The computer industry is having a moment right now. And somewhere the ghost of Steve Jobs is giggling his ass off. Apple has changed the game once again and we’re just now, very slowly, beginning to realize what they have done.
Tech watchers took note of the news that Apple was going to transition all of its Macintosh computers away from the Intel microprocessors it had been using for the last 15 years and onto its own homegrown chips. Most knew that Apple had been designing its own silicon for years–they’ve been powering iPhones and iPads with them for a decade. And most of us, myself included, thought “Hm. iPhone brain in a computer? Neat.”
And then, last November, when Apple introduced the first Macs with the new “M1” system on-a-chip (SoC), we stared, we blinked, we asked ourselves what was happening. Their claims were big–but there’s nothing unusual about that, right? Apple loves them some product hype. Then the first reviews and benchmarks started coming out.
I read a review. Then I read another. I watched some YouTube videos on the subject. Apple’s first M1-powered computers were replacements for their least powerful models: the Mac mini, the MacBook Air, and the entry level MacBook Pro. These are the computers you buy when you want something inexpensive, or lightweight, or battery-friendly. You understand that you won’t be getting screaming performance out of them. That is the tradeoff. As John Gruber recently put it: “We knew this to be true: Computers could run fast and hot, or slow and cool.” Thus it has always been and so it shall always be.
Except now it isn’t. These new pipsqueak Macs are doing the impossible. Without getting too into the weeds, their single-core benchmarks are head and shoulders above every Mac ever made–including all of the “pro” desktop workstations made with Intel’s i9 and Xeon processors. Their multi-core performance is just below the Intel Xeon W-2140B server-class chip. This is the kind of thing I go back to look at over and over again just to make sure I understood correctly. Can this really be true? Yes. Yes, it can.
Crazy, right? But it gets way crazier. They are getting this performance while running ice cold and just sipping battery juice. Take the new Air. It is getting this unheard of performance while almost doubling its battery life. It is also doing it with no fan. It’s just not…right. (And it’s also why I just ordered one.) I mean, is physics even still a thing now?
So now we are holding our collective breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop. What will we see when their more powerful mid-range desktops get Apple silicon? Are we going to see a $1,100 iMac crush professional workstations costing thousands more? Because that’s where the trajectory is pointing. Then take a seat before you consider this: What happens when they transition their pro models?
We will find out over the course of the next year and a half or so as these new models are introduced. We will also find out how the rest of the industry will respond to these developments. It’s not at all clear to me what companies like Intel and AMD will do to compete–or if they even can. A lot of what Apple has achieved here has to do with the fact that their silicon division only has one customer: themselves. Other chip-makers are in a very different position and may not be able to replicate this performance jump with their current business models.
Get the popcorn and hold onto your seats. Things are going to get very interesting.