3 ms·

But this build is not only equivalent to an M3 MacBook - it’s probably 2+x as powerful when it comes to CPU and GPU. There are cheaper ways to build an equivale

by manmal 3y ago

But this build is not only equivalent to an M3 MacBook - it’s probably 2+x as powerful when it comes to CPU and GPU. There are cheaper ways to build an equivalent machine.

zuhsetaqi 3y ago
Where do you get the 2 times faster from. I doubt it's even close
- Manuel_D 3y ago
  Laptop performance is often thermally limited due to less airflow. Desktop PCs have big fans and coolers and can handle sustained load better. Bursty loads are less of a disparity, though. But of course, the tradeoff is that it's not portable like a laptop.
  - sliken 3y ago
    Very common on pc laptops, doubly so with discrete GPUs. However Mac laptops seem pretty good about not thermally limiting and are especially at giving same performance when plugged in as when on battery. PC Laptops with discrete GPUs often show huge differences when on battery vs wall power.
    - ben-schaaf 3y ago
      Macs are notorious for thermal throttling, partly due to inadequate cooling and party a policy to only turn on the fan once it's already throttling. This hasn't changed with Apple Silicon.
      - sliken 3y ago
        Every review I've seen for the apple silicon macs show they do quite well, especially compared to similar PC laptops. So not zero impact, but MUCH better than the competition. I'm not basing this on impressions, but the published performance metrics show performance over time as well as performance on wall power vs performance on battery.
      - TexanFeller 3y ago
        Previously true on Intel MBPs. M* chip MBPs hardly ever throttle in any significant way.
      - acdha 3y ago
        > This hasn't changed with Apple Silicon. The first part of your comment is correct. This part is not true for any benchmark I’ve seen - it’s possible to detect thermal throttling on the Air models but it requires uncommonly heavy workloads and takes much longer to kick in than it did with the Intel processors. In practice, a software developer who isn’t running LLMs locally will likely never hear the fan on their MacBook Pro or experience throttling on an Air.
npunt 3y ago
hate to break it to you but they're probably within spitting distance of each other, certainly in CPU and possibly GPU. https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-apple_m3_max_16_cpu_40_gpu-vs-amd_ryzen_9_7900 https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-apple_m3_max_16_cp... https://wccftech.com/m3-max-gpu-only-seven-percent-slower-than-the-laptop-rtx-4080/ https://wccftech.com/m3-max-gpu-only-seven-percent-slower-th... and throttling isn't that much on 16" model https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0sVCUWJ6VU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0sVCUWJ6VU
hajile 3y ago
I chose the 12-core because it's very close to the M3 Max in overall performance. There are cheaper ways to build most things. A high-end Thinkpad is $3000-4000 and you can buy a terrible gaming laptop with the same components for $1000-1500. The Thinkpad is going to be more reliable and last longer than the gaming laptop because the build quality is much higher. Apple uses good components that cost more, so comparing to bottom-of-the-barrel components isn't an apples-to-apples comparison.

by manmal 3y ago

But this build is not only equivalent to an M3 MacBook - it’s probably 2+x as powerful when it comes to CPU and GPU. There are cheaper ways to build an equivalent machine.

zuhsetaqi 3y ago

Where do you get the 2 times faster from. I doubt it's even close

Manuel_D 3y ago
Laptop performance is often thermally limited due to less airflow. Desktop PCs have big fans and coolers and can handle sustained load better. Bursty loads are less of a disparity, though. But of course, the tradeoff is that it's not portable like a laptop.
- sliken 3y ago
  Very common on pc laptops, doubly so with discrete GPUs. However Mac laptops seem pretty good about not thermally limiting and are especially at giving same performance when plugged in as when on battery. PC Laptops with discrete GPUs often show huge differences when on battery vs wall power.
  - ben-schaaf 3y ago
    Macs are notorious for thermal throttling, partly due to inadequate cooling and party a policy to only turn on the fan once it's already throttling. This hasn't changed with Apple Silicon.
    - sliken 3y ago
      Every review I've seen for the apple silicon macs show they do quite well, especially compared to similar PC laptops. So not zero impact, but MUCH better than the competition. I'm not basing this on impressions, but the published performance metrics show performance over time as well as performance on wall power vs performance on battery.
    - TexanFeller 3y ago
      Previously true on Intel MBPs. M* chip MBPs hardly ever throttle in any significant way.
    - acdha 3y ago
      > This hasn't changed with Apple Silicon. The first part of your comment is correct. This part is not true for any benchmark I’ve seen - it’s possible to detect thermal throttling on the Air models but it requires uncommonly heavy workloads and takes much longer to kick in than it did with the Intel processors. In practice, a software developer who isn’t running LLMs locally will likely never hear the fan on their MacBook Pro or experience throttling on an Air.

npunt 3y ago

hate to break it to you but they're probably within spitting distance of each other, certainly in CPU and possibly GPU. https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-apple_m3_max_16_cpu_40_gpu-vs-amd_ryzen_9_7900 https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-apple_m3_max_16_cp... https://wccftech.com/m3-max-gpu-only-seven-percent-slower-than-the-laptop-rtx-4080/ https://wccftech.com/m3-max-gpu-only-seven-percent-slower-th... and throttling isn't that much on 16" model https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0sVCUWJ6VU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0sVCUWJ6VU

hajile 3y ago

I chose the 12-core because it's very close to the M3 Max in overall performance. There are cheaper ways to build most things. A high-end Thinkpad is $3000-4000 and you can buy a terrible gaming laptop with the same components for $1000-1500. The Thinkpad is going to be more reliable and last longer than the gaming laptop because the build quality is much higher. Apple uses good components that cost more, so comparing to bottom-of-the-barrel components isn't an apples-to-apples comparison.