Jim Dalrymple, The Loop:
First things first, here’s a link to the Geekbench browser, with search set to “MacBookAir10,1”.
This will let you do the search yourself, see the MacBook Air results as they come in. As of this writing:
- Single-core scores range from 1656 to 1732
- Multi-core scores range from 6519 to 7545
- Bigger numbers mean faster performance.
Next, I did a search for the “MacBook Pro (16-inch Late 2019)”. The fastest single-core score I could find was 1243, with most scores much lower than that. Fastest multi-core was 7191, again with most scores well below that.
Draw your own conclusions here, but I am excited about the possibilities here. I’m going to spend some time looking for GPU scores. Guessing the M1 will not perform as well as machines with discrete GPUs, but I may well be surprised.
If proven to be true, the release of Apple’s M1 chip will be remembered as one of those paradigm-shifting events that propelled personal computing forward into the great unknown. As someone who’s constantly plugged into the latest advances in personal computing, the possibility of a MacBook Air being faster, in any aspect, than the previous generation 16" Macbook Pro is mind-boggling – it’s completely absurd in a good way.
As we all know, Geekbench scores don’t tell the whole story. Maxing out single and multi-core performance for the sake of a “performance score” isn’t an accurate reflection of real-world usage. With that said, Geekbench scores do give a general sense of how well a CPU performs, and the new Macbook Air’s scores are unbelievable and completely believable at the same time.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing how the M1 chip performs in day-to-day usage. I’m planning to order one for my wife since the screen on her 12" MacBook was recently smashed by a naughty baby. If the MacBook Air is in fact faster than my 16" MacBook Pro for my use cases (writing, podcasting, video editing, etc.), I’ll probably consider picking up an M1-powered 13" MacBook Pro for work.