Apple has announced new MacBooks powered by the M2 Pro and M2 Max — the most powerful processors for MacBooks and the Mac mini to date.
The M2 Pro and M2 Max allow MacBook Pro tackles demanding tasks, like effects rendering 6x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro, and color grading up to 2x faster. With up to 96GB of unified memory, MacBook Pro once again pushes the limits of graphics memory in a laptop to enable intensive graphics workloads. M2 Pro and M2 Max help the new MacBook Pro deliver up to 22 hours — the longest battery life ever in a Mac.
Both chips also feature enhanced custom technologies, including a faster 16-core Neural Engine and Apple’s powerful media engine. M2 Pro brings pro performance to the Mac mini for the first time, while M2 Pro and M2 Max further enhance the performance and capabilities of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro.
“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
Built using a second-generation 5-nanometer process technology, M2 Pro consists of 40 billion transistors — nearly 20% more than M1 Pro, and double the amount in M2. 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% faster than the 10-core CPU in M1 Pro.
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.
Those looking to upgrade from Intel-based Mac models will experience significant improvements in performance, battery life, connectivity, and overall productivity. As compared to the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro, the M2 Pro on MacBook Pro makes:
- Compiling in Xcode up to 2.5x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro
- Image processing in Adobe Photoshop up to 80% faster
- Rendering titles and animations in Motion 80% faster
M2 Max
Apple calls M2 Max the “world’s most powerful and efficient chip” for MacBook Pro laptops. 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.
M2 Max features doubles video encode engines and ProRes engines, bringing up to 2x faster video encoding than M2 Pro. Compared to the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro, the M2 Max on MacBook Pro makes:
- Effects rendering in Cinema 4D up to 6x faster than
- Color grading in DaVinci Resolve 2x faster
“MacBook Pro with Apple silicon has been a game changer, empowering pros to push the limits of their workflows while on the go and do things they never thought possible on a laptop,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing. “Today the MacBook Pro gets even better. With faster performance, enhanced connectivity, and the longest battery life ever in a Mac, along with the best display in a laptop, there’s simply nothing else like it.”
Prices
- The Mac mini starts at $600 with an M2 chip and $1,300 with the M2 Pro.
- The new 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,000.
- The 16-inch MacBook Pro model will cost at least $2,500.
All will be available at Apple stores beginning January 24, although customers can order starting January 17.
