The new Apple computers with the M1 chip surprise again. This time with the native version of the popular Dolphin emulator, which is used to demonstrate performance on these computers. And it is that compared to its version for Intel processors, Dolphin works twice as fast in the Mac M1 .
Dolphin updates for Macs with M1
After testing the Mac mini with the M1 chip, as well as a few models with different RAM configurations, it is clear that Apple’s new processors are very capable. And not only in everyday tasks, but also in more demanding tasks such as video editing itself.
However, in terms of gaming, although it has also proven to perform better, it is still a very limited platform. Luckily there are the emulators that offer access to classic games, but just as fun as ever.
Well, among all the emulators for Mac that exist, Dolphin has released a native version for Apple Silicon processors . And be careful with the results obtained after some comparative tests with different hardware configurations as well as between running the native version or the one that runs using Rosetta.
As you can see in the graph there are three configurations plus the results obtained between the native version for the M1 chip and the Intel version that runs thanks to Rosetta. It shows that the performance is practically doubled with the new native version and surpasses a 2018 MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i7-8559U processor.
Only a configuration that has the Intel Core i9 9900K processor and the Nvidia RTX 3090 graphics beats the performance of the MacBook Air M 1 (a computer that, by the way, only offers 7 GPU cores instead of the 8 of the other models ).
Surprising? The truth is that it does, because for a fairly affordable price you can have a computer for daily work that it will do without any problem and then you can use it to enjoy the different titles that Dolphin allows to emulate. Like, for example, Super Smash Bross Melee, Skyward Sword, Metroid Prime 3, etc.
This is just the beginning
If the performance of the new version of Dolphin for Mac M1 has surprised you, wait to see what is to come in future updates. Because as those responsible say, even this version is not completely polished and there are bugs present that will be solved little by little. Because porting Dolphin to ARM architecture has not been easy.
Even so, it is worth the effort they are making seeing the numbers achieved. Because we haven’t said it before, but a MacBook Air M1 costs three times less than the price of the Intel-based MacBook Pro used in the test.
So you know, emulation can get very interesting on Apple’s new platform. And if you already have a Mac with M1, you can try this native version of Dolphin by accessing the download for developers . The only thing, remember that you may find errors during use. For the rest, to enjoy.
