Intel Core i7 versus Apple M1: Let’s look at Intel’s new claims

After months of silence over Apple’s impressive M1 chip, Intel just slammed back with a meticulous design of the arm-based chip. It’s not pretty.

Intel said its tests show:

• An 11th generation Core i7-1185G7 can match the performance of the M1 in a MacBook Pro in both local and non-native applications.
• In battery life, it’s almost a wash.
• The MacBook Pro fails to be certified as an Evo laptop.
• The M1 just does not use much software.
• The new MacBooks has a range of compatibility issues, from multiple monitors to game controllers, as well as many documented software insertion issues.

In the language of our time, it’s a ‘shot’ again, with Intel highlighting problems in competing products. In November, Intel did the same with AMD’s Ryzen 4000, which he said has deteriorated in many situations when running on batteries.

The normal reaction of outside observers and hardline Apple fans is to dismiss these challenges as sour grapes. However, Intel says it has benchmark receipts. Since we’re enjoying a good TV fight, we’ll set out Intel’s claims and tell you whether you should believe it or not.

Intel

Requirement: MacBook M1 is slower than Core i7

Intel says in the WebXPRT 3 test, with the same version of Chrome for both the Core i7 system as well as the Arm-native MacBook, Intel takes the lead. The Intel chip was largely ahead of WebXPRT 3, and the x86 chip was almost three times faster to complete the photo enhancement test.

However, Intel does not only use WebXPRT 3. It also shows the Core i7 driving the M1 in a PowerPoint-to-PDF output, and in multiple Excel macros by a factor of 2.3x. And yes, Intel used the Arm-native versions of Office for its tests.

We take: We will really have to perform similar tests, but we do not doubt the results. Yes, you may think that a company with more than a billion billion that has another company of another billion means ‘everything is fake metrics’, but this is probably not the case due to the high liability risk that Intel can contain. That’s why Diet Coke does not call Diet Pepsi undrinkable (even if it is.)

What you can the question is whether Intel has chosen tasks that benefit its own CPU design. But even if you believed it, it does not invalidate the test, because the output to a PDF is about as real – though boring – as you can get.

We would also be sad if we did not point out that WebXPRT 3 gives Intel’s home field advantage, as the benchmark developer (Principled Technologies) and Intel have long had a relationship. However, this does not necessarily mean that the benchmark benefits Intel, as AMD’s Zen 3 currently has the lead over Intel’s mobile processors. Nevertheless, Apple fans are sure that some offenses were missed by the refs here.

Intel

Claim: Core i7 crushes M1 in AI

For content creation tasks, Intel showed that the Core i7 was about 1.12x faster than the M1 in performing a 4K AVC to HEVC / H.265 file conversion. In this measure, they used the MacBook with the M1 version of Handbrake.

But the real destruction comes as soon as you get to Gigazix AI and Denoise AI from Topaz Lab, with the Intel Core chip crushing the M1 in AI-based noise removal and magnification. Or maybe ‘crush’ is too nice a term because the Core i7 seems to surpass the M1 so much, the M1 wishes it was never designed.

We take: As for the video conversion, we think it’s too close to call between both platforms, and probably not something we would be happy about if we were Intel. Regarding the AI ​​features, however, we think the results are pretty real, because we saw it for ourselves with our own M1 vs Core i7 and Ryzen tests. The 11th generation Core i7-1185G7 beats AMD’s Ryzen 4000U and Apple’s M1 so thoroughly, we thought of calling 911 for someone to go home and do a welfare test.

We have to point out that Topaz Lab’s apps are one of the few (yet impressive) programs designed to take advantage of the hardware acceleration in Intel’s CPUs. When you optimize hardware, you achieve a lot of performance improvements. This is the same magic that has made Apple’s phones shine for so long.

Claim: M1 does not support all features

Intel also takes the lead in Adobe Premiere Pro, using the beta M1 version in Auto Reframe and exporting to H.264 and H.265. These are decent wins, but right now, the code is still in beta for the Mac. That said, Intel points out that key features like Content Aware Fill have been completely eliminated in the beta version, and this is of concern. If the original version of Photoshop appears and critical features are missing, this is a major issue for Apple (and Adobe).

Intel

Games: you can not be faster if you can not run it

For games, we see a bit back and forth between the Apple M1 and Core i7 in games that actually work on the MacBook. However, Intel does not let it end there and decides to further embarrass Apple by showing the numerous games where the MacBook achieves a 0, because game support just does not exist. Intel points out that ‘countless more’ games ‘do not run on the M1’, and then it’s chasing Apple’s bank to a great extent with a list of 10 more games you can not play on the M1 MacBook:

1. Ear Watch
2. Crysis Remastered
3. Halo MCC
4. Red Dead Redemption 2
5. PUBG
6. Monster Hunter World
7. Doom Eternal
8. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020
9. Apex Legends
10. Rainbow Six Siege.

We take: OK, we understand that. Macs suck for games. All we can do is say that no rational person agrees with this. For games, the M1 Mac is actually about 10 feet lower than a gaming platform compared to the PC, unless you might be counting on using GeForce Now cloud solution?

Claim: MacBook does not obtain Evo certification

You know the amazing Intel Evo program that tries to improve the performance of laptops on key areas that irritate consumers? Well, Intel rather says that if Apple had presented the M1 MacBook to the same program as Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, MSI, Acer and others, it would have been rejected.

The reason? Intel says the M1 MacBook is too slow to do things that annoy consumers, such as ‘switch to Calendar’ in Outlook, ‘start the video conference Zoom’ and ‘select the menu’ in PowerPoint.

We take: We also do not know about AMD-based laptops with Evo certification. While Intel may think it’s an insult to Apple to refuse Evo certification, we suspect Apple does not care one badge less on its laptops.

Intel

Good battery life?

Perhaps the most shocking allegation Intel has made about battery life. While performance tests can be candied by those who want to prove an outcome, battery life usually cannot be disputed.

Apple’s official claim gives the M1 MacBook up to 18 hours of battery life using the Apple TV app to watch 1080p video with the brightness set to ‘8 clicks from below’. Apple also claims that it browses up to 15 “popular” sites for up to 15 hours using the same “8-click” criteria.

However, when Intel pitched a MacBook Air M1 against an Acer Swift 5 with a Core i7-1165G7, it found that both were basically equal. 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 on a relatively bright 250 net. On the Acer, Safari was released for Chrome, but the brightness and Netflix remain the same.

Intel added that Apple’s “8 clicks on” is about 125 net brightness on the MacBook Air, which is pretty dull.

We take: We agree that 125 nets is a pretty stupid brightness to use for video testing. After all, who wants to “watch” a movie on a laptop, but then dim the screen so much that you can not actually? see most of it?

The biggest disconnect here is probably the difference between the Apple TV app, which could potentially be greatly optimized instead of Safari, but it’s hard to believe that Safari would not already be strongly optimized. We really want to do extra tests here.

Intel

All sorts of things just do not work on the M1

Intel not only entered the performance of the M1. The MacBook Pro is also said to have serious shortcomings, such as the inability to use more than one screen with a Thunderbolt dock.

And while the computer can use game chapters, eGPUs, a third-party fingerprint reader, Wacom Drawing tablet, and Xbox Controller, Intel said that the MacBook Pro simply does not work with eGPUs, and that it has had several issues with other devices.

This is just hardware incompatibility. Intel’s rap battle with Apple also highlights plug-in issues for Ableton, Bitwig Studio, Avid Pro Tools, FL Studio, Motu and many others.

We take: The fact that the MacBook can only use a single external screen is a big problem. We want to verify it ourselves, but it’s a serious weakness in this multi-monitor world. Hopefully this is just a bug of the new platform, but for all we know, it is also a limitation on the hardware.

We have long said that lack of eGPU is a major weakness because who does not want more performance for games? But to be honest: we’ve already stressed that the Mac is pretty worthless to play, so what exactly do you need that eGPU for?

Intel’s software problems are a little less problematic, we think. If you pick up interests and tell all your developers to rewrite software for another new architecture … well, things will break.

The good news for M1 MacBook users is that these applications and plugins are likely to be eventually restored. Please note, this does not mean that it will all work out for free. We’ve seen how developers use the opportunity (which may be justified) to fix issues in the next version, which you may have to buy again in the meantime.

Intel missed acoustics

One point that Intel has not addressed, and we know why, is acoustics. One of the exceptionally great features of the new MacBook M1s is the almost lack of fan noise (it’s there and you can start it using Topaz Lab products), but every review praised Apple’s dead quiet operation. This is something that current computers are losing without hands.

Closure

While some might think that Intel’s digging at Apple is unworthy, we do not agree. Apple is the one that threw the first mud when it ceremoniously dumped Intel overboard, so it’s within Intel’s right to throw mud back. Nevertheless, we want to test some of Intel’s more serious hardware compatible claims and battery life.

Intel