Power Consumption: A spectacular improvement over the Mac Mini M1

Apple a Published the technical paper It lists the basic and maximum power consumption of all Mac Mini. The manufacturer has returned to the original model released in 2005, which had the PowerPC G4 processor before switching to Intel. This page allows you to determine fifteen years of information technology development from a consumer perspective, from PowerPC to Apple Silicon, covering all Intel models. It has been stagnant for fifteen years, especially under the Intel era.

Apple offers four values ​​for each generation of Mac Mini: base and maximum power consumption in watts, as well as exposed base and maximum heat output TPU / h. The two are closely linked: the more a computer uses, the more it heats up and the two are in sufficient proportion so that we can focus on power consumption to analyze this historical development.

Essentially, Apple defines basic consumption by the Mac On, but is passive. The system is configured by default and only the detector is open (no other application is used). The measurement is carried out on the wall socket, which makes it possible to take into account possible losses. The maximum consumption is different, which corresponds to the power that can be supplied when the system power is used at 100%.

The first Mac Mini with a PowerPC G4 processor at 1.25 GHz actually used a 32 W base and up to 85 W full power, not the Lightning of War. The basic measurement was the highest on the entire chart, and then evidence that the processors were not exactly optimal. The transition to Intel brought with it a lot of system power and a lack of core power.

The Intel change is easy to understand: in five years, the Mac Mini will use three times less at idle and its maximum consumption will still be stuck at 85 W. At the same time, Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors have brought the most significant gains to the performance side and the Mac Mini are the best all-rounders. Then it gets spoiled, which is 10 W base with a consumption and the battery is blocked with a maximum of 85 W, but the performance stagnates.

Apple has also lost interest in the Mac Mini, discontinuing annual updates since 2012. Basic consumption is further reduced to reach the 2014 generation historic record of 6 W, but Intel processors have not brought ‘net improvement’ in this. The 2018 generation is signing a return to increased efficiency, but this is at the expense of the consumption explosion, which is a triple multiplication base and more than 43% at the maximum level.

The transition to Apple silicon chips in 2020 is as spectacular as it was for Intel in 2006. Not only has the Mac Mini consumption never been lower with a maximum of 39 W – the basic consumption of the Mac Mini of 2005! -, but a basic level at 7 W. All of these, while increasing performance, as we described in our test:

It remains to be seen whether Apple will continue to improve the performance of its chips without exploding consumption or whether the Intel-style stagnation will recur. Answer in a few years, but we can be confident when we look at the path of chips dedicated to the iPhone and iPod for ten years …