More benchmark performance scores are coming out regarding Apple’s new M1 chip, suggesting that the next Mac releases are going to be seriously impressive. Devices running the new processor should make for impressive workstations, able to handle even the most resource-intensive workloads.
When benchmarked against version 1.9.0 of the Affinity Photo app, Apple’s new processor was able to outperform the 3.2 GHz 8-core Intel Xeon W chip used in the 2017 iMac Pro across a number of metrics.
On Twitter, Andy Somerfield, one of Affinity’s lead developers expressed disbelief at some of the scores being posted by the M1 chip. “Apple M1 chip benchmark vs. 6-core 3.7ghz 2019 iMac with AMD 580X in [Affinity] Photo - if I hadn't measured the CPU number myself I wouldn't believe it,” he tweeted. “A monster…”
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A new benchmark
Although the scores coming back from the benchmark analysis don’t explain how fast the M1 is exactly – only how fast the Affinity app is running on it – they should still give Apple fans plenty of reasons to get excited. The CPU scores, in particular, are hugely impressive.
Currently, it is not clear exactly what M1 device was used to measure the Affinity performance – only that it was a 16GB device, not a chip taken in isolation from an Apple Developer Transition Kit. The impressive figures are backed up by other M1 benchmarking results coming through and the fact that Apple is calling it the “most powerful chip it has ever created.”
Since Apple announced that it would be switching its devices to its own internally-manufactured Apple Silicon chips, the industry has grown increasingly excited about the performance levels they would deliver. Now, with the first M1 devices beginning to ship, those performance levels are starting to turn heads.
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