Intel Core i7-5550U vs Apple M1
Intel Core i7-5550U
► remove from comparisonThe Intel Core i7-5550U is an ULV (ultra low voltage) dual-core processor based on the Broadwell architecture, which has been launched in January 2015. In addition to two CPU cores with Hyper-Threading clocked at 2.0 - 3.0 GHz (2 Cores: 2.9 GHz), the chip also integrates an HD Graphics 6000 GPU and a dual-channel LPDDR3-1866/DDR3L-1600 memory controller. The Core i7 is manufactured in a 14 nm process with FinFET transistors.
Compared to the Core i7-5500U, the i7-5550U features a lower CPU base clock, but integrates a somewhat faster GPU.
Architecture
Broadwell represents the "Tick" in Intel's Tick-Tock model, which means a shrink of its predecessor Haswell. The new 14 nm manufacturing process with three-dimensional FinFET transistors allows not only improvements in energy efficiency, but also a significantly smaller die size fit for more compact packages and devices.
Further advantages result from the revised microarchitecture of Broadwell. Due to its improved branch prediction, bigger buffer sizes (1500 instead of 1000 entries in the L2 TLB) and other tweaks, the performance per clock has been increased by more than 5 percent over its predecessor. There are also some new instruction set extensions designed for cryptographic applications.
Performance
Thanks to its improved architecture, the Core i7-5550U ends up 5 - 15 percent faster than the slightly lower clocked Core i7-4550U (Haswell, 15 W) and matches the Core i5-4258U (Haswell, 28 W). Thus, the CPU has sufficient power for office and multimedia purposes as well as more demanding applications and multitasking.
Graphics
The integrated HD Graphics 6000 offers 48 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at 300 - 1000 MHz. Similar to the CPU core, the GPU architecture (Intel Gen 8) has been thoroughly revised for improved performance-per-clock. In addition, the GPU benefits from faster memory speeds up to LPDDR3-1866 (Haswell: DDR3-1600). We expect the HD Graphics 6000 to be significantly faster than the former HD Graphics 5000 (40 EUs), part of the Haswell generation. Nevertheless, demanding games as of 2015 should be playable only in low or medium settings.
Broadwell is the first Intel chip to fully support DirectX 11.2 as well as OpenCL 1.3/2.0 and OpenGL 4.3. Video will output natively via DisplayPort 1.2 or HDMI 1.4a. However, the new HDMI 2.0 standard is not supported.
Power Consumption
The i7-5550U is rated at a TDP of 15 W (9.5 W cTDP Down) including the graphics card, memory controller, VRMs and the integrated chipset. Therefore, the CPU is suited even for small ultrabooks 11-inches and greater.
Apple M1
► remove from comparisonThe Apple M1 is a System on a Chip (SoC) from Apple that is found in the late 2020 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13, and Mac Mini. It offers 8 cores divided in four performance cores and four power-efficiency cores. The big cores offer 192 KB instruction cache, 128 KB data cache, and 12 MB shared L2 cache. According to Apple the performance of these cores should be better than anything on the market (in late 2020). The four efficiency cores are a lot smaller and offer only 128 KB instruction cache, 64 KB data cache, and 4 MB shared cache. The efficiency cores (E cluster) clock with 600 - 2064 MHz, the performance cores (P cluster) with 600 - 3204 MHz.
The M1 is available in two TDP variants, a passive cooled 10 Watt variant for the MacBook Air and an active cooled faster variant for the MacBook Pro 13 and Mac Mini. Those should offer a better-sustained performance according to Apple.
The integrated graphics card in the M1 offers 8 cores (7 cores in the entry MacBook Air) and a peak performance of 2.6 teraflops. Apple claims that it is faster than any other iGPU at the time of announcement.
Furthermore, the SoC integrates a fast 16 core neural engine with a peak performance of 11 TOPS (for AI hardware acceleration), a secure enclave (e.g., for encryption), a unified memory architecture, Thunderbolt / USB 4 controller, an ISP, and media de- and encoders.
The Apple M1 includes 16 billion transistors (up from the 10 billion of the A12Z Bionic and therefore double the amount of a Tiger Lake-U chip like the i7-1185G7) and is manufactured in 5nm at TSMC.
Model | Intel Core i7-5550U | Apple M1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series | Intel Core i7 | Apple Apple M-Series | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Codename | Broadwell | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series: Apple M-Series |
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Clock | 2000 - 3000 MHz | 2064 - 3220 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L1 Cache | 128 KB | 2 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L2 Cache | 512 KB | 16 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
L3 Cache | 4 MB | 8 MB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cores / Threads | 2 / 4 | 8 / 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
TDP | 15 Watt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transistors | 1900 Million | 16000 Million | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Technology | 14 nm | 5 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Die Size | 133 mm2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
max. Temp. | 105 °C | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Socket | BGA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Features | LPDDR3-1866/DDR3L-1600 Memory Controller, HyperThreading, AVX, AVX2, Quick Sync, Virtualization, AES-NI | ARMv8 Instruction Set | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
iGPU | Intel HD Graphics 6000 (300 - 1000 MHz) | Apple M1 8-Core GPU | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Architecture | x86 | ARM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
$426 U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Announced | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manufacturer | ark.intel.com |