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Tag: M2

  • Linus Torvalds Is Using an M2 MacBook Air

    Linus Torvalds Is Using an M2 MacBook Air

    Linus Torvalds is using an M2 MacBook Air, using the machine to push out the latest Linux kernel 5.19.

    The creator of Linux has been a long-time critic of Intel, making headlines when he switched to AMD because of Intel’s problems. Torvalds expressed interest in Apple’s M1 machines when they were first introduced, although he obviously wanted to run Linux on them rather than macOS.

    In the early days of the M1, it was impossible to install Linux natively, although the Asahi Project has been working to make that a reality. The project has had its work cut out trying to reverse engineer Apple’s custom silicon and create the necessary drivers to help Linux run on the chips.

    The project’s work has progressed enough that Linus is now using an M2 MacBook Air, at least part-time.

    “On a personal note, the most interesting part here is that I did the release (and am writing this) on an arm64 laptop,” Torvalds writes. “It’s something I’ve been waiting for for a loong time, and it’s finally reality, thanks to the Asahi team. We’ve had arm64 hardware around running Linux for a long time, but none of it has really been usable as a development platform until now.”

    He goes on to clarify he hasn’t started using the new machine for major work but will start using it more to help improve Linux on Arm processors, on which the M-series is based.

    “It’s the third time I’m using Apple hardware for Linux development – I did it many years ago for powerpc development on a ppc970 machine,” Linus continues. “And then a decade+ ago when the Macbook Air was the only real thin-and-lite around. And now as an arm64 platform.

    “Not that I’ve used it for any real work, I literally have only been doing test builds and boots and now the actual release tagging. But I’m trying to make sure that the next time I travel, I can travel with this as a laptop and finally dogfooding the arm64 side too.”

    While Torvalds doesn’t specifically say which model he’s using, the Asahi Project confirmed it is an M2 MacBook Air.

  • Some M2 MacBook Pros Have Slower SSDs Than M1 MacBooks

    Some M2 MacBook Pros Have Slower SSDs Than M1 MacBooks

    The Apple world is in a bit of an uproar after it was discovered the new M2 MacBook Pro has slower SSDs than its predecessor.

    Apple unveiled the M2 at WWDC 2022 in June. The new processor is the next generation of Appleā€™s custom silicon. While users are understandably excited about the performance gains the new processor brings, it seems some models may be held back by subpar SSD performance.

    According to The Mac Observer, reviewers started noticing that the base 256GB M2 MacBook Pro had read speeds roughly 50% slower than the M1, while write speeds were roughly 30% slower. This not only impacts the computerā€™s speed when reading and writing data but also when using drive space for swap when the OS uses drive space as virtual RAM. This can happen when the physical RAM is being heavily used and is a practice all modern systems employ. The faster the drive, the better the system can approximate real RAM, making a slower SSD a potentially significant bottleneck.

    According to YouTube channel Max Tech, the issue stems from the base model only using a single 256GB chip for the SSD instead of the two 128GB chips the M1 used. Using two chips allows them to operate in parallel, giving significant performance boosts.

    Interestingly, reviews of the 512GB model show comparable performance to the M1 MacBook Pro. This would seem to indicate the more expensive model uses two 256GB chips.

    Given Appleā€™s notoriously tight-lipped nature, the company has not commented on why it chose to include a single chip in the base M2 MacBook Pro instead of the superior dual-chip configuration. In all likelihood, however, the decision was probably made in response to the ongoing semiconductor shortage.

  • Apple Unveils Its Latest Custom Silicon, the 5nm M2

    Apple Unveils Its Latest Custom Silicon, the 5nm M2

    Apple started WWDC 2022 with a bang, unveiling the M2, its latest custom silicon built on 5nm technology.

    Apple’s M1 revolutionized the computing industry and revitalized its Mac business, delivering top-end performance at a fraction of the power consumption as traditional desktop processors. After transitioning its lineup from Intel to the M1, Apple is now building on that success with the next-generation M2.

    ā€œM2 starts the second generation of M-series chips and goes beyond the remarkable features of M1,ā€ said Johny Srouji, Appleā€™s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies. ā€œWith our relentless focus on power-efficient performance, M2 delivers a faster CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine. And along with higher memory bandwidth and new capabilities like ProRes acceleration, M2 continues the tremendous pace of innovation in Apple silicon for the Mac.ā€

    The M2 has 20 billion transistors, roughly 25% more than the original M1. As a result, the memory controller delivers 50% more unified memory bandwidth, coming in at 100GB/s. The new system-on-a-chip (SoC) comes with up to 24GB of RAM.

    Apple says the new chip is 18% faster in multithreaded performance than the M1 and provides nearly twice the performance of the latest 10-core PC laptop at similar power levels. Meanwhile, the M2 can match the performance of the PC chip while using 25% of the power.

    The M2’s GPU gets a significant upgrade, featuring up to 10 cores ā€” two more than the M1. The new GPU delivers up to 25% more graphics power than its predecessor using the same power, or 35% more at peak power.

    Samsung recently made headlines for wanting to create a “dream team” to deliver an answer to the M1 by 2025. Apple’s latest WWDC shows the inherent challenge in competing with its custom silicon, as the company is improving it at a rapid pace.

  • Intel Continues to Play From Behind Against Apple’s M1

    Intel Continues to Play From Behind Against Apple’s M1

    Intel has been ramping up its efforts to compete with the M1, but it’s still at least a year behind with little hope of catching up.

    Apple’s M1 chip took the computing world by storm. Based on the same designs that have been powering the iPhone and iPad for years, the M1 combined industry leading energy efficiency with performance that rivaled Intel’s best chips. The loss of Apple’s business was a major blow to Intel, and shone a spotlight on how much the company has struggled to make competitive mobile chips.

    According to 9to5Mac, a leaked Intel roadmap suggests the company may finally have an answer to the M1 in the form of its 15th-generation “Arrow Lake” processors. Intel evidently plans on using TSMC, the same company that produces Apple’s M1, to produce its 3nm Arrow Lake.

    Unfortunately for the company, its latest chip won’t actually hit the market until late 2023. By that time, it’s believed Apple will already be on its M2 chips. As a result, while the Arrow Lake will likely best the M1, by the time it shows up it won’t matter ā€” Apple will still be ahead of Intel.

    Intel is certainly making progress toward returning to its former glory, but its struggles to beat the M1 demonstrate it still has a ways to go.