8GB RAM on M3 MacBook Pro ‘Analogous to 16GB’ on PCs, Claims Apple::Following the unveiling of new MacBook Pro models last week, Apple surprised some with the introduction of a base 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 chip,…

  • dustyData@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    M3 is a SoC, or System on a Chip. The whole M3 is all the things. I/O, CPU, GPU, Bus, RAM and even storage. Everything is on a single custom ARM chip.

    • dorkage@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 months ago

      That is not correct. The DRAM is not part of the same die that the SoC is on. It is separate packages directly beside the SoC. The storage is also separate packages.

      If it was all one die it would be huge and have poor yields.

    • TootGuitar@reddthat.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      8 months ago

      This is incorrect; the M-series chips all use standard LPDDR4X (M1) or LPDDR5 (M2/M3) chips, not part of the SoC, and soldered directly next to the CPU. The SSDs are also standard NAND chips, again external to the SoC, connected via PCIe.