So I’ve been digging through Apple’s tutorial
videos for developers about Apple Silicon
Macs, and I’ve came to the conclusion that
Apple’s upcoming ARM-based Macs will NOT
have discrete GPUs.
So the future Apple Silicon 16” MacBook
Pro and every iMac including even the iMac
Pro will no longer have dedicated graphics
chips. Now don’t get me wrong, Apple is
still planning on releasing Intel-based Macs
over the next 2 years, but Macs with Apple
Silicon chips will not have discrete GPUs.
The only Mac that I’m not 100% certain about
is the Mac Pro, because it’s a high-end
machine for a very small market, but I think
I know how Apple is gonna handle that, and
I’ll talk about it in a minute.
So let’s get into the evidence that I found
that points to Apple ditching discrete GPUs,
but first, be sure to check out our Apple
Product merch right below this video.
In this developer video, Gavin from Apple
mentioned that Intel-based Macs have a CPU,
a discrete GPU, memory for each of them, and
a T2 chip on some Macs.
Now listen to what he says about Apple Silicon
Macs.
Yes, you heard that right, the CPU and GPU
together on one chip, just like Apple is doing
with their iPhones and iPads.
But why would they do this? Here’s his answer.
So basically, since everything i s in one
chip, they can quickly share memory resources
and communicate much quicker than if they
were using a discrete GPU which needs to copy
data over a PCI express bus.
This is basically saying that Apple is preferring
integrated graphics instead of discrete graphics
thanks to higher efficiency.
In another developer video, Apple mentions
that their GPUs will not have VRAM like traditional
graphics cards do, they will instead use on-chip
Tile Memory that communicates with System
Memory that is shared with the CPU.
I found an Apple developer article that again
confirms that the GPU and the CPU on Apple
silicon share memory. Which currently, on
Intel-based systems, the GPU itself doesn’t
have direct access to memory.
Only the CPU can manage the RAM if it decides
to give some to the GPU. But with Apple Silicon
Macs, the GPU has direct access to the system
memory.
Back to that same article that I mentioned,
it says this:
“Don’t assume a discrete GPU means better
performance. The integrated GPU in Apple processors
is optimized for high performance graphics
tasks”
So basically, Apple believes that their integrated
GPUs are gonna be so efficient and optimized
that they’ll no longer require discrete
GPUs.
Now I’ve heard a lot of people claiming
that Apple will not be able to match up to
the RAW performance of other graphics chips
from AMD and Nvidia.
But I’m here to say that Apple doesn’t
have to. If they can pull off excellent efficiency
and optimization, then they can match or beat
the real-world performance of other discrete
GPUs with less RAW graphics performance.
In fact, some Apple systems are already outperforming
other high-end graphics cards in real-world
use thanks to higher utilization and better
optimization. And this is weird to see considering
the huge difference in RAW graphics performance.
And this is before the new technologies that
Apple is bringing to their ARM-based Macs,
so let’s discuss some of those.
Of course, there’s the unified memory architecture
which makes it much more efficient.
Apple’s GPUs are designed to work very efficiently
to minimize system bandwidth to reduce traffic
so it doesn’t reach the maximum memory bandwidth.
Apple GPUs also support hidden surface removal,
with the goal of only rendering the pixels
it needs to, being more efficient by eliminating
unnecessary shading.
Apple GPUs also use the new TBDR GPU architecture
which allows you to do shading, lighting,
and compositing using just the GPU and it’s
dedicated Tile memory before finally accessing
the system memory, which in turn reduces memory
bandwidth.
Without this, you can see how many times it
has to access system memory to get this complex
workflow done.
So basically, Apple GPUs are focused on being
extremely efficient, which improves performance,
and since Apple is in control of both the
hardware and the software, they’ll be able
to make sure everything is incredibly well
optimized.
We’ll no longer have to deal with driver
issues of new discrete graphics chips like
the whole issue with the 16” MacBook overheating
and getting loud when connected to an external
display.
If you think about it, Apple’s iPhone 11
is still the most powerful smartphone in the
world, and that’s only because Apple controls
both the hardware and the software.
So thanks to all of that new Apple silicon
technology working together, Apple could get
away with a single powerful ARM chip with
both the CPU and GPU integrated, without needing
dedicated graphics.
I’ve watched every single Apple developer
video that discusses Apple Silicon Macs, and
I didn’t see any mention at all of Apple
using discrete graphics, so I’m confident
that the future Apple silicon 16” MacBook
Pro and every iMac will no longer use discrete
graphics.
I think they’ll first update the Macs that
currently don’t use discrete graphics like
the 13” MacBook Pro, the MacBook Air and
the Mac Mini, giving them extra time to prepare
before switching the higher-end Macs over
to their Apple Silicon.
But what about the Mac Pro? Well, this is
the main dilemma because it’s meant to be
upgradable, and it has a ton of PCI Express
ports for a reason, so let’s get into how
I think Apple will handle the Mac Pro.
First off, Apple confirmed that they have
Intel-based Macs in the pipeline right now,
and since they mentioned a two-year transition
period, they can technically release an updated
Intel-Based Mac Pro right before the 2 years
is over.
And then if they wait another two years before
updating the Mac Pro again and finally giving
it an Apple Silicon processor, they’ll have
a total of 4 years of experience and optimization
with the new ARM-based chips before they announce
how they’ll implement it into the Mac Pro.
This also means there will be 4 more WWDC
events where they could potentially announce
new Apple-made discrete GPUs exclusively for
the new Mac Pro, or maybe they’ll announce
that they’re keeping support for AMD graphics
cards since they already have Metal-support
built-in.
And since we already know that Apple is continuing
to support Thunderbolt, it would make sense
for them to support upgradable dedicated graphics
on the Mac Pro.
But for every other Apple Silicon Mac, including
the 16” MacBook Pro, I believe that we should
expect Apple to ditch discrete graphics.
If you disagree with me, comment your thoughts
on this down below, and be sure to check out
our Merch down below. And if you’re confused
about the new Thunderbolt 4 protocol, check
out that video right there. Thanks for watching
and we’ll see you in the next video!
