Articles containing 'comparison' tags
Posted by
erwinkarim
on March 25, 2023
When Apple introduced M2 SOC sometime in mid-2022, it was introduced in their two best-selling laptops: the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro. The MacBook Air was updated with an all-new design and introduced new technologies. The MacBook Pro, meanwhile, basically had the same design from 2016 and except for the internals, nothing is changed. So why Apple is still selling the MacBook Pro M2 with a price difference of $100 against the MacBook Air?
Posted by
erwinkarim
on February 21, 2023
The Mac Mini is one of Apple’s best product. Small, value for money, and low barrier to entry. Apple updated the Mac Mini in January 202 and made a lot of improvements. Apple not only spec bump the Mac Mini to include the M2 chip, but also lowered the base price by $100 to $599. If you are a student, you can even get a $100 discount making the Mac Mini a sub $500 computer which can do 8K video editing.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on February 12, 2023
Apple and Nvidia updated their latest graphic offerings for 2023 in January. Nvidia has finally released their highly anticipated RTX 40-series graphic chips while Apple has finally spec-bumped their critically acclaimed M2 “professional” chip. Nvidia, the performance crown, has doubled down on making huge leaps of performance at the cost of power consumption while Apple, which has been criticized for having underpowered graphics compared to their peers managed to bump performance while maintaining power consumption.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on January 31, 2023
One of Apple’s greatest moves in recent years was Apple’s decision to move away from Intel processors for the Mac and transition to their own solution called Apple Silicon. The masterstroke is not only that we have new powerful Macs, but Apple also manages to streamline their entire technology stack to their own solution, which is uniquely Apple. Now, we are at the final legs of the transition, the Mac technology stack has become clearer than ever, but there are gaps that need to be answered.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on January 29, 2023
In early 2023, OpenAI updated one of their project, ChatGPT, one of their many AI projects that specifically generates text that respond to a human prompt. From there, ChatGPT capture the public imagination. With a single question, ChatGPT can make a sonnet, scripts for a YouTube video or a blockbuster movie, and even write complete codes to make useful programs.
Such is the response, the story goes, that the klaxon alarms in Google headquarters started to ring and the management team has gone into defensive mode.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on January 27, 2023
For the M1 Pro / M1 Max version of the MacBook Pro, read here
Apple updated the MacBook Pro in early 2023 with the introduction of the new generation of “professional” Apple Silicon: the M2 Pro and M2 Max. Based on our research, the new generation of Apple Silicon basically is a chip that gill up all the gaps that the first generation missed.
Aside from the lower barrier of $1,999, the difference between the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro is just $200 if you match the specs for both sizes.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on January 24, 2023
When reviewing the Mac Mini, MKBHD, a top Youtube tech review went on record that the Mac Min M2 Pro is faster in both single and multicore performance than the $5,999 Mac Pro. What a time to be alive to how fast things change in tech.
Screen grab from MKBHD where the CPU performance of the M2 Pro outpaces a base Mac Pro. While the M2 Pro Mac Mini starts at $1,299, you can easily spec the unit to match the $1,999 price of a base Mac Studio featuring a M1 Max.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on January 21, 2023
January 2023 was an exciting month for the tech community in general. Intel launched their new 13th generation Core processor, which is expected. And unexpectedly Apple dropped their next generation professional mobile Apple Silicon, the M2 Pro, and M2 Max. Granted, based on analysis, the M2 Pro and M2 Max were scheduled to be released in late 2022, but for various reasons, Apple delayed such a move.
Now, we are at the start of 2023, we have in our hands a brand new generation of mobile chips.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on November 16, 2022
One of the earliest ideas of the internet is having an information superhighway where the greatest commodity in the modern world, information, will be available at your fingertips. Of course, the internet has evolved vastly since we started making computers talk to each other in the 1960s and what started as a military secret, is now what is considered the ultimate fashion statement.
When one thinks of Apple, naturally people will think of Macs, iPhone and lately AirPods and Apple Watches.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on October 21, 2022
In October 2022, as expected, Apple announced new product updates, just in time for the all important year end shopping season. What is unexpected is the updates (or lack thereof) in the new products that it is announced. While some expect Apple will update their flagship iPad Pro to use the new M2 chips, what is unexpected is the new direction that Apple took with their new “base” iPad.
If you have seens the iPad 10 before, you will be right.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on October 1, 2022
Healthy competition is always good for everyone because it brings the drive for people to be the best version of oneself. Intel is a dominant player in the microprocessor market. Dominance is so high that you basically get what Intel gives for a very high price. The smartphone revolution has changed that and with billions and billions of dollars of research went into making the most powerful hand computers ever known to man, we are now in the age where modified versions of mobile microprocessors can compete and beat out processors that are meant to be use on laptops and sometimes desktop.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on September 26, 2022
Another year, another iPhone is revealed and Apple makes a few hundred billion dollars. But behind a stellar product lies stellar engineering to make the iPhone one of the most beautifully engineered products in human existence. And like every year, Apple reveals a new processor running in the iPhone that makes magic things happen at the palm of your hand.
But how does it fare against the competition? As we all know, you always have to be on the move in the tech industry, otherwise you’ll be left behind.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on August 11, 2022
When Steve Jobs came back to Apple, he revamp the entire product line. Famously, he went to blackboard and made a 2 by 2 table which the columns would be who will be using the Macs, either consumers or professionals, while the lines would be what kind of Macs it would be, a desktop or a laptop. That table that Steve Jobs drew in the late 90s pretty much guided Apple’s product roadmap for the next 20 years and its strong influence can still be felt today.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on July 29, 2022
Apple finally updated the MacBook Air for the Apple Silicon in WWDC 2022. With the benefits of Apple Silicon and lesson learned from the new MacBook Pro, the new Macbook Air is thinner, lighter and more capable than the predecessor. Curiously, Apple sell the new MacBook Air at a closer price to the MacBook Pro and still sell the M1 MacBook Air which was first unveiled in early 2020.
Officially, the base M1 MacBook Air is sold at the magic $999 price but you can get as low as $750 from Amazon Renewed, $850 from Apple Refurbished or $900 brand new from Amazon.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on June 29, 2022
When Apple unveiled a completely redesigned MacBook Pro in 2022, it also unveiled a brand new SOC dubbed the M1 Pro and M1 Max. There were a few differences between those two “professional” SOC, but they are the most powerful laptop chip that Apple had at the time.
The redesigned MacBook Pro debuts the M1 Pro and also M1 Max Apple recently unveiled the 2nd generation Apple Silicon creatively named M2 together with a redesigned MacBook Air and a repurposed MacBook Pro.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on June 25, 2022
When Apple announced in WWDC 2020 that they are moving away from Intel to their own solution called Apple Silicon, there were doubters about how good the new chips will be. Sure, the iPhone and iPads are pretty good, but to take on the master at their own game, which is Intel in laptops and desktops, that is a tall order.
M1 came and actually “beat” the flagship at that time, the Core i9-10900HK which surprised the industry.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on June 14, 2022
When Apple release the first Apple Silicon, the M1, in the wild on November 2020, it erases all doubt about Apple’s ability to not only switch architecture (which is a tall order by itself) but Apple’s ability to create magic. The magic is to create a processor that is both low in power consumption but high in performance. The M1 chip, the first of Apple Silicon manage to outclass the best mobile chip of the day, the Intel i9-10900HK.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on April 18, 2022
The M1 Ultra, to date, represents the pinnacle of Apple’s effort to carve their own way in the chips department for the Macs, vis-a-vis Apple Silicon. But the barrier for entry is quite high at the moment. The M1 Ultra is only available for their desktop offering with a “base” level specs that sets you back for $4,000. The Mac Studio however, has a cheaper version that features the binned version of the M1 Max, starting at only half the price.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on April 10, 2022
One of Apple’s greatest moves in recent years was Apple’s decision to move away from Intel processors for the Mac and transition to their own solution called Apple Silicon. The masterstroke is not only that we have new powerful Macs, Apple manages to streamline their entire technology stack to their own solution, which is uniquely Apple. Now, we are at the final legs of the transition, the Mac technology stack has become clearer than ever, but there are gaps that need to be answered.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on March 26, 2022
In Apple’s March “Peek Performance” Event, Apple revealed to the world their latest and greatest Apple Silicon to date: the M1 Ultra in, for the first time in over a decade, a brand new Mac, the Mac Studio. During the presentations, Apple made many bold claims such as astounding 800 MB/s memory bandwidth and performance that may beat top of the line cards like the Nvidia’s GTX 3090. As Arthur C.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on March 21, 2022
The March surprise Apple bought in their March “Peek Performance” event is the introduction of M1 Ultra and the Mac Studio that goes along with it. It is a surprise because one would expect such a chip and machine to be presented during the developer’s conference in June and many were expecting a new M2 SOC to be presented. It is, however, a pleasant surprise since Apple is releasing their most powerful SOC to date.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on March 12, 2022
In the spring Apple Event in March 2022, Apple lifted the shroud and unveiled the M1 Ultra and together with it a brand new Mac: the Mac Studio. Maybe it is too early to tell at this point, but the unveiling is not only changing Apple Mac and future product lineup, but potentially changing the entire personal computing game in a very significant way. So we now know that M1 Ultra is the most powerful Apple Silicon yet from Apple, but is it enough to challenge the major players like Intel and AMD on the CPU front as well as Nvidia on the discrete graphics front?
Posted by
erwinkarim
on March 12, 2022
In the spring Apple Event in March 2022, Apple lifted the shroud and unveiled the M1 Ultra and together with it a brand new Mac: the Mac Studio. Maybe it is too early to tell at this point, but the unveiling is not only changing Apple Mac and future product lineup, but potentially changing the entire personal computing game in a very significant way. So we now know that M1 Ultra is the most powerful Apple Silicon yet from Apple, but is it enough to challenge the major players like Intel and AMD on the CPU front as well as Nvidia on the discrete graphics front?
Posted by
erwinkarim
on February 15, 2022
For the past few years, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) has been quietly building up the Android and ChromeOS software to have some ecosystem features. Google saw what Apple did and found out that the Ecosystem ™ is a very effective tool to keep users locked in with all the conveniences that the ecosystem provides. We explored what Google bought into their ecosystem play and do they match up against the king of ecosystem: the Apple Ecosystem.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on February 11, 2022
On February 2022, Samsung has unveiled their latest flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy series S22. Just like last year, they come in three guise: the regular S22, the S22+ and the high end S22 Ultra. And just like last year, they bought in new chips and features that aim to compete with Apple and other android phones to be the best smartphone on the market. Let’s see how they fare against their ultimate opponent: the iPhone 13 series.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on January 30, 2022
Qualcomm updated their mobile chip offering for 2022 in late November 2021. Unlike previous iterations, the new chip has a new naming convention, dubbed SnapDragon 8 Generation 1. The name change signifies a paradigm shift for Qualcomm as the manufacturer uses a brand new architecture for the SnapDragon 8 Gen 1. Since then, the SnapDragon 8 Gen has appeared on the usual suspects of flagship phones: the Xiaomi 12, Samsung Galaxy S22 series, Motorola Edge 20 Ultra and the Oneplus 11 Pro.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on January 15, 2022
Intel Xeon processors are Intel’s top of the line product. They might not be a best seller in terms of sales volume, but they tend to have huge profit margins because they are mostly catered for businesses that seek the ultimate in computing power at almost any cost. And at this level of performance, you will find chips that will cost $4,000 to $5,000 and in some cases where it’s meant for a mission-critical data center server, each chip can be in the range of $8,000 to $9,000.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on December 26, 2021
With the MacBook Pro updated in late October 2021, Apple has finally updated all it’s mobile Macs to Apple Silicon. In Apple’s line up, you have three distinct tiers to choose from: the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro with M1 and the newly refreshed MacBook Pro. So now, the question is, which one is the right one for you?
We tested and looked at each of the laptops and laid down which is best for you.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on November 13, 2021
Before we start, I would like to share two stories. When Google acquired Android way back in 2005, Google had the foresight that the next era of computing which started with mainframe, then minicomputers, then personal desktop and later desktop would be miniaturized to the smartphone. Google had a product ready only to be stopped by the first iPhone launch in 2007, which proved to be so ground breaking that Google had to go back to the drawing board and redesign Android to be more like iOS.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on November 9, 2021
In a market system where there is healthy and equal competition, the consumer in the end would benefit from the innovation that is forced upon the producers to win and maintain market share. In the case of Intel, the company has been in a dominant position for quite some time and in the end, their product line stagnated and competitors caught up with their innovation. First came AMD with their Rayzen and Epyc line of CPUs.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on November 9, 2021
In a market system where there is healthy and equal competition, the consumer in the end would benefit from the innovation that is forced upon the producers to win and maintain market share. In the case of Intel, the company has been in a dominant position for quite some time and in the end, their product line stagnated and competitors caught up with their innovation. First came AMD with their Rayzen and Epyc line of CPUs.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on November 7, 2021
Since the 3rd generation of the Intel MacBook Pro in 2006 (before that it was the PowerBook), the smaller 13-inch MacBook Pro was the middle child laptop in Apple’s entire laptop lineup. The MacBook or MacBook Air was aimed at office productivity workers who just needed enough power to write emails, make presentations or occasionally watch some videos, while the larger 15 inch (later 16 inch) have the heavy duty stuff like large memory, discrete powerful graphics, better speaker and mic array.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on November 3, 2021
When Apple updated the MacBook Pro in the October “Unleashed” 2021 event, Apple introduced two new chips that powers the new laptop: the M1 Pro and M1 Max. While the M1 Pro is designed to be a beefed up version of the M1 chip that is found in base consumer-level Macs, the M1 Max is an all out performance SOC that challenges the best laptop on the market with discrete mobile graphics.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on October 28, 2021
Since the early days of 3D graphics in computers way back in the 1990s (that’s basically three centuries ago), there were two major players in the field: Nvidia and ATI. There was a major player called 3dfx but later due to some missteps and maybe mismanagement, 3dfx was bought over by Nvidia and ATI was bought over by AMD. Together Nvidia and AMD own 99% of discrete GPU market share with Nvidia being the king of the hill with 83% of market share.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on October 24, 2021
Update: We also make a comparison between Intel’s 12th Generation “Alder Lake” Core CPU against the M1-series, from base to M1 Max. Read about it here
In the “Unleashed” October event, Apple has updated their best selling workhorse laptop, the MacBook Pro. It not only has an all new design, Apple also debuted two new Apple Silicon dubbed M1 Pro and M1 Max. Apple has bold claims about performance, and more importantly, performance per watt which is paramount for a mobile workstation like the MacBook Pro.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on October 4, 2021
The iPhone 13 Pro and the iPhone 13 Pro Max is the most technologically advanced smartphone that Apple ever make to date. The technologies that is packed in the Pro lines are class leading and in some cases, ahead of the competition. That being said, let’s not discount the “base” iPhone models. While Apple does not release sales figure by model types, but it is safe to assume that being at the lower price point than the Pro models, it’s a sales leader in Apple’s line up.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on September 22, 2021
Apple just updated their iPhone and iPad line up to the iPhone 13 and the introduction of the new iPad and iPad Mini. Just like every phone that Apple updates every year, it comes with a new processor that powers the phone. As always, Apple claims that this year is faster by a wide margin than last year’s processors and you will be able to do a lot more with all that power.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on September 18, 2021
California Streaming, Apple September event came and went. In its wake, Apple unveil 4 product updates, the iPhone 13 line up, Apple Watch Series 7 line up, an updated iPad and redesigned iPad Mini. What is most curious is that the iPad Mini has been redesigned to be a closer iPad Air and sports the same chip that runs the iPhone 13 Pro.
Now, it is curious to see, how does the iPad Mini compare with iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on September 8, 2021
One of the selling points and key features of Apple ecosystem is that they have a slew of common apps in every device they have sold. And if you register all your devices in iCloud, the apps can be synched up with every device you have and act in a certain way. This is pretty much true for Apple’s utility apps like Messages (with iMessage), photos, Shortcuts (coming to Monterey Bay), FaceTime, Stocks and others.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on July 28, 2021
Update: We also make a comparison between Intel’s latest Alder Lake CPU against the M1-series, from base to M1 Max. Read about it here
Imagine having the most powerful microprocessor in your hand. It has multilude of cores on a single die and each core can run two threads at the same. In some version of the same processor, it also has an integrated graphics so you can also run 3D software or even gaming on it.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on July 14, 2021
Since 2007, a different kind of computer chip has taken the world by storm. What happened in 2007, was the launch of the first iPhone by Steve Jobs where he unveiled a new iPod, a new internet device and a telecommunication device. Since then, Google jumped on the bandwagon by sponsoring the development of the Android OS which made 2010s the Age of the Smartphone. With the rise of the smartphone, the chip that powers it also rose to prominence.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on May 7, 2021
When the iMac Pro was released in 2017, it was a stop gap measure between updating the trash can Mac Pro (released in 2013 and never updated) and the arrival of the newest Mac Pro (released in 2019). Now the iMac Pro has not been updated since it’s release and Apple announced that it is moving towards their own Apple Silicon starting from Nov 2020. Is the iMac Pro still a relevant machine and how does it stack up with Apple latest consumer PC, the new iMac?
Posted by
erwinkarim
on May 3, 2021
Apple launched the new AirTags during the April 2021 special event. It was one of the three new products that it presented and Apple spend around 20 minutes talking about it. For Apple, it is a brand new product category, something to make their ecosystem lusher, but for others, it is the new kid on the block. bluetooth tracker has been on the market at least since 2013 and Apple just entered an already established market.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on March 29, 2021
Apple is deep in the software business … to prop up their hardware business. Apple makes one of the best well designed and thought out software in the world, the only catch is that is mostly run on their own platform which they make the fat profit margins. But that does not mean that they tried to put some on other platforms too.
Plug: Audiable allows you to listen to your favorite books while on the go.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on March 21, 2021
Update: We also make a comparison between Intel’s latest Alder Lake CPU against the M1-series, from base to M1 Max. Read about it here
The M1 chip, the first Apple Silicon, was released in November 2020 with much fan fare. It immediately blow people minds away as it is not only have lower power consumption, but higher performance than a lot of more expensive and more powerful chips offered by their competitors.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on February 16, 2021
Update: We added coverage on the new A15 chip and compared it to the SnapDragon 888. You can read about it here.
Since the dawn of the smartphone age, Apple has been the company that everyone wants to beat. And for good reason: despite having only having arond 30% of the smartphone market share, it holds over 60% of smartphone profit share. Apple chip devision which powers the iPhone helps in this regard.
Posted by
erwinkarim
on February 12, 2021
It’s the age old question, iPhone or Android? 12 Pro or S21 Ultra? Freedom or Ecosystem? England or France? It’s hard to answer these despite both of them are going to celebrate 15 years helping running the world together next year. Take a look at what the best Cupertino and Seoul has to offer.
Executive Summary:
Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max is Apple’s flagship phone of 2020 Samsung S22 Ultra is Samsung flagship phone of 2021 Samsung S22 Ultra has a larger and brighter display Apple iPhone 13 has a better software / ecosystem, and is smaller The iPhone 12 Pro Max Apple flagship that was just released in Oct 2020, delayed to their typical timeline because of that weird way 2020 happen.