During last night’s WWDC, Apple presented a slew of new devices and features including the new M2 processor. The M2 chip comes with many improvements across the board compared to the previous M1 processor and will be included in the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops.
M2 processor
The new M2 chip is a 5nm processor that touts a 15% faster CPU, a 35% more powerful GPU with a Neural Engine that is 40% faster than the previous M1 processor that first came out in 2020. The M2 chip also has 25% more transistors compared to the M1, at 20 billion. This allows for 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth and up to 24GB of memory.
The M2 processor comes with a larger cache than its predecessor and is capable of 18% better multithreaded performance. The M2 chip also has a 10-core GPU with 25% better performance than the M1 and a 35% improved max performance.
MacBook Air
The new M2-powered MacBook Air is the latest addition with a brand new design that’s just 11.3mm thick and about 1.2kg in weight. It also comes with a 13.6-inch Liquid Retina display with a larger screen real estate thanks to the smaller bezels. The display is also 25% brighter than before and touts 1 billion colours and 500nits brightness.
The MacBook Air also comes with a 1080p FaceTime HD camera that’s nestled in the laptop’s notch. The new camera comes with a larger sensor that’s capable of capturing better detail as well as better low-light performance. Coupled with the M2’s advanced image signal processor, users can expect great video calls on the MacBook Air.
There’s also a four-speaker sound system and a three-mic array for better audio playback and audio capturing performance. Furthermore, the MacBook Air also comes with advanced audio features for music and movies via Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos.
The M2 chip also means that the new MacBook Air comes with a much-improved performance over the previous generation. It is 40% faster when dealing with intense workloads like video editing and has longer battery life. Apple says that the new MacBook Air can last up to 18 hours.
Speaking of battery, the new MacBook Air comes with a 35W charger that has two USB Type-C ports. This allows users to charge another device while charging their laptop. The new MacBook Air supports fast charging via an optional 67W charger that can top up 50% with just a 30-minute charge.
The retail price for the new MacBook Air starts at RM5,499 on the Apple website and comes in four different colours; Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray and Silver. However, the official release date of the new MacBook Air has yet to be revealed by Apple.
MacBook Pro
The refreshed 13-inch MacBook Pro now comes equipped with the new M2 processor and improved performance over the last generation. These improvements include a 40% faster performance when dealing with RAW photo editing, up to 24GB of memory support for better multitasking, 40% faster gaming performance and 20-hour battery life.
The MacBook Pro also supports ProRes encoding and decoding and can playback 11 streams of 4K and up to two streams of 8K ProRes video. That’s not all, thanks to the M2 processor, the new MacBook Pro can also render videos about 3 times faster than the previous generation.
Essentially the biggest change Apple made with the 13-inch MacBook Pro is the inclusion of the new M2 processor. Other specs are pretty much the same as before with the 13-inch Retina display, the Touch Bar, the same two USB Type-C ports and a 720p FaceTime HD camera, among others.
The refreshed 13-inch MacBook Pro comes with a retail price that starts from RM5,699 on the Apple website and is set to release next month. It is available in either Space Gray or Silver colours.
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