Apple’s newest Macs don’t come with Intel processors. Instead, they use the brand-new Apple M1 chip, a powerful replacement for the many generations of Intel CPUs that have powered Apple computers since 2006.
The M1 is the first appearance of the new paradigm that Apple has dubbed Apple Silicon. The new Macs available with the M1 include the MacBook Air, the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the Mac mini, and the new 24-inch iMac. The newest iPad Pro also uses the M1.
Apple’s M1 offers tantalizing improvements to computing performance, graphics output, and battery life. The M1-based MacBook Air demonstrates performance equal to or better than its predecessors and many Windows competitors. This is even true for some apps that run natively on older Intel-powered machines but use Rosetta 2 emulation on the MacBook Air.
If you’re contemplating buying an M1-powered Mac or iPad, you'll want to familiarize yourself with this emulation situation, as well as a few other quirks, improvements, and the occasional drawback that the M1 brings to the newest Apple products. Let's take a look at each of them.
The M1: An Entire System on a Chip
Whether they run Windows, macOS, or Chrome, most of today’s PCs come with an array of computing components inside that each handle different processing tasks. These include one processor (the CPU) for handling essential computations, including those used for browsing the internet and opening and closing apps, and another (the GPU) for processing graphics computations and outputting a signal to your monitor or laptop screen.
On large, powerful machines like workstation desktops and gaming rigs, the CPU and GPU are completely separate items that are each connected to the motherboard. Smaller ultraportable laptops typically combine the CPU and GPU into a single component using what’s known in the industry as integrated graphics processing, with the rest of the computer’s components, including cache, memory, and storage, located in different spots on the motherboard.
As an evolution of the Apple A-series processors that have long powered the iPhone and the iPad, the M1 chip takes a different approach. Instead of a collection of separate processing parts, it’s a single system on a chip (SoC). The SoC handles all of the computations, including graphics output, which means that each software instruction can use the most efficient part of the M1.
![Apple M1 chip diagram](https://i.pcmag.com/imagery/articles/01mP07VfC544sAXPfnxhS4T-2.jpg)
In part because it must do everything at once, the M1 has an eyebrow-raising maximum of 16 processor cores. That sounds like a ton compared with the six cores that are in the most powerful Intel laptop CPUs. In fact, the M1 has so many cores not so it can perform tasks more quickly, but so it can perform more tasks. Four of the cores are compute cores dedicated to complex calculations that require lots of processing power. Four more are dedicated to lighter tasks that don’t require as much power, to ensure that the chip doesn't consume more energy than it needs to. Tasks get shunted to the appropriate core set on the fly.
As many as eight additional cores are dedicated to graphics processing, similar to how Intel’s Iris integrated graphics work. On all devices that use the M1 (yes, this includes the new iPad Pro), the graphics processor is capable of powering an external monitor at 60Hz and up to a 6K resolution, such as the Apple Pro Display XDR.
Additionally, the M1 has a built-in storage controller to traffic data to and from the Mac’s solid-state drive (SSD), as well as various other processors, controllers, and sensors that handle encryption, image processing from webcams, and other secondary tasks that are required for the computer to function.
The M1 chip uses a 5-nanometer (nm) production process, similar to the latest A14 chip in the iPhone 12. Meanwhile, Intel's latest 11th-generation CPUs use a 10nm production process, and Intel doesn't expect new chips based on 7nm processes or lower until 2022 at the earliest. Following the debut of the M1 in November, Intel said that its CPUs "provide global customers the best experience in the areas they value most, as well as the most open platform for developers, both today and into the future." But the big disparity in process technologies does speak for itself. Computer chip rival AMD's latest desktop and mobile chips are on a 7nm process.
Artificial Intelligence and the M1 Chip
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms are essential to helping modern software run smoothly. Apple A-series and Intel Core processors have long had AI capabilities built in, and the M1 is no different. It has a dedicated neural engine with 16 processing cores of its own to handle AI tasks. Ever touched up a photo using an automatic filter, or scrolled through a list of pre-populated search results? These tasks and many others often rely at least in part on ML to run faster.
![Apple M1 chip diagram](https://i.pcmag.com/imagery/articles/01mP07VfC544sAXPfnxhS4T-3.jpg)
The M1 chip’s neural engine relies on instructions from software to work properly. Many third-party software developers integrate AI and ML algorithms into their apps, including several parts of the Adobe Creative Suite. Apple says that the M1-powered MacBook Air can handle ML workloads up to nine times faster than the previous Intel-powered MacBook Air. Likewise, the 24-inch iMac boasts a 3x improvement compared with the 21.5-inch iMac it replaces when running ML apps that use the M1's 16-core neural engine.
On the iPad Pro, the M1 enables a unique ML-powered feature called Center Stage. The chip processes images from the tablet's front- and rear-facing cameras to identify faces, and then keeps them centered in the frame. As you move around, Center Stage can even automatically pan to keep you in the shot. If more people join you for a video or Face Time call, Center Stage will detect them too, zooming out to fit everyone in the view.
Are All M1 Chips Created Equal?
No matter whether a computer uses an SoC or a collection of separate computing components, it’s still subject to certain unbreakable properties of computing and physics. The more cores a processor dedicates to a certain task, and the faster each of those cores run, the faster the task will complete. This process also generates a lot of heat, which is why most computers have fans, heat sinks, and other equipment.
In part because of the need to manage heat, there are slightly different versions of the M1 for each of the different devices that it powers. This is mainly due to the fact that each device handles heat differently. The MacBook Air has no cooling fan, for example, so the M1 chip in the base configuration of the Air uses a slightly less-powerful graphics processor, with seven cores instead of eight.
![Person standing in front of Apple M1 sign](https://i.pcmag.com/imagery/articles/01mP07VfC544sAXPfnxhS4T-5.jpg)
Meanwhile, the larger MacBook Pro and the Mac mini both come with cooling fans, which enables their M1 chips to have full-powered GPUs. It’s possible that the Mac mini and MacBook Pro M1 versions also have very slightly higher maximum clock speeds than the MacBook Air’s chip, but Apple does not share this level of detail about its silicon.
Like the MacBook Air, the iPad Pro also lacks a cooling fan, but it still comes with the full complement of eight graphics cores. Apple claims that the M1-equipped iPad Pro has 40% faster GPU performance than the A-series model it replaces.
How Fast Is the M1 Chip?
According to Apple, the M1 chip is faster than the Intel processors in the Macs it replaces. In some cases, the company claims, it’s much faster. General performance of the M1 MacBook Air is 3.5 times faster than before, while graphics performance is five times faster, Apple says. On the M1 MacBook Pro, AI computation is 11 times faster than before, and Apple says that it can build code in the Xcode app up to 2.8 times faster.
Apple also claims that M1-powered Macs are faster than their Windows counterparts. The company estimates that the M1 in the MacBook Air outperforms 98 percent of PC laptops sold from October 2019 to October 2020. The claim is based on performance tests that Apple performed in-house, though the company isn’t providing more details about them except to say that they are “industry-standard” benchmarks.
![Graph showing GPU performance versus power, with the M1 shown as using less power and having better performance than](https://i.pcmag.com/imagery/articles/01mP07VfC544sAXPfnxhS4T-4.png)
Benchmarks are easily manipulated, however, which is why objective third-party testing is so important. Our own tests at PC Labs of the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini paint a slightly more nuanced picture of performance. We found that while running native apps, the M1 maintains superiority over competing Core i7 laptop CPUs from Intel. However, when running apps using Rosetta 2 emulation, the performance is comparable with Intel chips or, in some cases, slightly worse.
Take video conversion, for example. The newest 13-inch M1-powered MacBook Pro takes 17 minutes to transcode a clip of 4K video to 1080p using the open-source Handbrake app running in Rosetta 2 emulation. That’s roughly equivalent to the 15 minutes its Core i7-powered predecessor and the Core i7-powered Dell XPS 13 each take while running Handbrake natively. But perform the same task using a beta version of Handbrake that runs natively on the M1 processor, and the encoding time drops to just 8 minutes for the MacBook Pro. That’s more than twice as fast, which could please a lot of creative professionals for whom time spent rendering significantly hampers productivity.
Will My Apps Run on an M1 Mac?
A chip is only as good as the software that runs on it, and many macOS apps are designed to run on Intel processors, not the M1. Developers had a head start, as Apple offered them a development kit last year to help them translate their code to the M1. Now that M1-powered Macs have been on sale for several months, more and more third-party apps can run natively on them. One of the major wins for creative professionals was Adobe Photoshop, whose latest version unveiled earlier this year supports the M1.
The lack of native M1 support doesn’t mean third-party apps won’t run at all, however. For apps that have yet to make the transition, they'll still be able to run on the new Macs through the company’s Rosetta 2 software, which can act as an emulator. But don’t be surprised if the programs drag. “The translation process takes time, so users might perceive that translated apps launch or run more slowly at times,” Apple wrote in the developer documentation for Rosetta 2.
Meanwhile, starting with macOS Big Sur all Apple software runs natively on both Intel and M1 systems. As an added benefit, iPhone and iPad apps can now run directly on the M1-powered Macs.
What If I Want an Intel Mac Instead?
While Apple silicon is the future for the Mac ecosystem, Intel-powered Macs aren’t going away overnight. The new MacBook Air and Mac mini use the M1 exclusively, but Apple continues to offer the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Intel Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs as options. Likewise, the 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs continue to be sold with a choice of Intel processors. There's even a 10-core Core i9 chip that powers the top-end 27-inch iMac.
Some of those models may be a better choice for users who need to run legacy Intel-native apps, or who need the massive processing power that the Core i9 provides. For everyone else, the M1 is the clear path forward if you're looking to buy a new Mac or iPad Pro.