Discussion Apple Silicon SoC thread

[Eug]

M1
5 nm
Unified memory architecture - LP-DDR4
16 billion transistors

8-core CPU

4 high-performance cores
192 KB instruction cache
128 KB data cache
Shared 12 MB L2 cache

4 high-efficiency cores
128 KB instruction cache
64 KB data cache
Shared 4 MB L2 cache
(Apple claims the 4 high-effiency cores alone perform like a dual-core Intel MacBook Air)

8-core iGPU (but there is a 7-core variant, likely with one inactive core)
128 execution units
Up to 24576 concurrent threads
2.6 Teraflops
82 Gigatexels/s
41 gigapixels/s

16-core neural engine
Secure Enclave
USB 4

Products:
$999 ($899 edu) 13" MacBook Air (fanless) - 18 hour video playback battery life
$699 Mac mini (with fan)
$1299 ($1199 edu) 13" MacBook Pro (with fan) - 20 hour video playback battery life

Memory options 8 GB and 16 GB. No 32 GB option (unless you go Intel).

It should be noted that the M1 chip in these three Macs is the same (aside from GPU core number). Basically, Apple is taking the same approach which these chips as they do the iPhones and iPads. Just one SKU (excluding the X variants), which is the same across all iDevices (aside from maybe slight clock speed differences occasionally).

EDIT:



M1 Pro 8-core CPU (6+2), 14-core GPU
M1 Pro 10-core CPU (8+2), 14-core GPU
M1 Pro 10-core CPU (8+2), 16-core GPU
M1 Max 10-core CPU (8+2), 24-core GPU
M1 Max 10-core CPU (8+2), 32-core GPU

M1 Pro and M1 Max discussion here:

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M1 Ultra discussion here:

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M2 discussion here:

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Second Generation 5 nm
Unified memory architecture - LPDDR5, up to 24 GB and 100 GB/s
20 billion transistors

8-core CPU

4 high-performance cores
192 KB instruction cache
128 KB data cache
Shared 16 MB L2 cache

4 high-efficiency cores
128 KB instruction cache
64 KB data cache
Shared 4 MB L2 cache

10-core iGPU (but there is an 8-core variant)
3.6 Teraflops

16-core neural engine
Secure Enclave
USB 4

Hardware acceleration for 8K h.264, h.264, ProRes

M3 Family discussion here:

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M4 Family discussion here:

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M5 Family discussion here:

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[coercitiv]

I’m curious if this will qualify for the Back-To-School promotion this summer. I definitely won’t be buying one, but may delay a purchase until 2027. If there is a new Neo with A19/20 Pro and 12 GB RAM 2027, and it qualifies for the Back-To-School promo, I may consider the 512 GB model for my kid.

This is the way. The RAM kills it, everything else is borderline acceptable for the price.

 

[Eug]

It has a MECHANICAL TRACKPAD.
No haptic trackpad !

Are you sure about this? I can’t find any reference to this. I just know it’s different than the MBA / MBP trackpads without the pressure sensitivity, etc. Could it be non-mechanical and non-haptic? That would be worse than mechanical actually. (I actually liked mechanical when it worked well, but they had a habit of working unevenly and eventually sticking.)

This is the way. The RAM kills it, everything else is borderline acceptable for the price.

The MB Air is still definitely on the table, especially if it has a better Back-To-School promotion than the Neo.

The Neo seems it’s getting to near death by a thousand cuts in true netbook style.

BTW, there is no way to tell apart the USB 2 port from the USB 3 port. Both are unlabeled USB-C.

 

[adroc_thurston]

The Neo seems it’s getting to near death by a thousand cuts in true netbook style.

They're trying to prevent MBA cannibalization.
MBN gonna devour a chunk of iPad volume, though (this was the previous Apple offering for lower cost/edu).

 

[gdansk]

Wow, it's much, much worse than I thought. Too big, too small battery, no RAM, and priced at nearly M4 MBA 13 sale level. A rare miss from Apple. I don't think this will help their market share much.

 

[trivik12]

it has good screen, build quality and is good enough as a chromebook competitor. I think it will sell millions of these. Not just in US but globally.

 

[Eug]

it has good screen, build quality and is good enough as a chromebook competitor. I think it will sell millions of these. Not just in US but globally.

Yes, I see it as Apple's response to Chromebooks, especially for the education institution market. For elementary schools, Chromebooks have pretty much taken over. Apple had no Macs in the price range that could compete, and iPads are problematic in other ways. However, it's not just about the hardware cost. I've read that one major obstacle is the management software. Administration of Chromebooks is done through Google's own software, which apparently is relatively easy to use even with large volumes of units, and I believe it is free as well. In contrast, iPad and MacBook management is more complex, and requires expensive third party software. And then there's the software. The software suites are written by Google and provided free as well.

 

[adroc_thurston]

it has good screen, build quality and is good enough as a chromebook competitor. I think it will sell millions of these. Not just in US but globally.

Firesale 13" MBAs go for only a tiny bit more (in the US at least) and they have much more of everything and better.

 

[gdansk]

it has good screen, build quality and is good enough as a chromebook competitor. I think it will sell millions of these. Not just in US but globally.

Globally, who knows. But in the US students were buying MBAs for school. Now they can buy a ~$200 cheaper laptop instead if they have no quality standards. I guess that explains the 8GB of memory in 2026. Need to give them many reasons to not buy MBN.

 

[DZero]

Wow, it's much, much worse than I thought. Too big, too small battery, no RAM, and priced at nearly M4 MBA 13 sale level. A rare miss from Apple. I don't think this will help their market share much.

Even worse, the M1 and M2 Mac would be cheaper than the Neo now. This is interesting. The good thing is that M1 and M2 becomes now accesible for the mortals in undeveloped countries

 

[adroc_thurston]

Yes, I see it as Apple's response to Chromebooks, especially for the education institution market. For elementary schools, Chromebooks have pretty much taken over. Apple had no Macs in the price range that could compete, and iPads are problematic in other ways. However, it's not just about the hardware cost. I've read that one major obstacle is the management software. Administration of Chromebooks is done through Google's own software, which apparently is relatively easy to use even with large volumes of units, and I believe it is free as well. In contrast, iPad and MacBook management is more complex, and require

Yes Apple fleet management is donkeyballs.
but tbf everything non-vPro is donkeyballs.

 

[Eug]

Firesale 13" MBAs go for only a tiny bit more (in the US at least) and they have much more of everything and better.

Amazon USA has the M4 MBAs for up to $300 off.

Even worse, the M1 and M2 Mac would be cheaper than the Neo now. This is interesting. The good thing is that M1 and M2 becomes now accesible for the mortals in undeveloped countries

I would definitely not buy an M1 in 2026. It's 6 years old and will soon lose macOS updates. It's also the old design. I'd avoid the M2 too as it is also 4 years old.

One thing that matters a bit to me but not most people is hardware AV1 decode support. That didn't happen until M3 or later.

 

[Covfefe]

The price increases caused by AI are the only reason this isn't a terrible value. Lunar Lake at $550 would be a no-brainer but those are hard to find now. Windows laptops in the $500-$600 range have 16GB of RAM, more storage and better I/O, but they mostly have 2+ year old CPUs, are bigger and heavier, and have slightly worse screens.

Overall, I don't think I could recommend this to anyone. 8GB RAM is just too limiting.

 

[DZero]

The price increases caused by AI are the only reason this isn't a terrible value. Lunar Lake at $550 would be a no-brainer but those are hard to find now. Windows laptops in the $500-$600 range have 16GB of RAM, more storage and better I/O, but they mostly have 2+ year old CPUs, are bigger and heavier, and have slightly worse screens.
View attachment 139253
Overall, I don't think I could recommend this to anyone. 8GB RAM is just too limiting.

Indeed, but there is another issue. Is heavily rumoured that Windows 12 would force the laptops to go with NPU, so yeah, that limits more the people who can buy a decent laptop with NPU. Apple won't have that issue for now.

 

[trivik12]

Firesale 13" MBAs go for only a tiny bit more (in the US at least) and they have much more of everything and better.

That happens more in US than elsewhere. I could see this sell lot more in 3rd country where MBA is way more expensive. You cannot get a laptop with good screen/build quality at this price point in those countries.

MBA would continue to dominate sales in US for sure. M4 models could be available at 700$ at sale now that M5 is out. Microcenter and many other retailers do put those on sale regularly.

 

[trivik12]

I am more curious around M5 Pro/Max configuration. It appears they have fewer performance cores than M4 Pro/Max. Wouldn't that be a big deal considering pro apps would need more P-cores. Especially when used in Mac Studio kind of device.

 

[adroc_thurston]

You cannot get a laptop with good screen/build quality at this price point in those countries.

You can, firesale LNL laptops were (still are) everywhere.

 

[trivik12]

You can, firesale LNL laptops were (still are) everywhere.

not in 3rd world countries. They still sell MTL/RPL laptops over there. Cheaper laptops generally have bad screen(low nits, color gamut) and terrible build quality. That is why Apple sales in markets like India have shot up big time. Even older MBA like one using M2 is better than buying low end windows.

 

[Eug]

Confirmed - Mechanical trackpad

 

[511]

You can, firesale LNL laptops were (still are) everywhere.

Bro no third world country exists

 

[MS_AT]

8GB RAM is just too limiting.

It's fine for a phone. I mean it makes sense, the SoC also belong to phone line. What I don't get is the form factor. How I am supposed to hold this phone during phone calls?

While I was advocating for phones to get sensible desktop mode, I got a feeling they misunderstood, I never asked for my phone to have laptop shell.

Oh well, it is what it is 😉

 

[Saylick]

However, the members here were also right about the 8 GB, unfortunately. This is Apple’s classic crippling of version 1, albeit for reasons that were correctly predicted given the SoC. Version 2 will have 12 GB RAM, because it will get A19 Pro or A20 Pro.

I think it's very possible Apple uses the non-Pro version of their iPhone chip in future MacBook Neos, especially if they're going to be made by IFS on the 18A-P node, which should give them an even cheaper price than using a comparable TSMC node.

 

[Eug]

I think it's very possible Apple uses the non-Pro version of their iPhone chip in future MacBook Neos, especially if they're going to be made by IFS on the 18A-P node, which should give them an even cheaper price than using a comparable TSMC node.

That would suck, cuz the non-Pros are still 8 GB and it's possible they will stay that way for another generation or so. So far only the A19 Pro has 12 GB. It would be horrible if Neo v.2 is A19 still with 8 GB. It needs to get A19 Pro (or A20/21 non-Pro?) to move to 12 GB.

 

[Saylick]

That would suck, cuz the non-Pros are still 8 GB and it's possible they will stay that way for another generation or so. So far only the A19 Pro has 12 GB. It would be horrible if Neo v.2 is A19 still with 8 GB. It needs to get A19 Pro (or A20/21 non-Pro?) to move to 12 GB.

But that would simply cannibalize sales of MBA, and I don't think Apple wants that. Of course, there's also a chance non-Pros get upgraded to 12GB, but I doubt it since RAM is expensive enough already.

 

[Eug]

But that would simply cannibalize sales of MBA, and I don't think Apple wants that. Of course, there's also a chance non-Pros get upgraded to 12GB, but I doubt it since RAM is expensive enough already.

Well, they've cut this machine down in so many ways already which massively reduces cannibalization. They could also do what they've sometimes done before, which is to raise the base price when they significantly increase memory or storage capacity. I'd be much happier to pay say US$50 more to get 12 GB instead of 8 GB.

 

[The Hardcard]

If you are surfing the web, using Office style app for basic letters and reports, using social media, and streaming, 4GB is enough. There are millions in the US who do nothing more.

A new MacBook locks in years of updates. Plus most of those tasks are single threaded, so buyers still get first-class snappyness. It’s a typing, reading, watching machine, it has more than enough memory for that.

I would love to see someone restrict themselves to such simple apps and demonstrate any kind of memory pressure, stuttering, or beachball stalls.