Search Results for: M1 Base
New “Budget” MacBook with A18 Pro Hardware Rumors
Remember the 2015 MacBook 12” with a single USB-C port? When it was released ~10 years ago, it was controversial for its single USB-C port and one headphone jack. It spearheaded the way for 5 years of “dongle-life” before Apple reversed course in 2020. We had one until recently before giving it to a non-Mac…
MacBook Pro 14″ (M4 Pro)
We just acquired a “base” (24 GB RAM / 512 GB SSD) MacBook M4 Pro 14″ (MSRP $1,999) model from BestBuy during their Memorial Day sale. Along with price matching against Microcenter ($1,699), a BestBuy members-only $75 rebate, “free” AppleCare+ for members, and 2% cash back from the Apple Card, it was a no brainer.…
Apple GPUs – Performance by Generations
Apple’s transition to custom M-series chips has brought significant improvements in integrated GPU performance. This blog post compares GPU performance across Apple Silicon generations—from the original M1 through M1 Pro/Max/Ultra, M2 Pro/Max/Ultra, up to the latest M3 and M4 series—using Geekbench 6 Metal benchmark scores. We use the base M1 as a 100% performance baseline…
Apple SoC Energy Efficiency Overview
Performance scores above are our Normalized Combined Geekbench Scores that combine scores for single + multicore CPU and a normalized GPU Metal metrics into an overall indicator of Mac system performance. Apple Silicon SoC Power Draw Estimates This table summarizes estimated idle and peak SoC (chip-only) power draw values for Apple Silicon chips across all…
For AI Nerds: Apple Silicon Hack Unlocks AMD eGPU for Local LLM Compute
Apple Silicon eGPU “support” isn’t what most people expect—it’s a clever community hack that wires an AMD card into your Mac via USB, not a native Thunderbolt/PCIe eGPU solution. It only unlocks raw GPU compute (for tasks like LLM inference), not Metal-powered graphics or external-monitor gaming. Because it tunnels GPU commands through libusb at USB…
Apple M3 versus M4 Battle – Worth the upgrade?
If you have an M3, is it worth upgrading to the new M4? Everyone’s raving about it so let’s take a look if you need to spend your hard earned cash. Geekbench 6 Score Comparison: Apple M3 versus M4 Chips Apple’s M3 and M4 chip families include Base, Pro, and Max variants. Below is a…
Should I upgrade my Mac if I have a….
An across the board answer is… you probably do not need to upgrade, unless your Mac isn’t doing what you need to do anymore. (But you might be looking for an excuse to get a shiny new toy.) But if a faster Mac is going to save you a lot of time (=money) and frustration,…
MacBook Pro 15″ (Intel Core i7-7920HQ)
Note the GPU in this model is not unified and is the discrete AMD Radeon Pro 560. Used 2017 MacBook Pro 15″ (Intel Core i7-7920HQ) Pricing Trends The 2017 MacBook Pro 15″ with Intel Core i7-7920HQ was once a premium choice for professionals needing strong performance in a portable package. Fast-forward to today, and the…
MacBook Pro 16″ (Intel Core i9-9980HK)
Note the GPU in this model is not unified and is the discrete AMD Radeon Pro 5500M. Used 2019 MacBook Pro 16″ (Intel Core i9) Pricing Trends The 2019 MacBook Pro 16″ with Intel Core i9 processors was once Apple’s flagship laptop for power users, featuring high-end specs and robust performance. Over the past year,…
MacBook (2000–2011) History – Part I
💻 Post-Millennium Apple Laptop Timeline Steve Jobs returned to Cupertino in 1997; became permanent CEO in 2000 Between 2001 and 2003, Apple was determined to position the Mac as the creative, stylish alternative to the beige-box world of PCs. This marked a turning point in its brand identity, as the company leaned into its “Think…