Most Android tablets don’t even use high-end smartphone processors, much less anything with computer-grade performance.Īnd a photograph of an actual M1 – again, this one’s from a Mac, but it’s exactly the same chip! Android tablets are, almost without exception, low-end devices designed to sell for a few hundred dollars or less, not performance-oriented machines that try to push the envelope of what’s possible in a lightweight device. A few 2 pound gaming machines use the lowest power versions of Core i series processors – slower than the iPad and twice the weight.
These are are all slow dual-core chips that have a hard time outperforming a recent iPhone – many of them don’t. Every very light Windows laptop (under 2 lbs and fanless) makes enormous compromises to get there – among the most important is that they are all running either Atom or Celeron processors or, at the best, extremely power-optimized m-series Core processors. In addition to their general penchant for secrecy, Apple’s highly integrated chip design may be another reason why they generally don’t report TDP figures.Ī 1 lb, fanless tablet with most of the computing capability of a top of the line laptop or a midrange desktop computer is a significant technical achievement, and nothing running Windows or Android comes close. If the CPU needs more power on a non-GPU intensive task (or the other way around), Apple’s highly integrated design lets them do that on the fly. A listed TDP in the 5-10 watt range does not mean that it will never consume more than that for brief periods – some processors are capable of pulling as much as twice their rating or more, and Apple processors in particular are known to be efficient at reallocating power where it’s needed. Processor power consumption is listed in terms of Thermal Design Power (TDP) – effectively the amount of power that the chassis has to be capable of dealing with the heat from over a prolonged period of time. Tablets and small, fanless laptops that use Intel processors (which do have listed power dissipation figures) invariably use 5 and 7 watt versions – even 15 watt processors always require a fan. Again, Apple doesn’t release actual figures, but a fanless, 1 lb tablet simply cannot be using much more power than that. It is running at a similar speed for many tasks to a 45 watt Intel processor, while it cannot be using much more than 5-10 watts.
The M1 is also ridiculously power-efficient. It’s the same chip, after all… A 1 lb tablet with a real computer’s brains… This Apple press image is actually from the release of some M1 Macs, but it’s equally relevant here.
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