All you need to know about Apple M1 chip used in MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13

M1 is the very first of the Apple Silicon lineup that is designed from the start to deliver a collection of benefits such as power and efficiency gains, robust built-in GPU, unified memory, AI enhancement, longer battery life and much more.

What is the M1 chip?

The M1 is the first Apple chip exclusively designed for Apple devices, namely those running new MacOS, Big Sur. As Apple claims, the new chip is redesigned from every start to meet the requirements of Apple Macs. That makes the M1 chip super power-efficient while delivering the best performance. For that, Apple devised a new custom System-On-Chip (SOC) based on ARM architecture, which usually powers devices such as the iPhone or iPad.
Sine 2006, all Macs came with Intel chipset, Switching from Intel to ARM is a revolutionary change that allows Apple to produce top performance silicon with the minimum power consumption. This is a giant leap for Apple that transformed the MacBook to a new class of production.

M1 Advantage: Maximum Power and Efficiency

The M1 chipset includes 8 CPU cores with two types of cores: High-Performance and High Efficiency, each calibrated for different device operating mode.
With maximum efficiency in mind, these cores are designed to be able handling large blocks of data which allows your system to run smoothly when used far from the maximum load. For example, when you are watching videos, surfacing Internet or typing, the high-efficiency cores in the chipset are responsible to arrange everything needed for an excellent user experience.
In this mode, the system assigns a large workload to each efficiency core and, thanks to the dedicated design and excellent integration to the operating system, CPU power is one-tenth of the normal operation.

When running a heavy task, the system switches to the high-performance mode in which four high-performance cores designed for delivering the best performance take the control. Ultra-fast cores create a better user-experience during demanding tasks like gaming. Once the task is finished, the CPU activated the power efficiency cores again.
That the way Apple used to combine saving power with the fastest CPU core that, according to Apple, is second to none in the industry.

M1 Advantage: Best CPU Performance per Watt

The biggest tangible benefit of the M1 chip is efficient power consumption. The power efficiency of the new dedicated chip is about twice the previous silicons. In other words, the M1 consumes only half power compared to other desktop chips. Therefore you expect that the battery life of MacBook featuring M1 chip would be around twice the older generation.

As Apple claims, Combination of four high-performance cores with four high-efficiency cores as well as well-integration with Big Sur MacOS makes MacBook Pro with the M1 the most energy-efficient of any PC. At the normal thermal condition of MacBook Air, M1 provides up to about 2X better CPU performance while using only 25% of the power needed for cutting-edge laptop chips.

Only by looking at these number, you can see that M1 delivers the best performance per Watt among laptop chips and, in the terms of power saving, it stands far ahead of the pack.

M1 Advantage: 5-Nano-Meter Technology

M1 is the very first PC chip to use the cutting-edge 5-Nano-Meter technology that packs in an astonishing 12 billion transistors, the most a PC chip forever has. This miniaturisation resulted in a profound improvement in both performance and efficiency, or as Apple itself put it, created a giant leap for a small chip.

M1 Advantage: Unified Memory

Unlike the traditional architecture in that came with two types of memory; one for CPU access (RAM) and another dedicated to graphics (VRAM), Unified Memory concept attempts to bridge the gaps between two. The reason is that PUs now being used for a lot more than driving the display and dedicated VRAM is no more enough for modern applications.
With Unified Memory architecture, CPU and GPU can use system memory at the same time. That offers many advantages for newer systems, namely System On Chip (SoC) that pack all features in a single chip, a field that Apple is one of the leaders.

Utilising Unified Memory removes the unwanted overhead of moving data between RAM and Video RAM. Besides, GPUs can use local system memory rather than dedicated more expensive memory. For example, when you connect your PC to a bigger display with Unfired Memory technology you don't need to worry about buying a new GPU because GPU automatically takes a bigger share of the unified memory.
The M1 SoC features Unified Memory, which means an improved user experience through reduced memory latency paired with improved graphic performance.

M1 Advantage: Unrivalled CPU Integrated Graphics

M1 SoC is shoehorned with a powerful 8 core GPU with raw outputs of around 2.6 teraflops. That's slightly better than two-years-old midrange GPUs such as NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti featuring 2.1 teraflops graphic processing power.
However, GPU power is not always the best way to compare graphic models. In the real world, M1 integrated GPU's performance is 2X better than top pc chips but in consumes only one-third of the power. That why Apple claimed that the M1 should be crowned as world's fastest integrated graphics in a personal computer.

M1 Advantage: Optimised for AI

Thanks to the promising the 16 cores built-in Neural Engine, MacBook users now can use their mobile device for Artificial and Machine Learning tasks such as face recognition, Video analysis or image processing.
The neural engine includes in M1 is the most advanced AI unit forever found in an SoC. It's capable of executing 11 teraflops. In the real world, some apps that take the advantages of the technology will function better and faster. For example, applications can use Neural Engine to scan images and videos for objects more quickly.

Benchmarks of M1 Chip

Benchmarks revealed that Apple M1 not only outclasses all MacBooks in the MacBook line up but also most advanced desktop chips in the market. Here are the benchmarks results for M1 chip and Intel chips used in Macs.
In single-core performance, M1 defeats other Macs in the line up with a distance and while ranking very good in the multicore benchmark the new Apple SoC didn't get the best score for multi-core performance.

Macs Shipped with M1 Chip

MacBook Air is the most popular, and in many cases, the most cost-effective laptop in the Apple products. Besides, it usually receives hardware and software update quickly. So, it should be no surprise that the new MacBook Air, sold from $999, comes with M1 chip. Other Macs that use the advantages of Apple's new chipset are:
MacBook Pro 13-inch (from $1,299)
Mac mini (from $699)
M1 chip, the Recently announced SoC CPU for Macs, offers such improvements over the other chips found in PC that should be considered as a new generation of desktop chips. It jammed unparalleled performance, efficiency, astounding Graphics, innovative features and much more in a tiny chip. But, As the experts expect, M1 is the just beginning and more powerful Apple Silicon is on the way!