4 ms·

Most consumers don't care about wattage on a desktop, and when you compare the prices they are similar and it loses.

readthenotes1 3y ago
I wonder how long you have to run the Apple chip to save enough on electricity to make the price difference worthwhile? Does it only drop to one human lifetime in places where energy cost is insanely high?
acdha 3y ago
Many people do care - many Americans have subsidized low power but that’s not globally true and even if your power is free a hot CPU means you’re listening to fan noise and heating up the room. In a cold winter that’s not bad but I knew people who had to do things like leave their office doors open for cooling.
- 0zemp3c 3y ago
  the people you describe aren't buying $7k desktops
  - acdha 3y ago
    They certainly are. Being able to pay for the extra power doesn’t mean you like fan noise, not to mention the people who are doing things like video production in a trailer where overheating is a concern. I used to support scientists who didn’t appreciate the heat 4 workstations made in their shared offices, either.
    - incrudible 3y ago
      A dedicated GPU with more die area and its own large fan will run both cooler and quieter when its power limit is reduced to match the performance of the Apple chip.
      - MBCook 3y ago
        More watts in = more heat out. It doesn’t matter if the cooling solution gets the chops’s surface temperature lower if it’s heating the room twice as fast. Chip surface temperature is not a useful metric for this purpose.
        incrudible 3y ago
        The die area matters in terms of how much performance you can still get out of it when lowering the power to match up with the (not actually) more efficient integrated chip. If Apple clocked their GPU to match the performance of a comparable dedicated chip, it would be just as inefficient, noisy and hot. Except they can not do even do that. They turned a limitation of the design into a supposed feature.
- gruez 3y ago
  >many Americans have subsidized low power Source?
- o1y32 3y ago
  You have confused HN population with general US population
rbanffy 3y ago
Kind of. I did a quick comparison this morning between a MacPro and a similar high-end Dell workstation and the prices are similar. https://twitter.com/0xDEADBEEFCAFE/status/1667476129987297280 https://twitter.com/0xDEADBEEFCAFE/status/166747612998729728...

I wonder how long you have to run the Apple chip to save enough on electricity to make the price difference worthwhile? Does it only drop to one human lifetime in places where energy cost is insanely high?

acdha 3y ago

Many people do care - many Americans have subsidized low power but that’s not globally true and even if your power is free a hot CPU means you’re listening to fan noise and heating up the room. In a cold winter that’s not bad but I knew people who had to do things like leave their office doors open for cooling.

0zemp3c 3y ago
the people you describe aren't buying $7k desktops
- acdha 3y ago
  They certainly are. Being able to pay for the extra power doesn’t mean you like fan noise, not to mention the people who are doing things like video production in a trailer where overheating is a concern. I used to support scientists who didn’t appreciate the heat 4 workstations made in their shared offices, either.
  - incrudible 3y ago
    A dedicated GPU with more die area and its own large fan will run both cooler and quieter when its power limit is reduced to match the performance of the Apple chip.
    - MBCook 3y ago
      More watts in = more heat out. It doesn’t matter if the cooling solution gets the chops’s surface temperature lower if it’s heating the room twice as fast. Chip surface temperature is not a useful metric for this purpose.
      - incrudible 3y ago
        The die area matters in terms of how much performance you can still get out of it when lowering the power to match up with the (not actually) more efficient integrated chip. If Apple clocked their GPU to match the performance of a comparable dedicated chip, it would be just as inefficient, noisy and hot. Except they can not do even do that. They turned a limitation of the design into a supposed feature.
gruez 3y ago
>many Americans have subsidized low power Source?
o1y32 3y ago
You have confused HN population with general US population

rbanffy 3y ago

Kind of. I did a quick comparison this morning between a MacPro and a similar high-end Dell workstation and the prices are similar. https://twitter.com/0xDEADBEEFCAFE/status/1667476129987297280 https://twitter.com/0xDEADBEEFCAFE/status/166747612998729728...