Apple M2 Now Provides More Power With The Same Consumption

Apple presented the second generation of Apple Silicon at WWDC 2022. The basic chip is also the starting point in this generation: the M2 ​​is manufactured using an “optimized 5 nm process”, offers 20 instead of 16 billion transistors, and would same consumption significantly faster than the M1. The M1 appeared at the end of 2020.

Bigger than the M1

In the optimized but essentially identical manufacturing process, the Apple M2 houses the 4 billion extra transistors on a slightly larger surface area, provided that the rendering shown by the manufacturer reflects reality.

More bandwidth for up to 24 GB of storage

Apple has significantly improved the memory interface of the M2: not only will there be a choice between 16 and 24 GB (instead of the previous 8 and 16 GB), the memory divided by the CPU and GPU is also about 50 by 100 GB/s Percent faster connected.

Again, 8 CPU cores are 18 percent faster

Like the M1, the M2 also relies on an 8-core ARM CPU with four high-performance and four high-efficiency cores. Both have been heavily revised, Apple said. However, only so much was revealed for the keynote at WWDC 2022: in the future, the four powerful cores will share 16 MB instead of 12 MB of L2 cache. The Efficiency cores, on the other hand, are said to have improved in performance. In essence, however, it seems to have stuck with the known microarchitecture.

Apple M2 Apple didn’t give any details, but overall the M2 should be 18 percent faster than the M1 with the same 15 watts consumption. Apple sees itself in a much better position than the notebook processors from Intel and AMD.

25 percent more GPU cores

Apple has made the GPU in the M2 wider, offering up to 10 instead of 8 “GPU cores”. This should allow up to 35 percent more power at the top, but at the same time higher consumption, with the same consumption, it should be 25 percent – 25 percent more cores should scale 1:1 with the power with the same consumption.

With Media Engine like M1 Pro

Apple has also expanded the Media Engine compared to the Apple M1, which, like the M1 Pro, comes with a video decoding engine, video encoding engine, and ProRes encode/decode engine. Apple didn’t mention AV1, so it can’t be decoded in hardware.

Apple M2 Other adjustments compared to the M1 concern the neural engine with a performance of 15.8 billion operations per second (+40 percent) and a new image signal processor, which would offer better noise reduction. The so-called Secure Enclave would have been revised.

Apple M2

First use in MacBook Air 2022 and MacBook Pro 13-inch 2022

The first systems to hit the market with Apple M2 are the fundamentally redesigned MacBook Air with MagSafe charging port and 13.6-inch screen (Liquid Retina Display with notch) and the new MacBook Pro 13-inch, which of course only has the chip and is otherwise the same as the previous model with the Apple M1.