Memory, from L1 instruction cache to main memory, and how it came to be Unified. Why the internal SSD isn’t like others, and why it’s so essential.
performance
How the NEON vector processor, neural engine, matrix co-processor, and GPU all deliver high performance with low power and energy use.
Running threads at different frequencies on the same core type can’t save energy and extend battery endurance. That’s where 2 core types come in handy.
Check its protocol support and expected maximum transfer rate, then whether it supports SMART indicators and Trims with APFS. Finally check its real-world performance.
How power efficiency is just as important to desktop Macs as it is to notebooks, and the story of the Mac mini in power from 2005-2023.
Given that Thunderbolt SSDs are unusual and expensive, should you buy a USB4 model that claims to be compatible with Thunderbolt? Watch out for the traps.
A gentle introduction to the new architecture, from how macOS allocates threads to core types, overflow, variable frequency, ending in huge differences in power.
Virtualisation of macOS on Apple silicon does deliver performance that’s impressively close to that of the host. Here are the figures to demonstrate it.
In a wide range of in-core tests, CPU performance in VMs is close to that of code running native on the host, and M3 VMs are faster than M1 native. With one significant exception.
How have the CPUs in our Macs become faster since the Macintosh 128K was launched by Steve Jobs forty years ago?
The Eclectic Light Company 