8 MACWORLD JANUARY 2022
MACUSER M2 CHIP SHOULDN’T STOP YOU BUYING MACAccording to reports, it will arrive in the
first half of 2022.
And look at the calendar—here we are
in 2022. So if you’re wondering whether
you should wait for the M2 instead of
investing in an M1 MacBook Air or M1 Pro
MacBook Pro, we’re here to help.
M1, M1 PRO, AND M1 MAX
Apple’s first three Mac chips are all built on
the same architecture but they’re quite
(see below).
As you can see the chips are quite
different. While they’re all built on the
same 5nm die process, the M1 Pro has
much more power, especially when using
apps that take advantage of more than
one core. The M1 is a very good chip, but
the M1 Pro is a great one with mind-
blowing speeds and excellent upgrade
options. As you can see in the CPU
benchmarks below, the extra cores go a
M1 M1 Pro M1 Max
CPU cores (performance)^4 6/8^8
CPU cores (efficiency) 4 2 2
GPU cores 7/8^16 24/
NPU cores^161616
Memory 8GB/16GB 16GB/32GB 32GB/64GBM1 SPECS
Here’s how the different M1 chips compare.
long way, and that’s before you take
graphics and RAM into account. Apple has
delivered a chip that’s great for pros but
might be too fast (fave.co/3xIimuX) for
casual users.M2: SPECS AND SPEED
According to several reports, the M2 will
make its debut in the next MacBook Air. It
will be faster than the M1, but Bloomberg
reports (fave.co/319qitr) that it will have the
same number of CPU cores as the M1 and
up to 10 graphics cores. That would put
the M2 closer to the M1 than to the M1 Pro.
The M2’s debut in Apple’s thinnest
and lightest laptop says a lot about the
chip. As is the case with the current
MacBook Air, reports (fave.co/319SufO)
say the 2022 MacBook Air won’t have a
fan for cooling, which could mean Apple
will be limiting the M2’s performance in
order to maintain a proper operating
temperature. If the
A15 (fave.
co/3w59OgJ) is any
indication, the M
chip could bring a
single-core
performance boost
of roughly 10
percent over the M
and 20 percent
better multi-core
CPU performance.