Written by
Eudora LiuSummary: This post is an introduction to the two latest chips-M2 Pro & M2 Max, including their release date, performance, and features, and a comparison with M1 Pro & M1 Max.
After the release of M2 about six months, Apple released two new chips--M2 Pro & M2 Mac, with the new MacBook Pro and MacBook mini on January 17, 2023.
It's good news for those Apple enthusiasts. Because these two Mac processors are a huge leap over M1 and other chips. As soon as the two chips were released, there caused heated discussions and people could not wait to get a taste of them.
Now, follow this article to learn more about M2 Pro & M2 Max.
If you think it's helpful, don't forget to share it with your friends.
M2 Pro & M2 Max
To power the new high-end Mac mini and 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro system, Apple has released all-new M2 Pro and M2 Max processors, taking all the improvements of the A15 and A16 processors and applying them to the Mac chips, resulting in a significant boost in performance over the M1.
Apple claimed only Apple is building SoCs like M2 Pro and M2 Max. 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.
And before we start to compare, here are five things you need to know.
- Same CPU core design and performance as M2
- GPU gains are better but no great architectural shift
- Memory bandwidth is the same with more RAM
- They still don't have AV1 support
- They are still all 5nm
Compare M2 Pro & M2 Max with their predecessors
M2 Pro and M2 Max offer more CPU cores, GPU cores, and memory bandwidth than their predecessors. Now, let's take a look at the specifics of the two chips.
M2 Pro
M2 Pro uses a second-generation 5nm process and offers more CPU and GPU cores, memory bandwidth, and several other upgrades over M2 and M1 Pro chips.
M2 Pro offers a benefit to video editors with its built-in media engine that accelerated H.264, HEVC, and ProRes video encoding and decoding. It also offers better power efficiency during playback of multiple streams of 4K and 8K ProResvideo.
Compared to M1 Pro, M2 Pro is 40 percent faster in Adobe Photoshop image processing, and 25 percent faster in Xcode code compiling.
| M1 Pro | M2 | M2 Pro | |
| CPU cores | 8 or 10 (6/8performence, 2 efficiency) | 8 (4 performance, 4 efficiency) | 10 or 12 (6/8 performance, 4 efficiency) |
| GPU cores | 14 or 16 | 8 or 10 | 16 or 19 |
| Memory | 16GB, 32GB | 8GB, 16GB, 24GB | 16GB, 32GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 200GBps | 100GBps | 200GBps |
| Natural Engine | 16-core | 16-core | 16-core |
M2 Max
Compared to M1 Max, M2 Max has 67 billion transistors,10 billion transistors more than M1 Max. Apple says that M2 Max is the world's most powerful and efficient chip for a pro laptop. Although it has the same media engine as the M2 Pro, just a single video-encode engine and ProRes engines.
| M1 Max | M2 Max | |
| CPU cores | 10 (8 performance, 2 efficiency) | 12 (8 performance, 4 efficiency) |
| GPU cores | 24 or 32 | 30 or 38 |
| Memory | 32GB, 64GB | 32GB, 64GB, 96GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 400GBps | 400GBps |
| Natural Engine | 16-core | 16-core |
Other details about M2 Pro & M2 Max
Except for the above difference between M2 Pro & M2 Max and the predecessors, M2 Pro & M2 Max brings more performance, battery life, and capabilities to professional users.
Longer Battery Life: M1 Pro & M1 Max have two high-efficiency cores, whereas M2 Pro & M2 Max both feature four efficiency cores, allowing the new Macs to tackle heavy workloads using less energy and conserving battery life.
Connect More Display: MacBook Pro and Mac mini with M2 Pro supports up to 2 external displays. And MacBook Pro with M2 Max supports up to 4 external displays.
Read More: Apple M1 Ultra: Most Powerful Chip for a Personal Computer
Apple T2 Chip: What does it do, T2 Chip VS M1 Chip
Share this informative post on your social media if you think it's helpful.
