Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch with M1 Max chip

[Magnum]

The best thing that I can and I will buy for chess.
Of course I will go all-in and buy the highest upgrade.
To be happy at the limit for the next years is the most important thing.
https://www.apple.com/apple-events/event-stream/
https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/16-inch

[Werewolf]

I doubt this is the best thing for chess.

The M1 Max prioritises GPU performance over CPU.

A decent desktop would kill it and I expect there are faster laptops

[wickedpotus]

It will basically suck for chess (compared to cheaper AMD 8-core alternatives)..

The M1 Max is only 70% faster than an M1 (according to Apple)... any RTX card from Nvidia runs laps around the built in 32-core GPU on the M1 Max

For chess you can probably get a 5800 laptop with RTX or even 5900 for less money...

The M1 Max has only 8 full speed cores and these cores are single-threaded only so no hyperthreading support whatsoever

[Raphexon]

ARM sucks for chess.

Buying an M1 Max for chess is quite possibly one of the most stupid decisions you can make.
Not even 5600X performance for quintuple the price....

The GPU is going to suck for Leela because not Nvidia.
CPU will suck for chess because ARM is slow at calculating bitboards and NEON is shit compared to AVX2.
And that's besides 8+2 cores for 2500+ being a horrible deal.

[Werewolf]

Seems like it's not just chess ARM sucks at


https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/news/ap ... benchmarks

It's astonishing how things can be spun with good presentation.

[Modern Times]

Seems like it's not just chess ARM sucks at


https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/news/ap ... benchmarks

It's astonishing how things can be spun with good presentation.

You just described Apple to a tee

[ChickenLogic]

If you want a portable PC/laptop I'd recommend a laptop from "Framework". Replaceable IO modules, configurable to your liking. At least on par with M1 performance and definitely better for chess and other 'heavy' computational tasks. Fully repairable without having to go to a shop and paying 100s of dollars. It also costs less than the M1s while also giving the option to assemble it yourself - which saves another 200$. Cheapest model starts around 750$ and the most expensive one is a little more than 2k$. Still a massive bargain compared to Apple products.
Reduced instruction set chips have proven that they're great for mobile phones and other applications in need of low power consumption CPUs.

The first M1s have masterfully demonstrated why x86 is still necessary for quite a lot of tasks.

Another problem with ARM is that the best we can do for SIMD is using the NEON compiler. Other options are proprietary libraries that seem to lack a lot of documentation. And that is just the tip of the iceberg with developing apps that are supposed to run on the "apple platform".

(Note: I'm not affiliated with Framework in any way.)

[Ras]

If you want a portable PC/laptop I'd recommend a laptop from "Framework".

Better wait until they get around to offering that with a proper AMD CPU - or until Intel gets their act together.

[ChickenLogic]

If you want a portable PC/laptop I'd recommend a laptop from "Framework".

Better wait until they get around to offering that with a proper AMD CPU - or until Intel gets their act together.

I value the ability to repair the stuff I bought much higher than any CPU brand. I agree that an AMD CPU would be ideal but given that people think the M1 is any good for complex computation I'd rather see them not buying into Apple but Intel instead.

[smatovic]

If you want a portable PC/laptop I'd recommend a laptop from "Framework". Replaceable IO modules, configurable to your liking.
...

There are several modular laptop offerings like Framework, System76, or Tuxedo from Germany:

https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Linu ... lle.tuxedo

I like the Pulse 14 and Pulse 15, 2 DDR4 slots, M.2 SSD slot, M.2 WLAN slot, screwed but not glued battery, with Ubuntu Linux and opt. also Win10.

--
Srdja