The M1 Mac mini power consumption and figures for thermal production show how more efficient Apple Silicon is than the Intel chips that drive older models …
Daring fireball the figures compiled from an Apple Support document.
A few weeks ago, Apple added the new M1 model to their support page with a list of the power consumption and thermal production of all Mac Mini models (including the original 2005, which uses a PowerPC G4 CPU). The numbers from 2014 are quite striking.
Pret fact:
It is noteworthy that the M1 Mac Mini’s maximum power consumption and thermal output are just as slightly higher than the idle power / thermal numbers for the original 2005 PowerPC G4 Mac Mini. A new M1 Mac Mini running at full speed uses about the same power as a G4 Mac Mini just sitting there with the Finder open and doing nothing.
| MAC MINI MODEL | Free power (W) |
Maximum power (W) |
Empty thermal output (BTU / H) | Maximum thermal output (BTU / H) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020, M1 | 7 | 39 | 23 | 133 |
| 2018, 6-core Core i7 | 20 | 122 | 68 | 417 |
| 2014, 2-core Core i5 | 6 | 85 | 20 | 290 |
| … | ||||
| 2006, Core Solo / Duo | 23 | 110 | 79 | 376 |
| 2005, PowerPC G4 | 32 | 85 | 110 | 290 |
John Gruber speculates that the difference between the 2014 and 2018 models may explain why there was such a long gap between updates: that Apple was hoping to switch to its own chip because Intel did not deliver, but ultimately forced had to release in the meantime. Update.
This gap in Mac computer hardware […] was seen by many as a sign that Apple had lost interest in the Mac. Even after the [Mac Pro heads-up] during the roundtable, Schiller’s remark “the Mac Mini remains a product in our range” was seen as a sign that even though Apple had a new interest in high-end Mac desktops, the Mac Mini was not a priority .
But then came the much-appreciated Mac Mini of 2018. It was still an important product in Apple’s range! But well considered or not, look at the temperature in the table above. The 2018 Mac Mini has three times the power consumption and thermal output of the new M1 Mac Mini – and much higher numbers than the 2014 Mac Mini models it replaced. This is an outlier on the trend line. And keep in mind that the M1 Mac Mini is also a very performing computer.
Apple does not like to talk about such things, so we can think, but it is not difficult to look at this simple table of power consumption and thermal production and think of the “gap year” in Mac computer hardware – the Mac Mini in particular – was largely due to Intel’s chips being far too hot for Apple’s standards. And that in 2017 Apple shot the spit and did the best they could with Intel, and then realized that they needed another generation of Intel Macs (desktop and laptop) before Apple Silicon Macs would be ready.
The M1 Mac mini achieves its impressive power efficiency despite a significant performance improvement.
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