mjtomlin

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mjtomlin
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  • Apple Silicon M2 vs M3 - looking at the future of the Mac

    mjtomlinmjtomlin
    I think there is a chance that they decide to choose an A17 chip design for M3. Seems like using A16 is too small of a performance jump unless Apple decides to make an A16.5 which would be like A16 but in 3nm who knows besides Apple

    The M1 debuted alongside the A14 and they both used the same cores and process node. The M2 used the "older" A15 cores (and same process node) because it was being fab'ed mid cycle.

    So if the M3 is being held up by the 3nm node and will debut after the A17, then more than likely they will both use the same generation cores. If that's the case, then that's a generational skip for the M-series and we should see fairly huge gains in Mac performance and efficiency.
    FileMakerFeller9secondkox2Alex1Nwatto_cobra

  • Why Apple uses integrated memory in Apple Silicon -- and why it's both good and bad

    mjtomlinmjtomlin
    melgross said:
    Ok, so the writer gets it wrong, as so many others have when it comes to the M series RAM packaging. One would think that’s this simple thing would be well understood by now. So let me make it very clear - the RAM is NOT on the chip. It is NOT “in the CPU itself”. As we should all know by now, it’s in two packages soldered to the substrate, which is the small board the the SoC is itself soldered to. The lines from Apple’s fabric, which everything on the chip is connected with, extend to that substrate, to the RAM chips. Therefore, the RAM chips are separate from the SoC, and certainly not in the CPU itself. As we also know, Apple offers several different levels of RAM for each M series they sell. That means that there is no limit to their ability to decide how much RAM they can offer, up to the number of memory lines that can be brought out. This is no different from any traditional computer. Every CPU and memory controller has a limit as to how much RAM can be used. So, it seems to me that Apple could, if it wanted to, have sockets for those RAM packages, which add no latency, and would allow exchangeable RAM packages. Apple would just have to extend the maximum number of memory lines out to the socket. How many would get used would depend on the amount of RAM in the package. That’s nothing new. That’s how it’s done. Yes, under that scheme you would have to remove a smaller RAM package when getting a larger one, but that's also normal. The iMac had limited RAM slots and we used to do that all the time. Apple could also add an extra two sockets, in addition to the RAM that comes with the machine. So possibly there would be two packages soldered to the substrate, and two more sockets for RAM expansion. Remember that Apple sometimes does something a specific way, not because that’s the way it has to be done, but because they decided that this was the way they were going to do it. We don’t know where Apple is going with this in the future. It’s possible that the M2, which is really just a bump from the M1, is something to fill in the time while we’re waiting for the M3, which with the 3nm process it’s being built on, is expected to be more than just another bump in performance. Perhaps an extended RAM capability is part of that.

    Yes. It is common knowledge that RAM is not part of the actual SoC, it's on package with the SoC. People use the term "SoC" to describe the whole part ("M1", "M2") which includes the RAM.

    Being able to control how much RAM is installed allows Apple to guarantee that all memory channels are filled and being utilized, maximizing performance.
    Alex1Nwilliamlondonkillroywatto_cobra

  • Apple's mixed reality headset could be what the entire AR/VR market needs to succeed

    mjtomlinmjtomlin
    9secondkox2 said:
    VR has been a niche ever since the Virtual Boy. It's just not that big a deal.  AR is another thing and is just as well done on our phone, etc. The only better option would be glasses and people aren't really into being surveilled so easily. 

    In this day and age people are constantly being surveilled by mobile phones, security cameras, doorbells, dash cams, go pros, drones, etc.

    If anyone would/could create a pair of A/R glasses that actually respected privacy, it would be Apple. Hell, even their "mapping" cars blanked out peoples faces from the start.
    9secondkox2watto_cobrabyronl

  • iPhone 15 Pro will have blistering performance, claims leaked benchmarks

    mjtomlinmjtomlin
    Rogue01 said:
    Don't know what version of Geekbench they are running, but Geekbench 5 for the iPhone 13 Pro is 1,745 for Single-Core and 4,796 for Multi-Core.  So if that is a newer version of Geekbench, they changed the scale to give it higher numbers, as they claim the 13 Pro is 2,260 and 5,427.

    Downloaded Geekbench 6 and my iPhone 13 Pro is now 2,275 for single, and 5,536 for multi.  Wonder why they changed the scale to make the numbers higher, when version 4 to 5 actually adjusted the scale for lower numbers.

    Scale reflects what the new base system (Intel Core i7-12700) is as compared to the previous base system. They may have made the new baseline score higher (2500) to keep older scores more consistent, so the previous base system which was a Core i3 had a baseline score of 1000... and probably stills scores in that area under this new scale.
    FileMakerFellerwatto_cobra

  • New 24-inch iMac in production testing, but won't ship until late 2023

    mjtomlinmjtomlin
    It's been two years since the M1 iMac debuted, so it is due for an update. And it doesn't make sense to wait for the M3. So I would expect it soon.

    As far as a large iMac... I'd like to think they're waiting to see how sales of the Mac Studio and Studio Display play out, before they release another larger iMac. It could also be that they're also waiting for the right SoC, maybe an M3 Pro and M3 Max, just as they waited for the M2 Pro to finally update the higher-end Mac mini.
    baconstang