1+1 Apple chips

M1 Pro + M1 Max. © Apple.

Amidst rumors of an “M1X”, Apple unveiled not one, but two SoCs (System-on-a-Chip) at its MacBook Pro event: the M1 Pro and the M1 Max. The original M1 chip, the first ARM chip designed by Apple for its computers, currently powers all its entry-level computers (MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, 24-inch iMac) and its two high-end iPads.

The two, more powerful chips are improvements on this original M1, and come with the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros. The M1 Pro and M1 Max SoC CPUs outperform the M1 by 70%. The M1 Pro’s GPU is up to twice as fast as that of the M1, while that of the M1 Max is up to four times faster. As with the M1, the 5nm process prompts exceptional performance per-watt.

M1 Max. © Apple.

The more powerful M1 Max features the same 10-core CPU configuration as the M1 Pro, with eight performance cores and two efficiency cores. But it doubles the memory bandwidth (to 400GB/s), RAM (up to 64GB of memory) and GPU performance with 32 cores, 4,096 execution units.

Both MacBook Pros offer the choice of an M1 Pro or M1 Max chip and are technically very similar, apart from the screen size. Customers welcome the return of essential ports dropped in previous iterations of the MacBook Pro: the MagSafe charging port (which disconnects if someone trips on the power cord), an HDMI port, and an SD card reader. No one will miss dongles and other adapters, or the disappearance of the Touch Bar in favor of real function keys. But what’s creating some stir and discord is the notch on the screen -- like on the iPhone, but without Face ID, unfortunately.

⇨ YouTube, “MacBook Pro event in 13 minutes”

⇨ Ars Technica, Samuel Axon, Andrew Cunningham, “Apple intros 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with display notches, M1 Pro, and M1 Max.”

⇨ The Verge, Chaim Gartenberg, “Apple’s new M1 Pro and M1 Max processors take its in-house Arm-based chips to new heights.”

2021-10-18