Apple M1 chip for the Mac announced:

Apple announced three new Mac models on Tuesday but there is one thing common among all of them: the M1 chip. The move, a big blow for Intel, marks the beginning of a new era for the PC market. For the first time, Apple is using an ARM-powered processor to power its most popular Macs: a MacBook Air, a 13-inch MacBook Pro and a Mac Mini. That means that your next Mac computer will have Apple’s custom M1 chip and not an Intel Core processor inside. But what is the M1 chip and what made Apple ditch Intel for its own silicon in the future Macs?

Apple macbook bro launched with first time apples own cpu (apple m1)

What is the Apple M1 chip?

The Apple M1 is an 8-core SoC (System-on-Chip) chip based on 5-nanometer architecture and comprises of 16 billion transistors. Simply put, this SoC handles all the computing tasks as well as graphical output. There are four performance cores and four efficiency cores in the CPU. Apple says it has the highest CPU performance per watt, and the four efficiency cores match the performance of a dual-core MacBook Air while consuming much less power. This means that a Mac powered by the M1 chip will have better power efficiency and longer battery life.

Is the M1 chip powerful enough to outrank processors used in previous Macs?

Apple says the M1 delivers “up to 3.5x faster CPU performance, up to 6x faster GPU performance, and up to 15x faster machine learning” with up to double the battery life.  For example, Apple says apps like Garage Band can handle three times more instruments and effect plugins, while Final Cut Pro can render complex timelines up to six-times faster.

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Neural Engine

The M1 chip also brings Apple’s industry-leading Neural Engine to the Mac for the first time. The M1 Neural Engine features a 16-core design that can perform 11 trillion operations per second. Apple has used the Neural Engine in the iPhone and iPad since the A11 processor was introduced in 2017.

What kind of improvements can you expect with the Neural Engine? Think of the Neural Engine as something designed specifically for machine learning tasks. This includes things like video analysis, voice recognition, artificial intelligence, and much more.