The new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips are so powerful that most reviewers said they’re actually overkill for most Mac owners, even with most of them doing video work.
A new benchmark ranking reveals how the machine stacks up against every other current Apple silicon chip, from the A14 Bionic to the M1 Ultra (which still smokes the M2 Pro…
new chips
Apple unveiled the new chips last week during the launch of the new Mac mini and latest MacBook Pro models.
The M2 Pro extends the M2’s architecture to deliver up to 12-core CPU and 19-core GPU as well as up to 32GB of faster integrated memory. The M2 Max builds on the capabilities of the M2 Pro, including a 38-core GPU, double the integrated memory bandwidth and up to 96GB of integrated memory. Its industry-leading performance per watt makes it the world’s most powerful and energy-efficient chip for a pro laptop. Both chips also feature advanced custom technologies including a faster 16-core Neural Engine and Apple’s powerful Media Engine []
Only Apple is making SoCs like the M2 Pro and M2 Max. They deliver industry-leading energy efficiency as well as incredible pro performance, said Johnny Sorji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies. “With more powerful CPUs and GPUs, support for a larger integrated memory system, and an enhanced media engine, the M2 Pro and M2 Max represent stunning advances in Apple silicon.”
While the chips are still built on the 5nm architecture, Apple says the M2 Pro squeezes in 40 billion transistors about 20% more than the M1 Pro, and twice as many as the base M2 chip. The M2 Max increases this to 67 billion transistors.
Apple touts the M2 Pro as 40% faster than the M1 Pro and 80% faster than the top-end Core i9 chip in the previous Intel-powered 16-inch MacBook Pro.
M2 Pro and M2 Max vs other Apple silicon
macworld It looked at how the new chips stack up against not only their predecessors, but all other existing Apple Silicon chips.
We’ve only included chips in Apple devices that are still for sale and this is a somewhat predictable chart, with the fastest Macs at the top, followed by a mix of iPads and iPhones. But there are still some fascinating results: iPad Pro owners can say that their tablet is as fast as the MacBook Air, and that won’t be an exaggeration. And the difference between the $399 iPhone SE and the $899 iPhone 14 isn’t as large as their price difference might suggest.
Mac Studio owners may have raised an eyebrow over the new Mac mini, wondering if they’d be better off waiting, but the news could have been worse.
If you have an M1 Ultra Mac Studio, the new chips haven’t dethroned it as the king of speed. Both the 48-core and 64-core variants still leave the M2 Max in the dust, with Geekbench 5 multi-core scores of 23,369 versus 15,242 for the two M2 Max chips; 15,079 for the top-end M2 Pro; and 11,851 for the M2 Pro with 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU.
The M1 Max also sits between the two M2 Pro variants with a score of 12,590.
Check out the full rankings below, and the full piece for all the details.
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