After launching the Apple M2 processor last summer, Apple is following up with two higher-performance chips that will power the company’s latest MacBook Pro and Mac Mini computers.
The Apple M2 Pro and M2 Max are based on the same architecture as the M2 chip. But they bring more CPU and GPU cores and support for more memory and faster memory. The first products powered by the new chips are up for pre-order starting today and should be available starting January 24, 2023.
Apple says the M2 Pro and M2 Max both offer up to 30% faster graphics performance than the previous-gen M1 Pro and M1 Max, while the M2 Pro offers up to 20% faster CPU performance.
All of the M2 series chips offer up to 40% faster AI performance thanks to their 16-core neural processing units.
And Apple says the latest image signal processor, Secure Enclave, and media engine offer significant improvements in image noise reduction and other camera effects, security, and video encoding and decoding. The M2 Pro can play multiple 8K ProRes videos simultaneously at low power levels, and the M2 Max can encode videos up to twice as fast as the Pro chip.
Here are some specs for the complete Apple M2 family of chips (so far):
| M2 | M2 Pro | M2 Max | |
| CPU cores | 8 (4 efficiency + 4 performance) | 10 or 12 (4 efficiency + 6 or 8 performance) | 12 (4 efficiency + 8 performance) |
| GPU cores | Up to 10 | 16 or 19 | 30 or 38 |
| Unified memory | 8GB, 16GB, or 24GB | 16GB or 32GB | 32GB, 64GB or to 96GB |
| NPU cores | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Memory bandwidth | 100GB/s | 200GB/s | 400GB/s |
Hey Brad,
You’re the only one who listed a table with all the configurations. That makes it simple to understand, kudos. As a refresher:
A14: 2+4 CPU, 4 gpu, 4GB/6GB (great for iPhone)
A15: 2+4 CPU, 5 gpu, 4GB/6GB
M1: 4+4 CPU, 7/8 gpu, 8GB/16GB (great for Macbook Air)
M2: 4+4 CPU, 8/10 gpu, 8GB/16GB/24GB
M1p: 6+2 CPU, 14 gpu, 16GB/32GB
M2p: 6+4 CPU, 16 gpu, 16GB/32GB (great for Mac Mini PC)
M1P: 8+2 CPU, 14/16 gpu, 16GB/32GB (great for 14in MBP)
M2P: 8+4 CPU, 16/19 gpu, 16GB/32GB
M1X: 8+2 CPU, 24/32 gpu, 32GB/64GB
M2X: 8+4 CPU, 30/38 gpu, 32GB/64GB/96GB (great for 16in MBP)
…the other point to make, is to get extra RAM and the second cheapest SSD. The Memory will be needed in the future and the RAM can’t be upgraded after, whilst Storage can be upgraded, stepping up one-tier in SSD nets you a high-end fast model, instead of a midrange budget module.
ibm already showed hybrid processors with carbon and regular silicon cores a dozen years ago. These were not ordinary cores, but allowed faster computing in certain application areas. And they could run up to a thousand times faster than other cores. Why are such processors still not available from apple?
Why would they need one? They are comfortably ahead of the competition with their beefed up mobile chips and when that fails they can just throw more cores at the problem and stay ahead.
640K Ought to be Enough for Anyone
😉
That’s because IBM’s concept technology uses Carbon Nanotubes, and they haven’t figured out how to manufacture those to a scale that would be competitive with today’s silicon yet. Also, manufacturing them in large quantities is something nobody has ever done. This is an concept that still a ways into the future.
At the time IBM announced that research, carbon nanotube transistors were about 40nm at smallest. A few weeks ago, TSMC just began production on Apple’s first 3nm chip.