimited resources. If they can turn this into a technical and marketing success and make mac books good to game on that will be a relatively giant shift in the market.

I think the shift already occurred under our noses. Apple is already one of the largest gaming companies in the world, and it doesn't produce a single game.

Apple Doesn’t Make Videogames. But It’s the Hottest Player in Gaming.

CEO Tim Cook quietly turned the iPhone company into a superpower in the videogame business. Now he’s fighting rivals in a multiplayer universe.

www.wsj.com

I mean, most of us here could care less about mobile gaming. But it's huge - bigger than consoles, bigger than PC. And Apple is the biggest mover in that.

All Apple really needs to do is expand on running iOS apps on OS X, and the infrastructure is all set up. But I can see why they don't - the margins on phones are better than on computers, and the computers are better spent aiming at educational and the Pro set where they already have a niche carved out. No reason to even try to compete against the Dells and Lenovos out there for what most consumer purposes has ended up in a low margin race to the bottom.