At 1 am on October 19th, 2021, Apple held its second autumn conference. M1′ s advanced chips M1 Pro and M1 Max and the new Macbook Pro equipped with these two chips arrived as scheduled.
This conference lasted only 50 minutes, and it is also the shortest Apple conference so far. After this conference, the M1 chip, which was chased by numerous manufacturers, has since become Apple’s entry-level chip.
M1max-the strongest consumer-grade SoC chip on the surface
Both M1 Pro/Max chips adopt 5nm process technology. They are all 10-core CPU processors, consisting of 8 high-performance cores and 2 high-efficiency units.
The difference between M1 Pro and M1 Max lies in their GPU and memory capabilities. M1 Pro has a GPU with up to 16 cores, while Max has up to 32 graphics cores. In contrast, last year’s M1 had only eight GPU cores.
M1 Pro is equipped with unified memory of up to 32GB and bandwidth of 200 GB/s, while M1 Max doubles these two numbers to support unified memory of up to 64GB, while memory bandwidth reaches 400 GB/s.. It also means to some extent that the Macbook Pro will be a notebook computer with 64GB of video memory, which is enough to be called horror.
Compared with M1, M1 Pro/Max is more radical in the previous architecture, and the chip area is further expanded. The chip area of M1 Max is nearly the size of four "giant" M1 chips. M1 Pro has 33.7 billion transistors packaged, which is more than twice the number of transistors in M1, while M1 Max has 57 billion transistors integrated, which is 3.5 times more than M1.
The reason why we attach so much importance to the process technology is to accommodate more transistors under the premise of the same core area, so as to improve the performance. The premise that the core area remains unchanged is subject to many aspects such as architecture, cost and power consumption.
Therefore, under such conditions, it is more puzzling than performance improvement to see Apple reduce the power consumption of such a large area of chips again and keep the cost within the normal range.
Compared with other non-Apple PCs, the power consumption of Apple M series chips is more heterogeneous, which breaks the previous law that high performance must be high power consumption, and high performance can be achieved only by battery driving. Apple said that M1 Pro and M1 Max run 1.7 times faster than the latest 8-core PC notebook chip at the same power consumption level, but the power consumption required to reach their peak performance is 70% less.
M1 uses an 8-core CPU, and M1 Pro/Max are both 10-core CPU processors. Apple said that the CPU performance in M1 Pro and M1 Max is 70% faster than M1. Compared with the exaggerated performance of doubling or quadrupling the GPU, the 70% improvement is not so noticeable.
The "M" series of chips are tailor-made for mobile devices. At the press conference, Apple also kept emphasizing the concept of "professional notebook computer" and its energy consumption ratio.
The two-year Apple Silicon transition plan has been promoted for one year, and the variety of chips has also given Apple more room for product operation. At present, only two models, the 27-inch iMac and the Mac Pro, are absent from the Apple Silicon plan.
Only from the configuration of M1 Max, it is still difficult to meet the needs of Mac Pro. It is reasonable to believe that in 2022, when the transition plan of Apple Silicon expires, there will be a more top-class M-series chip for professional desktop office. Perhaps at that time, we can really put aside the shackles of power consumption and appear an Apple Silicon with extremely strong performance. Perhaps at that time, "M" will no longer be used to name new chips, but a new naming method that belongs to desktop office equipment alone.
Zhen ·Macbook Pro
When both iPad Pro and Mac mini use M1 chip, the Macbook Pro itself is not "Pro", and there are only two interfaces, so it is difficult to meet the professional demand. However, after the launch of the new Macbook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, users holding the M1 chip version of Macbook Pro are even more embarrassed.
This time, Apple introduced 14-inch and 16-inch versions of Macbook Pro, and both sizes can be equipped with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. At this point, the 13-inch M1 version of the Macbook Pro has become an entry-level model.
The most "Pro" performance this time is not the upgrade of the chip, but the richness of the interface. The new Macbook Pro has three Thunderbolt 4 interfaces, an HDMI interface, an SDXC card slot interface and an earphone interface.
Apple did not specify the specifications of HDMI. Judging from the fact that this HDMI interface only supports an external 4K 60Hz monitor, it is a little pity that its specification should be HDMI 2.0 instead of HDMI 2.1.
However, the flaws do not hide, and the richness of interfaces, especially the return of SDXC card slots, make the Macbook Pro worthy of the name. Finally, it is no longer necessary to carry an expansion dock at all times.
Of course, the upgrade of the chip also gives it a more professional video processing ability. In the past, M1 only supported the maximum memory size of 16GB, which was really stretched. This time, M1 Max was directly upgraded to 64GB, which was enough for mobile devices.
The interface has returned to the magnetic charging method, and MagSafe has returned to the MacBook Pro through the MagSafe 3 port. The fast charging function is also used for Mac for the first time, which can charge up to 50% of the power in 30 minutes.
In terms of battery life, the 14-inch model provides up to 17 hours of video playback, 7 hours more than the previous generation; The 16-inch model can play video for up to 21 hours, 10 hours more than the previous generation. Apple claims that this generation of Mac laptops has the longest battery life to date.
This time, there are two great changes in the appearance of Macbook series computers: one is that the screen has become "Liu Haiping" and the other is that the keyboard has become "blackened".
The screen adopts Mini-Led Liquid retina XDR display. Provides continuous full-screen brightness of up to 1000 nits and peak brightness of 1600 nits, with a contrast ratio of 1000000:1. At the same time, it supports ProMotion adaptive refresh rate technology, and the maximum screen refresh rate is 120Hz.
It is surprising that "Liu Haiping" is true, because there is only one 1080P camera in the "Liu Hai" area, which is not as full of sensor components as the iPhone. Therefore, it is difficult to understand why this bangs must exist. It seems that "digging screen" is more appropriate.
Of course, if the space on both sides of Liu Haiping is regarded as an "extra" display, it will feel much more acceptable.
The wonderful keyboard of the new MacBook Pro has become a black groove treated by double-layer anodizing, and the Touch Bar has been cancelled. Apple finally realized how chicken ribs such as Touch Bar are.
The focus of the conference is only the new chip and the new Macbook Pro, just as an appetizer, or there are other "irrelevant" products. For example, the HomePods mini, as the opening, just added some new color schemes.
There is also the third generation of AirPods, which has become a short handle design similar to AirPods Pro, and the same force sensor, which can be operated by pressing. Supporting spatial audio, adaptive EQ and other functions can be said that the functions of AirPods Pro except noise reduction are delegated to AirPods. For users who don’t have AirPods Pro, it is still worth upgrading and replacing.
In terms of price, the price of the new MacBook Pro starts from RMB 14,999 for 14 inches and RMB 18,999 for 16 inches. AirPods 3 is priced at RMB 1399. The price of HomePods mini remains unchanged at 749 yuan.
The whole press conference can be described as "quick and accurate" in three words. In just 50 minutes, the press conference left the three kings of M1 Pro, M1 Max and the new Macbook Pro. Consumers are very excited, but then those manufacturers who make PC chips may have a headache for some time, especially the former king.
Yesterday, the CEO also said in an interview that he wanted to win back Apple as a customer: "We must build better chips than them." On October 28th, Intel will release the 12th generation Core processor, so let’s wait and see …
In addition, the migration plan of Mac chips lasts for two years, so before the arrival of WWDC in June 2022, should M1 Pro Max (which I made up) for iMac Pro and Mac Pro also be unveiled?