Apple is kicking off 2023 with a slew of new products — Mac Minis and MacBook Pros. Apple’s new devices are powered by two new chips, M2 Pro and M2 Max. These two chips are the next generation of Apple’s Silicon, and if the mini-keynote and the press release are any indications, they are a nice (if not a massive) step up above the M1 chips. Here are some of the highlights of these chips:
- M2 Pro has up to 12-core CPU and up to 19-core GPU, together with up to 32GB of fast unified memory.
- M2 Max has up to 38-core GPU, double the unified memory bandwidth, and up to 96GB of unified memory. It features 400GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, the same as the M1 Max.
The big bumps for both the chips are in the graphics and neural engines. Both M2 and M2 Max have a 16-core Neural Engine, capable of 15.8 trillion operations per second and up to 40 percent faster than the previous generation.
- M2 Pro has a GPU with up to 19 cores (3 more than M1 Pro) — and includes a larger L2 cache. As a result, it has graphics up to 30 percent faster than the M1 Pro.
- M2 Max GPU has up to 38 cores (6 more than M1 Max) and is paired with a larger L2 cache. Graphics speeds climb up to 30 percent faster than M1 Max.
How do they stack up against the M1 Pro and M1 Max?
- M2 Pro has 40 billion transistors, and M1 Pro has 33.7 billion transistors.
- M2 Max has 67 billion transistors versus M1 Max, had 57 million transistors.
- M2 Pro and M2 Max have the same unified memory bandwidth as the M1 Pro and M1 Max: 200GB/s and 400 GB/s, respectively.
Some of the other chip-level changes that impact performance include::
- M2 Pro has a potent media engine, including hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, and ProRes video encoding and decoding.
- M2 Max features two video encode engines and two ProRes engines, bringing up to 2x faster video encoding than M2 Pro.
- Apple’s latest image signal processor has better noise reduction and, along with the Neural Engine, uses computational video to enhance camera image quality.
What’s impressive about the new laptop(s) is that it has the latest networking chips – Bluetooth 5.3 and WiFi 6E, which will give these devices better (and more stable) performance.
I am gobsmacked by the 22 hours of battery life claim by Apple for the M2 Max laptop. That is such an insane power/performance ratio, and completely insane if it is true in real life. For me, that alone would be a reason to buy one of these laptops. Now I can stop hyperventilating.
Some thoughts:
On the semiconductor front, even though Apple hasn’t begun the transition to 3-nanometer production, the new chips are showing Apple’s ability to eke out more performance and better power consumption from the current generation of the manufacturing process. These chips are still giving Apple an edge over its competitors, who are not even in the market (yet) with competing products.
The new chips are yet another example of Apple’s chip division being so far ahead of the rest of the company. The reason iPad suffers is not that it isn’t good; it is because it is too good, and very few applications take advantage of its hardware to the maximum. As a result, no one wants to upgrade to the new iPads. Apple can’t afford to have the Macs caught in that trap as well.
Whether it is the new operating system or software applications, we are yet to see the hardware tested to the limit. The current laptops are doing old things much better and faster for creatives and software developers. The performance bumps will be great for those involved in GPU-intensive tasks such as animation, rendering objects, and audio and video editing.
But is that it? The new neural engines and the new GPU should theoretically give Apple devices an edge when it comes to a slew of new technologies, which are generically known as “generative AI.” I, for one, would love to see what Apple does in this direction to shake in the creative landscape. Apple has an opportunity to make generative AI part of its core operating environment, thus giving people a reason to keep upgrading their laptops.
I am an avid Photoshop user. Apple says the image processing in the M2 Pro will be 40 percent faster than the M1 Pro. I have an M1 Max laptop, and I am not expecting my gains to be that substantial.
Nanoreivew has a comparison between M2 Pro and M1 Max. I am unsure how they got hold of the M2 Pro data, but this is worth noting. Their comparison shows that my upgrade from M1 Max to M2 Pro won’t be that substantial.
In other words, if you are a creator like me with a focus on image editing tools such as Photoshop and Lightroom, in my opinion, you don’t need to spring for a new machine just yet.
I just checked — my old machine is worth less than $1000. I don’t know if the gains will be enough to spring another $3000 for the machine. I will have to wait to see what the reviews say. But I would be lying if that 22-hour battery life and WiFi 6E did not tempt me!
January 17, 2023. San Francisco.