Apple M1 review: specs and price
Apple M1
Why is Apple M1 better than the average?
- CPU speed?
4 x 3.2 GHz & 4 x 2 GHzvs14.42 GHz - RAM speed (max)?
4266 MHzvs2846.95 MHz - Semiconductor size?
5 nmvs15.71 nm - Thermal Design Power (TDP)?
13.8Wvs47.93W - PassMark result?
15127vs10597.34 - L2 cache?
12 MBvs3.12 MB - L2 core?
1.5 MB/corevs0.47 MB/core - Maximum memory bandwidth?
68.25 GB/svs42.45 GB/s
Which are the most popular comparisons?
Price comparison
13 Inch A2338 For Macbook Pro 13" M1 A2338 Motherboard M1 8GB SSD 256GB 512GB Logic Board With Touch Butt...13 Inch A2338 For Macbook Pro 13" M1 A2338 Motherboard M1 8GB SSD 256GB 512GB Logic Board With Touch Button Main Board
Promotion A2337 Laptop Motherboard 2020 Year For Macbook Air Retina M1 8G 256GB 500GB Logic Board 820-020...Promotion A2337 Laptop Motherboard 2020 Year For Macbook Air Retina M1 8G 256GB 500GB Logic Board 820-02016-A EMC 3598
User reviews
Overall rating
Features
Value for money
8.9/10
10 votes
Gaming
8.6/10
10 votes
Performance
9.3/10
10 votes
Reliability
9.5/10
10 votes
Energy efficiency
9.4/10
10 votes
General info
Type
Laptop, Desktop
The market that the CPU is designed for.
CPU socket
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
The CPU socket/s supported.
Chipset
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
The motherboard chipset/s supported.
Has integrated graphics
✔Apple M1
With integrated graphics you don’t need to buy a separate graphics card.
Small semiconductors provide better performance and reduced power consumption. Chipsets with a higher number of transistors, semiconductor components of electronic devices, offer more computational power. A small form factor allows more transistors to fit on a chip, therefore increasing its performance.
The thermal design power (TDP) is the maximum amount of power the cooling system needs to dissipate. A lower TDP typically means that it consumes less power.
CPU temperature
100 °C
If the CPU exceeds the maximum operating temperature then problems such as random resets can occur.
PCI Express (PCIe) version
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) is a high-speed interface standard for connecting components, such as graphics cards and SSDs, to a motherboard. Newer versions can support more bandwidth and deliver better performance.
number of transistors
16000 million
A higher transistor count generally indicates a newer, more powerful processor.
Performance
CPU speed
4 x 3.2 GHz & 4 x 2 GHz
The CPU speed indicates how many processing cycles per second can be executed by a CPU, considering all of its cores (processing units). It is calculated by adding the clock rates of each core or, in the case of multi-core processors employing different microarchitectures, of each group of cores.
CPU threads
8 threads
More threads result in faster performance and better multitasking.
turbo clock speed
3.2GHz
When the CPU is running below its limitations, it can boost to a higher clock speed in order to give increased performance.
Has an unlocked multiplier
✖Apple M1
Some processors come with an unlocked multiplier which makes them easy to overclock, allowing you to gain increased performance in games and other apps.
L2 cache
12 MB
A larger L2 cache results in faster CPU and system-wide performance.
L3 cache
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
A larger L3 cache results in faster CPU and system-wide performance.
L1 cache
192 KB
A larger L1 cache results in faster CPU and system-wide performance.
L2 core
1.5 MB/core
More data can be stored in the L2 cache for access by each core of the CPU.
L3 core
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
More data can be stored in the L3 cache for access by each core of the CPU.
Benchmarks
PassMark result
15127
This benchmark measures the performance of the CPU using multiple threads.
This benchmark measures the performance of the CPU using a single thread.
Cinebench R20 (multi) result
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
Cinebench R20 is a benchmark tool that measures a CPU's multi-core performance by rendering a 3D scene.
Cinebench R20 (single) result
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
Cinebench R20 is a benchmark tool that measures a CPU's single-core performance by rendering a 3D scene.
Geekbench 6 is a cross-platform benchmark that measures a processor's multi-core performance. (Source: Primate Labs, 2024)
Geekbench 6 is a cross-platform benchmark that measures a processor's single-core performance. (Source: Primate Labs, 2024)
Geekbench 5 is a cross-platform benchmark that measures a processor's multi-core performance. (Source: Primate Labs, 2024)
Geekbench 5 is a cross-platform benchmark that measures a processor's single-core performance. (Source: Primate Labs, 2024)
Blender (bmw27) result
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
The Blender (bmw27) benchmark measures the performance of a processor by rendering a 3D scene. More powerful processors can render the scene in less time.
Integrated graphics
GPU clock speed
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
The clock speed of the graphics processing unit (GPU).
GPU turbo
1278 MHz
When the GPU is running below its limitations, it can boost to a higher clock speed in order to give increased performance.
A graphics processing unit (GPU) with a greater number of execution units can deliver better graphics.
DirectX version
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
DirectX is used in video games, with newer versions supporting better graphics and features. The latest version is DirectX 12 Ultimate, which includes support for ray tracing, mesh shaders, and variable rate shading (VRS).
Using multiple displays you can create a larger workspace, making it easier to work across multiple apps.
OpenGL version
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
OpenGL is used in games, with newer versions supporting better graphics.
OpenCL version
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
Some apps use OpenCL to apply the power of the graphics processing unit (GPU) for non-graphical computing. Newer versions introduce more functionality and better performance.
TMUs take textures and map them to the geometry of a 3D scene. More TMUs will typically mean that texture information is processed faster.
The ROPs are responsible for some of the final steps of the rendering process, writing the final pixel data to memory and carrying out other tasks such as anti-aliasing to improve the look of graphics.
Memory
RAM speed (max)
4266 MHz
The maximum speed of RAM that is supported by the CPU.
maximum memory bandwidth
68.25 GB/s
This is the maximum rate that data can be read from or stored into memory.
DDR (Double Data Rate) memory is the most common type of RAM. Newer versions of DDR memory support higher maximum speeds and are more energy-efficient.
More memory channels increases the speed of data transfer between the memory and the CPU.
The maximum amount of memory (RAM) supported.
bus transfer rate
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
The bus is responsible for transferring data between different components of a computer or device.
Supports ECC memory
✖Apple M1
Error-correcting code memory can detect and correct data corruption. It is used when is it essential to avoid corruption, such as scientific computing or when running a server.
eMMC version
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
A higher version of eMMC allows faster memory interfaces, having a positive effect on the performance of a device. For example, when transferring files from your computer to the internal storage over USB.
bus speed
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
The bus is responsible for transferring data between different components of a computer or device.
Features
instruction sets
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
Instruction sets are sets of codes that the CPU runs for certain functions.
uses multithreading
✖Apple M1
Multithreading technology (such as Intel's Hyperthreading or AMD's Simultaneous Multithreading) provides increased performance by splitting each of the processor's physical cores into virtual cores, also known as threads. This way, each core can run two instruction streams at once.
bits executed at a time
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
NEON provides acceleration for media processing, such as listening to MP3s.
Has TrustZone
✔Apple M1
A technology integrated into the processor to secure the device for use with features such as mobile payments and streaming video using digital rights management (DRM).
The CPU can decode more instructions per clock (IPC), meaning that the CPU performs better
Has NX bit
✔Apple M1
NX bit helps protect the computer from malicious attacks.
VFP version
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value.
Vector Floating-Point (VFP) is used by the processor to deliver increased performance in areas such as digital imaging.
Price comparison
13 Inch A2338 For Macbook Pro 13" M1 A2338 Motherboard M1 8GB SSD 256GB 512GB Logic Board With Touch Butt...13 Inch A2338 For Macbook Pro 13" M1 A2338 Motherboard M1 8GB SSD 256GB 512GB Logic Board With Touch Button Main Board
Promotion A2337 Laptop Motherboard 2020 Year For Macbook Air Retina M1 8G 256GB 500GB Logic Board 820-020...Promotion A2337 Laptop Motherboard 2020 Year For Macbook Air Retina M1 8G 256GB 500GB Logic Board 820-02016-A EMC 3598
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Comments
Harrison
2 years ago
10 / 10
M1 is quite impressive.
Harrison
2 years ago
10 / 10
I own an m1 iPad Pro and I am making this review to appreciate how great the m1 chip is, even still in early 2022 (to be expected). I use my iPad for productivity and m1 makes typing word documents or researching seamless and very fast paced, it loads websites and videos (on YouTube) extraordinarily fast (note that this is also based upon internet speed) and does so effortlessly. For gaming, m1 handles most games like a champ, there are some more graphic intensive games such as certain first person shooters that are slightly choppy at times (for me at least) but otherwise, I get a solid frame rate. It does heat up a little bit but it's not to the point its unbearable to the touch. Power efficiency is great as I still have extra charge left at the end of the day even after a whole day's worth of usage. Overall, the M1 chip has made my computing world quite fantastic and I am satisfied with amazing technology it has to offer.
Pros
Cons
Diego
4 months ago
10 / 10
Is the M1 Chip a Good Microprocessor?
Diego
4 months ago
10 / 10
I own a MacBook Air M1 and honestly, it's a processor with impressive performance and autonomy. Current tasks like internet browsing, watching YouTube videos, and editing videos and photos are very smooth and fast. Plus, it has a spectacular battery life. I am VERY VERY satisfied with the MacBook and its fabulous, speedy processing with Apple's M1 microprocessor. December 30, 2023
Pros
Cons
Leonardo Stefanato
1 year ago
9 / 10
Unique for its price range
Leonardo Stefanato
1 year ago
9 / 10