M2 Chip Rumored to Arrive in 2022 With Redesigned MacBook Air

[bradl]

Whilst the M2 might be a great chip, will the hardware still ship with 4GB of slow than congealed molasses? When is Apple going to produce fast RAM? 1066 Mhz is slow, 2133 is just a tad better, where is the 6000 MHz or greater?

Which is better, more RAM modules of a slower speed, or fewer modules of a faster clockspeed?? And what would be best for video editing on a laptop?

If you're video editing on a laptop, then a Macbook Air is not the laptop for you. Apple has made that perfectly clear over the past 13 years, let alone made it perfectly clear which Macbook you should be getting.

Personally, I thought that I would only be doing basic work, so I picked up the mid-2011 MBA by choice. Word processing, simple accounting on a spreadsheet, and getting back into MacOS after being a Linux guy and last using System Software 7.5.3 on the last Mac I had. Insert livestreaming and virtualization later, and I realize that the MBA wasn't what I needed. I'm still on it until the right MBP comes out, then I'm jumping to the MBP for the exact reason you are asking.

Need to video edit? Macbook Pro. Otherwise, you'll be complaining about the same thing everyone else has been complaining about for the past 10 years while not understanding that the MBA isn't targeted for you or your needs.

BL.

 

[Fomalhaut]

Yep. As expected.

Hopefully this will stop the throngs of confused people who think the MBP is going to ship with an “M2”.

So do you think that the MBP will ship with the same core architecture as the (by then) 1 year old M1? Even if it has double the CPU and GPU cores that would be a bit lackluster, don't you think?

Whatever Apple call it (M2, M1 Pro or whatever) I would hope that the same advances in core architecture that are expected to be found in the A15 (compared to the A14) would also be present in Apple's flagship laptop.

 

[Fomalhaut]

I would love M chips (mobile)
and M1X chips to be instead P1 (performance)
There would be no confusion and it would be on the same numbering.

So M1 we have and we need P1
then M2 and P2
etc. etc. etc.

That would at least decouple the size (in CPU/GPU cores) and core-architecture generation.

So you could have a P1 with a new generation of core internal improvements, differentiate it form the Mx range of SoCs, and avoid confusing people by launching an M2X / M2-Pro before the M2.

 

[JustinePaula]

Question still pending...
What is better....Faster RAM on fewer modules or slower RAM on more modules....
Is 2x3000MHz RAM better/worse than 4x2166MHz RAM modules???

 

[michelb76]

>64gb of ram with a competing GPU or bust. Mabye we get that with the M1x already, but I doubt it.

 

[LeeW]

No it doesn’t, and we really need a moratorium on these types of posts.

Awww, you poor thing. Still not getting any better are you.

 

[nexusrule]

But the ipads can dissipate the heat? Plus you don't know what Apple may be planning, although I agree it's unlikely the mx chips will be used in iphones, I'd just throw it out there. Apple has pulled some surprises in the past.

iPads are way bigger than iPhones so yes, they can dissipate more heat.

 

[Admiral]

My dream machine is an M2(?) 12" MacBook with one Thunderbolt port on each side. 🤤

Anyway, whatever the next M-chip is called— M1x, M2, M1max, M1airmaxplus.... the point is, the next MacBook Air is coming and it will probably have white bezels and fruit flavors.

Mine too. Except for its underpowered CPU, the 12" MacBook was just about a perfect machine. Even the one USB-C port, and its keyboard, were acceptable because at 2 lbs. it was so incredibly convenient to take everywhere. It was literally so light I constantly had to double-check my bag to make sure I hadn't forgotten it.

 

[smoking monkey]

Apple is gonna have a naming issue on their hands though if the M1X is gonna be more powerful than the M2. It's gonna confuse people. And if the M2 MBA that comes out a handful of months after the M1X MBP is more powerful, then that is an entirely different issue.

IF the leaker is correct and the M1x is reserved for Pro machines only, then there is a chance they could call it the P1 or MPro1 etc so as to set it up as an entirely different line of processors.

 

[smoking monkey]

I am waiting for a 15 inch Macbook Pro m2 version, this situation may be the Macbook Air version M2 has before

Don't think Apple will be producing anymore 15inch computers for the foreseeable future. Seems it's gonna be 13,14,16.

If you're video editing on a laptop, then a Macbook Air is not the laptop for you. Apple has made that perfectly clear over the past 13 years,

Mmm... Reckon that's all changed. They showed off the MBA's editing capabilities during the keynote last year in November.

 

[arobert3434]

So it's going to be like the iPhone and iPad. MacBook Air will always be in the lead with the chip generation. As a pro user I'll just need to resign myself to being a bit jealous, I guess!

 

[Placeiscrazy]

M1X will have more performance cores and gpu cores. It will also support higher ram than M2. Its also possible M1X will have the ability to connect more external monitors.

Are you just guessing?

This makes sense. It is fairly clear that M2 will arrive together with the redesigned MacBook Air, the only uncertainty is the timeframe. Also, if there is no new Air this year, then October/November release for Pro series Macs makes sense as well.



The phones cannot dissipate the heat from M-series chips. Your suggestion doesn't make any sense.

what do you mean... all these people know exactly what they are talking about... it's actually pretty funny how silly they sound

 

[Placeiscrazy]

Would love the ability to have more external monitors! Would be great to be able to pick and choose mirroring options, as well. Ah-I dare to dream!

FYI jonnysods has no clue what he is talking about.

 

[theluggage]

Q1 M1
Q3 M1X
Q1 M2
Q3 M2X

iPhone chips are updated each year, so I think the M series chips will do the same.

Thing is, the X- and Z- variants of the A series have been relatively minor, evolutionary, tweaks - an extra core or two here, a new neural processor there... so that sort of progression makes sense.

We don't know what the specs of the processor in the new 16"MBP are vs. the M1 but they need to be rather more dramatic increases in the number of CPU and GPU cores (the rumours are talking about 16 or 32 cores for both CPU and GPU), RAM support, I/O capability etc. to distinguish the higher-end "pro" macs from the entry-level consumer ones. At some point, Apple needs a chip to replace the i9 and discrete GPU in the higher-end iMacs - and it may be the same chip (or suffixed-variants of it) that fill that role. If you call that the "M1X", and the next-generation ultra portable chip for the MBA "M2" then the M1X will totally destroy the M2 on real-world benchmarks, even if the M2 has incrementally better single-core performance. It would be far more sensible to find an application-based naming scheme (maybe 'M' for mobility, 'P' for pro laptops, 'W' for workstations... heck, Apple have marketing bods to discuss the merit of various letters) that can be used consistently across generations.

Anyway, iPads are iPads and iPhones are iPhones - punters won't be agonising over whether to buy a A15 iPhone or an A14x iPad. They might have to decide between a top-spec MacBook Air and an entry MacBook Pro, though... and the refresh cycle for Macs has never been quite as predictable as that for iPhones.

 

[CWallace]

I'm talking about the confusion a more powerful M1[x] over an M2 would create for consumers. From a marketing and common sense standpoint, having a more powerful M2 makes far more sense IMO.

Apple's Intel Macs are far more confusing - different Core models across different generations - and yet people don't walk out of an Apple Store with their heads spinning.

And I can easily see Apple marketing focus on the number of cores, not the SoC generation. So a MacBook Air will say "Apple M processor with 8 CPU and 8 GPU cores" and a MacBook Pro will say "Apple M processor with 10 CPU and 16 or 32 GPU cores".

As 10/16/32 are more than 8, people will make the correct connection that the MacBook Pro has a more powerful Apple M processor than the MacBook Air even if the MBA has an M2 and the MBP has an M1X. And RAM and storage capacities will also help reinforce this, with the MBP offering higher capacities of each than the MBA.

And if you follow tech like we do, you will know exactly how an M2 and an M1X will compare with each other on performance benchmarks, capability and capacity. So an M1X being on an older process than an M2 won't matter to you as the M1X will have what you need when an M2 does not. Just as you would not buy a 10th Generation Intel Core i5 instead of a 9th Generation Core i9 when your workload is heavily multi-core.

 

[Manzanito]

it's funny how quickly we have forgotten about Intel. We've gotten a new CPU last year and it is mid 22 and we can't wait for the new one. If this was Intel, we'd be 2+ years away still

Intel updates their chips more frequently than apple updates their computers.

Apple only has released a single computer chip so far, let’s wait a little before celebrating the age of annual mac refreshes.

 

[CWallace]

Didn't realize they announced a M1X chip or m2 ?

"That's what you get for missing staff meetings, Doctor." - Admiral Kirk ("Star Trek III")


Seriously, at this point using "M2" to describe the next generation of Apple Silicon on Mac and iPad Pro and "M1X" for what we know by internal code name as Jade C-Die and Jade C-Chop have been accepted by the majority until Apple actually does announce something concrete.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

IF the leaker is correct and the M1x is reserved for Pro machines only, then there is a chance they could call it the P1 or MPro1 etc so as to set it up as an entirely different line of processors.

That might be the way to go. I get that Apple already does this with the A series chips, but I feel like the processor is more of a key selling point in a computer vs. a mobile device and is something the average buyer pays more attention to. The average iPad owner couldn't tell you what processor they bought, so nobody really cares or knows that the A12X is more powerful than the A13.

 

[theluggage]

Apple's Intel Macs are far more confusing - different Core models across different generations - and yet people don't walk out of an Apple Store with their heads spinning.

Yes, what the heck, Intel was far worse, why bother? That's the spirit!

Actually Intel did have a system - i3 < i5 < i7 < i9... which worked as long as you were comparing like-for-like in terms of TDP and processor generation: go order an Intel iMac for example and you can have an i5 (good) an i7 (better) or an i9 (best, but remember to wear your ear defenders). And then, with the GPUs, blow me down if the 5700 wasn't better than the 5500 and the 5500 better than the 5300.

Yes, the wheels fell off if you started comparing machines with different TDPs or from different generations, but Apple have a far simpler job and can aspire to having a much clearer naming scheme. Having a "M1X" that runs 3-4 times faster than an "M2" is not the way to achieve that. Just because we're following the stories and understand the logic doesn't mean that anybody else will... and of course the geniuses on YouTube will happily cherry-pick the artificial single-core benchmarks that show the M2 is faster than the M1X....

So far, there's no processor choice apart from 7 core GPU/8 core GPU, but it's also possible that, once Apple have a range of processors, we'll see different processor options on the same model. The 24" iMac already looks suspiciously like the higher-priced version was meant to have a M1X and they're not gonna replace the whole 5k iMac and iMac Pro range with a one-size-fits-all processor.

 

[leman]

Intel updates their chips more frequently than apple updates their computers.

Jut a few years ago, when Intel roadmap was more predictable, Apple had two updates per year, closely following the Intel's tick-tock cycle. You had one "big" update (with a new CPU) and one "small" update (with a speed bump). Then Intel started tumbling, their releases started slipping, announced CPUs were not available in sufficient quantities or were simple rehashes of the existing CPU etc. etc. — and that's when Apple's releases slowed down as well, simply because there was literally nothing new to update the Macs with.

At any rate, with Apple moving to in-house chip design, I'd expect to have more frequent updates. Just like with the iPhone. There should be at least one hardware update per year from now on.

 

[CWallace]

Just because we're following the stories and understand the logic doesn't mean that anybody else will...

Apple has to specifically call out the M1 chip by name in their Tech Specs and Buy Now pages for the iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro 13" and MacBook Air because they also offer them with Intel chips so they need to differentiate the two chips.

Within 12 to 18 months, if Apple has any Intel-powered Macs in their lineup, it will only be the Mac Pro 8,1. Everything else will be solely on Apple Silicon and at that point, you just need to call them "Apple Silicon" in the Tech Specs and Buy Now and not need to reference whether they are an "M1", "M1X" or "M2" except in the finest of print for the pedants and regulatory / statutory requirements.

So in 2022, when you look at the Tech specs instead of "Chip - Apple M1 chip" you could see instead it saying "Chip - Apple Silicon" or "Chip - Apple M"

The MacBook Air would show underneath that:

• 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
• 8-core GPU
• 16-core Neural Engine

The 14" and 16" MacBook Pro would show underneath that:

• 10-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores
• 16-core GPU (32-core GPU optional)
• 16-core Neural Engine

I look at the two side-by-side in the comparison and I easily can see the MacBook Pro has more CPU and GPU cores, which makes sense as the MacBook Pro is a more "pro" computer than the MacBook Air so it should be more powerful. Yes, the MBA will have newer CPU and GPU cores than the MBP, but the MBP will still win the benchmarks (other than Single Core) because it has more CPU and GPU cores in total.

 

[portland-dude]

Well, if you’re waiting for the M5, then why not wait for the M5X? Even better

You make a great point! I'll do you one better. Now I'm waiting on the M9!

 

[FelixDerKater]

Will any of these be compatible with a proper GPU?

 

[Scoob Redux]

This processor is on track to release in the first half of 2022 alongside the upcoming colorful Macbook (Air).

This is sketch. Either it's a MacBook or a MacBook Air. Anyone who would use a parenthetical in this context doesn't quite understand MacBook models.

 

[jdb8167]

Will any of these be compatible with a proper GPU?

What in your mind makes for a proper GPU? They are very likely to contain an advanced version of the M1 8 Core GPU. Probably with at least 16 GPU cores and maybe 32 GPU cores. That would put the 16 core GPU at about the same performance as the AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT. A 32 Core GPU would be faster than a AMD Radeon Pro 5700XT. This is dependent on things like memory bandwidth but it is likely that Apple would have that handled.