Apple Silicon M2 - What We Know So Far
Apple announced their next iteration of Apple Silicon, the M2 System on a Chip during the WWDC 2022 keynote address, along with 2 new MacBook models both powered by the M2 chip and due to be released in July 2022. We have the details…
The Apple Silicon Journey So Far
At the WWDC 2020, just 2 years ago Apple announced their move away from Intel processors and to release their own system on a chip, starting with the M1, which Apple announced in November 2020, with the M1 powered MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini. Next came the M1 powered iMac followed by the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops powered by bigger M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. Next came the Mac Studio, which can be powered by an M1 Ultra.
M2 System On A Chip Announced
The next stage of the Apple Silicon journey was to release new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro laptops powered by the latest Apple silicon system on a chip, the M2.
The M2 System on a Chip (SoC) has the same number of cores as the original M1 chip (8) with 4 high-performance cores and 4 high-efficiency cores as does the M1 but on the M2, the shared L2 cache on the performance cores, has been increased from 12MB to 16MB, and the clock speeds have been increased a little too. When it comes to the efficiency cores, they have the same cache size as the M1 but have been given other architectural improvements, like higher peak clock speeds and faster memory access.
These changes mean that the M2 runs faster and comes with more graphics cores, with 9 or 10 GPU cores, up from the 7 or 8 that came with the M1. The M2 SoC has 24GB of unified LPDDR5 memory, up 8GB from the M1.
M1 To M2 Performance Boost
Built using second-generation 5-nanometer technology, TSMC’s next-generation N4P process is an enhanced version of the 5-nanometer process and is designed to deliver about 11% more performance and almost 22% more efficiency compared to the conventional 5-nanometer process used for the production of A15 and M1, M1 Pro and Max). Apple’s M2 takes their performance per watt of M1 even further with an 18% faster CPU, a 35% more powerful GPU, and the Neural Engine can process up to 15.8 trillion operations per second — over 40% more than the M1.
M1 To M2 Memory Boost
It also delivers 50% more memory bandwidth compared to M1, and up to 24GB of faster unified memory, up from 16GB with the M1. M2 brings all of this, plus new custom technologies and greater efficiency, to the completely redesigned MacBook Air and updated 13-inch MacBook Pro. Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies told us…
“M2 starts the second generation of M-series chips and goes beyond the remarkable features of M1. With our relentless focus on power-efficient performance, M2 delivers a faster CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine. And along with higher memory bandwidth and new capabilities like ProRes acceleration, M2 continues the tremendous pace of innovation in Apple silicon for the Mac.”
The M1 memory subsystem architecture was 128 bits wide and used LPDDR4x, which gave a peak of 68.25GB/s, the M2 uses LPDDR5x, which increases memory bandwidth to 100GB/s.
For comparison, the M1 Pro uses LPDDR5x with a 256-bit memory interface giving it 200GB/s of bandwidth. The M1 Max doubled that with a 512-bit interface, giving a memory bandwidth of 400GB/s.
So, while the M2 has 50% more memory bandwidth than the M1, at this point we cannot be sure that the M2 Pro and M2 Max will have 50% more memory bandwidth than the M1 Pro/Max. Apple would need to make a wider memory bus to achieve this, which although possible, starts to get pricey and complicated.
Although with the information Apple released at the time of writing, it’s not a big stretch to suggest that the system-level cache (an on-chip cache that is accessible to every aspect of the chip) is 50% larger on the M2 as well. The M1 featured 24MB of SLC, and it’s reasonable to expect that it has doubled to 48MB in the M2. We can’t be sure until the M2 MacBooks start shipping and can be thoroughly tested, but the SLC cache size is a big deal. It helps with everything, as it can be used by the CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, media encoders.
Apple M2 Performance Compared To Intel Laptop
It has been expected that the M2 Geekbench 5 CPU test results will be somewhere around 8,800-9,000. That’s around the same as a Ryzen 7 3800X desktop CPU at around 20% or less of its power consumption.
But we are looking at laptops so as a reference against the latest mobile low-power chips, Intel’s best current ultraportable CPU, the Core i7-1255U, scores just under 7,000 on the Geekbench 5 CPU test results but uses more than twice the power doing it.
It needs to be acknowledged that there are definitely faster laptop processors available from both Intel and AMD, but the key here is that they use dramatically more power and would be best compared against M2 Max or M2 Ultra chips when they arrive.
Compared with the latest 10-core PC laptop chip, the CPU in M2 provides nearly twice the performance at the same power level. And, M2 delivers the peak performance of the PC chip while using just a quarter of the power. When compared to the latest 12-core PC laptop chip, Apple claims the M2 provides nearly 90% of the peak performance of the 12-core chip while using just one-quarter of the power.
M1 To M2 GPU Performance Boost
M2 also features Apple’s next-generation GPU with up to 10 cores, which is 2 more two more than the M1. Combined with a larger cache and higher memory bandwidth, the 10-core GPU is designed to deliver a boost in graphics performance, bringing up to 25% more graphics performance than M1 at the same power level, and up to 35% better performance at its max power.
Compared with the integrated graphics of the latest PC laptop chip, Apple claims that the GPU in M2 delivers 2.3x faster performance at the same power level, and matches its peak performance using a fifth of the power. Although it should be said that Apple didn’t compare the M2 with AMD’s ultraportable laptop chips, which are considered to be superior to Intel’s in this area.
The higher performance per watt from M2 enables systems to have exceptional battery life, and run cool and quietly, even when playing graphics-intensive games or editing massive RAW images.
M2 Secure Enclave, Neural Engine And Media Engine
M2 brings Apple’s latest custom technologies to the Mac, enabling new capabilities, better security, and more…
The Neural Engine, while still 16 cores, can perform up to 15.8 trillion operations per second, more than 40% more than the 11 trillion operations of the Neural Engine in the M1.
The media engine includes a higher-bandwidth video decoder, supporting 8K H.264 and HEVC video, which the M1 chip didn’t have.
Apple’s powerful ProRes video engine enables playback of multiple streams of both 4K and 8K video.
Apple’s latest Secure Enclave provides best-in-class security.
A new image signal processor (ISP) delivers better image noise reduction.
M2 Pro, Max And Ultra?
It’s quite possible that the media engine will be upgraded yet again, perhaps with AV1 hardware acceleration) and that the M2 Pro, Max, and Ultra will get that upgrade.
It will be interesting to watch how Apple develops the M2 Pro, M2 Max, and M2 Ultra chips. It is expected that they might use TSMC’s more advanced 3nm process technology and could feature some improvements expected in the A16 later this year when the iPhone 14 Pro is announced, which are likely to include an improved media engine and perhaps a new Neural Engine, too.
But there is no doubt that the M2 is a great start to Apple’s second generation of Apple Silicon for the Mac.
Which Macs Are Getting The M2 Chip First?
As well as announcing the M2 chip during the WWDC 2022 keynote address, Apple also announced 2 new laptops, powered by the M2 SoC, a redesigned MacBook Air and an upgraded 13-inch MacBook Pro.
M2 13.6-inch MacBook Air Announced
The first computer Apple announced with the M2 SoC was a redesigned MacBook Air.
The new MacBook Air brings a new design to the range, and Apple has dropped the traditional wedge-shaped chassis and now the MacBook Air is flat and not dissimilar to the latest 14 ad 16-inch MacBook Pros That said, the MacBook Air is thinner and measures just 11.3mm and weighs in at just 2.7 pounds.
It comes in four colours, in addition to silver and space gray, the 2022 MacBook Air is now available in two new finishes — midnight and starlight.
The new MacBook Air comes with two USB-C ports, Magsafe charging, Touch ID, Face ID and by reducing the bezel size and implementing a ‘notch’ similar to the 14 and 16-inch MBPs means Apple has been able to stretch the screen to a 13.6-inch Retina LCD display.
When it comes to power on the go, the 2022 MacBook Air offers up to 20 hours of battery life. The new Air offers a number of charging options, including an all-new 35W compact power adapter with two USB-C ports, so users can charge two devices at once. And for the first time, MacBook Air supports fast charge for charging up to 50% in just 30 minutes with an optional 67W USB-C power adapter and what’s more, it’s a fanless laptop making it great for recording with the computer in the room.
For pro-audio users, there is also good news in that the MacBook Air’s headphone jack supports high-impedance headphones.
Additionally, the Magic Keyboard features a full-height function row with Touch ID, and a spacious, industry-leading Force Touch trackpad.
The new 2022 MacBook Air includes a new 1080p FaceTime HD camera with a larger image sensor and more efficient pixels, designed to deliver twice the resolution and low-light performance of the previous generation. Combined with the processing power of the advanced image signal processor on M2, users should look great on video calls.
The new MacBook Air also features a four-speaker sound system. To fit inside such a thin design, the speakers and mics are completely integrated between the keyboard and display, all while delivering an even better audio experience. A three-mic array captures clean audio using advanced beamforming algorithms, while the speakers produce improved stereo separation and vocal clarity. The new 2022 MacBook Air now supports immersive Spatial Audio for music and movies with Dolby Atmos, which its predecessor did not.
MacBook Air M2 performance:
For intensive workloads like editing complex timelines in Final Cut Pro, performance is nearly 40% faster than the previous generation, and up to 15x faster for customers that haven’t upgraded to Apple silicon.
Apple claims that applying filters and effects in apps like Adobe Photoshop is up to 20% faster than before, and up to 5x faster for customers that haven’t yet upgraded to Apple silicon.
And even with a larger display and increased performance, MacBook Air has been designed to deliver the same great, all-day battery life as before, with up to 18 hours of video playback.
MacBook Air 2022 Pricing
There are two base options for the 2022 MacBook Air, one with an 8-core GPU and 256GB SSD and the other with a 10-core GPU and a 512GB SSD…
8-Core CPU
8-Core GPU
8GB Unified Memory
256GB SSD Storage
16-core Neural Engine
13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone
1080p FaceTime HD camera
MagSafe 3 charging port
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
Force Touch trackpad
30W USB-C Power Adapter
$1,199.00
8-Core CPU
10-Core GPU
8GB Unified Memory
512GB SSD Storage
16-core Neural Engine
13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone
1080p FaceTime HD camera
MagSafe 3 charging port
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
Force Touch trackpad
35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter
$1,499.00
MacBook Air Option Pricing
M2 13-inch MacBook Pro Announced
Unlike the complete redesign of the new 2022 MacBook Air, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro is a chip upgrade. So you get all the benefits of the M2 design, listed above, but it’s the same basic computer, you get the same ports, the same weight and dimensions and the same screen size as before.
So all the improvements relate to the new features in the M2 system on a chip with a couple of exceptions…
Whereas the new MacBook Air is fanless the new M2 MacBook Pro comes with active cooling designed to sustain maximum performance.
Unexpectedly the new M2 MacBook Pro still comes with the Touchbar, which was a little surprising as Apple dropped the Touchbar when they released the larger 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops with M1 Pro of M1 Max chips. We suspect this was because it’s an upgrade and not a redesign, so it had to stay.
The new 2022 13-inch MacBook Pro supports immersive Spatial Audio for music and movies with Dolby Atmos, which its predecessor did not.
While the size of the battery remains the same, 58.2Wh, the 2022 machine comes bundled with a slightly more powerful USB-C charger: 67W, up from 61W.
Apple is also claiming a 40% improvement over the M1 13-inch MacBook Pro…
With a faster 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU, working with RAW images in apps like Affinity Photo is nearly 40% faster than the previous generation, and up to 3.4x faster for users who are upgrading from a model without Apple silicon.
Playing graphics-intensive games like Baldur’s Gate 3 is also nearly 40% faster than the previous 13-inch MacBook Pro, and up to 3.3x faster for customers upgrading from a model without Apple silicon.
Thanks to M2, the 13-inch MacBook Pro also supports up to 24GB of unified memory — along with 50% more memory bandwidth, making multitasking and working with large assets superfluid.
With support for ProRes 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.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro delivers better battery life with up to 20 hours of video playback.
No 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro Available In The Apple Store
The M2 MacBook Pro has replaced the M1 13-inch MacBook Pro. The M1 model is no longer available in the Apple Store. This means currently you cannot buy a 13-inch MacBook Pro from the Apple Store, as the 2022 model isn’t available to buy yet.
MacBook Pro 2022 Pricing
There are two base options for the 2022 MacBook Pro, one with a 256GB SSD and the other with a 512GB SSD. We are not sure why Apple did this as they could have just had one base model and one set of options, but we suspect it was to make the website look fuller.
8-Core CPU
10-Core GPU
8GB Unified Memory
256GB SSD Storage
16-core Neural Engine
13-inch Retina display with True Tone
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
Magic Keyboard
Touch Bar and Touch ID
Force Touch trackpad
$1,299.00
8-Core CPU
10-Core GPU
8GB Unified Memory
512GB SSD Storage
16-core Neural Engine
13-inch Retina display with True Tone
Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
Magic Keyboard
Touch Bar and Touch ID
Force Touch trackpad
$1,499.00
MacBook Pro Option Pricing
When Will I Be Able To Buy the 2022 M2 MacBook Pro Models?
In the Apple Store, you can still only view pricing for the 2 new M2 powered Apple laptops
M2 13-Inch MacBook Pro UPDATE 16th June 2022
Apple has announced that it will be possible to start pre-ordering the M2-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro from 5 am PDT on Friday 17th June 2022 with delivery to customers starting on Friday 24th June 2022. It will also be available from Apple Authorized Resellers around the world from the same dates.
Steps To Make Pre-Ordering Easier
If you are planning to pre-order a new MacBook pro then there are several things it is worth doing as soon as possible to make it as easy as possible to complete your pre-order as we expect there to be a rush.
How to check your Apple Store account…
Click on this link to find the summary of your Apple account activities.
Log in with your password or touch or Face ID.
Check whether your delivery address is still correct.
Check whether a current credit card is listed as the payment method.
Save the model you want in the Apple Store app
Set your alarm for Friday - Especially if you are on the west coast of the US, you might want to set an alarm. as the new MacBook Pro will go on sale at 5 a.m. PT. (6am MDT, 7am CDT and 8am EDT). In the U.K., that is 1 pm and 10 pm in Sydney Australia. The sooner you get your order in, the sooner you will get your shiny new M2 MacBook Pro.
M2 13.6-Inch MacBook Air
There is still no announcement on when it will be possible to pre-order the new M2-powered MacBook Air. Apple did say in the WWDC 2022 keynote that both machines would be available in July, but it’s not clear whether that means available to pre-order or to actually buy.
What We Think About The M2 SoC And 2 New MacBook Models
The extra 8GB of unified memory, is good news as those of us working in pro audio were concerned that the 16GB that came with the M1 wasn’t quite enough, so the option to have 24GB with an M2 chip is great news for a lower-cost studio computer solution.
On the downside, the tech specs on Apple's website confirm that both 2022 laptops officially support just a single external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz just like the previous MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro models with the M1 chip, but it was discovered that multiple displays can be connected to the M1 laptops with the use of DisplayLink adapters, and it is expected that this workaround will still work on the new M2 Macs.
You have to go to the higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models to get support for up to two external displays with the M1 Pro chip, and up to four with the M1 Max chip.
It is interesting that the developments from the M1 to M2 aren’t in the CPU department. Instead, they are in the GPU, video processing, audio processing, as well as the neural engine departments, which is excellent for the growing number of machine learning and AI applications.
For those of us working with Dolby Atmos, the inclusion of spatial audio and Dolby Atmos support to the 2022 MacBook Air and the 13-inch 2022 MacBook Pro is great news.