eli5 – Why are ‘System on a Chip’ computer’s potentially faster?
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Where did you see the claim that a SoC computer is potentially faster? SoCs were introduced to save space and packaging costs not increase performance. Waste heat is the limiting factor to maximize performance these days. Cramming CPU, GPU, and other components on the same chip only makes it harder to remove heat.
A SoC can be optimized to produce the least heat per watt. In a data center where cooling costs matter that could be a decisive factor. For desktop computers it doesn’t matter. In case of a laptop it is possible to design it with discrete CPU and GPU that will maximize performance while grid powered but switch to power saving mode while on battery. But if you want to optimize size, cost, performance, and battery life a SoC can be the best solution.
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