Apple ’s range of french-fried potatoes now spans two generations , with a thirdApple M3expected to be on the agency sometime in the next year . TheApple M1marked a seachange for the Mac card , while theApple M2has shown itself to be a more iterative upgrade . Here ’s how they liken .
We ’ve now put the M1 and M2 chips through their paces . We ’ve comprehensively try the M1 across ouriMac ( 2021)andMacBook Air ( 2020)reviews as well as the M2 through ourMacBook Air ( 2022)review . Check those out for deep dives with all the detail you need to make a purchasing decision . But , we ’re here to explicate some of the straightforward differences between these chip generations .
Through our examination , it ’s clear-cut the launching ofApple Siliconwith M1 check off a dramatic shift for Macs , introduce hard performance and impressive battery life story in one package . With Apple M2 , Macs were boosted even further , just not so dramatically . As a solution , if you ’ve got an M1 machine you ’re happy with , we suppose you believably do n’t need an M2 . But , the M2 is worth pick up if you ’re making a switch from a non - M1 machine .
We ’re bear to see a newfangled M2 - sporting15 - inch MacBook Airat this year’sWWDC , which could shake things up significantly . But , for now , permit ’s plunge into the fundamental principle of Apple M1 vs Apple M2 .
Release date
The Apple M1 potato chip launch back in 2020 , debuting inside the MacBook Air and 13 - inch MacBook Pro .
The Apple M2 processor will launch in July 2022 , also debuting inside the late example of the MacBook Air and 13 - inch MacBook Pro .
Specs
The Apple M2 chip is work up upon second - propagation 5 nm architecture . On newspaper , that ’s not a huge upgrade on the Apple M1 chip , which also use a 5 micromillimeter lymph node . However , Apple grapple to add a whopping 4 billion more transistors .
Interestingly , Apple did n’t increase the essence count for the CPU , with both the M1 and M2 gambol an 8 - core CPU make up of 4 carrying into action cores and 4 efficiency cores .
Apple has been more generous with the GPU though , with the M2 sporting up to a 10 - nucleus GPU while the M1 maxes out with an 8 - core CPU .
The M2 has up to 24 GB of LPDDR5 memory . In comparison , the original M1 chip only supports up to 16 GB of unified store .
Performance
At launching , Apple claimed the M2 chip is 18 % quicker when it comes to CPU stop number and that the M2 chip shot ’s GPU is 35 % faster than the M1 GPU . In our C.P.U. examination , we find just over a 10 % growth in public presentation . The raw Book of Numbers are all well and practiced but it ’s all about how it feels for the ending user .
Here are the thoughts of our referee Max Parker , who has test both the M1 MacBook Air and M2 MacBook Air , “ I would n’t really recommend someone give that spare just for the jump in performance from the M1 to the M2 . There are small upgrades in all the benchmarking tests I run which you could see below , but I did n’t point out too much supernumerary carrying into action in real - macrocosm use . ”
