Apple plans to separate GPU and CPU units in upcoming M5

Donux

Apple plans to separate GPU and CPU units in upcoming M5.

Could this be related to eye strain and apple is facing maybe some bigger engineering problems that are related to flicker? Maybe this whole idea of convergence of everything into one chip introduced unexpected results? Or maybe this is totally unrelated, and they are simply trying to go into new areas of performance and that is it?

Sunspark

It helps with thermal management to have the two on separate dies.

AshX

This is actually fantastic news, regardless of why they’re doing it. This will probably open up new avenues for battery power management without having to gimp the GPU as much, perhaps reducing the reliance on dithering and other techniques, especially on the Air models. In theory, of course. I doubt it has anything to do with eyestrain and visual disturbances, though we could be the unintended beneficiaries of this.

Can you post the source for this information? I’m curious if they will ever allow external GPU’s again. All in all, if this gives users more control in terms of repairability and use of externals, it’s great news.

Donux

AshX This seams to be suggesting that:
https://9to5mac.com/2024/12/23/m5-pro-chip-could-separate-cpu-and-gpu-in-server-grade-chips/

I think it is a good source. And of course as @Sunspark mentioned thermal is one of the main keywords here. But, they do write also about quality control, which is very interesting. Maybe current design does not enable solid quality control, hence divide and conquer is a good strategy for this.

Regardless of various bad experiences and dissapoitments with apple, one positive thing is - they will innovate and iterate no matter what. And they will not wait for low level hardware manufacturers to pace the show, but they will assess whether technology fits their product or not, if not, they will ditch it.

NewDwarf

I am a bit sceptical and I don't expect Apple will change something with dithering until moving to the true 10-bit panels.

Donux

NewDwarf So how is it Macbook pro M4 for you from very honest perspective ? 8 hours straight, no problems ?

NewDwarf

Donux

Donux So how is it Macbook pro M4 for you from very honest perspective ? 8 hours straight, no problems ?

Sometimes I use it all day long. And I don't notice any issues. Few days ago I tried to use MBA M2/M3 and I cannot use it more than 10-15 minutes. So MBP M4 is definitely the best M-based laptop to me.

AshX

NewDwarf

Can you talk about what your symptoms were on the Airs? Was it just general fatigue or more systemic?

Donux

NewDwarf Well, I think at least 2x people convinced me too in this forum, but I have already ordered Macbook pro 2015 in excellent condition with glossy LG panel and intel GPU as a possible backup machine. Will work for chrome activities, and not resource intensive coding (hopefully it will work 🙂). Seen these still being used on the live gigs by sound engineers, so I assume these must be very reliable. Then later M4 is in the plans, but I still see as risky purchase. Some people claim they have eye strain, headaches, and almost a fully fledged disability with it. So its not some soft claim of casual eye strain.

NewDwarf

AshX Can you talk about what your symptoms were on the Airs? Was it just general fatigue or more systemic?

During the first minute the feeling is like you are watching at the open fire(sense of warmth on a face and eyes).

Then feelings become more complex and you feel dry eyes. In 15-30 minutes I cannot focus vision on the text as if I wear wrong glasses. In an hour I completely focus on these bad feelings and my productivity falls sharply.

In 2-3 hour my eyes become red.

So ability to use MBP M4 is not a placebo.