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Imagine AWS launching ec2 instances with M1 chips!

by the_arun 6y ago

Aperocky 6y ago
They have graviton, which is already more efficient by a huge margin (against intel per dollar).
- dylan604 6y ago
  More efficient than Intel i-series or more efficient than M1?
  - Aperocky 6y ago
    more efficient per dollar against their intel counterparts.
    - greatpatton 6y ago
      AWS can set their own price (or subsidize it to keep people on their cloud), more efficient per $ is not really a good way to judge how good is the chip, though it is a good measure for how much money will stay in your pocket.
- the_arun 6y ago
  True, but I believe graviton is still not like M1. Do they support i386 / backward compatible?
  - heavyset_go 6y ago
    M1 is not i386 compatible. macOS uses a translation layer through Rosetta 2 for x86 compatibility.
    - mbell 6y ago
      Sorta - There is translation layer in software but the reason the M1 is so fast at executing x86 code is that it has hardware support for switching to the x86 memory model. This is something no other ARM processor I'm aware of has.
      - singhrac 6y ago
        Is this true? I didn't see this detail anywhere I looked. If you have a source that would be interesting.
        sjs382 6y ago
        It was previously discussed here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25233554 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25233554 but I can't find the primary source linked anywhere.
  - mr_toad 6y ago
    > Do they support i386 No. But for many use cases that’s not a big deal, since you’re likely to be running Linux & other open source software that already has ARM versions or can be recompiled.
deleted 6y ago
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dmlittle 6y ago
They recently announced the mac.metal instance type for EC2 instances[0]. They currently only have Intel instances but I can’t see why the newer M1 instances aren’t coming soon. [0] https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2020/11/announcing-amazon-ec2-mac-instances-for-macos/ https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2020/11/announcin...
- The_Colonel 6y ago
  They are coming, but they will be crippled because of Apple licensing terms. The minimum rental period is 24 hours (every time you turn it on) so it's quite useless for e.g. occasional build.

Imagine AWS launching ec2 instances with M1 chips!

Aperocky 6y ago

They have graviton, which is already more efficient by a huge margin (against intel per dollar).

dylan604 6y ago
More efficient than Intel i-series or more efficient than M1?
- Aperocky 6y ago
  more efficient per dollar against their intel counterparts.
  - greatpatton 6y ago
    AWS can set their own price (or subsidize it to keep people on their cloud), more efficient per $ is not really a good way to judge how good is the chip, though it is a good measure for how much money will stay in your pocket.
the_arun 6y ago
True, but I believe graviton is still not like M1. Do they support i386 / backward compatible?
- heavyset_go 6y ago
  M1 is not i386 compatible. macOS uses a translation layer through Rosetta 2 for x86 compatibility.
  - mbell 6y ago
    Sorta - There is translation layer in software but the reason the M1 is so fast at executing x86 code is that it has hardware support for switching to the x86 memory model. This is something no other ARM processor I'm aware of has.
    - singhrac 6y ago
      Is this true? I didn't see this detail anywhere I looked. If you have a source that would be interesting.
      - sjs382 6y ago
        It was previously discussed here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25233554 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25233554 but I can't find the primary source linked anywhere.
- mr_toad 6y ago
  > Do they support i386 No. But for many use cases that’s not a big deal, since you’re likely to be running Linux & other open source software that already has ARM versions or can be recompiled.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

dmlittle 6y ago

They recently announced the mac.metal instance type for EC2 instances[0]. They currently only have Intel instances but I can’t see why the newer M1 instances aren’t coming soon. [0] https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2020/11/announcing-amazon-ec2-mac-instances-for-macos/ https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2020/11/announcin...

The_Colonel 6y ago
They are coming, but they will be crippled because of Apple licensing terms. The minimum rental period is 24 hours (every time you turn it on) so it's quite useless for e.g. occasional build.