Apple’s latest refinement – ARM processor aka The M1 chip.
Apple has done it again. With an adventurous move of displacing the Intel chip legacy around which it built its computers for many years, with it’s homegrown M1 chip, Apple has once again changed the computer industry.
ARM processors – A fundamental deviation
The x86 Intel chips have powered Apple devices since 2006 and also helped Apple’s devices achieve an apex position that we have been witness to over the years. In 2020, Apple announced a departure in it’s chip philosophy, stating that, come 2021, it would begin the process wherein it would introduce it’s own line of intelligent ARM processors – the M1 series of chips, which it did in November 2020, starting with the MacBooks. The transition continued with the release of the M1 MacBook Air, iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini in 2021.
The jettisoning of Intel chips is prompted by Apple’s emerging philosophy of travelling a customised path. This path would assure it class-leading performance, supported by upscaled power efficiency. The departure from Intel chips is based on solid ground. Apart from adopting the ARM-based architecture more inclusively and widely, Apple intends to make it’s ecosystem more self-catering and reliable. This move is primarily to establish a more agile upgrading program as well as to accommodate it’s development and release timelines. This new approach that is a self-accommodating process, gives it control over it’s execution. It also helps with integrating the ARM-based chip expansion plans.
ARM-based M1 processors offer higher efficiency and performance
Apple’s shift from the Intel x86 chips to it’s own M1 track is an endeavour to provide greater efficiency and speed. This upscaling specifically and pointedly arises from the chip’s ability to accord higher power to productivity tasks that need to be accomplished quickly, selectively leaving simpler tasks like web browsing with low power draws. Simply put, the high power cores respond to the more urgent and intense single-threaded tasks whereas, the high-efficiency cores favour simpler tasks. This arrangement of preferential power allocation results in optimal power utilisation which keeps heating under control, leading to higher all-round chip performance.
ARM processors were basically designed for multi-processoring systems that would have more than one processor to process information.
If you have been eyeing the MacBook Air but were waiting for some encouragement, your wistful wait has gotten shorter. The revolutionary M1 chip elevates it closer to the MacBook Pro. The super M1 chip instils a breath of fresh air and a deserving thrust to MacBooks, making them more eligible with a noticeable performance shift.
The new Apple Silicon chip is a structural reorganisation
The M1 or Apple silicon chip, is a SOC – Systems on a chip that integrates critical peripheral components on a common platform. Components, including the GPU, are able to access a common pool of memory instead of reaching out to distinct, separate locations. The swappable, unified memory provides a significant performance boost. Peripherals that are part of the SOC are the unified RAM, SSD controller, image signal processor, Secure enclave, the GPU, the 16-core neural engine and encode processor. The powerful M1 lineup includes the M1, M1 Pro, and the M1 Max which are 8-core and 10-core systems. The M1 Pro comes packed with a GPU that has up to 16 cores, while the premium M1 Max boosts graphics performance with a 32-core GPU.
A fruitful switch?
The switch to in-house design activity from an Intel dependent approach has certainly boosted Apple’s traditional penchant to provide top-notch and class-leading computing devices. The highly advanced power management profile created by the M1 processors enables the M1 powered MacBooks and other devices to deliver a whole new level of performance. The newfound intra process cohesion is shall keep the Apple design team on track to maintaining it’s apex position.
Advantages of M1 chips at a glance
- Apple M1 chips provide an elevated performance due to it’s SOC philosophy owing to the integration of components such as CPU, GPU, unified RAM and, encode processor, SSD controller, and so on.
- The M1 chips are faster than any other previously released Apple chips, which simply means greater efficiency and speed.
- The M1 chips provide exceptional battery life by way of a significant jump in power efficiency benefits over it’s earlier chip design.
- The unified RAM enables easier and quicker access to data resulting in more efficient and quicker processing.
- The system is more steady, seamless, and noiseless with the fans, particularly, functioning more smoothly and noiselessly.
- Since, Apple’s smartphones already enjoy the ARM-based architecture, adopting the same across MacBooks and other Apple devices will provide more seamless integration of software and apps across it’s ecosystem. This will provide a common platform for faster and greater assimilation of software and hardware makeovers, providing greater productivity to end-users.
- M1 chips offer much greater machine learning ability.
Conclusion
The sea change made by Apple is a culmination of a long thought out process that Apple began a few years ago. The switch in technology certainly has been successful. This is evident from the performance gains owing to a number of factors, not the least, Apple’s newfound, remarkable power efficiency. It seems that this move will assist in reversing the steady decline in Apple’s PC shipments. Going by recent numbers, the aggressive investment in Apple’s adoption and consolidation of the ARM-based architecture seems to be paying dividends for the Apple ecosystem.
