Apple has launched its first product of 2023. The iPhone 14 maker has quietly unveiled the new M2 Pro and M2 Max SoC. The new M2 series SoCs are significantly powerful versions of the M2 SoC. Like the M1 Pro and M1 Max SoCs, the new M2 Pro and M2 Max are available with the new MacBook Pro 14-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch models. Apple has also launched the Mac mini with the new SoCs. The company claims that its new silicon chips offer industry-leading power efficiency.
The M2 Pro SoC comes with up to 12-core CPU and up to 19-core GPU. It has support for up to 32GB of unified memory. The M2 Max is a bumped-up version of the M2 Pro and comes with up to 38-core GPU and up to 96GB of unified memory. Both chips also feature enhanced custom technologies, including a faster 16-core Neural Engine and Apple’s media engine.
Both SoCs are based on a second-generation 5nm fabrication. The M2 Pro has 40 billion transistors — nearly 20 per cent more than M1 Pro and double the amount in M2. Users can pick between 10- or 12-core CPU options. It consists of up to eight high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. The company claims that the M2 Pro is up to 20 per cent faster than the 10-core CPU in M1 Pro.
The M2 Max, on the other hand, is up to 30 per cent faster than M1 Max with respect to graphics performance. The custom technologies of M2 Pro and M2 Max include Apple’s next-generation, 16-core Neural Engine and newly powerful, efficient media engines with hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, and ProRes video encode and decode.
MacBook Pro M2 Pro, M2 Max Price in India
Apple has launched the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M2 Pro chip with a starting price of $1,999 (roughly Rs 1,63,100). In India, the 14-inch model is priced at Rs 1,99,900 for the base M2 Pro with 16GB of unified memory and 512GB of SSD storage.
The MacBook Pro 16-inch with the M2 Pro SoC has a starting price of $2,499 (roughly Rs 2,03,900). In India, the 16-inch variant with 16GB of unified memory with 512GB of SSD storage is priced at Rs 2,49,900.
Both models go on sale from January 24 in India. Customers can pre-order the new MacBooks from January 17.
The new MacBook Pro is said to offer up to 6x faster performance than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro. Apple also claims that its new Pro models offer up to 22 hours of battery life — the longest battery life ever in a Mac. The MacBook Pro models with the M2 Pro and M2 Max SoCs also get support for Wi-Fi 6E, which is up to twice as fast as the previous generation. In addition to this, there is support for advanced HDMI, which supports 8K displays for the first time.
The laptops offer multiple connectivity options, including three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an SDXC card slot, and MagSafe 3 charging. They boot macOS Ventura out of the box.
Mac mini M2, M2 Pro Price in India
The Mac mini has the same design as the original model but gets more power under the hood. The base model of the Mac mini M2 with 256GB of storage has an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU. It is priced at Rs 59,900 in India. The 512GB variant is priced at Rs 79,900. The Mac mini M2 Pro has a 10-core CPU and a 16-core GPU. It offers 16GB of unified memory and 512GB of SSD storage and is priced at Rs 1,29,900. The Mac mini M2 Pro can be configured to M2 Pro with a 12-core CPU and 19-core GPU and 32GB of unified memory with up to 8TB of SSD.
As mentioned above, the Mac mini with M2 features an 8-core CPU with four high-performance and four high-efficiency cores, along with a 10-core GPU. The M2 variant of the Mac mini supports up to 24GB of unified memory. It is said to offer up to 5x faster performance than the bestselling Windows desktop.
The Mac mini with the new M2 Pro SoC offers up to 12-core CPU with eight high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. It also has up to a 19-core GPU and supports up to 32GB of unified memory.
The Mac mini with the M2 series SoC continues to offer support for multiple connectivity options. The M2 model has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, a Gigabit Ethernet port with a 10GB option and an upgraded headphone jack to support high-impedance headphones. The M2 variant of the Mac mini has support for up to two displays.
The M2 Pro model, on the other hand, has four Thunderbolt 4 ports and support for up to three displays. It can also support one 8K display, which is a first for a Mac mini. It also has other ports found in the M2 variant mentioned above.
Both models support Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. The Mac mini M2 and M2 Pro boot macOS Ventura out of the box.
