Apple has announced its M2 Pro and M2 Max SoCs (systems on a chip). The firm says it will push the power-efficient performance of Apple silicon to new heights.
M2 Pro scales up the architecture of M2 to deliver an up to 12-core CPU and up to 19-core GPU, together with up to 32GB of fast unified memory.
M2 Max builds on the capabilities of M2 Pro, including an up to 38-core GPU, double the unified memory bandwidth, and up to 96GB of unified memory.
Apple says the M2 Max’s performance per watt makes it the world’s most powerful and power-efficient chip for a pro laptop.
Both chips feature enhanced custom technologies, including a faster 16-core Neural Engine and Apple’s powerful media engine.
M2 Pro brings pro performance to Mac mini for the first time, while M2 Pro and M2 Max take the game-changing performance and capabilities of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro even further.
“Only Apple is building SoCs like M2 Pro and M2 Max. They deliver incredible pro performance along with industry-leading power efficiency,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies.
“With an even more powerful CPU and GPU, support for a larger unified memory system, and an advanced media engine, M2 Pro and M2 Max represent astonishing advancements in Apple silicon.”
M2 Pro
M2 Pro
Built using a second-generation 5-nanometer process technology, M2 Pro consists of 40 billion transistors — nearly 20 percent more than M1 Pro and double the amount in M2.
It features 200GB/s of unified memory bandwidth — twice that of M2 — and up to 32GB of low-latency unified memory.
The next-generation 10- or 12-core CPU consists of up to eight high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores, resulting in multithreaded CPU performance that is up to 20 percent faster than the 10-core CPU in M1 Pro.
Apps like Adobe Photoshop run heavy workloads faster than ever and compiling in Xcode is up to 2.5x faster than on the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro.
The GPU in M2 Pro can be configured with up to 19 cores — three more than the GPU in M1 Pro — and includes a larger L2 cache.
Graphics speeds are up to 30 percent faster than that of M1 Pro, resulting in huge increases in image processing performance and enabling console-quality gaming.
MacBook Pro with M2 Pro is able to process images in Adobe Photoshop up to 40 percent faster than with M1 Pro, and as much as 80 percent faster than MacBook Pro with an Intel Core i9 processor.
M2 Max
With 67 billion transistors — 10 billion more than M1 Max and more than 3x that of M2 — M2 Max pushes the performance and capabilities of Apple silicon even further.
Its 400GB/s of unified memory bandwidth is twice that of M2 Pro, 4x that of M2, and supports up to 96GB of fast unified memory.
M2 Max features the same next-generation 12-core CPU as M2 Pro. The GPU is even more powerful with up to 38 cores and is paired with a larger L2 cache.
Graphics speeds climb up to 30 percent faster than M1 Max. Along with 96GB of memory, the new MacBook Pro with M2 Max can tackle graphics-intensive projects that competing systems can’t even run.
From powering visual effects, to training machine learning models, to stitching together gigapixel images, MacBook Pro with M2 Max brings incredible performance whether plugged in or running on battery power.
M2 Max is the world’s most powerful and efficient chip for a pro laptop.
The power-efficient performance of Apple silicon allows M2 Max to quickly tackle graphics-intensive projects while maintaining excellent battery life.
Custom Technologies
- Both M2 Pro and M2 Max include Apple’s next-generation, 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 an immensely powerful and efficient media engine, including hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, and ProRes video encode and decode, allowing playback of multiple streams of 4K and 8K ProRes video while using very little power. 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 delivers better noise reduction and, along with the Neural Engine, uses computational video to enhance camera image quality.
- A next-generation Secure Enclave is a critical part of Apple’s best-in-class security.
The custom technologies of M2 Pro and M2 Max include Apple’s next-generation, 16-core Neural Engine and new powerful, efficient media engines with hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, and ProRes video encode and decode.
M2 Pro and M2 Max help the new MacBook Pro and Mac mini meet Apple’s high standards for energy efficiency.
The power-efficient performance of Apple silicon helps the new MacBook Pro achieve the longest battery life ever in a Mac — up to 22 hours.
This results in less time needing to be plugged in and less energy consumed over its lifetime.
