APPLE SILICON
The Apple vs Intel CPU War. Who’s Winning? We Are.
One year in, Apple silicon is reshaping the entire PC industry
Last week, an article on MacWorld reported that an M1 Max MacBook Pro can export ProRes Raw video three times faster than a $25,000 Mac Pro configured with a 28-core Intel Xeon W CPU¹. Think about that for more than a second. Then think about how it’s only been eighteen months since Apple announced its intention to transition the Mac to Apple Silicon. And how in less than a year Apple rolled out the M1 MacBook Air, M1 MacBook Pro, M1 Mac mini, 24-inch M1 iMac, and 14-inch and 16-inch M1 Pro/Max MacBook Pros.
Those thoughts inevitably lead to the conclusion that the Mac’s future is incredibly bright. But what may not be so readily apparent is that the rest of the PC industry is benefiting from Apple’s processor innovations. Nobody made an all-screen, multi-touch smartphone until Apple made the iPhone. And then everybody made one. Similarly, after years of watching Apple’s unbeatable A-series processors combine high-performance and energy-efficient cores, Intel has climbed on board with Alder Lake’s hybrid architecture utilizing Golden Cove high-performance cores and Gracemont power-efficient cores.
