From the 8 cores of the original M1 chip to the M1 Ultra’s 20, this is how macOS manages threads from apps, services and other code.
M1 Ultra
It’s limited to 5 Gb/s, giving read rates of about 400 MB/s and writes at about 430 MB/s. Fine for Time Machine backups, but bad with NVMe drives.
Select a test, time it, and compare the result with those from other systems. Choose whether to use a synthetic or application benchmark, and don’t forget your confirmation bias.
There are two situations when M1 chips confine code to just one of their Performance cores: during startup, before the other cores are running, and when preparing an update.
Just how fast is a Mac Studio with an M1 Ultra? It all depends on the factors discussed here, with details of M1 series CPU performance.
With no possibility of memory expansion, and no upgrading of internal storage, you need to specify your M1 Mac correctly. Here’s how.
The Eclectic Light Company 