The Apple M2 arrives

Topic

New Reply

APPLE NEWS By Will Fastie This wasn’t quite the shoe everyone hoped would be dropping. As you know from previous Apple News installments, our focus ha
[See the full post at: The Apple M2 arrives]

Reply | Quote

Replies

Will Fastie: Thanks for this fairly comprehensive opinion piece.

About Apple’s new RISC ARM SoC chips: This is last year’s article, so the M2 is mooted, but not exactly predicted — close enough though:

https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/apple-m1

For people like me, that are not familiar with some tech jargon, in this case “power” and “efficiency” CPU cores:

https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/performance-core

One problem with the all-out switch to RISC chips, a development that probably was inevitable technically, to move forward, but that took some managerial grit (not necessarily an abundant thing in a large corporation’s bureaucracy, so kudos to Apple’s management), the minus of such a change, as I started to refer to at the beginning of this paragraph, is that most users at the time had, and still most likely have Intel CPU Macs and (e.g. in my own case) with Intel Iris GPU. And we are being left not only in the road’s dust by the faster new machines (that in my case is not a critical issue for what I need to do) but the support from Apple for the “universal” macOS we are running now (a double install, so it works on both Intel and “M”, a.k.a “Silicon” Macs) and also that from developers of various applications that one also uses, is bound to fade for Intel Macs, in fact I think it already is fading.

Progress comes at a cost that is not entirely obvious at first sight.

By the way: the day, whenever it comes, than MS moves decisively Windows (or whatever its OS might be called by then) to run on ARM CPUs, Windows users (or of whatever etc.) still with Intel PCs (probably most users), sooner or later will run against the same problem.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

Reply | Quote

OscarCP wrote:

Windows users (or of whatever etc.) still with Intel PCs (probably most users), sooner or later will run against the same problem.

They are running the same problem today when wishing to install Windows 11 and have no TMP 2.0, Secure Boot, Intel 8xxx+ CPU…and soon no SSD boot drive..are just left in the dust…

Reply | Quote

OscarCP wrote:

Thanks for this fairly comprehensive opinion piece.

It’s very generous of you to call this news item “comprehensive.” There really wasn’t much meat to chew on. Maybe the fall will be more exciting.

OscarCP wrote:

Progress comes at a cost that is not entirely obvious at first sight.

If someone builds a PC that is twice as performant at half the price, the world will beat a path to their door, no matter how high the mountain or how rocky the road.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Alex5723

Reply | Quote

Hmm … Beating a path, tossing their still OK working Intel PCs along the way, the ones that run their useful applications that wouldn’t work with RISC ARM-style chips … The price.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

Reply | Quote

OscarCP wrote:

… The price.

The rocky road.

Reply | Quote

Leaked Benchmarks Confirm M2 Chip is Up to 20% Faster Than M1

Apple’s new M2 chip is up to 20 percent faster than the M1 chip when it comes to multi-core performance, according to leaked M2 benchmarks from the upcoming 13-inch MacBook Pro that were discovered on Geekbench today.

https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/15482594

As for the Metal benchmark, the ‌M2‌ chip scored 30627, a notable improvement over the 21001 score earned by the ‌M1‌. The ‌M2‌ chip offers up to a 10-core GPU, compared to the 8-core maximum of the ‌M1‌…

Reply | Quote

Leaked because the data shows a big improvement.
Wait for real 3rd party tests that show a much lower (more accurate) improvement.

cheers, Paul

1 user thanked author for this post.

wavy

Reply | Quote

13-Inch MacBook Pro With M2 Chip Outperforms Base Model Mac Pro Despite Costing Nearly $5,000 Less

In an apparent Geekbench 5 result that surfaced on Wednesday, the new 13-inch MacBook Pro achieved a multi-core score of 8,928, while the standard Mac Pro configuration with an 8‑core Intel Xeon W processor has an average multi-core score of 8,027 on Geekbench 5. These scores suggest the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,299, has up to 11% faster multi-core performance than the base model Mac Pro for $5,999…

Some developers at WWDC 2022 got M2 Macs.

Reply | Quote

Alex5723 wrote:

the standard Mac Pro configuration with an 8‑core Intel Xeon W

How is that M1 vs M2?

cheers, Paul

Reply | Quote

Paul T wrote:

Alex5723 wrote:

the standard Mac Pro configuration with an 8‑core Intel Xeon W

How is that M1 vs M2?

cheers, Paul

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/the-apple-m2-arrives/#post-2453884 🙂

https://nanoreview.net/en/cpu-compare/apple-m2-vs-apple-m1

Reply | Quote

Paul T: “How is that M1 vs M2?”

As Will Fastie has explained in his article in the Newsletter, the difference between M1 and M2 is not that great, although there is a definite improvement.

M2: Still with 8 cores, four “power” and four “efficiency” (with less energy-consumption and less number-crunching power than the “power” ones).

But with more transistors: 20 billion vs. 16 in the M1; generally more powerful, faster. Also a more powerful GPU, in the same chip as in the case of the M1, but with 10 cores, more than the 8 in M1 chip.

For a more detailed comparison:

The first of the M1 series, as it came out last year:

https://www.macrumors.com/guide/m1/

And now the M2:

https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/6/23156370/apple-silicon-m2-processor-chip-specs-wwdc-2022

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

Reply | Quote

Paul T wrote:

Alex5723 wrote:

the standard Mac Pro configuration with an 8‑core Intel Xeon W

How is that M1 vs M2?

cheers, Paul

M1 vs. M2 Chip Buyer’s Guide: How Much Better Really Is M2?

..Final Thoughts

Overall, the ‌M2‌ chip offers moderate improvements over the ‌M1‌, even if most ‌M1‌ users are unlikely to notice significant improvements when upgrading to the ‌M2‌. The ‌M2‌’s advancements are generally worthwhile, if not transformative, and the chip is certain to provide a more up-to-date experience with lower-spec Apple silicon machines – especially for those coming from an Intel-based machine.

While the ‌M2‌ offers improvements across the board thanks to its enhanced 5nm process, updated cores, and additional GPU cores, the major upgrades come to users who need to work with video, as well as those who have memory-intensive workflows. The ‌M2‌’s higher-bandwidth video decoder and dedicated engine for ProRes and ProRes RAW video offer meaningful improvements for video editors, while the 24GB unified memory tier and 100GB/s of memory bandwidth significantly boost the capacity of ‌M2‌ machines to deal with memory-hungry applications and intense multitasking.

Reply | Quote

Alex, Thanks.

My question is: which is, right now, the choice of computer or computers with M2 CPUs, GPUs and neural network “engines”, all in the same chip. (See the detailed M1 and M2 articles linked, for their comparison, in my previous comment.)

If memory serves, for some reason, the previous M1 (a.k.a. “Silicon”) Macs first to be announced were just this one: the, in my opinion, underwhelming “Air.”

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

Reply | Quote

OscarCP wrote:

which is, right now, the choice of computer or computers with M2 CPUs, GPUs and neural network “engines”, all in the same chip.

For now there is only one : 13″ MacBook Pro.

It’s officially Friday, June 24 in New Zealand and Australia, which means it’s the launch day for the 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro. Customers in New Zealand and Australia are always the first to get their hands on new devices due to time zone differences, and the ‌M2‌ Macs are no exception…

*Custom made order will have to wait until August.

1 user thanked author for this post.

OscarCP

Reply | Quote