How operating frequencies of CPU cores used by the latest base M5 chip compare with those from previous families in the M series, and what that means. Complete with updated tables for all current chips.
M4
Which type of CPU cores are most active during Visual Look Up? How their frequencies and active residencies change? How demanding is it?
Using powermetrics and log entries, a single image was processed on an M4 Pro, with content analysis and object recognition and look-up. How much power and energy did that use?
Does software encryption (APFS Encrypted) result in significant overhead when using faster SSDs with a faster Apple silicon Mac? What about computing SHA256 digests?
How much faster are the P cores in M3 and M4 chips, compared to late Intel Macs? How do they compare when running threads at low QoS, such as those of macOS background tasks?
Why is an M2 Pro or Max preferable to an M1 Pro or Max? Is 8 GB of memory sufficient? Can I extend the internal SSD with an external drive? Can I buy and upgrade?
In a VM hosted on an M4, upgrading 14.7.5 to 15.4.1 took an 8.7 GB download and worked. From 15.1 to 15.4.1 took over 15 GB and failed with a kernel panic.
You could save hundreds of $/€/£ buying a Mac with a smaller internal SSD. Is that a good economy, or will you come to regret it? Here are the pros and cons.
How Apple’s new CPU cores can guess which code to run, and which data to load from memory. How those speculative techniques can be exploited, and should we be worried?
Running older macOS, support for Intel apps and kernel extensions, booting from an external drive, Boot Camp and Windows support, cloning, and startup key combinations.
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