> to be fair there is an awful lot of copying and extending in place
That's how technology proliferates. The point is if the M1 wasn't innovative, that rules out pretty much everything AMD, Intel and potentially even NVIDIA have done in the last three decades.
Did they do anything in those three decades that hadn't been dreamt of and projected out sometime in the 60s? Architecturally, sure doesn't seem like it.
I'd say a lot more innovation happens on the process side. Manufacturing.
All the architecture changes look like things mainframes did decades ago.
That's how technology proliferates. The point is if the M1 wasn't innovative, that rules out pretty much everything AMD, Intel and potentially even NVIDIA have done in the last three decades.