Apple has begun internal testing of several new Mac models powered by next-generation M2 chips, Mark Gurman reports for Bloomberg citing “developer logs.”
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
The company is testing at least nine new Macs with four different M2-based chips… according to the logs, which were corroborated by people familiar with the matter. The move is a key step in the development process, suggesting that the new machines may be nearing release in the coming months.
The new machines being tested include:
• A MacBook Air with an M2 chip, codenamed J413. This Mac will have eight CPU cores, the components that handle the main processing, and 10 cores for graphics. That’s up from eight graphics cores in the current MacBook Air.
• A Mac mini with an M2 chip, codenamed J473. This machine will have the same specifications as the MacBook Air. There’s also an “M2 Pro” variation, codenamed J474, in testing.
• An entry-level MacBook Pro with an M2 chip, codenamed J493. This too will have the same specifications as the MacBook Air.
• A 14-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and “M2 Max” chips, codenamed J414. The M2 Max chip has 12 CPU cores and 38 graphics cores, up from 10 CPU cores and 32 graphics cores in the current model, according to the logs. It will also have 64 gigabytes of memory.
• A 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, codenamed J416. The 16-inch MacBook Pro’s M2 Max will have the same specifications as the 14-inch MacBook Pro version.
• A Mac Pro, codenamed J180. This machine will include a successor to the M1 Ultra chip used in the Mac Studio computer.
MacDailyNews Take: We cannot wait to see those Mac Pro benchmarks!
For reference, Apple’s M1 chip family features:
M1
• 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
• Up to 8-core GPU
• 16-core Neural Engine
M1 Pro
• Up to 10-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores
• Up to 16-core GPU
• 16-core Neural Engine
• 200GB/s memory bandwidth
M1 Max
• 10-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores
• Up to 32-core GPU
• 16-core Neural Engine
• 400GB/s memory bandwidth
M1 Ultra
• 20-core CPU with 16 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
• Up to 64-core GPU
• 32-core Neural Engine
• 800GB/s memory bandwidth
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[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
I hope Hunter will buy me one.
Please place your toxic MAGA posts on Truth Social. Not everything needs to be filtered through your wackadoodle ideology.
The comment has nothing to do with MAGA, thin-skinned Leftist and BTW, can’t you take a joke?
You know all about “wackadoodle ideology” having supported the woke and the greens. But certainly understand you have much to be worried about those two groups. When combined with the epic incompetence of Biden administration record low approval ratings for a first term president in just over a year, and the overbearing inept swamp establishment Democrat rulers in House and Senate, have much to lose in the upcoming elections…
Of course I am against these because they will make the current M1 Macs worth less than they are now, but of course I am against anything and everything Apple because that’s the kind of hypocritical föol that I am.
Apple is steadily improving their offerings, and it’s not taking years to do it. I am curious to see how far they will get before they run out of low hanging fruit.
Seems like they have years before that will happen. Which bodes very well for them. Very well, indeed.
It’s amazing that Apple’s low hanging fruit is beyond the reach of their competitors.
True. In fact its never been more true. You can pick up a new MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Studio Desktop, whatever and you can finally be confident you haven’t made a mistake. I’m remotely configuring a Bach to new iMacs today, and it keeps startling me how fast they do stuff that took much longer on even the fastest intel iMacs.
They are masters at dolling out minor enhancements and speed bumps and making billions on it. Just got your MacBook Pro M1 Max? Well here’s the new one now with 15% better performance making it the most powerful MacBook Pro we’ve ever built! Don’t worry, we’ll give you $500 for your old one and you can put that toward you new $4000.
Sounds like Intel & AMD
Not sure what the point you’re trying to make, because your statement is flat out wrong.
On average AMD and Intel’s markups are far below Apple’s. They also release more chips every year at all price points for many different chip markets. Apple charges premium prices for what objectively is slightly better hardware for only a narrow slice of the computer market, consumer luxury. Apple also upgrades their chip choices on Macs less often than most PC makers. Historically Apple skipped fresh releases of Intel chips in their Macs, not even dropping prices while Apple pushed 3+ year old chips.
As well engineered as Apple’s M series chips may be, it’s the software stupid. High demand customers seeking ultimate performance are still best served by those big power hungry x86 chips because they natively run the software that pros use. Don’t confuse what appears to be slow incremental progress for incomplete from the other chipmakers. They are in business to maximize long term profits, not to dominate isolated benchmark specs. But if you look, the Intel Mac Pro is still highly capable compared to the latest Studio Mac. It’s just different.
Until more top end apps are coded natively for the M1 chip, or Apple drops an affordable entry level Mac with good education software, Apple will be attracting only a small subset of computer users. About 10% of all PC sales, in fact. Efficiency and battery life are nice but software is key.
Every PC manufacturer is now trying to emulate Apple by making the software and hardware. There is no Pro software that doesn’t work on a Mac. M1 Macs runs apps on Rosetta 2 faster than X86
If you bury the decades old criticisms of Apple, they are certainly more agile, creative and tech responsive than ever before.
Regarding PC sales and your criticism of software not yet optimized, MACS going back to the 1990s can run any ANYTHING! Show me a PC that can do the same your criticism is pointless. DO you understand?…
what do we know about the M2 architecture ? I hope the M2 can rise its CPU core count. The AMD thread rippers have 64 cores and truly draw dropping performance. Threadrippers are not mobile chips so that can’t compete with the M1in terms of performance per watt but in terms of processing power the AMD is king.
I wish Apple would design a M variant with no power limitations.
Maybe the “P1 Ultra” chip for the mac Pro? designed with all the info tubes open wide to full power?
“Release the M2raken!”
Apple could increase the die size, core count, massively increase the power consumption and put in airplane fans. Yea, that would show AMD! Or Apple could simply increase fan size (and noise) and allow a higher clock speed. Instead they are providing a product that as is makes the competition look bad.
As each generation keeps coming out, you and yours are going to really need to step up this comical posting of AMD is king. “Just bring the tower in on a hand truck and wire up a dedicated 15amp circuit. It easily beats Apple Silicon now”. It’ll continue to be good comedy if nothing else.
The Mac Pro has always been billed as a low to mid range work station. It’s never been billed as a gamer machine or as a high end office machine. Comparing a theoretical Mac Pro that is supposedly coming in the next few months to the current high end desktop and workstation systems based upon either AMD or Intel is the appropriate thing to do. Hopefully the M2 Ultra (if it does come about) will be able to out perform all of AMD and Intel’s offerings.
This is not comparing the top end of Apple’s laptop line to the high end desktop and workstation lines from AMD and Intel. That is not a direct comparison. For that direct comparison you would need to compare the highest end of AMD’s and Intel’s processors that are put into some vendor’s “luggable” laptops. In virtually all those cases Apple’s current M1 series systems excel. (No one, and I do mean no one, wins on all benchmarks.)
People seem to assume Apple will follow the same course for M2. If this report is correct, Apple already has all the M2 variants in testing, unlike for M1 where it seemed the variants were developed over time.
My prediction is that the first M2-based Mac (released near the 2-year mark of Apple Silicon transition) will be the Mac Pro, with M2 Max and M2 Ultra. At about the same time, the missing “big iMac” consumer flagship will be released with M2, maybe optional M2 Pro (the smaller iMac keeps M1 until later date).
Instead of the lower-end Macs getting M2 first (like with M1), the flagship Macs on consumer and pro sides of spectrum get M2 first. Then, over time, the other Mac models get upgraded to their appropriate M2 variants. This approach avoids the lower Mac being perceived to have the “more advanced” chip.
Yeah but it would be the basic M2 chip in the MBA, not the more powerful variants. People would understand that.
Could it be a possibility that we see the M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max and M2 Ultra released at the same moment?
It is possible, given that all of these processors from the M1 generation are now known
When the M1 was released, it was the first chip, and I don’t think anyone expected so many more powerful variants to arrive so quickly, people probably expected an M1 Max style processor would arrive in 2025, not 2022.
So it’s pretty impressive, and yes Dex, you could easily be absolutely right!
If this rumor report is correct, YES. The Macs being tested with M2 chips include the full spectrum of variants. If they’re ready for testing now, the M2 chips will be ready for production at the same time, although all Mac models will not be upgraded at the same time. My prediction is for the two missing Macs (did not get an M1-based release)… Mac Pro and “big” iMac will be the first two M2-based Macs, followed over time by the other Mac models. They’ll be released with fanfare to celebrate completion of Apple Silicon transition.