Almost two years after the launch of Apple’s M1 chip, the first ARM-based “Apple Silicon” hardware, we finally have a successor: M2. While the M1 chip stood out for showing what Apple could achieve with a more efficient mobile design (a spectacular output of Intel’s x86 processors), M2’s goal is to refine itself rather than open new ones. lands. This time, it’s all about efficiency.
But given the extent to which Apple has scaled the M1, to the point that it basically merged two chips to create the powerful M1 Ultra in Mac Studio, it will be intriguing to see how far Apple can take the design of the M2 (We still have to know about an updated Mac Pro, don’t forget).
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The M2 chip supports up to 24 GB of unified memory, compared to only 16 GB with the M1, as well as twice the memory bandwidth (1000 GB / s). And once again, it offers 8 cores (4 high-performance, 4 high-efficiency). Apple claims that the efficiency cores have improved tremendously, and overall you can expect an 18% increase in multiprocessor performance over the M1. The M2 chip can be equipped with up to 10 GPU cores, which are 35 percent more powerful than the M1 in its maximum power state.
Video editors can get the most out of this new chip, as the M2 includes support for ProRes encoding and decoding, along with 6K external displays. The chip’s neural engine is also 40% faster, which will significantly speed up AI tasks.
The M2 chip will come first in the redesigned MacBook Air, which adds a larger screen and loses the iconic wedge shape, as well as the 13-inch MacBook Pro. (Hopefully, it will be coming to the Mac Mini soon.) While the M2 may seem like an incremental upgrade, that’s not exactly bad for Apple. The M1 surprised us two years ago, and the many variations of this chip can still take on the latest developments from Intel and AMD. In any case, the existence of the M2 chip should significantly reduce the cost of M1 machines.
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