I think @cornchip’s point is not that Apple is necessarily relevant as a gaming platform, but that they’re pursuing some of the same strategies around things like memory bandwidth and SSD integration that Sony and Microsoft have on consoles (or rather, that Sony and Microsoft have been doing things similar to what Apple has been doing on iPhones and iPads, and Apple is now bringing that approach to the Mac).
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I actually own (and love) a PS5, which my wife bought me for my 30th last Christmas (my birthday and Christmas are very close together).
I am very impressed that Apple has managed to ram that much power into their GPU, inside a laptop, which is nowhere near as large or bulky as my PS5. My PS5 has fins, for heaven’s sake. It looks ridiculous.
Here’s an idea of how large the PS5 is in real life: we recently bought our first house. One of the first things we did was turn a room in the basement into a small home theatre. It’s got a 77" OLED TV, surround sound (with large speakers), a rather ugly and large receiver, etc, etc. What you’d expect for a theatre.
When friends come over who haven’t seen us in a while because of the pandemic, they go “Woah,” look around for a moment, then immediately say “Is that a PS5?”
That’s how obnoxiously large that stupid thing is. (Don’t get me wrong, I love the thing, but man, it’s huge.)
So yeah, in my opinion, it’s an impressive comparison. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
It’s a fun comparison. That’s enough for me.
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In some ways the instructive bit about the comparison isn’t the gaming vs non-gaming aspect, it’s about optimization. The PC industry is comprised of a bunch of different players, each optimizing their own specific part. Intel and AMD try to make faster processors, Nvidia and ATI (now AMD) try to make faster graphics cards, Western Digital and Samsung make faster drives, etc. The interconnects and buses that connect all of these tend only to get bumped when (or after) their limitations start making one of the big boys look bad. There’s nobody to take responsibility when one of these components gets out of whack with another.
Apple, Microsoft, and Sony, on the other hand, make the entire widget. They either make parts in-house or contract out to manufacturers, including those mentioned above, for off the shelf or custom/bespoke hardware elements. In the latest generation of consoles, Microsoft and Sony seem to be following Apple’s lead in taking a “whole widget” approach to optimization. Rather than looking at the performance of individual components, they’re looking at ameliorating individual bottlenecks, even if they’re things that don’t necessarily get a lot of attention from the press or end users.
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I remember someone mentioned he’s passing current laptop to his assistance when 14” MBP is released. Please check your inbox for application to be that assistant 
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LOL! I managed to get a PS5 last year, and yes I agree. It’s a massive hulk in the room.
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In my opinion, Tim Cook needs to stop pretending he’s Steve Jobs and get out of the Apple Event presenting business. I cringe every time he comes on screen. His obsessive prayer hands gesture is like saying “uhh” at the beginning of each sentence. To me, he comes across as forced, insincere, and trying way too hard.
On the other hand, Craig Federighi is cool, fun, and articulate. His enthusiasm and interest seem real, not a show. Tim should step off the stage and let him take the lead position.
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Tim seems to know that presenting at these events is not his forte, and will happily hand the show over to his underlings at the earliest opportunity (if anything even more so in the current era of pre-taped events). Compare the recent Apple events to any of Steve’s presentations. We’re not seeing Tim Cook sitting back in a comfy chair reading the New York Times. He kicks things off, hands it over to someone else, quickly handles transitions between subjects/presenters, and quickly summarizes at the end. That’s it.
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As is any variation of the word magic.
My first thought after seeing him in that field was that he looked like he forgot his keys and was locked out of the building.
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Yes! While I sometimes think there is too much Apple Kool Aid going around at times, it seems the Apple silicon and new models really are a significant leap forward. That said I don’t delve into the Windows world much anymore, so there may be significant competitors. But on speed and battery power alone, these seem to be pretty big leaps.
I’ll be keen to see these “anti” reviews and see if they are credible or just people finding fault. Which does them no favours.
it will be killer for less games than pc, since there are less optimised games for mac, and ok at the others (well, more than ok given how good the M1 is at rosetta2 games)
I enjoy Elder Scroll Online, one of the more popular MMOs. Before even the M1 MBA was released, they made a statement that they will not support M1 Mac. Now, I wonder if they will retract and support it once again, seeing the power of the CPU/GPU. Here’s hoping they do. What a shame if all these powers are not used for gaming.
There is a chasm, a lack of creativity, a hopeless abyss.
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Have you checked out the Arcade? The graphics alone…!!!
I have a MacBook Air that is thin, light (2.8 pounds!) and with a stupendous battery. And the screen is a perfect size (but I never did get hung up on tv screen size, e.g). I love it just the way it is except I probably should have gotten more RAM.
If Tim knows that presenting at events is “not his forte,” why does he feel compelled to keep doing it? There’s no law that says he has to start every event, do all the transitions, and end the event. Just let someone who is good at it do it. IMHO he’s hurting it, not helping it.
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It’s still powerful to have the CEO present and stand by individual products, even if the executive is not one of the company’s most gifted speakers. Steve essentially pioneered the technique and is the reason other companies do it today. For Apple’s CEO to stop appearing in the presentations would signal products don’t matter to the whole company as much as they used to. That could cost them more than a few strange phrases or hand gestures currently do.
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And somebody has to run the presentations. Having that person in the middle of sections to “bookend” the presentations is helpful.
If it wasn’t Tim, logically it would almost have to be somebody who wasn’t tied to a division - otherwise it would be interpreted as a signal that (whatever division) was seen as more important. And they’d have to be sufficiently high-up in the company to send the right message.
There’s one CEO, one COO, and 10 SVPs. 7 of those SVPs have divisions. That logically leaves Tim Cook, Katherine Adams (SVP / General Counsel), Sabih Khan (SVP Operations), Luca Maestri (SVP / CFO), and Jeff Williams (COO).
Of those, I think Tim and Jeff would be the two most logical choices. And of those, I think Tim is still the most recognized as he’s the one that does the earnings calls - so having him on stage rolling out products may make the most sense from an optics point of view.
Just some thoughts, of course. 
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If that’s the case, how come CEOs aren’t in every commercial for a product?? Does that “signal products don’t matter to the whole company”? I doubt anyone would argue that.
It’s just a practice we’ve gotten used to when Steve Jobs was with Apple and doesn’t mean it has to happen forever. I don’t believe people are going to believe that Apple’s products aren’t important to Apple just because the CEO isn’t a speaker in the presentations.
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