The M1 advantage
In the past, Apple relied on Intel to provide the processor (and integrated graphics) of its computers. That all changed in 2020, however, when Apple unveiled its own Apple silicon M1 chip, which powered the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13-inch, along with the Mac mini (and later on, the redesigned 24-inch iMac).
While dropping Intel initially came as a bit of a shock, the move made a lot of sense, as Apple had been designing chips for the iPad and iPhone. By using that expertise to create silicon for its laptops and computers, Apple would have almost complete control over the hardware and software, enabling it to fine-tune both to maximise performance. Still, it was a gamble, but one that paid off, as the M1-powered Macs launched to rave reviews, with critics praising the performance of the devices, as well as battery life and thermal performance; essentially, the M1 chip runs cooler than Intel’s, enabling the MacBook Air to ditch its fans, making it silent in operation.
Apple also addressed people’s fears that a change of CPU architecture may mean their favourite apps no longer worked. While Apple updated its own apps to run natively on M1 hardware, rather than Intel, it also magicked up
Rosetta 2, which allowed Intel apps to run on M1 Macs pretty much flawlessly. Since its release, many app developers have ported their software to M1, with Rosetta 2 filling in the gaps to ensure that if you upgrade to an M1 Mac, you can be sure the software you rely on can come with you. There was also another advantage with Macs running on M1 hardware, as they could also run iOS apps designed for iPhones and iPads, giving M1 Mac owners access to a library of thousands of apps and games.
With the M1 being such a success, many were keen to see what Apple had planned – but even the most seasoned Cupertino watcher was surprised when
the company announced not one, but two follow-up chips. The M1 Pro and the M1 Max, evolutions of the M1 hardware, and both represented a huge leap in performance – and ambition – compared to Apple’s original chip.
Like the M1, both the M1 Pro and M1 Max are dual-chip silicon, which means they feature both a processor (CPU) and graphics (GPU). The M1 Pro is made up of 33.7 billion transistors – more than double that of the M1. The M1 Max, however, goes even further with 57 billion transistors – making it the largest chip Apple has ever made.
Graphical powerhouse
While the M1 Pro is a powerful chip, the M1 Max offers even greater performance – especially when it comes to graphical capability, with the GPU of the M1 Max offering 32 cores – double the amount that comes with the M1 Pro.
The GPU also comes with twice the execution units (4,096 vs 2,048) and twice the maximum concurrent threads (98,304 vs 49,512) compared to the M1 Pro. According to Apple, this translates to 10.4 teraflops of performance, compared to 5.2 teraflops of the M1 Pro. As we’ve seen in benchmarks provided by Apple, along with our own tests, the M1 Max offers a huge leap in performance for graphic-intensive tasks compared to the original M1, with the M1 Max’s 32-core GPU offers 13.4 times the render speed of a 4K scene in Final Cut Pro (the M1 Pro offers 9.2 times the render speed in the same test against the original M1).
The M1 Pro also offers 5.6 times faster combined vector and raster GPU performance in Affinity Photo, and up to 8.5 times faster with M1 Max (again, compared to the M1). The graphical advantage of the new chips from Apple isn’t only evident when comparing them to their predecessor – there’s also an impressive leap when compared to the previous MacBook Pro 16-inch model.
Launched in 2019, that MacBook Pro was at the time the most powerful laptop Apple had ever produced, powered by a then cutting edge ninthgen Intel Core processor, and AMD Radeon Pro 5000 graphics cards.
According to Apple, the M1 Pro MacBook Pro 16-inch offers 2.5 times the graphics performance of the older MacBook Pro 16-inch with an AMD Radeon Pro 5600M. A 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Max chip, however, offers four times the graphics performance of the older model.
Both sets of results are particularly impressive considering that the M1 Pro and M1 Max have integrated GPUs, which means the graphics processing unit is on the same chip as the CPU. So, for them to drastically outperform a laptop with a dedicated graphics card (which are often able to offer vastly superior performance to smaller, integrated GPUs), really highlights the benefits the new M1 chips offer for graphically-intensive tasks.