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As a technical consumer I don’t know why I would want to see the actual die shots - it really doesn’t tell me anything at all. The graphics they put on slides

As a technical consumer I don’t know why I would want to see the actual die shots - it really doesn’t tell me anything at all. The graphics they put on slides or marketing sites aren’t supposed to be technical reference material, usually it’s just about conveying the idea of a SoC or performance improvements, or relative sizes, or whatever.

FartyMcFarter 6y ago
Because it's more real, and more inspiring to look at real technical material.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  > Because it's more real Why is more real better for this purpose? Isn't a big idea of diagrams that they aren't real so can be simpler and easier to understand? Otherwise we'd just use photos or actual schematics. > more inspiring Most people just need to get the info so they can get on with their job and day and get home to their kids. They aren't looking to be inspired right now. That's fine.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- simonh 6y ago
  For some people yes, for others it’s a confusing jumble of fuzzy shapes that distract them from the pertinent information. I think Apple approach of providing simplified diagrams, and also illustrative die shots (yes, they did provide die shots, so the whole premise of this discussion is stupid) was perfectly fine.
systemvoltage 6y ago
The inquiry I am making is more general - infantilization of consumers and the idea of dumbing things down for consumers like they're blobs of meat with cash to spare. You don't need to see the cartoonized version of it either. May be its easier as a schematic to explain? Not sure. A list of M1's features would work equally well. I think its just marketing pizzaz.
- zamadatix 6y ago
  Apple isn't an education company so it shouldn't be surprising their marketing department doesn't worry about simplifying things for their real goals. At the end of the day the customers are blobs of meat with cash to spare and the advertisement is to change the latter part not teach the former.
- mdonahoe 6y ago
  They are simplifying the presentation for educating a wider audience of non-ECEs. This is not a new phenomenon in human communication. But we’re all just blobs of meat, that’s true. Maybe one day Apple will better tailor their marketing to sentient Bitcoin algorithms.
  - MichaelZuo 6y ago
    Though there’s still the possibility that they could add it into the detailed specifications page, or perhaps even a link in the footnotes of the specifications page? Surely that would be a better match for the target audience that would care.
- mirthflat83 6y ago
  Your refusal to take a moment to think why Apple’s marketing team did this is very funny. Do you think they just throw a dart into a spinning board when making decisions like this? There’s a difference between “dumbing” things down and effectively conveying your messages. Suggesting that they include an actual die shot in their ads for general consumers is one of the most HN-esque comments I read this month.
  - systemvoltage 6y ago
    > Do you think they just throw a dart into a spinning board when making decisions like this? I think the opposite. Apple has perfected marketing in a lot of ways.
- conradev 6y ago
  There is a list of features here: https://www.apple.com/mac/m1/ https://www.apple.com/mac/m1/ Or are you looking for more detail, like the width of the decode pipeline or depth of the reorder buffer? I would think that a majority of software engineers don’t know what those are, fewer still would understand the significance compared other chips.

FartyMcFarter 6y ago

Because it's more real, and more inspiring to look at real technical material.

chrisseaton 6y ago
> Because it's more real Why is more real better for this purpose? Isn't a big idea of diagrams that they aren't real so can be simpler and easier to understand? Otherwise we'd just use photos or actual schematics. > more inspiring Most people just need to get the info so they can get on with their job and day and get home to their kids. They aren't looking to be inspired right now. That's fine.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
simonh 6y ago
For some people yes, for others it’s a confusing jumble of fuzzy shapes that distract them from the pertinent information. I think Apple approach of providing simplified diagrams, and also illustrative die shots (yes, they did provide die shots, so the whole premise of this discussion is stupid) was perfectly fine.

systemvoltage 6y ago

The inquiry I am making is more general - infantilization of consumers and the idea of dumbing things down for consumers like they're blobs of meat with cash to spare. You don't need to see the cartoonized version of it either. May be its easier as a schematic to explain? Not sure. A list of M1's features would work equally well. I think its just marketing pizzaz.

zamadatix 6y ago
Apple isn't an education company so it shouldn't be surprising their marketing department doesn't worry about simplifying things for their real goals. At the end of the day the customers are blobs of meat with cash to spare and the advertisement is to change the latter part not teach the former.
mdonahoe 6y ago
They are simplifying the presentation for educating a wider audience of non-ECEs. This is not a new phenomenon in human communication. But we’re all just blobs of meat, that’s true. Maybe one day Apple will better tailor their marketing to sentient Bitcoin algorithms.
- MichaelZuo 6y ago
  Though there’s still the possibility that they could add it into the detailed specifications page, or perhaps even a link in the footnotes of the specifications page? Surely that would be a better match for the target audience that would care.
mirthflat83 6y ago
Your refusal to take a moment to think why Apple’s marketing team did this is very funny. Do you think they just throw a dart into a spinning board when making decisions like this? There’s a difference between “dumbing” things down and effectively conveying your messages. Suggesting that they include an actual die shot in their ads for general consumers is one of the most HN-esque comments I read this month.
- systemvoltage 6y ago
  > Do you think they just throw a dart into a spinning board when making decisions like this? I think the opposite. Apple has perfected marketing in a lot of ways.
conradev 6y ago
There is a list of features here: https://www.apple.com/mac/m1/ https://www.apple.com/mac/m1/ Or are you looking for more detail, like the width of the decode pipeline or depth of the reorder buffer? I would think that a majority of software engineers don’t know what those are, fewer still would understand the significance compared other chips.