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SCIENCE & TECH
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Ryan Matte
Science@thefulcrum.ca Insta: @ryanmatte55 Twitter: @rmatte1999
New Apple M1 chip in MacBooks may be a good option for students
Apple has begun using its new M1 chips in laptops, promises to bring better performance and battery life
RYAN MATTE
SCIENCE AND TECH EDITOR
It is no surprise that intel chips have been underperforming in Apple’s laptops, with their computers overheating leading to thermal throttling and lackluster performance. Due to this, Apple has been looking for a solution.
Their solution is ARM based chips made in-house by Apple. Similar to the chips used in their iPhones and iPads, ARM chips will be making their way into Apple’s new line of MacBooks.
Eventually, this will lead to the removal of software support for their intel-based systems in a few years.
Apple has boasted a 10-watt power draw for the M1 chip, compared to intel’s comet lake series of processors. The comet lake series has chips with a total power draw (TDP) of 45 watts, which can lower battery life and lead to heat issues.
Apple is now using a system-on-chip (SOC), this small chip crams in all of the hardware necessary for the computer including the graphics processing unit (GPU), random access memory (RAM) and more importantly the central processing unit (CPU).
With the M1 chip, Apple will boast up to 3.5 times faster CPU performance, however, it does not indicate what this is being compared to.
The M1 chip is able to perform well at a much lower TDP by utilizing four high-efficiency cores that use a small amount of power, while completing simple tasks
RYAN MATTE
SCIENCE AND TECH EDITOR
The Advance Research Complex. Photo: Rame Abdulkader/Fulcrum.
A building typically only available to the eyes of researchers and graduate students in the photonics and earth sciences field, the Fulcrum was invited to tour the Advanced Research Complex (ARC) with professor Ian Clark.
The building is home to Canada’s only accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS), which allows researchers to analyze radioisotopes, which are radioactive isotopes of an element, a good example being uranium. This massive machine takes up a good portion of the lab and can be seen from outside.
Dr. Clark, whose research focuses on groundwater geochemistry and environmental isotopes in hydrogeological settings, is one of the few individuals who is able to operate the machine.
A decade ago, Clark and a colleague were able to receive equipment grants from the Canada Foundation of Innovation and generate enough support to build the Advanced Research Complex on the U of O campus in 2012.
The AMS on site can measure trace radioisotopes
quickly. This allows the high performance cores to do the majority of the hard work while drawing little power.
For Apple’s new MacBook Air, there is 18 hours of battery life, compared to the previous 12 hours, shown on their intel based model. This will help students who prefer not to bring a charger to class ensure that they can work throughout the day without the fear of the battery running out.
For students, this can be a major upgrade, as Apple silicon can lead to a lower price, better thermal perforin the environment with the most common being radiocarbon. This can be used as a dating tool, allowing for this to be a national facility that is accessed by all sorts of research facilities for radionuclide analysis.
Walking into the massive room with the AMS, the floor for this machine is separate to the main building, with a foundation of bedrock, in order to ensure that there is no noise or ground movement that could affect the results of any experiments.
The amount of power used is also important to note. A small power surge can affect results, and it is common to have events such as buildings being built nearby, or a small surge in power have a significant impact on the results.
The lab takes in bones, ancient relics, tree samples and other historical data, and can use small trace samples to get an accurate date of that piece. The lab can use samples from bones, bone meal used on spears and other materials to get an accurate measurement of what time period that object came from.
With the scanning electron microscope, we were able to view high resolutions scans of extremely small objects. On their website, it is also possible to view scans or pollen on a flower, and even a beer stein to check for lead.
The more expensive piece of machinery is the JEOL 8230 SuperProbe which can perform microanalysis as small as one square micron.
Even with COVID-19 the lab has not stopped functioning, and will continue to perform ground breaking research in the natural science and photonics fields.
Illustration: Apple
mance and a longer lasting product.
There is however, an awkward period that consumers are going to deal with as most applications are built to run on the x86 architecture, which is seen on intel and AMD’s chips.
Since Apple is now using the ARM-based architecture, these x86 applications will no longer work, and updates to popular applications must be released by developers.
Since Apple has decided to stop creating intelbased systems in the near future, this support may be the deciding factor in choosing a computer, as many
RYAN MATTE
SCIENCE AND TECH EDITOR
Due to the pandemic, most classes at the University of Ottawa have shifted to online learning, forcing students and professors to adapt to a new style of teaching. As virtual learning can present its own challenges, here are some things you can add to your desk to make the experience easier.
Get an extra monitor
Having an extra monitor can make multitasking a lot easier and can come in handy in a bunch of different scenarios. If using a laptop, it also allows you to have a larger screen, making writing essays or watching videos much better.
Being able to have the assignment description and marking scheme open on one monitor and your work on the other saves a lot of time you would waste switching back and forth between tabs.
As well, for students who like to take notes during their lectures on their computer, a second monitor makes it easier to follow along with the class and jot down the important ideas at the same time.
Docking station for your desk or USB hub
A docking station is an extension to your computer that allows you to plug more devices into your laptop or desktop computer.
Depending on the kind of laptop or computer you apps used for schoolwork, such as Word, Excel, Photoshop, etc. may not be supported right away. This may force students and consumers to switch to Windows, Linux or Chrome based systems for the time being.
Apple’s solution to this problem is allowing for its code built by developers to now be compiled into an ARM version and an x86 version, allowing developers a quick fix to migrate their applications to Apple’s new architecture.
Most notably, Apple’s M1 MacBooks will not feature many Adobe Apps at launch, and content creators will need to wait a few months before being able to use these apps.
Apple has also announced three new products utilizing the Apple M1 chip, which will be available Nov. 17 including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13” and the Mac mini, each with similar hardware. The Mac Mini is the only product with a reduction from last year’s model with a reduction of $100.
With a SOC, consumers will also notice that the RAM is not available for upgrades meaning that the configuration you choose at launch will remain permanently.
A simple upgrade to 16 GB of unified memory will set your back $200 USD and upgrading from 256 GB of storage to two terabytes will cost up to $800 USD.
The lack of upgradeability may lead to shorter lasting products, however, with Apple choosing to swap to ARM based systems, this may be a better option then selecting an intel based system that may lose
Inside U of O’s Advanced Research Complex
SCIENCE & TECH | 9
Office transition: Tech to help you study at home
support. have, it may not come with many of these connections by default.
Investing in a docking station that can sit on your desk and allow you to plug in more peripheral devices, like flash drives or external storage, can come in handy.
Most docking stations will plug into your computer using either a USB or power connection. For some laptop models, it is possible to have an attachable docking station that you can actually place your laptop on that will charge it while you are working.
For many of the new Apple Macbook models, there are devices that plug directly into the side of the laptop and gives access to additional USB ports, an SD card reader, or an HDMI port for another monitor.
Noise cancelling headphones
If you find yourself becoming easily distracted by your surroundings, it may be worth your time to get some good noise cancelling headphones.
Noise cancelling headphones can come in many different styles, including over ear, on ear and in ear options. You can select the type that is most comfortable for you. Keep in mind that If you are wearing them for long hours of the day, you will want them to be as comfortable as possible. Before purchasing, try to give a few models a try to find the best fit for you.
