I'm certainly not an Apple fanboy.
This is one more move to a more closed Apple eco system.
I acknowledge that what Apple has done with the M1 is amazing and will have a significant impact on the future computer industry.
In the desktop, the M1 beats all current Intel CPU's and most AMD CPU's (see Anandtech reviews)
In the laptop, the M1 humiliates all current Intel CPU's and AMD CPU's with both raw CPU and lower battery usage.
The M1 also humiliates the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx.
In terms of ARM version of ArchLinux/OpenSUSE/Ubuntu or even ARM Windows, this is unlikely to happen as the boot-loader is locked/secure and only executes Apple signed binaries. Additionally the drivers for the hardware are not available.
Got to give credit to Apple for the M1.
No it doesn't, are you looking at a different review?
You need to look at the Rosetta2 one, you can't compare across architectures directly.
It just about matches the i3.
Going multi threaded:
I don't see it beating the AMD chips. Note the Intel chips here, the 1165G7 is a 4C/8T part with a configurable frequency of 1.2 to 2.8GHz all-core boost, would guess it's the 2.8GHz due to the wattage, but 2.8GHz is a pretty garbage all core clock.
The i7 7820HQ is again a 4C/8T part that in the MBP15 case has heat issues.
The Mac Mini intel i3 doesn't state what chip it is, at best it's a 4C/4T part and since it's in the Mac Mini, it will definitely throttle below the 3.6GHz max clock.
And so forth.
You need to take into account what it compares to, Apple's chip does not beat the top level Intel and AMD CPUs, it operates in a lower power bracket and therefore does really well against most laptops. The x86 chips from Intel and AMD seem to have their best power/performance between 65-95W, going down to 20-35W means they're competing at a bad spot, and ARM definitely can do well in that spot and Apple is right to push it there, it's a great chip, especially coupled with TSMC 5nm's power advantage (average chip with a great process you'll definitely get a good chip).
AMD's 6000 series will be 5nm, note again that TSMC states a 15% performance improvement vs 7nm at the same power usage, so that 4800U with a 9.2k score should 10700 if AMD does not have any process improvements, double the x86 performance of Apple's M1 chip. And yes, I am comparing that with emulation, as anyone caring about the performance past web browsing for the next few years will still be using x86 apps, e.g. photoshop, premiere, etc.
I'm still wondering what Intel is going to do, since they're so far behind currently, but they definitely have the capital to keep competing for a while yet, hope that both Apple and AMD are starting to encroach will get Intel to properly implement a turn around plan, though that 2022/23 7nm is way too late so not sure if they will also start trying to get TSMC to manufacture their chips for a while while still trying to catch up, but if the 3D stacking works out they'll probably take the laptop market over again.
Rumors: M1X 12 CPU cores: 8 performance cores / 4 high efficiency cores in 2021
There are also rumors of a 32 core model in 2021.
Won't expect them to be that great, will probably blow their power sweet spot to deliver performance. I'd expect the generation after that to start being good.
