M2 is finally here, and it enjoys a modest performance boost over its previous generation. Slightly larger in design than the original M1, the M2 offers only a modest performance jump over the M1 Pro, with built-in power-efficient performance improvements as its focus. The new 5-nanometer design has 20 billion transistors, about 25% more than the M1.
Coming to the 13.6” MacBook, and the 13” MacBook Air, the M2 will be shipped with an 8 core M2 CPU that has system on chip (SOC) performance that is 18% faster than the original M1.
Image Credit – Apple
The M2 CPU has four high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores that translate to 18% faster performance without a corresponding drain on power.
The MacBook Pro will have 24GB of unified memory with 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, making it about 30% more than the M1, and a 10-core GPU that has 25% consistently faster graphic performance, 35% at its max.
Apple says the M2 is 2 ½ times faster than a comparable PC laptop in its category.
Image Credit – Apple
The M2 is also designed to handle even larger and more complex video workflows. Apple has updated the ProRes media engine to handle 8K video streams and prores deciding. Apple says that the new engine makes the M2 MacBook and is 40% faster when playing back multiple 4K and 8K streams.
Users can also connect the MacBook Pro to multiple 6K external displays. The MacBook Pro’s retina display offers 500 nits of brightness and all-day battery life of up to 20 hours of video playback.
Image Credit – Apple
Additionally, with macOS Ventura, the MacBook Pro will be able to harness Stage Manager, to keep open windows organized and shuffled to the side, in order to keep the active window front and center.
When wanting to switch to another app, just click on the pile and the windows will switch. Just click on it to go to the desktop, and everything gets moved to the side.
Outstanding features include:
- A faster 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU, working with RAW images in apps like Affinity Photo. It’s 40 percent faster than the previous generation, and up to 3.4x faster for users who are upgrading from a model without Apple silicon.
- With an active cooling system, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is designed to sustain stay cooler longer at its highest performance.
- 24GB of unified memory — along with 50 percent more memory bandwidth — making multitasking and working with large assets superfluid.
- With support for ProRes to encode and decode in the media engine of M2, users can play back up to 11 streams of 4K and up to two streams of 8K ProRes video. And they can convert their video projects to ProRes nearly 3x faster than before.
- 20 hours of video playback.
Pricing of the 13” MacBook Pro will be $1299, or $1199 educational. It’s expected to ship next month.
[source: Apple]
Order Links:
- Apple MACBOOK PRO 13″ 8/256GB M2 (B&H)
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