The concept of an ARM-based computer isn’t new and we’ve actually see quite a few examples in the past where there have been laptops powered by Qualcomm’s chipsets. Microsoft even has something of their own in the form of the Surface Pro X which is powered by Microsoft’s SQ1 chipset.
So when Apple announced their ARM-based M1 chipsets, it wasn’t like they were the first to the market, but it seems that they might be doing something right. The folks at PC World recently ran some benchmarks to compare how Apple’s M1 compares against Windows ARM-based devices, and long story short, Apple’s M1 is leaving the competition in their rear view mirror.
Based on Geekbench 5 benchmarks, Apple’s M1 MacBook Air scored 7,454 in multi-core tests, and 1,730 in single-core tests. Microsoft’s Surface Pro X on the other hand only managed 2,734 in multi-core tests, and 731 in single-core tests. PC World also put in the HP Pavilion x360 convertible which uses an Intel Core i5-1035G1 which only fared slightly better than the Surface Pro X with 2,864 points in multi-core, and 1,107 in single-core.
Considering that both Apple’s M1 MacBook Air and the Surface Pro X were released in the same year, the difference in performance is night and day. To be fair, both are different operating systems aimed at different types of users and needs, so it’s not a 100% fair comparison. However if we were just talking about pure performance alone, it seems that other ARM manufacturers who are aiming to transition to making ARM-based PCs have quite a long way to go.
Filed in . Read more about M1, Microsoft, Social Hit and Windows. Source: pcworld