Apple’s M2 is here … or it will be soon, when the 13-inch MacBook will start shipping on June 24. As expected, the M2 is a nice upgrade over the M1, but not revolutionary. There are improvements in every part of the system-on-chip; CPU, GPU, memory system, neural engine, and media engine.
Obviously the M2 is superior to the M1, but the question now is: Is it worth buying the Mac with the M1 Pro, M1 Max, or M1 Ultra? The second generation of Apple Silicon is here, does that mean the first generation has reached the end of the line?
We don’t have criteria yet, but in general, the answer would be yes, the differences will become clearer as you move up the performance stack. If anything, it’s only for those who consider the M1 Pro to get more memory or GPU performance that M2 might be tempted. Here’s how to stack products.
M2 vs M1 Pro
The M1 Pro has a CPU with eight performance cores (twice that of M2) and two efficiency cores (half of M2). It has 10 cores for 8 cores for M1 Pro vs M2, but leans more towards M1 Pro Performance Core.
The M1 Pro typically offers about 60 percent more CPU performance than the M1. Apple says the M2’s CPU is 18% faster than the M1’s, so there’s still a considerable gap. When it comes to benchmarks, we suspect that the M1 Pro will still deliver multi-core performance that is about 35 percent higher than the M2.
Apples
According to Apple, the M2’s GPU is 35 percent faster than the M1’s. But the M1 Pro, with up to 16 GPU cores and more memory bandwidth, is almost twice as fast as the M1. So the M1 Pro is still expected to arrive about 40 percent faster than the M2.
Similarly, M2 offers more memory (24GB) and memory bandwidth (100GB / sec) than M1. But the M1 Pro allows up to 32GB of memory and 200GB / sec of memory bandwidth.
Interestingly, the M2 upgrade to the Media Engine actually appeared on the M1 Pro. You’ll get enhanced H.264 and HEVC encode and decode performance and ProRes support on the M1 Pro, when you didn’t get it on the M1. As far as we can tell, this is the same media engine এটি it first landed on the M1 Pro.
One area where the M2 has a clear performance advantage over the M1 Pro is the neural engine for accelerating machine learning and AI software – Apple’s custom hardware. They both feature a 16-core neural engine, but the M1 Pro has the same neural engine as the M1 (and A14), capable of 11 trillion operations per second. The M2’s new-generation 16-core neural engine can handle a reported 15.8 trillion ops, making it more than 40 percent faster.
In short, the M2 can be 30 to 40 percent faster than a Mac M2 with the M1 Pro, with the exception of the Media Engine (which seems to be the same) and the Neural Engine (of which M2 is 40 percent faster).
M2 vs. M1 max
If the M1 Pro is faster than the M2 in most ways, then the M1 Max must be. It has the same CPU, so there’s no performance change এখনও still about 35% faster than the M2.
Apple’s M1 Max has the same CPU as the M1 Pro but adds more graphics power.
The GPU is twice as large, and it offers twice the maximum memory, with twice the memory bandwidth of the M1 Pro. Expect 2.5x more GPU performance than the M2. The M1 Max has two media engines, which give it similar features but double the performance of the M1 Pro or M2.
But the M1 Max has only a 16-core neural engine, of the same generation as the M1 and M1 Pro, which means M2’s neural engine is probably 40 percent faster.
M2 vs M1 Ultra
The M1 Ultra is basically two M1 Max chips that are sewn together with an ultra-fast interconnect, so you can take everything about the M1 Max and double it. You’ll actually get 20 CPU cores, so it will be 2.5x faster than the M2’s CPU. The GPU is up to 64 cores, and probably 5x faster than the M2. There are also four media engines.
In fact, the M1 Ultra will actually beat the M2 Per By the way, including the neural engine, because it has Two 16-core neural engine. Although they each perform 11 trillion operations, the combined 22 trillion apps are still about 40% faster on the M2 than the next-generation neural engine.
Should you wait for M2 Pro, M2 Max, or M2 Ultra?
We certainly don’t know what to expect from the M2 Pro, Max and Ultra. It seems reasonable to expect that Apple will follow the same strategy as the M1, increasing the number of CPU and GPU cores, memory bandwidth and media engines and keeping the neural engine the same (save for M2 Ultra).
But we don’t really expect these chips to arrive anytime soon. This will probably be towards the end of 2022 before the M2 Pro and / or M2 Max are announced and at least six more months before we get the M2 Ultra. It is possible that we will not see any of these chips until mid-2023.
And of course, they will appear more Expensive The Mac, while the M2 Ultra, like the M1 Ultra, probably won’t show up on any laptop. If you are thinking of buying a 1 1,999 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro with 8-core CPU and 14-core GPU with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage, you may want to seriously consider the upcoming M2 MacBook Air instead. Similarly configuring would cost 1,699, and you’d be left with just a few ports, a tiny bit the size of a screen, and a small bit of performance. Not to mention the size and weight, it can be worth the low price.
If you want a MacBook Pro with a full 10/16-core M1 Pro setup, or something more powerful than that, you probably shouldn’t let the existence of the M2 be your concern. It will be really important if the M2 Pro, Max and Ultra hit the scene and it will probably be at least six months away.