Apple’s M1, found in Macs such as the company’s Mac mini, MacBook Air, and 13-inch MacBook Pro, is the most powerful chip it has ever created and the first chip designed specifically for the Mac.
M1 combines numerous powerful technologies into a single chip, and features a unified memory architecture for dramatically improved performance and efficiency. Apple’s M1 is the first personal computer chip built using cutting-edge 5-nanometer process technology and is packed with 16 billion transistors, the most Apple has ever put into a chip.
M1 features the world’s fastest CPU core in low-power silicon, the world’s best CPU performance per watt, the world’s fastest integrated graphics in a personal computer, and breakthrough machine learning performance with the Apple Neural Engine. As a result, M1 delivers up to 3.5x faster CPU performance, up to 6x faster GPU performance, and up to 15x faster machine learning, all while enabling battery life up to 2x longer than previous-generation Macs. With its profound increase in performance and efficiency, M1 delivers the biggest leap ever for the Mac.
Apple says that the newly-announced Macs running Apple’s M1 processor can run some Intel applications faster than Intel-based Macs can. This is the result of technology in macOS Big Sur called Rosetta 2.
“The three Mac models running the M1 processor include Rosetta 2, which allows them to run software compiled for Intel chips,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of Software Engineering at today’s M1 launch event. “Rosetta seamlessly runs apps built for Intel based Macs. So even without an app update, you can keep working on that Fusion 360 project, and get to the next level on your favorite game.”
“Thanks to Metal and M1, some of the most graphically demanding apps actually perform better under Rosetta than they did running natively on previous Macs with integrated graphics,” said the Apple exec.
MacDailyNews Take: We couldn’t have asked or hoped for more from macOS Big Sur’s Rosetta 2!