3 ms·
It's not really tighter coupling than in any other ultra portable laptops. It's just located on the package instead of on the mainboard, because they can. Short
by floatboth 6y ago
It's not really tighter coupling than in any other ultra portable laptops. It's just located on the package instead of on the mainboard, because they can. Shorter traces are better, but they don't magically make an incredible difference in performance. The newest x86 laptops run >4000 MT/s just fine through the board. Overclocked desktops run more through a socket, a big ass board, connectors, and full size DIMMs.
- usrusr 6y agoOh, I would have thought that they'd at least get something like massively improved latency, if not something comparable to what dedicated GPU cards do (using completely different memory standards, and likely sacrificing latency for bandwidth). If the M1 units only integrate the RAM for the form factor and to avoid all the hassle supporting a wide range of RAM modules (or the hassle of communicating that they are almost all unsupported) then it's probably not much of a deal just building a bigger module. A "cluster of MacBooks" style board might still be an interesting approach to offer something to the market segment that hungers for an Apple workstation without relegating the MacBook to a second class device. "For up to four threads it's just as fast as the mighty stationary monstrosity" would be a much better sales pitch than "if the mobile isn't fast enough for you you might be interested in or stationary offering".