Apple M1
Apple M1 is a series of ARM-based system-on-a-chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc. as a central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) for its Mac desktops and notebooks, and the iPad Pro and iPad Air tablets.[7] The M1 chip initiated Apple's third change to the instruction set architecture used by Macintosh computers, switching from Intel to Apple silicon 14 years after they were switched from PowerPC to Intel, and 26 years after the transition from the original Motorola 68000 series to PowerPC. At the time of introduction in 2020, Apple said that the M1 had the world's fastest CPU core "in low power silicon" and the world's best CPU performance per watt.[7][8] Its successor, Apple M2, was announced on June 6, 2022, at Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
"M1 processor" redirects here. For the x86-based processor whose codename was "M1", see Cyrix 6x86.General information
M1: November 10, 2020[1]
M1 Pro and Max: October 18, 2021
M1 Ultra: March 8, 2022
June 5, 2023
3.2 GHz[1]
Performance cores
192+128 KB per core
Efficiency cores
128+64 KB per core
Performance Cores
M1: 12 MB
M1 Pro and M1 Max: 24 MB
M1 Ultra: 48 MB
Efficiency Cores
M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max: 4 MB
M1 Ultra: 8 MB
M1: 8 MB
M1 Pro: 24 MB
M1 Max: 48 MB
M1 Ultra: 96 MB
M1: Desktop (Mac Mini, iMac), notebook (MacBook family), tablet (iPad Pro and iPad Air)
M1 Pro: Notebook (MacBook Pro)
M1 Max: Notebook (MacBook Pro), desktop (Mac Studio)
'M1 Ultra: Desktop (Mac Studio)"Firestorm" and "Icestorm"[1]
- M1: 16 billion[6]
- M1 Pro: 33.7 billion
- M1 Max: 57 billion
- M1 Ultra: 114 billion
- M1: 8 (4× high-performance + 4× high-efficiency)
M1 Pro: 8 or 10 (6× or 8× high-performance + 2× high-efficiency)
M1 Max: 10 (8× high-performance + 2× high-efficiency)
M1 Ultra: 20 (16× high-performance + 4× high-efficiency)
Apple-designed integrated graphics
M1: 7- or 8-core GPU
M1 Pro: 14- or 16-core GPU
M1 Max: 24- or 32-core GPU
Intel Core and Apple T2 chip (Mac)
Apple A12Z (iPad Pro)
Apple A14 (iPad Air)
The original M1 chip was introduced in November 2020, and was followed by the professional-focused M1 Pro and M1 Max chips in October 2021. The M1 Max is a higher-powered version of the M1 Pro, with more GPU cores and memory bandwidth, a larger die size, and a large used interconnect. Apple introduced the version with the interconnect enabled as the M1 Ultra in 2022 containing two M1 Max units. These chips differ largely in size and the number of functional units: for example, while the original M1 has about 16 billion transistors, the M1 Ultra has 114 billion.
Apple's macOS and iPadOS operating systems both run on the M1. Initial support for the M1 SoC in the Linux kernel was released in version 5.13 on June 27, 2021.[9]
The initial versions of the M1 chips contain an architectural defect that permits sandboxed applications to exchange data, violating the security model, an issue that has been described as "mostly harmless".[10]
Design[edit]
CPU[edit]
The M1 has four high-performance "Firestorm" and four energy-efficient "Icestorm" cores, first seen on the A14 Bionic. It has a hybrid configuration similar to ARM big.LITTLE and Intel's Lakefield processors.[11] This combination allows power-use optimizations not possible with previous Apple–Intel architecture devices. Apple claims the energy-efficient cores use one-tenth the power of the high-performance ones.[12] The high-performance cores have an unusually large[13] 192 KB of L1 instruction cache and 128 KB of L1 data cache and share a 12 MB L2 cache; the energy-efficient cores have a 128 KB L1 instruction cache, 64 KB L1 data cache, and a shared 4 MB L2 cache. The SoC also has a 8 MB System Level Cache shared by the GPU.
Performance and efficiency[edit]
The M1 recorded competitive performance in popular benchmarks (such as Geekbench and Cinebench R23).[26]
The 2020 M1-equipped Mac Mini draws 7 watts when idle and 39 watts at maximum load,[27] compared with 20 watts idle and 122 watts maximum load for the 2018 6-core Core i7 Mac Mini.[28] The energy efficiency of the M1 increases battery life of M1-based MacBooks by 50% compared to previous Intel-based MacBooks.[29]
At release, the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) and MacBook Pro (M1, 2020) were praised by critics for their CPU performance and battery life, particularly compared to previous MacBooks.[30][31]
Problems[edit]
USB power delivery bricking[edit]
After its release, some users who charged M1 devices through USB-C hubs reported bricking their device.[37] The devices that are reported to cause this issue were third-party USB-C hubs and non-Thunderbolt docks (excluding Apple's own dongle).[37] Apple handled this issue by replacing the logic board and by telling its customers not to charge through those hubs.[37] macOS Big Sur 11.2.2 includes a fix to prevent 2019 or later MacBook Pro models and 2020 or later MacBook Air models from being damaged by certain third-party USB-C hubs and docks.[38][39]