Apple has officially completed and launched the dynamic M1 Chip and has added it to three of its newest generation Mac products. The M1 Chip is Mac’s first system-on-a-chip, or SoC, which means functions like CPU and security are all integrated into the same chip and run more efficiently. The new MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini will all see CPU, GPU, and SSD performance upgrades with the new addition.
Apple M1 Chip Features:
- 8-core CPU (four high-efficiency cores and four high-performance cores)
- Apple’s most advanced GPU with 2.6 teraflops of throughput
- Apple Neural Engine for machine learning
- Mac’s first system-on-a-chip (SoC)
Upgraded CPU
The innovative M1 chip for Macs greatly increases CPU power. The new chip is the “world’s fastest CPU core in low-power silicon” and the “world’s best CPU performance per watt” according to Apple. It’s designed with eight cores — four high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. The high-performance cores can quickly handle single-threaded tasks individually or combine to enhance multithreaded performance. Whether you’re a photographer editing images or a developer constructing applications, you can work up to three times faster.
The high-efficiency cores run lightweight tasks such as internet browsing and emailing at a tenth of the power. On their own, these four cores are similar in power to the current dual-core MacBook Air. Of course, all eight cores can work together to take on more demanding tasks like video editing and music producing.
Enhanced GPU and Neural Engine
The GPU within the new M1 chip has up to eight cores that can run up to 25,000 threads. Users will notice improved 3D rendering, 4K streaming, and more. Apple notes it’s the ”fastest integrated graphics in a personal computer” with 2.6 teraflops of throughput. Users should expect up to 6x faster GPU performance with the new M1 chip.
The M1 chip also introduces Apple’s Neural Engine to Mac. The Neural Engine is capable of 11 trillion operations a second and increases machine learning by 15 times. This translates into upgraded performance in things like image processing, voice recognition, and video analysis.
MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini powered by M1
Apple is quickly dropping the powerful M1 chip into some of its most popular Mac products including the new Macbook Air, Macbook Pro, and Mac Mini.
The MacBook Air is Apple’s most popular Mac, as well as the most popular 13-inch notebook in the world. The new MacBook Air with the M1 chip has 3.5x increased CPU performance, 5x increased GPU performance, and 2x increased SSD performance. Users can expect to export videos from iMovie 3x faster and add 3D graphics to projects in Final Cut 5x faster.
The MacBook Pro is Apple’s most robust laptop and it just got all the more productive. With the M1 Chip, the MacBook Pro is 2.8x faster than its previous generation. Creators will enjoy assembling code 2.8x faster in Xcode and playing back 8K footage in DaVinci Resolve with no issues.
Lastly, the compact Mac Mini shows 6x faster GPU performance and 15x faster machine learning with the new M1 Chip. Thanks to the M1 Chip, creators can render Final Cut timelines up to 6x faster and use 3x as many plugins while producing in Logic Pro on the Mac Mini.
Learn more about the new chip, and shop the next-generation Mac products here.
Feature image via Apple
