Betcha it’s going to be 15% to 18% improvements on specific benchmarks for each new model from here on out. Just like intel.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
M1 vs. M2 Chip Buyer's Guide: How Much Better Really Is M2?
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Now do encoding benchmarks for royalty free codecs (x265 and AV1) for M1 and M2, and compare it against the 5950 and 12900.
M1 is still overkill for the majority of users.
If you have M1, don't upgrade to M2. The performance gains aren't that drastic to justify an upgrade.
If you have an Intel Mac, definitely upgrade to M2.
If you have M1, don't upgrade to M2. The performance gains aren't that drastic to justify an upgrade.
If you have an Intel Mac, definitely upgrade to M2.
I expect in a year or two the M2 Air will start dropping in price, once the costs of the new chassis are amortized and supply chains ease up (especially if a recession cuts global demand).
In your case I'd say weight/size is the bigger consideration. The 14" Pro is going to be heavier/larger than the Air, enough to be noticeable in day to day use.
Hell, I'm sticking with my 2017 MacBook and 2017 iMac for some time longer. I don't need the performance of even M1. Having sufficient memory is beneficial for me, but I already have 16 GB and 24 GB in those machines respectively.
I'll admit my 2017 MacBook is a bit laggy these days, but I use it infrequently enough that I don't really care that much. However, I use my iMac daily, and even though it's only half as fast as M1, it's perfectly fine for my needs.
BTW, a friend of mine who is a professional designer ran an M1 Mac mini for a while. He said the speed of its SoC was perfectly fine, and in fact was faster than he needed. The main problem was the 8 GB RAM in the machine. He ended up getting a 32 GB Mac Studio, but not because of the SoC. He got it because it was a new Apple product and he just wanted something new, because it had more than 16 GB RAM, and because it had lots of ports including front USB and SD reader.
I will replace my 8 GB 2014 Mac mini though. I bought it used in 2021 for really cheap, just as a temporary replacement for my problematic 2007 Mac Pro, until new Mac minis come out.
My take, as well. Probably a worthwhile upgrade if you really tax your device for professional applications, probably not a huge bump for casual users.
I fall more into the casual end of the spectrum, but do need to run photography apps (LightRoom and a little PS). This would potentially be a big jump from my 2018 iPad Pro, but I’m waiting to see the full array of possibilities with iPadOS 16 - especially the better implementation of multiple monitors.
A16 is not going to be 3nm…TSMC isn’t ready for volume production of 3nm yet, even if they’re fibbing to the press, they aren’t ready for that kind of volume quite yet. A17 will be 3nm for sure.
Apart from the above reasonable point, as I have said repeatedly, these "First!!!" type reviews do a terrible job of catching what is *truly* new in each new chip.
For example there are reasonable grounds for believing that the TLB and Virtual Machine subsystems of the M2 are substantially improved beyond the M1. Does that matter to you? Well, who knows? If MS rethink their current stance as to where they will legally allow Windows to run, it may matter a lot. Or Apple may decide to be a lot more aggressive how they use Virtual Machines in macOS (for security, for real time, or for backward compatibility without burdening a new OS).
But this sort of new functionality will be invisible for months until the people who actually understand these machines in detail get their hands on one and start exploring.
I don't think so. Apple is all in with its Apple Silicon architecture. If you wants GPU, Apple is offering different counts of GPU cores at different price tags.
So far, reviews have actually demonstrated the improvements are holding up across all types of benchmarks. There goes your argument.
LOL, yeah...
If I may be showing my old-timer skills here..
More like going from G4 400 with 100 MHz FSB to G4 533 with 133 MHz FSB
This month, Apple introduced the M2 chip – the second-generation custom silicon chip for the Mac. After the M1 chip revolutionized the Mac starting in November 2020, how much better really is the M2?
Apple says that the M2 chip takes the performance per watt of the M1 even further with an 18 percent faster CPU, a 35 percent more powerful GPU, and a 40 percent faster Neural Engine. There are also other significant enhancements such as more memory bandwidth and support for up to 24GB of unified memory.
As the second major iteration of Apple silicon, it may not be clear how significant of an improvement the M2 is over the M1, especially as it sticks with a 5nm fabrication process, contrary to some rumors that suggested a bigger performance and efficiency leap would be in store. The M2 chip debuts in the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the redesigned MacBook Air, so the extent to which the M2 is better than its predecessor could be an important consideration when purchasing a new Mac. Read on to learn more about the differences between the two chips.
M1 Chip
- Made using TSMC's 5nm process (N5)
- 16 billion transistors
- 4 high-performance "Firestorm" cores
- 4 energy-efficient "Icestorm" cores
- 3.2GHz CPU clock speed
- CPU cores first seen in the iPhone 12 lineup's A14 Bionic chip
- 8-core GPU
- Support for 8GB or 16GB unified memory
- 68.25GB/s memory bandwidth
- Neural Engine
- Media engine for hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC
- Video decode engine
- Video encode engine
- Image signal processor (ISP)
M2 Chip
- Made with TSMC's enhanced 5nm process (N5P)
- 20 billion transistors
- 4 high-performance "Avalanche" cores
- 4 energy-efficient "Blizzard" cores
- 3.49GHz CPU clock speed
- CPU cores first seen in the iPhone 13 lineup's A15 Bionic chip
- 10-core GPU
- Support for 8GB, 16GB, or 24GB unified memory
- 100GB/s memory bandwidth
- 40 percent faster Neural Engine
- Media engine for hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW
- Higher-bandwidth video decode engine
- Video encode engine
- ProRes encode and decode engine
- "New" image signal processor (ISP)
Fabrication Process and Transistors
Like the A14 Bionic, the M1 chip is built using TSMC's first-generation 5nm fabrication process. On the other hand, the M2 uses TSMC's second-generation 5nm process like the A15 Bionic chip. The M2 adds four billion additional transistors for a total of 20 billion – 25 percent more than M1. The enhanced 5nm fabrication process is at the heart of many of M2's performance and efficiency improvements.
CPU
The M1 and M2 both have four high-performance and four energy-efficient cores, but while the M1 features "Firestorm" and "Icestorm" cores from the A14 Bionic chip, the M2 offers "Avalanche" and "Blizzard" from the A15 Bionic chip. According to Apple, this results in 18 percent greater multithreaded performance than M1.
In early Geekbench benchmarks, the M2, which runs at 3.49GHz compared to 3.2GHz for the M1, earned a single-core score of 1,919, which is roughly 12 percent faster than the 1,707 single-core score of the M1 13-inch MacBook Pro. The M2 earned a multi-core score of 8,928, up about 20 percent from the 7,419 score of the M1 model. This is right in line with Apple's claim that the M2 chip is up to 18 percent faster than the M1.
Both chips have high-performance cores with 192KB of L1 instruction cache and 128KB of L1 data cache. The energy-efficient cores have a 128KB L1 instruction cache, 64KB L1 data cache, and a shared 4MB L2 cache. The only difference here is that the shared L2 cache is larger on the M2 chip — 16MB instead of 12MB on the M1.
GPU
The M2 features two more GPU cores over the M1, resulting in a moderate boost in graphics performance. Apple says that the M2 has up to 25 percent higher graphics performance than M1 at the same power level, and up to 35 percent better performance at its max power. In early Geekbench Metal benchmarks, the M2 chip scored 30,627, a notable improvement over the 21,001 score earned by the M1.
Media Engine
Both the M1 and the M2 have dedicated video encode and decode engines for hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC, but the M2's video engines are also able to accelerate ProRes and ProRes RAW to enable playback of multiple streams of 4K and 8K video. In addition, the M2's media engine includes a higher-bandwidth video decoder, supporting 8K H.264 and HEVC video.
Unified Memory
The M1 and the M2 come in configurations with 8GB or 16GB of unified memory, but the M2 adds an additional, top-tier 24GB configuration. The M2's memory controller can also deliver 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, a substantial improvement over the M1's 68.25GB/s memory bandwidth.
Other Improvements
M2 features improvements to several of Apple's custom silicon technologies. For example, the Neural Engine can process up to 15.8 trillion operations per second — over 40 percent more than M1. The M2 also contain's Apple's latest Secure Enclave and a new image signal processor (ISP) for better image noise reduction.
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.
Article Link: M1 vs. M2 Chip Buyer's Guide: How Much Better Really Is M2?
I currently have an M1 MacBook Air and I am planning to upgrade to an M2 MacBook Air only because of the change in design. Had they kept the same design, but added an M2, I would have most definitely kept my current machine.
According to Anandtech and others, TSMC's first 3 nm-class node is called N3 and is on track to start high volume manufacturing in the second half of this year. Actual chips are set to be delivered to customers in early 2023.
The question is, did TSMC already start risk production for 3nm and will apple use that for iPhone? It’s possible we’ll just have to wait and see.
The bit which is intriguing me is that its six times faster than the MacBook Pro 2017 I have. Which means it might be fast enough to cope with Teams video call, safari, and Office being open at the same time!
I got a nice MBP 14" (upgrading from a 2015 Intel MBP) and am planning on I keep my 14' for at least as long as my 2015 one is old (7+ years).If you are like me and money is tight, drive your car until the thing refuses to run any more, then park it under a tree and buy another one.
Search "Teams" on these forums. You'll find it's sadly still just as bloated and a system drag as ever.
Looks like it's the same:
"Interestingly, the M2’s upgrade to the media engine actually appeared in the M1 Pro. You get improved H.264 and HEVC encode and decode performance and ProRes support in the M1 Pro, while you didn’t in the M1. As far as we can tell, it’s the same media engine–it just landed in the M1 Pro first." https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ma...1-pro-max-ultra-performance-graphics.html/amp