After months of silence over Apple’s impressive M1 chip, Intel clapped back with a carefully crafted removal of the Arm-based chip. It’s not pretty.
Intel said the testing shows:
- An 11th Gen Core i7-1185G7 can match or significantly exceed the performance of the M1 in a MacBook Pro in both native and non-native applications.
- As far as battery life is concerned, it’s basically a wash.
- The MacBook Pro would fail to be certified as an Evo laptop.
- The M1 just won’t run much software.
- The new MacBooks have a range of compatibility issues, from multiple monitors to game controllers, as well as many documented issues with software plugins.
In the parlance of our time it is “shots” again, with Intel highlighting the problems in competing products. In November Intel did the same with AMD’s Ryzen 4000, which was found to have decreased performance in many situations when running on battery.
The normal reaction of outside observers and die-hard Apple fanboys is to dismiss these challenges as sour grapes. However, Intel says it has benchmark receipts. Since we enjoy a good reality TV fight, we’ll detail Intel’s claims and tell you whether to believe them or not.
IntelClaim: MacBook M1 is slower than Core i7
Intel says that in the WebXPRT 3 test, which uses the same version of Chrome for both the Core i7 system and the Arm-native MacBook, Intel is taking the lead. The Intel chip largely led the way in WebXPRT 3, and the x86 chip was nearly three times faster in completing the photo enhancement test.
However, Intel doesn’t just use WebXPRT 3. It also shows that the Core i7 is pummeling the M1 in a PowerPoint to PDF export and in multiple Excel macros by a factor of 2.3x. And yes, Intel used the Arm-native versions of Office for its testing.
Our opinion: We really should run similar tests, but we have no doubts about the results. Yes, you might think that a billion-dollar company publicly partnering with another billion-dollar company means “it’s all fake benchmarks,” but that’s probably not the case because of the massive liability risk Intel could face. That’s why Diet Coke doesn’t call Diet Pepsi outright undrinkable rinse (even if it is.)
What you can The question is whether Intel has chosen tasks that favor its own CPU design. But even if you thought so, it doesn’t invalidate the testing, because exporting to a PDF is about as real – albeit boring – as you can get.
We’d also be remiss if we didn’t point out that WebXPRT 3 gives Intel a home edge, as the benchmark developer (Principled Technologies) and Intel have a long-standing relationship. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the benchmark gives Intel the advantage, as AMD’s Zen 3 is currently in charge of Intel’s mobile CPUs. Nonetheless, Apple fans will certainly say that some of the fouls here were missed by the referees.
IntelClaim: Core i7 crushes M1 in AI
For content creation tasks, Intel showed that the Core i7 is about 1.12 times faster than the M1 when doing a 4K AVC to HEVC / H.265 file conversion. In this benchmark they had the MacBook with the M1 native version of Handbrake.
But the real destruction takes place once you get to Topaz Lab’s Gigapixel AI and Denoise AI, with the Intel Core chip crushing the M1 in AI-based noise cancellation and magnification. Or maybe “crush” is too fancy a term because it’s more like the Core i7 outpacing the M1 so far that the M1 wished it had never been designed.
Our opinion: As for the video conversion, we think it’s too close to call between both platforms, and probably not something we’d be gushing about if we were Intel. However, as far as AI features are concerned, we think the results are pretty real, as we’ve been through it ourselves with our own M1 vs Core i7 and Ryzen tests. The 11th Gen Core i7-1185G7 crushes AMD’s Ryzen 4000U and Apple’s M1 so thoroughly that we thought of calling 911 for someone to go to the house and do a wellness check.
We must point out that Topaz Lab’s apps are among the few (but nevertheless impressive) apps designed to take advantage of the hardware acceleration in Intel’s CPUs. When you have optimization for your hardware, you get tons of performance improvements. This is the same magic that makes Apple’s phones shine for so long.
Claim: M1 does not support all functions
Intel is also taking the lead in Adobe Premiere Pro, using the native beta M1 version in Auto Reframe and exporting to H.264 and H.265. It’s decent wins, but come on, the code is still in beta for the Mac. That said, Intel points out that major features like Content Aware Fill are completely disabled in the beta release, which is a concern. When the original version of Photoshop comes out and it lacks essential features, that’s a huge problem for Apple (and Adobe).
IntelGaming: You can’t be faster if you can’t run it
For gaming, we see a bit of a switching back and forth between the Apple M1 and Core i7 in games that actually work on the MacBook. Intel doesn’t let it end here, however, and decides to further embarrass Apple by showing the countless games where the MacBook scores a 0 because game support simply doesn’t exist. Intel points out that “countless more” games “won’t run on the M1,” and for good measure it rushes Apple’s bank with a list of 10 additional games you can’t play on the M1 MacBook:
- Overwatch
- Crysis Remastered
- Hello MCC
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- PUBG
- Monster Hunter World
- Doom Eternal
- Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
- Apex Legends
- Rainbow Six Siege.
Our opinion: Okay, we get it. Macs are useless for gaming. We can only say that no rational person disagrees. For gaming, the M1 Mac is actually about 10 feet lower as a gaming platform compared to the PC – unless you maybe count that it runs GeForce Now cloud gaming?
Claim: MacBook wouldn’t get Evo certification
You know that fancy Intel Evo program that tries to boost laptop performance in key areas that annoy consumers? Well, Intel pretty much says that if Apple submitted the M1 MacBook to the same program that Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Acer, and others go through, it would be rejected.
The reason? Intel says the M1 MacBook is too slow to do things that anger consumers, such as “switch to Calendar” in Outlook, “start video conference Zoom” and “select a picture menu” in PowerPoint.
Our opinion: We are also not aware of AMD-based laptops with Evo certification. So while Intel may think it’s an insult to Apple to refuse Evo certification, we suspect Apple doesn’t care about one less badge on its laptops.
IntelLong battery life?
Perhaps the most shocking claim Intel made is about battery life. While performance tests can be handpicked by those looking to prove an outcome, battery life is usually unquestionable.
Apple’s official claim gives the M1 MacBook a battery life of up to 18 hours using the Apple TV app to watch a 1080p video with the brightness set to “8 clicks from the bottom”. Apple also claims to browse 25 “popular” websites for up to 15 hours using the same “8 clicks” criteria.
When Intel pitted a MacBook Air M1 against an Acer Swift 5 with a Core i7-1165G7, it actually found both dead. The MacBook Air came in at 10 hours and 12 minutes, and the Acer Swift 5 lasted 10 hours and 6 minutes.
The difference? Intel said it used Safari to watch a Netflix stream with tabs open with the screen set to a relatively bright 250 nits. On the Acer, Safari was submerged for Chrome, but the brightness and Netflix remained the same.
Intel added that Apple’s “8 clicks up” is about 125 nits of brightness on the MacBook Air, which is pretty dim.
Our opinion: We agree that 125 nits is some pretty crazy brightness to use for video testing. After all, who wants to “watch” a movie on a laptop but dims the screen so much that it is actually not possible see the most?
Probably the biggest dropout here is the difference between the Apple TV app, which could potentially be highly optimized instead of Safari, but it’s hard to believe Safari wouldn’t be highly optimized already. We really would like to do additional tests ourselves here.
IntelAll sorts of things just don’t work on the M1
Intel didn’t just go into the performance of the M1. It also said it found the MacBook Pro had serious flaws, such as the inability to use more than one display with a Thunderbolt dock.
And while the PC can use gaming headsets, eGPUs, a third-party fingerprint reader, Wacom Drawing tablet, and Xbox Controller, Intel said it found the MacBook Pro just doesn’t work with eGPUs and had multiple issues with other devices.
That’s just hardware incompatibility. Intel’s rap battle with Apple also reveals problems with plug-ins for Ableton, Bitwig Studio, Avid Pro Tools, FL Studio, Motu and many others.
Our opinion: The fact that the MacBook can only use one external display is a big deal. We’d like to verify that ourselves, but it’s a serious weakness in this multi-monitor world. Hopefully it’s just a bug of the new platform, but as far as we know it’s a limitation of the hardware as well.
We’ve long said that the lack of eGPU is a major weakness because who doesn’t want more performance for gaming? But to be fair, we’ve already emphasized that the Mac is pretty worthless for gaming, so what exactly do you need that eGPU for?
Intel’s take on the software problems is a little less problematic, we think. When you’re on the line telling all your developers to rewrite software for yet another new architecture … well, things are going to break.
The good news for M1 MacBook users is that these applications and plug-ins will likely be fixed eventually. Mind you, this doesn’t mean it’s all fixed for free. We’ve seen developers take the opportunity (which could be justified) to fix issues in the next version, which you’ll have to buy again by the way.
Intel lacked acoustics
One point Intel didn’t address, and we know why, is acoustics. One of the remarkably amazing features of the new MacBook M1 is the near-zero fan noise (it’s there and you can kick it off using Topaz Lab’s products), but every review praises Apple’s dead-quiet operation. That is something today’s PCs are definitely losing.
Conclusion
While some will say Intel’s dig at Apple is unworthy, we disagree. Apple is the one who first threw mud when it unceremoniously threw Intel overboard, so it’s within Intel’s right to throw mud back. Nevertheless, we would like to test some of Intel’s more serious hardware compatibility and battery life claims.
IntelTake these photos of people using PCs in black and white, add an uplifting soundtrack, and maybe add Matthew McConaughey’s smooth voice, and you’ve got an Apple commercial.