Home Tech Updates Apple unveils M2 with 50% more memory bandwidth than M1

Apple unveils M2 with 50% more memory bandwidth than M1

by Helen J. Wolf
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Apple says M2 brought new levels of energy-efficient performance to the completely redesigned MacBook Air and updated 13-inch Macbook Pro.

The company says that compared to M1, M2 has an 18% faster CPU, a 35% more powerful GPU, and a 40% faster Neural Engine. It also delivers 50% more memory bandwidth than M1 and up to 24GB of fast unified memory.

Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, says M2 launches second-generation M-series chips and surpasses M1’s remarkable features.

“With our relentless focus on power-efficient performance, M2 delivers a faster CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine,” he says.

“And along with increased memory bandwidth and new capabilities like ProRes acceleration, M2 continues Apple’s tremendous pace of innovation for Mac silicon.”

Apple

Apple says M2’s system-on-a-chip (SoC) design uses enhanced second-generation 5-nanometer technology and consists of 20 billion transistors, 25% more than M1.

It says the extra transistors improve the functions of the entire chip, including the memory controller that provides 100 GB/s of uniform memory bandwidth.

Apple says the new CPU features faster performance cores and a larger cache, significantly improving the efficiency of seats for even bigger performance gains.

It says that compared to the latest 10-core PC laptop chip (Samsung Galaxy Book2 360 with Core i7-1255U and 16GB RAM), the CPU in M2 delivers almost twice the performance at the same power level. And the M2 has the peak performance of the PC chip while using only a quarter of the power.

The company says its latest 12-core PC laptop chip (MSI Prestige 14Evo with Core i7-1260P and 16GB RAM) requires significantly more power to boost performance and is therefore found in thicker, hotter, noisier systems with shorter battery life. But Apple says M2 delivers nearly 90% of the peak performance of the 12-core chip while using only a quarter of the power.

M2 also features Apple’s next-generation GPU with up to 10 cores, two more than M1. Combined with a larger cache and higher memory bandwidth, the 10-core GPU delivers a major boost in graphics performance, with up to 25% higher graphics performance than M1 at the same power level and up to 35% better performance at maximum power.

Apple says that compared to the integrated graphics of the latest PC laptop chip, the GPU in M2 delivers 2.3 times faster performance at the same power level, matching its peak performance at one-fifth the power.

It says M2’s higher performance per watt means systems have extraordinary battery life and run cool and quiet, even when playing graphics-intensive games or editing massive RAW images.

Apple says M2’s Neural Engine can process up to 15.8 trillion operations per second. The company says its powerful ProRes video engine enables multi-streth 4K and 8K vi playbackdeo. It states that the media engine includes a higher bandwidth video decoder, which supports 8K H.264 and HEVC video.

Apple says the M2’s energy-efficient performance means the new MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro meet Apple’s high energy-efficiency standards. Apple plans to have a net-zero climate impact for the entire company, including manufacturing supply chains and all product lifecycles, by 2030. Every chip Apple makes, from design to production, is 100% carbon neutral.

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