Last year, Apple broke the monotony of dying increments on Intel’s computer grade processors and breathed a fresh air of life into us enthusiasts by launching the Apple M1 chipset. We were blown away by it! With the rumours for a successor, which apparently is in works getting stronger, let’s match some reasonable expectations from the new M1X chipset with what could be delivered in realilty.
M1X — The Apple 2nd Gen Apple Silicon?
The M1 chipset is ahead of the curve and with developers working towards upgrading their software, the deal’s only going to get sweeter. Despite this, we know that the M1 chipset has more potential and it is just matter of time that Apple taps into the potentials bringing out different derivatives of the processor to suit different needs.
For starters, Apple might bump up the cores, from M1’s eight-core configuration to a twelve core configuration for the M1X. Apple will probably also bump up up the graphic cores as well from eight to sixteen.
Another big claim that’s listed on CPU Monkey’s site, is the fact that the M1X will be even more efficient than the current-gen M1 chipset. The M1 Mac Mini maxes out at 39 Watts and a comparable Intel version does that in 122. With a 4 core gain, 45W maxed out limit sounds pretty sweet.
The 5nm chipset is predicted to clock 3.2GHz. We might see it come with 256 execution cores, up from 128. Data also suggests that M1X could be capable of powering 3 devices parallelly, one more than what the M1 does now.
Crunching some numbers — The M1X shows a Cinebench R23 score of 1514 (single-core) and 14450 (multi-core). Actual numbers might end up differing.
While, the benchmarks are earlier than even prototypes, its safe to say that we are looking at reasonable step up in both hardware and real world performance, at least from what Apple’s track records suggest.
M1 has taken it to a whole new level
Apple had got 3 basic pillars right with the M1 powered Macs and that’s exactly why people are loving it so far.
- Efficiency: The M1 powered MacBooks provide stellar battery performance. Apple’s fabled standby times on iPhones have made their way into the MacBooks and its a welcome upgrade. Battery life, in general, is reportedly very good, which is important as that is a key thing to consider when considering a portable computing device in the first place.
- Performance: Performance has seen a huge jump, especially when we look at similarly priced Intel-powered devices in Apple’s own line-up. The performance gains have come with good thermal managements with fan-less MacBook Air’s performing just as good at their bigger Intel-powered MacBook Pro models. In everyday usage, the M1 chips give the Mac devices to fly through tasks even with base 8GB RAM variants. With updates on applications coming to cater specially to M1 powered devices, the future of the devices looks really good.
Also Read: MacBook Air with M1 Chip Outperforms Top End Intel-powered 16-inch MacBook Pro
- Price: It’s difficult to say this but M1 powered Macs turn out to brilliant value propositions. Considering the price point at which the M1 Macs play, the kind of performance they offer is unbeatable. The entry-level M1 powered Mac mini and MacBook Air are in fact value for money products!
The M1X still is a far way from home, but Apple sure knows the potential and anticipation riding on their backs after the M1’s success.
It’s nice