The M2 Chip from Apple is predicted to deliver a substantial performance enhancement for the upcoming MacBook Air.
The brand-new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13 now come with Apple's second-gen chip, the M2. The M2 shares its tech foundations with its forerunner, M1, but boasts enhanced speeds and memory bandwidth. We'll see how the M2 fares with rigorous benchmarking once we get our hands on the new laptops. For now, let's trust Apple's claim that its 20 billion transistors push forward faster CPU and GPU performances compared to the M1.
The M2's most pleasing update is its support for up to 24GB of LPDDR5 memory, which is a significant upgrade from the M1's limited 16GB. While still not reaching the 32GB found on other ultraportable PCs, the bump in memory capacity addresses a major limitation of the M1. Also, the memory bandwidth grows by 50% to 100GB/s.
Remaining in the 5-nanometer domain, the M2 features an eight-core CPU consisting of four performance and four energy-efficient cores, versus the M1's eight-core CPU. Additionally, the M2 may come with up to a 10-core GPU, surpassing the M1's eight-core graphics.
Apple asserts that the M2's multi-core GPU performance is 18% stronger than the M1 and 1.9 times faster than a typical 10-core Windows PC, consuming only a quarter of the power. Apple claims the M2's 10-core GPU can provide up to 35% greater graphics performance than before and is 2.3 times faster than integrated graphics in a PC, using one-fifth the power, although they didn't specify the referenced competitor.
In practical terms, the M2 can play Resident Evil Village natively at 1080p with the help of Metal 3 API and upscaling, according to Capcom.
Apple proudly celebrates the M2's energy-saving qualities. Despite the MacBook Air's 40% upgraded performance, it retains the same battery life (max. 18 hours when streaming video) without using fans.
As Apple prepares M2-based updates for more powerful Macs and MacBook Pro models this year, we anticipate improvements.
Enrichment Data Integration:
According to benchmark results, the Apple M2 offers a 18% higher CPU performance at the same power consumption as the M1, and the M2's GPU performance is almost equal to the M1 Pro's 8-core model. Additionally, the M2's integrated graphics card boasts 8 or 10 cores and a peak performance of 3.6 TFLOPs, significantly higher than the M1's 2.6 TFLOPs. The M2 has a TDP of 20W, keeping up with the measured power consumption under CPU load. Tests reported that the M2 MacBook Air lasts up to 17 hours on battery, while the M3 MacBook Air lasts only 10 hours and 24 minutes. However, the M2 Model's performance could be influenced by its macOS version due to potential software optimization.
The MacBook Air and Pro 13 now utilize Apple's M2 chip, which boasts improved speeds and memory bandwidth over its predecessor, M1. This tech upgrade includes LPDDR5 memory support, allowing for up to 24GB, a significant boost from M1's 16GB. Antialiasing, a smoothing technique for digital images, is expected to benefit greatly from the enhanced memory capabilities. Apple claims that the M2's efficiency allows for faster CPU and GPU performances, surpassing the M1, even in energy-intensive tasks like playing Resident Evil Village natively at 1080p.
