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I went from a 64GB RAM ThinkPad to a 8GB RAM M1 Air, and ditched my PC entirely. No fans, no noise, no heat, it's like a fairytale. Watching videos in 4k60 has

I went from a 64GB RAM ThinkPad to a 8GB RAM M1 Air, and ditched my PC entirely. No fans, no noise, no heat, it's like a fairytale. Watching videos in 4k60 has very low CPU usage if any thanks to excellent hardware acceleration with modern browsers (especially Safari for obvious reasons). Many things to be impressed about.

hughrr 5y ago
This. I am considering buying a 24” iMac now as well.
snvzz 5y ago
>Watching videos in 4k60 has very low CPU usage if any thanks to excellent hardware acceleration with modern browsers This is in no way exclusive to Apple.
- herpderperator 5y ago
  If you know of a laptop that runs Linux which isn't ChromeOS that can YouTube at 4k60 without its fans ramping up at all or being audible, I'd love to hear it. My experience has not been such.
  - snvzz 5y ago
    thinkpad x395 (2019), the one I am using. I suspect your setup isn't using hw acceleration for video decode.
  - 1-6 5y ago
    Correct me if I’m wrong but the M1 performs and looks better on paper when doing synthetic benchmarks because they’re heavily optimized for specific tasks with ASICs on the SoC. While commendable to the general public, once a new video codec that’s NOT H264/H265 comes out, it’ll probably rely on general purpose cores and may fall behind dedicated GPUs which have slightly more capability than ASICs for general use. Fortunately, H264/H265 isn’t going anywhere so that MacBook will continue to efficiently process 4K60 videos on little power.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - TingPing 5y ago
    Firefox, Chromium, and WebKit all support VAAPI on Linux but often require extra config/flags/packages. Closer to working out of the box though.
- Casteil 5y ago
  >This is in no way exclusive to Apple. Perhaps not, but on most Intel laptops (especially those with comparable form factors to an air or pro), you're probably at least going to have a fan spinning up playing 4k60 content.
  - TimeBearingDown 5y ago
    I have an X1 Carbon 6 (2018) ultraportable with an i7-8250U 15W quad core processor. I feel certain both Windows and Linux handle 4K60 streaming without spending more than 1-3W and no fan. I’ll test and check back soon.
- ksec 5y ago
  The keyword here is excellent hardware acceleration. You can have all sort of hardware acceleration, partial hardware with help of GPU or CPU or full hardware. But at the end of the day it is total watt during decoding that matters. M1 decode H.265 and VP9 4K60 using 150mW. I am not aware of any other current video decoder on PC that offer this low power usage.
  - sudosysgen 5y ago
    All modern integrated GPUs have full accelerated video decode for both H.265 and VP9. Where did you get your 150mW figure from?
    - ksec 5y ago
      Full accelerated video decode does not equal low power video decode. I think I need to keep repeating this until I stamp out all accelerated video decode are created equal. ( Otherwise you would have market wide AV1 decoding by now ) You could spend 1W or up to 4W decoding 4K60 on non-Mobile optimise Video Decoder IP. It doesn't block your CPU, but it is not low power. >Where did you get your 150mW figure from? It is consistent with Apple's video decoding power requirement over the years. May be slightly lower given at one point it was 250mW. You could do your own measurement on your macOS with powermetrics utility.
      - sudosysgen 5y ago
        Moden laptops ALL have dedicated low-power video decode. There is no modern laptop that will use 4W decoding video on the GPU. EVERY single modern laptop has a video decode IC that is optimized for mobile usage. Hell, AMD laptops even share their iGPU desgins, loosely speaking, with some smartphones. > It is consistent with Apple's video decoding power requirement over the years. May be slightly lower given at one point it was 250mW. You could do your own measurement on your macOS with powermetrics utility. No, you can't. powermetrics on macOS is not granular enough to do that. If you figured out a way, please be explicit on how you did it.
        5y ago

hughrr 5y ago

This. I am considering buying a 24” iMac now as well.

snvzz 5y ago

>Watching videos in 4k60 has very low CPU usage if any thanks to excellent hardware acceleration with modern browsers This is in no way exclusive to Apple.

herpderperator 5y ago
If you know of a laptop that runs Linux which isn't ChromeOS that can YouTube at 4k60 without its fans ramping up at all or being audible, I'd love to hear it. My experience has not been such.
- snvzz 5y ago
  thinkpad x395 (2019), the one I am using. I suspect your setup isn't using hw acceleration for video decode.
- 1-6 5y ago
  Correct me if I’m wrong but the M1 performs and looks better on paper when doing synthetic benchmarks because they’re heavily optimized for specific tasks with ASICs on the SoC. While commendable to the general public, once a new video codec that’s NOT H264/H265 comes out, it’ll probably rely on general purpose cores and may fall behind dedicated GPUs which have slightly more capability than ASICs for general use. Fortunately, H264/H265 isn’t going anywhere so that MacBook will continue to efficiently process 4K60 videos on little power.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- TingPing 5y ago
  Firefox, Chromium, and WebKit all support VAAPI on Linux but often require extra config/flags/packages. Closer to working out of the box though.
Casteil 5y ago
>This is in no way exclusive to Apple. Perhaps not, but on most Intel laptops (especially those with comparable form factors to an air or pro), you're probably at least going to have a fan spinning up playing 4k60 content.
- TimeBearingDown 5y ago
  I have an X1 Carbon 6 (2018) ultraportable with an i7-8250U 15W quad core processor. I feel certain both Windows and Linux handle 4K60 streaming without spending more than 1-3W and no fan. I’ll test and check back soon.
ksec 5y ago
The keyword here is excellent hardware acceleration. You can have all sort of hardware acceleration, partial hardware with help of GPU or CPU or full hardware. But at the end of the day it is total watt during decoding that matters. M1 decode H.265 and VP9 4K60 using 150mW. I am not aware of any other current video decoder on PC that offer this low power usage.
- sudosysgen 5y ago
  All modern integrated GPUs have full accelerated video decode for both H.265 and VP9. Where did you get your 150mW figure from?
  - ksec 5y ago
    Full accelerated video decode does not equal low power video decode. I think I need to keep repeating this until I stamp out all accelerated video decode are created equal. ( Otherwise you would have market wide AV1 decoding by now ) You could spend 1W or up to 4W decoding 4K60 on non-Mobile optimise Video Decoder IP. It doesn't block your CPU, but it is not low power. >Where did you get your 150mW figure from? It is consistent with Apple's video decoding power requirement over the years. May be slightly lower given at one point it was 250mW. You could do your own measurement on your macOS with powermetrics utility.
    - sudosysgen 5y ago
      Moden laptops ALL have dedicated low-power video decode. There is no modern laptop that will use 4W decoding video on the GPU. EVERY single modern laptop has a video decode IC that is optimized for mobile usage. Hell, AMD laptops even share their iGPU desgins, loosely speaking, with some smartphones. > It is consistent with Apple's video decoding power requirement over the years. May be slightly lower given at one point it was 250mW. You could do your own measurement on your macOS with powermetrics utility. No, you can't. powermetrics on macOS is not granular enough to do that. If you figured out a way, please be explicit on how you did it.
      - 5y ago