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The power consumption and thermal output of the M1 Mac mini shows how much more efficient Apple Silicon is than the Intel chips that powered older models.
Bold Fireball compiled the numbers from an Apple Support document.
A few weeks ago, Apple added the new M1 model to its support page listing the power consumption and thermal output of all Mac Mini models (including the original from 2005, which used a PowerPC processor. G4). The figures from 2014 are rather striking.
Fun fact:
It should be noted that the M1 Mac Mini maximum energy consumption and thermal output are only 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 doing nothing.
| MAC MINI MODEL | Idle power (W) |
maximum energy (W) |
Thermal output inactive (BTU / H) | Maximum heat output (BTU / H) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020, M1 | seven | 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 the updates: that Apple was hoping to switch to its own chip because Intel didn’t ship, but was ultimately forced to publish an interim. update.
This Gap in Mac Desktop Hardware […] was seen by many as a sign that Apple had lost interest in the Mac. Even after the [Mac Pro heads-up] Roundtable, however, Schiller’s comment “the Mac Mini remains a product of our lineup” was taken as a sign that while Apple had a renewed interest in high-end Mac desktops, the Mac Mini was not. not a priority.
But then came the much-loved Mac Mini 2018. It was still an important product in Apple’s lineup! But well considered or not, look at the thermals 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. It is an outlier on the trend line. And keep in mind that the M1 Mac Mini is a much better performing computer as well.
Apple doesn’t like to talk about things like this, so we’re left to guesswork, but it’s not hard to look at this simple chart of power consumption and heat output and consider these ‘years of ‘gap’ in Mac Mini desktop hardware in particular – were to a large extent the result of Intel’s chips being way too hot for Apple standards. And that in 2017, Apple bit the bullet and did its best with what Intel had to offer, realizing then that they needed another generation of Mac Intel (desktop and laptop) before that Apple Silicon Macs are not ready.
The M1 Mac mini achieves its impressive energy efficiency despite a significant improvement in performance.
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