Intel Chip Matches Apple Silicon Efficiency in New Tests
Recent benchmarking tests by tech reviewer Jeff Geerling reveal that Dell's latest XPS 13 laptop, powered by Intel hardware, rivals the energy efficiency of Apple Silicon. Testing via the HPL Linpak benchmark showed the Dell unit achieving 6.21 Gflops per Watt compared to the MacBook's 5.38 Gflops per Watt, challenging long-held assumptions regarding ARM architecture dominance in power consumption.
Key points
- Jeff Geerling, a prominent tech reviewer, published comparative benchmark data on GitHub evaluating the MacBook Neo and Dell's latest XPS 13 laptop.
- On the HPL Linpak supercomputer benchmark, the Dell XPS 13 achieved 127.91 Gflops at 20.6W, yielding 6.21 Gflops per Watt.
- The MacBook achieved 57.012 Gflops at 10.6W, resulting in 5.38 Gflops per Watt.
- The Dell hardware even outperformed M3 and M4 Mac Studios in efficiency, trailing only the M4 Mac Mini at 7.57 Gflops per Watt.
- Reviewers noted that the Dell system also matched Apple devices in energy efficiency during idle states and web browsing.
Tech reviewer Jeff Geerling has released new benchmark data comparing Dell's latest XPS 13 laptop with Apple Silicon, demonstrating that Intel-powered hardware can match ARM-based processors in energy efficiency. The findings were shared alongside GitHub data and video analysis, sparking discussions across the technology sector regarding chip architecture performance.
According to the HPL Linpak benchmark tests, the Dell XPS 13 delivered 127.91 Gflops at 20.6 Watts, achieving an efficiency rate of 6.21 Gflops per Watt. In comparison, the tested MacBook produced 57.012 Gflops at 10.6 Watts, translating to 5.38 Gflops per Watt. Furthermore, the Dell laptop surpassed both M3 and M4 Mac Studios in these specific tests, though it remained behind the M4 Mac Mini, which logged 7.57 Gflops per Watt.
Beyond heavy computational workloads, observational data showed that the Dell system matched Apple devices sip for sip during low-demand tasks like web browsing and idle states. Industry observers note that these results challenge conventional views that ARM's historical power-consumption advantages stem strictly from its underlying instruction architecture rather than overall silicon design.
Sources
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