4 ms·
To be honest, I wish my iPad's chip was slower! I can't do anything other than watch videos and use drawing programs on an iPad, why does it need a big expensiv
by mort96 3y ago
To be honest, I wish my iPad's chip was slower! I can't do anything other than watch videos and use drawing programs on an iPad, why does it need a big expensive power hungry and environmentally impactful CPU when one 1/10 the speed would do?
If I could actually do something with an iPad there would be a different discussion, but the operating system is so incredibly gimped that the most demanding task it's really suited for is .. decoding video.
- Shank 3y ago> Why does it need a big expensive power hungry and environmentally impactful CPU when one 1/10 the speed would do? Well, it's not. Every process shrink improves power efficiency. For watching videos, you're sipping power on the M4. For drawing...well if you want low latency while drawing, which generally speaking, people do, you...want the processor and display to ramp up to compensate and carry strokes as fast as possible? Obviously if your main concern is the environment, you shouldn't upgrade and you should hold onto your existing model(s) until they die.
- mort96 3y agoFrom what I can tell, the 2020 iPad has perfectly fine latency while drawing, and Apple hasn't been advertising lower latencies for each generation; I think they pretty much got the latency thing nailed down. Surely you could make something with the peak performance of an A12Z use less power on average than an M4? As for the environmental impact, whether I buy or don't buy this iPad (I won't, don't worry, my 2020 one still works), millions of people will. I don't mind people buying powerful machines when the software can make use of the performance, but for iPad OS..?
- Kon-Peki 3y agoThe M4 is built on the newest, best, most expensive process node (right?). They've got to amortize out those costs, and then they could work on something cheaper and less powerful. I agree that they probably won't, and that's a shame. But still, the M4 is most likely one of the best options for the best use of this new process node.
- steveridout 3y agoI'm under the impression that this CPU is faster AND more efficient, so if you do equivalent tasks on the M4 vs an older processor, the M4 should be less power hungry, not more. Someone correct me if this is wrong!
- mort96 3y agoIt's more power efficient than the M3, sure, but surely it could've been even more power efficient if it had worse performance simply from having fewer transistors to switch? It would certainly be more environmentally friendly at the very least!
- Kon-Peki 3y agoThe most environmentally friendly thing to do is to keep your A12Z for as long as you can, ignoring the annual updates. And when the time comes that you must do a replacement, get the most up to date replacement that meets your needs. Change your mindset - you are not required to buy this one, or the next one.
- mort96 3y agoOf course, I'm not buying this one or any other until something breaks. After all, my current A12Z is way too powerful for iPadOS. It just pains me to see amazing feats of hardware engineering like these iPads with M4 be completely squandered by a software stack which doesn't facilitate more demanding tasks than decoding video. Millions of people will be buying these things regardless of what I'm doing.
- _ph_ 3y agoLook at the efficiency cores. They are all you are looking for.
- mort96 3y agoI agree! So what are the performance cores doing there?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- kylehotchkiss 3y ago> Environmentally impactful CPU when one 1/10 the speed would do Apple's started to roll out green energy charging to devices: https://support.apple.com/en-us/108068 https://support.apple.com/en-us/108068 If I had to ballpark estimate this, your iPad probably uses less energy per year than a strand of incandescent holiday lights does in a week. Maybe somebody can work out that math.
- mort96 3y agoThe environmental concerns I have aren't really power consumption. Making all these CPUs takes a lot of resources.
- pertymcpert 3y agoHow do you suggest they make new iPads for people who want them? Someone has to make new CPUs and if you can improve perf/W while you're doing so you might as well.
- mort96 3y agoThey could start by making it possible to use the iPads for something by opening up iPadOS
- pertymcpert 3y agoYou didn't answer my question.
- aurareturn 3y ago>To be honest, I wish my iPad's chip was slower! I can't do anything other than watch videos and use drawing programs on an iPad, why does it need a big expensive power hungry and environmentally impactful CPU when one 1/10 the speed would do? A faster SoC can finish the task with better "work done/watt". Thus, it's more environmentally friendly. Unless you're referring to the resources dedicated to advancing computers such as the food engineers eat and the electricity chip fabs require.
- mort96 3y agoA faster and more power hungry SoC can finish the task with better work done per joule if it is fast enough to offset the extra power consumption. It is my understanding that this is often not the case. See e.g efficiency cores compared to performance cores in these heterogeneous design; the E cores can get more done per joule AFAIU. If my understanding is correct, then removing the P cores from the M4 chip would let it get more work done per joule. Regardless, the environmental impact I'm thinking about isn't mainly power consumption.
- pertymcpert 3y agoThe P cores don't get used if they're not needed. You don't need to worry. Most of your every use and background work gets allocated to E cores.
- mort96 3y agoBut they do get used. And they take up space on die.
- pertymcpert 3y agoWhen do they get used?
- mort96 3y agoI don't know the details of iOS's scheduler or how it decides which tasks should go on which kind of core, but the idea is to put tasks which benefit from high performance on the P-cores, right?
- _ph_ 3y agoIt has 6 efficiency cores. Every single of them is extremely power efficient, but still faster than an iPad 2-3 generations back. So unless you go full throttle, a M4 is going to be by far the most efficient CPU you can have.
- janandonly 3y agoThen the lower price point of the iPad should entice you more now.
- mort96 3y agoWhen the A12Z is too powerful, the M2 is as well