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Comment by saagarjha | Hacker News Reader

> The M1 chip can't run most software w/o virtualizing x86. I can't run about 90% of my work apps on it.

Unless your work apps are Docker, Docker, and more Docker, this is almost certainly false. Even then, it’s just slow, not broken.

> There are many ARM CPUs out there, Apple made another one with some minor tweaks.

If 2x single threaded performance is “minor tweaks”, sure.

> For work, I get an 8-core xeon laptop w/ 128GB of ECC RAM, that runs cool, quiet, and just as fast as Apple.

FWIW I’ve typically found that my personal computer generally beats my work machines specced similarly to this.

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I have a lot of docker. I have a lot of ESX images. I have a lot of vendor tools. There is not a single professional application I use for work, that runs on ARM, outside of office/email. On an M1, I'd have to use a gimped web interface, which on the vendor side isn't even available for a lot of tools. For the gamers out there (not me), almost no games my little brothers want to play run on ARM.

>If 2x single threaded performance the M1 is just an iphone chip on steroids, and the M1 design is indeed a minor tweak of the design by ARM. 2x compared to what? The cortex X3 or a bunch of cell phone CPUs? The M1 is indeed a minor tweak of a Phone processor, with bigger hardware to accommodate laptop/desktop use cases.

Other companies make CPUs that run what people want to run. Apple makes CPUs that don't run what people want to run, and expect the world to rewrite everything for their new toy. That's why MACs have almost no footprint in the real world compared to x86/64. Because my computer is a tool. I have some nails and need to buy a hammer. Apple gives me a screw driver and tells me I'm doing it wrong. It's a tool that can't do the job, so it's the wrong tool. Yes, there is a small niche where Apple is a good fit. That niche, is 7% of the market for laptops for example. Surprise - people don't want an expensive paperweight. They buy tools to solve their problems, not create new ones.

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