I was wrong about the M1 Macbook | M1 running x386 FASTER than Intel?

Remember the Power PC? I do.
Remember the Intel chip on a snail? I do.
Remember the folks in the Intel ‘bunny’ toasted by Power PC? I do.

The Mac computers were the world’s fastest computer. RISC blows away CISC CPU’s. I’ve owned plenty of Power PC Mac in the days and smugly felt like Superman.

The Power PC chip was supposed to be so fast that for someone like me, who needs to be in both Windows and Mac OS world, would be just fine emulating Windows (Remember Virtual PC?) as fast as a real Intel computer.

All except when Apple switched to Intel chips. How could that be?

But honestly, by this time, I’ve begun realizing that emulating Windows at real Intel speeds will never happen. Okay, I thought I can live with Intel chips. I thought maybe I’ll finally be able to run Windows at native speeds.

Then my transition to Intel happened, fairly quickly I might add. My first Intel Mac was the Mac Pro and quickly transitioned our entire computer lineup to Intel.

Recently when Apple announced the M1 RISC CPU, I was skeptical. I had flashbacks to the Power PC days. As I said, I need to be in both Windows and Mac environments, so going back to RISC would mean slower x386 emulation for Windows. Back to days of excruciating wait times watching Windows programs run? I wondered how long before I jump ship and move to pure Windows machines! I weighed the benefits of what I’ll be missing in the Mac environment.

But I think I may be wrong this time. I watched a few videos on Youtube and saw how the M1 toasts the Intel chip for real- amazing. I even saw a video where the M1 running x386 emulation still ran faster than Intel? Could this be real?

For me, time will tell. But it does look very promising.

Interestingly, the M1 also uses far less power, which means longer run time on your MacBooks, which means less need for car adapters like our USB-C adapters. However, for those who still do need pure 12v power as their main source of power, that’s why we’re here! 🙂