First performance tests of Mac mini with ARM (Apple Silicon) available

The results of the first performance tests conducted on an ARM-enabled Mac are now available. Specifically, the Mac mini with Apple Silicon is being loaned to some developers.

"Mac mini", First performance tests of Mac mini with ARM (Apple Silicon) available, Optocrypto
The first performance tests of Mac mini with Apple Silicon, which the American company makes available to certain developers, have begun to come to light. They shed the first light on the capabilities of the future ARM-based Macs that Apple will bring to market later this year.

At Geekbench 5, the Mac mini with Apple Silicon scored about 831 points in the single-core test and 2,798 points in multi-core mode. These results put you in a similar window to the entry-level MacBook Air 2020, which scored 1,083 points in the single-core test and 2,246 points in the multi-core test.

The Mac with ARM tested is a Mac mini with an A12Z Bionic Chip inside, the same SoC that powers the iPad Pro 2020. However, the iPad model scores better on the Geekbench than the Apple Silicon Mac mini. Specifically, it scores 1,118 points in the single-core test and 4,726 points in the multi-core test.

Will the Mac with ARM be less powerful than the iPad Pro in 2020?

Everything suggests that the performance difference between the Apple silicon-based Mac mini and the iPad Pro 2020 is related to the suitability of Geekbench 5 for the new architecture. The macOS version of the application does not yet work natively on ARM-based Macs, so it is likely that the performance test was done with Rosetta 2. This software allows applications designed for Intel architectures to run on any ARM-based Mac. However, its intervention will result in performance degradation for certain applications.

In any case, these early performance tests should be used with caution. The Mac mini with the SoC A12Z Bionic is a developer test platform, not a commercial product. Macs with ARM that will be released in the coming months will have chips designed specifically for them, so they are likely to outperform this ARM-enabled Mac mini in a number of areas.

"Mac mini", First performance tests of Mac mini with ARM (Apple Silicon) available, Optocrypto

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