682: Medium Core

MacBook Neo details, Studio Display XDR tech and impressions, Marco tries a Garmin, and Casey tries to watch F1.

Episode 682 of the Accidental Tech Podcast podcast, hosted by ATP, titled "682: Medium Core" was published on March 12, 2026 and runs 136 minutes.

March 12, 2026 ·136m · Accidental Tech Podcast

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Episode Description

Pre-show: Casey brings us back to Anniversary Corner
- Related episode of ATP
Follow-up:
- An explanation for John’s post that broke containment (via Thomas Dickson)
- MacBook Neo
  - John’s theory about color & clamshells
  - The M1 MacBook Air was American Walmarts only. (via Pierre-Luc Gagné)
    - Aside also via P-L: does the Neo run Rosetta 2?
  - MacBook Neo inputs 🤝 iPad Air inputs (via Andrew Larson)
  - SSD speeds (via The Verge)
  - The  logo
    - iPhone 5 intro video is what John was thinking of (via Peter Puleio)
    - Jason’s review
  - Dave2D’s review
  - Teardown
  - Tyler Stalman on the Neo running “pro” apps
- Performance Cores vs. Super Cores
  - New in Xcode 24.6β3: CPUFAMILY_ARM_SOTRA (H17S) (via Brendan Shanks)
    - H17S is the missing M5 Pro identifier from iOS 26.3 RC
  - Quinn’s review
    - M5 Pro & Max are on N3P; M5 is N3E
    - Baidu leakers
      - Super cores (“P-Core”)
        
        4.61 GHz
        
        10-wide decoding
      - Performance cores (“M-Core”)
        
        4.38 GHz
        
        7-wide decoding
        
        ~70% the performance of a Super Core
        
        Dual operating mode from efficiency cores
      - Efficiency cores (“E-Core”)
        
        3.05 GHz
        
        6-wide decoding
  - Andrew Cunningham at Ars
    - L2 cache
      - Super: 16 MB
      - Performance: 8 MB
      - Efficiency: 6MB
    - Minimum clock speed:
      - Super: 1,308 MHz
      - Performance: 1,344 MHz
      - Efficiency: 972 MHz
  - Fusion architecture (via Frederic_Orange)
- MacBook Pro Storage pricing (via Richard Allen)
- MacBook keyboard glyphs (via Dan Moren)
- Environmental progress (via Andrew Leahey)
  - TOSTracker
  - Example individual comparison
- Third-party displays (via Dan Boyle)
- Pro Display XDR or Studio Display XDR? (asked by Imthaz)
- Studio Display XDR
  - UFO Test
  - MKBHD’s review states it has 12 GB RAM 🤭
  - Studio Display XDR white paper (PDF) (via Kevin Sliech)
    - Superwide viewing angle
    - Timing controller (TCON)
    - Calibration
    - Display optimization modes
Formula 1 news
- Drive to Survive (Apple TV link)
- Dad jokey-est promo video (Also on YouTube)
- 2026 season preview
- F1TV vs. Apple TV
  - Link accounts
- Romain Grosjean’s
Samsung Galaxy S26 Privacy Display
- MKBHD
- The Verge
Post-show: Marco’s Garmin adventures
Members-only ATP Overtime: The future of x86_64 on macOS
- Tahoe 26.4 warnings
- Slightly more detail from Ars Technica