Vadim Yuryev Profile picture
Jesus Christ is King! Co-host/writer for the Max Tech YouTube channel. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Sep 19, 2023 13 tweets 6 min read
Apple's A17 Pro chip... I think I finally figured out why we're not seeing impressive efficiency improvements, even with 3nm from TSMC.

As you can see, Apple had to dramatically increase power usage in order to give us the A17 Pro's performance gains.

Here's the story:
1/13

Image
Image
Image
Remember when yields for TSMC's initial N3B chips were very low, around 55%? This is because Apple has high standards for efficiency or performance per watt.

Unfortunately, TSMC was unable to improve so Apple had to LOWER the efficiency standards across the board in order..
2/13
Jul 1, 2022 12 tweets 6 min read
Apple REALLY messed up with the M2 MacBook Pro and in this thread, I am going to prove it.
As you might know, Apple downgraded the base 256GB SSD from two 128GB NAND chips to a single 256GB, which cuts the channels in half, reducing SSD speeds.
Other reviewers have said..
1/10 that this won't impact the performance of the M2 MacBook Pro in any noticeable way, but that is WRONG!

With only 10 Chrome tabs open, the base M2 MBP exported a common 5min 4K HEVC clip SLOWER than the previous base M1 MBP. This should NEVER happen on ANY new product.
2/10
Jun 30, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
I completely agree! Nobody that cares about performance should buy the M2 MacBook Pro.

We are currently testing two M2 MBP models. Both with 8GB of RAM. One has 256GB SSD, and the other has 512GB. We have some bad news...

Casual users should WAIT for the M2 MacBook Air, 100%! Yes, some argue that 8GB of RAM is not enough, and that's CORRECT!
However, if you buy the 16GB model, the slow 256GB SSD will be impacting swap performance as well, which even the 16GB RAM model still uses.
So you've gotta upgrade both the RAM and SSD for optimized performance..
Jun 30, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
I will concede and admit that my initial comment was a bit extreme to say that it needs a better cooling system since most people buying the $1299 MacBook Pro won't be pushing it to the limits as we did in order to test the cooling system vs the M2 chip. Most people will be..
1/4 Image browsing the web, watching YouTube videos, and using common apps most of the time. For the most common video editing work using H.264 or HEVC codecs, those will run fine because the media engine handles it.

The main point I was making was that under a FULL load, the single..
2/4
Jun 29, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
Why the SLOW 256GB M2 MacBook Pro SSD speeds MATTER:
There's a good chance that the base M2 MacBook Air will also come with a single 256GB NAND chip, leading to the same slow SSD problems.
This matters because we looked at our own Amazon Affiliate sales data since Nov 2020 and... Image our viewers purchased 2.9x more base 256GB SSD M1 MacBook Air models compared to 512GB models.
They also ordered 6% more 256GB M1 MacBook Pro models compared to 512GB models.
Keep in mind that these are viewers who care enough about tech to watch our videos and learn about..
Jun 29, 2022 12 tweets 5 min read
We discovered SEVERE thermal throttling with Apple's new M2 MacBook Pro, proving that it needs a BETTER cooling system with two fans instead of one.
We exported 8K Canon RAW and saw temps hit 108°C, more than we've ever seen on a Mac, even an Intel Mac.
But it gets worse...
1/7 The fan was maxed out at 7200RPM the ENTIRE time, so there was nothing the MacBook Pro could do to cool itself down except for HEAVILY throttle down the M2 chip. This led to much worse performance than the M1 Pro chip, which didn't have to max out its fans.
2/7
Jun 21, 2022 14 tweets 3 min read
Here is my response to your response to my video :)
I chose to do a quote tweet so I can add additional tweets more easily.
Yes, I fully believe that Apple will use an 18-24 month upgrade cycle for Apple Silicon macs, depending on the model, instead of your 12-month idea.
1/14 Reasons for this cycle:
1. Apple already had an 18-month gap between M1 and M2.
2. Apple has already shown that they prefer to ONLY have one redesign/new design per event.
24" iMac - Spring 2021
14/16" MacBook Pro - Fall 2021
Mac Studio - Spring 2022
M2 13" MBA - June 2022
2/14
Apr 13, 2022 25 tweets 6 min read
Exclusive: Apple's M1 family of chips comes with a design limitation that was overlooked by Apple engineers when they started working on the chips 5-7 years ago.

The bottleneck is the 32MB TLB. Thank you to @hishnash for the help in explaining how it works.

Let me explain.. 🧵 Problem: Apple shows that the M1 Ultra GPU can use up to 105W of power. However, the highest we could ever get it to reach was around 86W.

No, the Mac Studio cooling wasn't a problem because the GPU stayed cool, around 55-58°C compared to in the past when Apple allowed 100°C.