ऐसा पहली बार नहीं है कि Apple ने अपने कंप्यूटर द्वारा उपयोग की जाने वाली मूलभूत तकनीक को पूरी तरह से बदल दिया है। यह तब हुआ जब 1995 में कंपनी मोटोरोला सीपीयू से आईबीएम पावरपीसी में स्थानांतरित हो गई। फिर जब उन्होंने 2006 में इंटेल में बदलाव किया। अब हमारे पास ऐप्पल के एआरएम-आधारित एम 1 चिप का उपयोग कर तीन नए मैक हैं।
यह एक iPad-व्युत्पन्न CPU है जिसकी तुलना Intel Core i7 से की जा रही है। क्या Apple M1 बनाम Intel Core i7 का विचार भी समझ में आता है? यदि आप एक नए प्रदर्शन-केंद्रित मैक के लिए बाज़ार में हैं, तो पढ़ें और हम इसे आपके लिए पूरी तरह से तोड़ देंगे।
M1 में क्या खास है?
M1 चिप को "Apple सिलिकॉन" कहा जाता है। दूसरे शब्दों में, यह एक कस्टम माइक्रोप्रोसेसर है जिसे Apple ने इन-हाउस डिज़ाइन किया है। यह एआरएम निर्देश सेट का उपयोग करता है, जो कि अधिकांश मोबाइल फोन और टैबलेट का उपयोग करता है। यह इंटेल x86 निर्देश सेट के विपरीत है, जिसका उपयोग दुनिया के अधिकांश डेस्कटॉप और लैपटॉप कंप्यूटर करते हैं।
Apple के ARM चिप्स कई कारणों से खास हैं। सबसे पहले, वे अधिकांश मोबाइल एआरएम सीपीयू की तुलना में बड़े और अधिक जटिल हैं। वे सीपीयू, कैशे, रैम और जीपीयू सहित पूरे सिस्टम को कसकर एकीकृत करते हैं।
इन चिप्स को Apple के iOS और ARM-आधारित macOS सॉफ़्टवेयर को यथासंभव कुशलता से चलाने के लिए भी डिज़ाइन किया गया है। यह ग्राउंड-अप, इन-हाउस डिज़ाइन अविश्वसनीय प्रदर्शन का वादा करता है। कम से कम आदर्श परिस्थितियों में। तो सवाल यह है:आम पेशेवर उच्च-प्रदर्शन वाले चिप्स की तुलना में Apple M1 कितना तेज़ है? CPU जैसे Intel Core i7?
हां, M1 इंटेल i7 (और i9!) को मात दे रहा है।
M1 MacBook Air, Macbook Pro, और Mac Mini लेखन के समय केवल प्री-ऑर्डर के लिए उपलब्ध हैं। हालाँकि, मीडिया के कुछ सदस्यों के पास इकाइयाँ हैं। कोर i7-1165G7 जैसे चिप्स के खिलाफ M1 को खड़ा करने वाले कुछ लीक बेंचमार्क भी हैं।
बेंचमार्क में सिनेबेंच R23 और गीकबेंच शामिल हैं। ये ऐसे प्रोग्राम हैं जो विभिन्न CPU आर्किटेक्चर और निर्देश सेट में प्रदर्शन का परीक्षण कर सकते हैं। चूंकि इस बेंचमार्क के विभिन्न संस्करण सीपीयू को एक ही कार्यभार के साथ प्रस्तुत करते हैं, वे सीपीयू की कार्य करने की वास्तविक क्षमता का प्रतिनिधित्व करते हैं।
Techradar के एक लेख के अनुसार, लीक हुए परिणाम मैकबुक प्रो 13 में M1 को सिनेबेंच R23 में सिंगल-कोर टेस्ट के लिए 1498 अंक दिखाते हैं। कोर i7-1165G7 ने तुलना में 1382 अंक बनाए। The M1 is also slightly ahead in the multi-core test.
Even more impressive, Apple Insider reports that the M1 is outperforming the Core i9 in the recent MacBook Pro 16. At least when it comes to Geekbench scores. However, keep in mind that a Macbook Pro 16 costs thousands of dollars!
The bottom line is that anyone concerned about raw performance when it comes to these new Macs doesn’t have anything to worry about. They are a clear step above (or at least equal to) anything Apple has ever released.
The M1 Is About More Than Performance
Performance is only a part of the equation when it comes to the M1. Apple computers such as the Macbooks have been struggling with high power consumption and hot CPU temperatures for years now. Intel has failed to deliver cooler, more power-efficient chips. This leads to performance throttling.
The M1 addresses both of these issues. ARM processors are designed to do more work with less power. Which translates to longer battery life and less heat. The M1 is so good at this that Apple has not put any fans on the M1 Macbook Air at all. This means its name is now just a little ironic.
With a much longer battery life, the mobile usability of these new Macbooks is increased by a large margin. That means you make no sacrifices in raw performance and get longer battery life. Seems like a pretty good deal, right?
It’s also worth noting that the M1 Macbook Air, despite having the same chip as the Pro, won’t perform to the same level. That’s thanks to the passive cooling solution Apple is using. This restricts how hard the M1 can push itself. So don’t expect the M1 in the Air to be as fast as an air-cooled i7 processor running a sustained load!
M1 vs Intel i7:It’s Complicated
Here is where the good news becomes a little less rosy. The M1 is a fast and power-efficient chip. However, Apple has to run computer code designed for Intel chips through a complex translation system called Rosetta 2.
While this allows M1 Macs to run any software designed for Intel Macs, it comes with a performance penalty. For some programs, the reduced performance doesn’t make a difference in any practical sense. For others, it might be a problem. The issue is that there’s no way to know how well or poorly x86 software will perform on an ARM Mac until someone tests it.
Software Support Matters
That brings us to software support for M1 Apple computers. Apple itself provides native, full-performance versions of all its software for the M1. As you can imagine, creative and productivity applications that current Mac users rely on are also being ported to work natively on the M1. How quickly your mission-critical macOS apps will be translated to M1-compatible code depends on each developer.
It also depends on the complexity of the program in question. Some companies have a head start. For example, Adobe has already ported the core code for PhotoShop to ARM for iOS.
Speaking of which, iOS apps will run natively on M1-equipped Macs. Giving you access to the iPad and iPhone software libraries. That’s another bonus to consider when weighing an M1 Mac as a total package.
In the end, a computer that runs the software you need poorly isn’t very useful. No matter how good it looks on paper.
Should You Buy an M1 Computer?
The big question is whether you should jump in and order an M1 Mac to replace your current unit. In the case of the Mac Mini, we would say the answer is generally “no” right now. The M1 Mac Mini can’t be upgraded, has a slower network connection than the old model, and is less attractive as an overall package.
With the M1 Macbooks, things get more interesting. Both the M1 Macbook Air and M1 Macbook Pro 13 laptops are physically almost identical to the Intel-based models. They will run all of the same software as the Intel models, as well as iOS apps and (obviously) M1-native applications. Their battery life has improved massively and their performance with native code is significantly higher than the same Intel-version apps running on Intel Macbook models.
They do take a variable performance hit when running through Rosetta 2, but in many cases, this makes them no slower than the Intel Macbooks running those same apps natively.
Overall, it seems that most users would appreciate the quality of life and performance improvements of the M1 Macbooks. However, there are certain situations in which you should think twice:
- Specific applications you need run poorly via Rosetta.
- You wish to use Boot Camp to run Windows on your Mac.
Other than that, it’s a fairly safe move as far as we can tell. Apple Silicon is the future of Mac. The only other caveat is that these first-generation M1 Macs are likely to be replaced with better implementations of the technology soon. So if you aren’t due for an upgrade, your current Macs will be just fine in the meantime.