The Unforeseen Downside of Apple's M1 Thermal Efficiency

Description

This image is a screenshot of a tweet from user Jason Miller (@_developit). The tweet, which has received 33 comments, 11 retweets, and 560 likes, reads: 'The M1 Air should come with a keyboard heater. My hands are cold because the machine never gets warm'. The humor stems from a 'first-world problem' created by a significant technological advancement. For years, developers using high-performance laptops, particularly Intel-based MacBooks, became accustomed to the machines running extremely hot under heavy load, effectively turning the keyboard into a hand-warmer. The Apple M1 chip, however, is so thermally efficient that it performs intensive tasks without generating significant heat. This tweet ironically frames this major engineering achievement as an inconvenience, a sentiment that resonates with experienced developers who remember the era of scorching hot laptops

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DeveloperHumor AppleM1 AppleSilicon TechHumor Macos Hardware

Comments

107

Anonymous ★ Top Pick My old Intel Mac could compile code and brew coffee simultaneously. The M1 Mac compiles before the water even starts boiling. It's a performance win but a caffeine workflow disaster

Anonymous ★ Top Pick

My old Intel Mac could compile code and brew coffee simultaneously. The M1 Mac compiles before the water even starts boiling. It's a performance win but a caffeine workflow disaster
Anonymous

The M1 Air is so thermally efficient I have to compile Chromium under Rosetta just to get my keyboard above room temperature
Anonymous

After decades of optimizing thermal throttling algorithms and fan curves, we've finally achieved peak efficiency: a laptop so cool it requires a separate heating budget for your home office. The real innovation isn't the 20-hour battery life, it's discovering we've been using Intel chips as expensive hand warmers all along
Anonymous

The M1 Air's thermal efficiency is so good it violates the fundamental law of legacy laptop ownership: 'Thou shalt warm thy hands upon the altar of inefficient x86 architecture.' Now developers who spent years using their Intel MacBook Pros as lap warmers during winter coding sessions face an existential crisis - do they optimize for performance-per-watt or BTUs-per-compile? It's the ultimate engineering trade-off: you can have either a laptop that runs cool and silent for 18 hours, or one that doubles as a space heater. Apple Silicon chose violence against cold hands
Anonymous

Back on Intel, “npm install” doubled as HVAC; M1 finally enforced separation of concerns
Anonymous

Remember when 'make -j' doubled as a keyboard heater? M1 turned that feature into a bug
Anonymous

M1 Air: So efficient it achieves thermodynamic victory by generating zero waste heat - your fingers pay the entropy tax
@exhausted 5y

meanwhile my i7 does same job as my teapot
@Nufunello 5y

Because, it does not work?
1. @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  Because it does not need to run thousands of legacy ops and instructions translations per cycle like any x86 arch
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  well, it kinda needs tho
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  How and why? If it is intended to run on system that was designed for it (and x86 soft is out of that ship)
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  you do understand that it's useless without x86 software
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  Apple doesn't think it owe you something. They're decided to ditch arch they were depending upon. Developers for Mac will recompile soft using new arch will GTFO. Take an infamous docker for an example. Now when apple monopoliesed entire vertical bottom—top it is no longer an issue. OS will be supported, Apple's soft will be, thus who make money from selling soft for Macs will adopt M1 arch no questions asked.
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  rozetta2 does exist, and it does run x86 code, doing the asme shit x86 natively did in hardware
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  stop it, you're not gonna get through to an apple fanboy. Let him be in his misery.
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  it's kinda fun seeing apple fanboys seething over the issues that are already have been solved
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  you think it's fun? Alright, you do you then.
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  it's sad too, but also fun
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  I do hate Apple but do respect the fact they had the balls to cut the tradition of carrying support for a 40 year old tech just because soft is not ready to move on. X86 is overly complicated. And it is a bit BDSM to keep going. I'm hoping after Apple there will be a similar shift in other domains as well.
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  they tried to combat x86 with powerPC and then dropped it because they have no balls
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  They didn't had a capacity to compete but not anymore
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  they even had an emulator for X86 software back then, they definitely had the capacity.
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  But AFAIK PowerPC was desktop only oriented?
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  so ist x86.
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  it was invented specifically to combat x86
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  MegaLoL! 🤣 I'm exact opposite of a gay, just voicing a reasonable opinion. Why would you expect Apple continue to support X86 when they looking for an alternative for more than 10 years activly? Fighting with chips manufacturers especially hardcore in past 5 years.
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  hopping from one architecture to another isn't actively looking for an alternative. So far, they've used PowerPC, X86, ARM, and now M1. I'm not very impressed.
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  Isn't M1 a continuation of ARM?
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  yes/no. It's similar, but they didn't want to pay the humongous licensing fees for ARM.
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  Also they reworked it into SoC and other stuff
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  umm… every ARM chip is a SoC. Aside from a few mobile laptops with windows on them, but we know how good those are.
  
  @dugeru42 5y
  
  Apple doesn't think it owe you something.
  
  @doodguy1991 5y
  
  This is a fat lie. That's not why it runs cold. The damn thing is on a 5nm process and when on battery it only uses 5 watts.
@DavidGarciaCat 5y

The M1 Pro 13" has the same problem: I don't remember hearing the fan, not once, and it doesn't warm even using software that uses all M1 cores
1. @RiedleroD 5y
  
  my intel pentium doesn't get hot either. I don't even need a fan for it. TravelMate B117M, look it up.
  
  @PsyDuckTape 5y
  
  My i5 never get warm as well.
@ANTICHRISTUS_REX 5y

This was working, and got burned by a hot person.
@cheburgenashka 5y

Well, anyway mobile market growing wild and the gap between 2 world's shrinks. You kinda expect that there will be only one arch uniting both. It seems like ARM alike it will be and Apple push in the same direction. Anyway I detest the fact X86 is heavy AF for legacy reasons ONLY
1. @RiedleroD 5y
  
  x86 isn't perfect, but there are reasonable alternatives to making up your own chipset. Apple only did that to be unique again and seem like they have the upper hand while also avoiding fees from using the already well established ARM architecture.
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  don't they use arm cores like their mobile socs too?
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  specify who you mean with 'they' please
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  apple
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  idk. I believe they used ARM in their phones, but that might change next generation.
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  They used X86 not so long ago but after fighting with chips manufacturers the began switching
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  ye because they're too greedy to pay licensing fees.
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  Apple is greedy but manufacturers are not a lesser evil. I got my insider sources from guys who serves big boys of the chips forgers.
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  ya no shit. Companies are greedy? Tell me something new lol.
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  Manufacturers really didn't play nice. And even list the court in few cases, so bad they were. Much worth than Apple. Well, anyway... Let's see Linuxoids running on M1
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  > didn't play nice you seen the shit apple's been doing for the past 10 years? > Let's see Linuxoids running on M1 I'm sure there'll be linux in less than half a year running on that thing. And doom ofc.
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  Don't wanna compare duces. I want a lappy without noise of the fan or frying pan temperatures.
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  I have that
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  200€, Travelmate B117M
  
  @dugeru42 5y
  
  Even my amd laptop is cool with that
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  Dude, it seems like their shit is way much more powerful and efficient than alternatives in both X86 and ARM lands (despite the fact that PR probably bullshitted a lot but still seems like it way more efficient in consumption of moving electrons)
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  Exactly. It seems that way. Apples PR is way more powerful than their hardware designers, unfortunately.
  
  @dugeru42 5y
  
  Its almost like they are fighting each other
@doodguy1991 5y

AMD can produce a 5 watt TDP CPU as well if they wanted
@cheburgenashka 5y

No, it's not. M1 (like other ARMs) get the job and do the job. X86 never do the go straight to job. They pass it into a vast factory full of pipeline synchronisation, and legacy instructions set support. Like a Royal family, not all of their members needed, but you support them and their legacy as long as they do exist. This is why in terms of power consumption, it's like comparing a motorcycle to a tractor. Yeah, sure, the tractor can lift heavier weight, but if you divide that weight across motorcycles — they'll win both the race and the milage per unit of fuel.
1. @RiedleroD 5y
  
  …you have no idea how processors work, do you?
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  or how fast tractors can be
  
  @ANTICHRISTUS_REX 5y
  
  [SARCASM]You have no idea how the edit button works, do you?[SARCASM]
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  Or you about how much fuel they drain per single mile or km.
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  definitely more than a motorcycle, he's right in that one.
2. Deleted Account 5y
  
  i wonder why we don't have motorcycle fleets in fields...
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  imagine that lol
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  just some farmers on motorcycles dragging whatever the tractor is supposed to drag
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  to be fair, i don't like x86 either, but i reeally don't like how apple did their arm processor
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  same. I would've praised them if they adopted RISC-V or something similar, but noo, they had to do their own thing.
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  i think they would've fucked up riscv too
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  the whole purpouse of m1 is to restrict the user and give power to apple
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  and to have something new for the marketing team
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  yes
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  they basically went "look at this well-established licenseless standard that almost every application out there runs on. Now look at our new standard we made without any standardisation organisation or other tech companies, probably in less than a week, and mostly copied from ARM."
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  to be fair, the x86 architecture was made by two intel employees in two weeks without any outside help as well (at least I've heard that), but that's just repeating other people's mistakes at this point.
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  but iirc m1 actually went ahead and licensed arm architecture for their chips
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  wait, wdym? They paid for the ARM license?
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  yes
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  bruh. That defeats the whole purpose of a new RISC-based architecture. I thought they did it to avoid paying the huge licensing fees ARM has.
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  nah, that "new architecture" is not like x86 architecture, but more like haswell arcitecture
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  so copied from intel again? How does ARM fit into that? I'm confused.
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  nono, i meant the scale, not that they literally copied it
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  still confused
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  think isa and actual core design
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  like zen2 and skylake, both x86, but different architectures
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  ahh I get it. x86/ARM are the istruction sets, and you meant the layout of the processing components, yes?
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  yes
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  probably. With some patentable apple-only extensions that ruin both backwards- and forwards-compatiblity with RISC-V and potential compatibility solutions.
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  Because taking allegory literally is something that does only kids, downs and very poor comics (the joins rusty Jaime a spatter space in hell for them)
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  and taking yourself too seriously is something only assholes do. What's your point?
@cheburgenashka 5y

ARM does not suffer from this. I cannot find that awesome article that explained why X86 suck (especially in power consumption)
1. Deleted Account 5y
  
  how is simd bad?
2. @RiedleroD 5y
  
  why is ARM having less extensions a good thing?
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  Complexity of the pipilene synchronisation.
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  and why is complexity bad in this case? Besides for the people designing the processors.
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  This dude explains it better than me: https://stackoverflow.com/a/17294084
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  that's not "extenions" fault
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  he's talking about 32-bit x86, and I'm very much not sure how all that scales to modern processors.
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  also, there are various advantages to variable-byte instruction sets. I don't know much about this, but I do know that it isn't as clear cut out as you make it out to be.
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  they are supposed to be more compact, therefore fit in the instruction cache better
3. Deleted Account 5y
  
  also, arm has simd too
  
  @cheburgenashka 5y
  
  Is not just that. X86 have to deal with a big variation of different instruction sets legacy and to be able to synchronise that hell where they might take a variable amount of cycles.
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  valid point
@cheburgenashka 5y

Damn it! I lost my source and now doomed to argue with kiddos. I'm GTFOing from this thread (until I'm films it)
1. Deleted Account 5y
  
  again, no problem with arm itself, problem with apple
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  aye, I'm on board with that.
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  ARM>x86 any day, but not for all applications, and not with how chip manufacturers are behaving.

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The Unforeseen Downside of Apple's M1 Thermal Efficiency

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