The M1 was such a groundbreaking chip. I don’t expect Apple to wow us again until the M4 or M5. This is a good time for Apple to pause, look at what Qualcomm, AMD and Intel are doing and see how they can attract the same class of talent that gave birth to the M1 again.
I wouldn't expect another M chip to be groundbreaking in the same way ever again. Instead I just look forward to incremental improvement year after year, the same with the A chips. That's more than enough.
Something similarly groundbreaking would requite a similarly radical redesign. Maybe there will be one another couple decades from now, but I can't even begin to imagine what it would be. Maybe something related to ML if anything.
How well the M series will do over time would be based on its comparative performance. For all the “not that impressive” gains of the M2, there still seem to be plenty of people that historically wouldn’t buy an Apple computer but are ‘begrudgingly’ buying Apple laptops due to M series performance. Have we seen anything that delivers a comparable value proposition, let alone a better one?
It seems natural that M series chips won’t forever be uniquely positioned ahead of the pack. I don’t think that anyone besides Apple actually wants that in the first place though. I have every expectation that they’ll keep up with the pack, or simply move back to third party chips, even if that means changing architectures, which Apple is not scared of doing.
Just got an M1 MBP from work and... I am staggered. It's _so quiet_. There's no heat. The battery is still above 50% and I've been using it for nearly two days!!
Aren’t most hardware teams typically very old in terms of having lots of people with a lot of experience who have been working together for a long time? It feels to me like it’s not as simple as attracting talent.
> Aren’t most hardware teams typically very old in terms of having lots of people with a lot of experience who have been working together for a long time?
Yes, that was my experience with well-established players like AMD, Nvidia and Qualcomm.
Then again, there just aren't that many people in the world with experience designing GPUs or writing systems software for them. What you would often see is a manager and their whole team switching to a competitor. People prefer working with other people they already know and trust.
In addition, GPUs are massively complex and it simply takes a good amount of time to understand a new architecture well enough to make substantial contributions. I spent five years at NVidia and felt that I had only scratched the surface.
Being rich isn’t really related, it’s that they can still profit while doing this (some people say “sheep” while others say “good products with great integration”), where nobody else can, which makes them rich. ;)
> Well, buying the leading node is big $ that not everyone can afford.
It isn't just that Apple can afford a particular part. Apple funds some of the R&D for that part, the building of the factory (sometimes, multiple factories) that create that part, and will commit to buying 100% of its capacity for years.
They aren't just outbidding others for capacity. They are making long-term strategic partnerships to _build_ that capacity.
> Putting memory on package runs counter to repairability, modularity, etc.
Everything is a trade-off. For traditional OEM integration for desktops and laptops, memory on package would be too limiting. Apple is one of the few companies that can pull it off.
Sure, but do we expect AMD/Intel to do this for their processors anytime soon?
Apple can decide that their custom processor only needs two memory configurations to meet their product need.
Intel and AMD can't easily make that decision for all the OEMs in the world, and the architectural ramifications pretty much demand one to decide one way or another for a given chip generation.
M1Pro and M1Max are designed in Israel, so not certain if Apple has lost designers in Israel.
"...as well as the integrated circuits that were developed in Israel, and the jewel in the crown: the Israeli team played a central role in developing the premium version of the company's flagship M1 processor, including the M1Pro and M1Max chips designed to support premium Mac computers such as MacBook Pro and MacBook Studio. These chips were built here in Israel while working with other teams worldwide, including at the headquarters in Cupertino. The integration with the verification applications and processes was also carried out here."
