Apple’s New Macs with M1 Chips Demolish Intel Variants (Even in Emulation)
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New Geekbench results show Apple’s new M1 processor is outperforming most Intel Macs in single-core tests. These results are even more impressive when you consider the benchmarking tool is running in Apple’s Rosetta 2 emulator and not natively. Emulated apps take a 20 percent hit in performance, meaning the M1 chip running natively is even faster than these results below show.
The latest results from Geekbench clock the M1 chip running in Rosetta 2 emulation, presumably on machines being used by reviewers. According to the GeekBench comparison chart, the MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM has a single-core score of 1,678 and a multi-core score of 7,225 as of the writing of this post.
That single-core score beats any other Intel Mac, including the new 27-inch iMac with an Intel Core i9 processor.
In the multi-core tests, the M1 chip loses some ground, but the results are still impressive. The M1-powered Mac mini slips down the ranks to claim the 13th spot behind the Mac Pro, iMac Pro, and more recent iMac models.
That isn’t surprising as the Mac Pro, the iMac Pro and the iMac are all desktop platforms aimed at the professional market.
When comparing the new M1 Macs to the Intel MacBooks and Mac mini models, the M1 continues to shine. All three M1-equipped Macs outperformed every 2019 MacBook Pro model, the new 27-inch iMac, every previous Mac mini, and more.
Among the M1-equipped Macs, the Mac mini is the leader outperforming both the M1 MacBook Pro and the M1 MacBook Air.
Not surprisingly, the MacBook Air consistently benchmarks behind the Mac mini and the MacBook Pro because of the Air’s fanless design. Under the strain of benchmarking, the M1 processor in the Air may reach its thermal limitation and throttle back sooner than either the Mac mini or the MacBook Pro.
Do these results sway your opinion on Apple’s new M1 Macs? Are you ready to take the plunge? Now is the time as Apple started accepting pre-orders for its new M1-power Mac lineup last week.
The new Mac models are available in retail stores starting today.
