“Apple M1 tries to overturn CPU common sense”

In November 2020, Apple’s first Mac SoC, the M1, appeared. The M1 chip is also installed in the new iMacs and iPad Pros announced in April 2021. It is pointed out that the remarkable point of this M1 chip is its ability to cover a wide range of price points.

The iMac, which was announced in April 2021, achieved miniaturization of logic boards and power efficiency, reduced waste heat engines, and realized the thinnest 11.5mm enclosure to date with the M1 chip. The new iMac is available in three models: $1,299, $1,499, and $1,699. In addition to these three models, the $799 iPad Pro and the $699 Mac Mini released in November 2020 also have M1 chips. In this respect, what is noteworthy about the M1 chip is that it can cover a wide range of price points.

PCs with x86 CPUs had different CPUs at different prices. The reason is that users expect high-end model PCs to be equipped with high-end CPUs, and Intel and AMD have been in business for years to benefit from the fantasy that CPUs make PC specifications. Even though CPU performance improvement has slowed, it is still pointed out that the x86 CPU cannot achieve power consumption and performance covering a wide range of price points, besides this customary matter of designing CPUs according to price to maintain profits.

In x86 CPUs, power consumption and performance are a trade-off. However, the Apple M1 chip has 8 cores, each of four high-performance cores, Firestorm and high-efficiency cores, Icestorm. It covers all PCs in the price range. It is also said that the slowing of CPU performance gains has led to lower CPU minimum requirements.

As mentioned above, there are several models for x86 CPUs, even for Ryzen 7 and Core i9. However, as Apple is in a position to challenge the M1 chip in this situation, it is pointed out that AMD and Intel will somehow have to justify the situation where there are multiple models. Apple is trying to break the common sense that when PC prices change, the CPU also changes.

Strictly speaking, there are two models of a 7-core GPU and an 8-core GPU in the M1 chip, and the current M1 chip seems to be insufficient for the Mac Pro, the top model of Apple, so the upcoming Mac Pro will have 8 to 32 cores. High-end M1 chips are expected to be installed. With the advent of this high-end M1 chip, there may be several models in the general sense of the M1 chip, but even if there are only three models. Related information can be found here.