Unfortunately, the first Macbooks that reached our shelves did not bring much clarity. The fact is that the transition to a mobile architecture is a dubious adventure for software developers, which promises many sleepless nights, rewritten code and slain dragons. As a temporary solution, Apple offered the Rosetta emulator, which allows you to run "desktop" software on a mobile processor. Say, here's a working crutch for you, don't worry about anything and rewrite the code under M1.

A year later, the situation has noticeably changed, native support for the M1 chip is slowly being introduced by both large whales of the Adobe and Presonus level, and smaller fish. And looming on the horizon is the new and improved Apple M1X processor. In our opinion, this is the best time to take stock, evaluate the coolness of the new Macbooks and the prospects for the whole undertaking. Well, figure out who was right in the dispute between Intel and Apple, and who can be teased on Twitter.

Learn more about the M1 processor


So, M1 is a single-chip all-in-one system, that is, all elements of the system, including the processor, RAM and USB controllers, are soldered on a single chip. It boasts 8 processor and 8 graphics cores, as well as a separate neural block for machine learning. Available cores can be used in various combinations to provide optimal performance while conserving battery life.

According to Apple, we have the first 5nm mobile processor with 16 billion transistors (Samsung Exynos 9000 with 15.3 billion transistors is lying unconscious). For comparison, the very fresh AMD Ryzen Vermeer chips are made using the 7nm process technology, while Intel with its 14nm is hopelessly stuck in the past. Actually, that's why Apple stopped working with them.

The M1 is installed in the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and desktop Mac Mini, which were presented in 2020. In order not to cut the ropes, classic laptops with Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors were also released for sale.

Apple M1 laptops

What is good about Apple M1?


To begin with, let's remember what exactly the Apple revolution should have manifested itself in. First, Apple promised that even the simplest MacAir would wake up faster than the owner opens the lid. And they didn't lie. Videos with lids flooded YouTube almost on the first day of the sale of new Macs. This is understandable, because honest performance tests were still far away.

The second beauty of laptops with the M1 processor is its power efficiency. According to the company's engineers, the mobile chip needs much less energy and at the same time it practically does not heat up. After a year of various tests, we can say that this is 90% correct. For example, Macbook Air did not need a classic cooling system. A small metal plate was enough for passive cooling.


At the same time, in synthetic tests, it bypassed the more powerful and hot Core i7. But the desktop MacMini, under heavy load, sometimes slowed down the horses to cool off a bit. Apparently, this is due to the design features of the Mac Mini case. Many experts agree that in this way Apple saved the computer screen, which could fail faster due to the proximity to a heated processor.

A nice side effect of the improved power efficiency is improved battery life. If the average MacBook Air only lasts 12 hours on battery, the M1 can stretch that out to 18 hours. The difference is especially noticeable in the video playback mode. The MacBook Air on the M1 drains in 15.5 hours, while its predecessor in 9. For people who live in the office-coworking-business meeting mode, a powerful and at the same time long-playing laptop can be a panacea.

Synthetic Performance Tests


Before moving on to performance tests, let's remember what the guys from Apple promised a year ago. And they promised that MacOS Big Sur on the M1 chip works 2 times faster than on a laptop with Intel, and in terms of performance it is almost 4 times faster than the Core i5, which was "in 90% of the most popular laptops in 2020."

A year later, we finally have more or less honest tools to check the words of company representatives. Let's start with the synthetic benchmark GeekBench, which was one of the first to adapt its performance tests to the new Apple chips. Actually, it was because of them that the hype began: people saw that the casual ultrabook MacBook Air in tests of single-core power is higher than iMac desktops with Intel Core i9-10910 and Core i7-10700K processors and began to figure out how many suitcases Apple brought to the creators of this benchmark .


A year later, the picture has not changed much - when working in one core, the M1 completely dominates the Intel processors. Things change in the multi-core run: the M1 is physically no match for the 28- or 24-core multi-core Intel Xeon monsters found in the 2019 Mac Pro. The table shows that the real competitor of Apple's mobile processor is the Intel Core i7-10700K, for which they ask for about $400 in stores. In the multi-core test, it scores 8108 points, while the 8-core M1 that is installed in the iMac 2020 scores 7418 points. From this point of view, the M1 no longer seems so omnipotent, but here you need to take into account the much higher cost of products with Intel chips.


Another popular benchmark, PassMark, updated its cross-platform testing capabilities at the end of March 2021, allowing you to compare the performance of mobile and desktop chips in the same tests. According to this test, in the single-core run, Apple's processor is once again ahead of the rest. It was not possible to overtake only the flagship Core i9-11900K from Intel Rocket Lake-S.


Update: Well, in the September test, which was released in parallel with this text, the 8-core M1 broke into first place, scoring 3778 points, slightly ahead of the new Core i9 and Ryzen 9.


However, no one is currently working on a single core, so it is much more interesting to find out the results of tests in multi-threaded mode. And there, the Apple M1 chip is located between the 6-core Ryzen 3600 on the Zen 2 architecture, and the 6-core Core i7-10750 from the Coffee Lake Refresh family. The results are excellent, but the dominance of M1 is no longer so obvious. However, this was expected.


Real tests

Turning to real tests, it is important to make a clarification that the software for M1 is being actively completed right now, when these lines are being written. At the same time, fresh updates of some applications do not always speed up the device. This was especially often complained about in its first six months of existence. Therefore, for once, synthetic benchmarks that make full use of the capabilities of the M1 paint an even more plausible picture than reality itself. However, some conclusions can already be drawn.

For example, Adobe only completed all global updates by the end of summer 2021, introducing versions of Lightroom, Illustrator and InDesign applications adapted for ARM. And immediately after the update, Adobe experts confirmed Tim Cook's words about the performance of the M1: native applications on a mobile processor run almost twice as fast as previous versions on Intel processors. Here are the overall results of their July tests, which already speak volumes.


Let's go further. Apps optimized for Apple Silicone take full advantage of the M1's advanced features, such as video decoding, AI acceleration, encryption, and more. This allows, among other things, very fast processing of 4K video in Final Cut X (of course, only if it is in a suitable format). When exporting an 8K video to Final Cut Pro, the M1 outperformed and destroyed last year's Intel MacBook Pro 13, but at the same time lost out to last year's MacBook Pro and desktop Mac.


And here are the results of the render tests from DPReview. Out of curiosity, they compared the iMac on the M1 to the Core i7-based MacBook Pro in both Final Cut and Premiere Pro. To heighten interest, the Razer Blade 15 Advanced flagship laptop with a Core i7-10875H processor and an Nvidia RTX 3080 video card was added to the comparison cauldron. As you can see, all the data from synthetic benchmarks and other tests, plus or minus, coincide: one and a half to two times faster than fellows based on Intel.


Another interesting test that demonstrates the difference between M1 and Intel Core was the measurement of the speed of unpacking archives. As you can see, depending on the processor model, the old MacBook and iMac also showed a lag behind the M1 by 1.5 - 2 times.


It was interesting to drive the M1 in the field of audio work, as we heard a lot of compliments about him from sound engineers and producers. Studio One from Presonus was one of the first digital radios with native M1 support, so the tests were carried out in it. And the well-known virtual synthesizer U-He Diva, which brings far from the weakest computers to its knees, has become a yardstick. In our measurements, a MacBook Air with an M1 processor on board was able to run 36 instances of this synthesizer, while a MacBook Air with a 6-core Core i7 stalled at 22 versions. After that, we had to increase the audio buffer to 512 samples. The M1 has been running with a 64 sample buffer all this time.

Has a bright future finally arrived?


Despite all the coolness and promise of Apple's SoC, you can not get around the cons. In our opinion, the main fly in the ointment in this barrel is the very nature of the all-in-one processor. The RAM soldered on the substrate limits both the choice of the desired volume and further upgrade prospects. At the presentation, Apple announced laptops and PCs with only 8 or 16 GB of RAM, and such volumes are unlikely to suit owners of serious workstations. And throwing an additional bar into a free slot in this case will not work. Hopefully, the Cupertino giant will provide more wiggle room for 2021 models.

Also, M1 cannot yet run Windows and they do not support external video cards.

The Future of SoCs and the Apple M2


Does all this mean that in the future people will walk around with light, powerful and silent MacBooks? It is unlikely. It's important to understand the context here. Now Apple is outperforming AMD and especially Intel due to the novelty of the technical process, the increased volume of transistors and small tricks with the architecture. And while it is not entirely clear whether this will be the beginning of a protracted war or Apple, after a couple of title fights, will immediately take the championship for itself? On the one hand, AMD and Intel can try to uncover all the tools and not restrain themselves in anything. On the other hand, the M1 was just a test of the pen and who knows what the upcoming M1X or M2 will turn out to be. Therefore, most users are not yet in a hurry to change to new Macs. Some are waiting for prices to fall, others are hesitant to move all their work to a new platform, and still others are stocking up on popcorn and rooting for a good fight.

Update: At the moment, many software giants have implemented native support for the M1 chip. Just the other day, this was announced by Ableton, the company responsible for the release of the popular DAW Ableton Live. At the link (https://isapplesiliconready.com/en/for/m1) you can see the list of already adapted applications, as well as find out which of them are in the process of being transferred.