Let’s compare the Apple M2 Pro vs M2 Max in today’s article! Apple surprised everyone when it unveiled the most recent MacBook Pro M2 (2023) along with two new CPUs.
Nobody anticipated the MacBook Pro 2023 to be unveiled this early, making the M2 Pro and M2 Max, which are featured in the newest Pro models, even more of a surprise.
As of this writing, these chips are only available in the most recent MacBook Pro (2023) versions, but we anticipate that over the course of the following year, they will start to appear on more gadgets.
Keep reading if you want to learn more about these two potent chips because we’ll break down all the major distinctions so you can choose the one that’s right for you.
Apple M2 Pro vs M2 Max
Apple has recently released two new chips, the M2 Pro and M2 Max, and we are going to take a closer look at how they compare. Both chips were designed to improve the performance of Apple’s devices, but they have some distinct differences that make them suited for different uses.
Now let’s look at the details about Apple M2 Pro vs M2 Max:
M2 Pro: Next-gen performance
M2 Pro, which was created utilizing a second-generation 5-nanometer process technology, has 40 billion transistors, which is twice as many as M2 and about 20% more than M1 Pro. It has up to 32GB of low-latency unified memory and 200GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, which is twice as much as M2. With up to eight high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores per next-generation 10- or 12-core CPU, multithreaded CPU performance is up to 20% quicker than the 10-core CPU in the M1 Pro. Heavy workloads are handled by apps like Adobe Photoshop more quickly than before, and compiling in Xcode is up to 2.5 times faster than on the quickest Intel-based MacBook Pro. 1
The GPU in the M2 Pro has a bigger L2 cache and can be customized with up to 19 cores, which is three more than the GPU in the M1 Pro. With graphics speeds up to 30% quicker than those of the M1 Pro, image processing performance has increased dramatically, enabling console-quality gaming.
M2 Max: The world’s most efficient processor
M2 Max extends the performance and capabilities of Apple silicon even further thanks to its 67 billion transistors, which are more than three times as many as M2 and 10 billion more than M1 Max. It supports up to 96GB of rapid unified memory and has unified memory bandwidth of 400GB/s, which is twice as fast as M2 Pro and four times as fast as M2. Massive files open instantly, and switching between professional apps is amazingly speedy and seamless.
The 12-core, next-generation CPU in M2 Max is identical to that in M2 Pro. With up to 38 cores and a bigger L2 cache, the GPU is much more potent. Graphics performance can increase up to 30% over M1 Max. The new MacBook Pro with M2 Max has 96GB of RAM and can handle graphically demanding tasks that competitor systems couldn’t even handle. 2 Whether connected to a power source or operating on battery power, the MacBook Pro with M2 Max offers exceptional performance for everything from driving visual effects to training machine learning models to stitching together gigapixel photographs. The world’s most potent and effective chip for a professional laptop is called M2 Max.
M2 Max can be configured with a 38-core GPU
The M2 Max outperforms its smaller sibling despite the fact that both chips appear to be incredibly powerful thanks to an amazing 38-core GPU option. The M2 Pro has a maximum of 19 GPU cores, indicating that it won’t be as strong for demanding applications like severe 3D geometry.
According to Apple, the M2 Max has a remarkable 67 billion transitions, which is 10 billion more than the M1 Max and more than three times the number of the original M2. The M2 Max, according to the manufacturer, is far superior to the M2 Pro in terms of raw power and is the most powerful processor ever found in a MacBook Pro.
M2 Pro offers less unified memory
The M2 Pro has a maximum of 32GB of unified memory, which is less than the staggering 96GB of memory available on the M2 Max chip. Up to 96GB of RAM can be installed in both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, but they must be equipped with the M2 Max.
Each laptop has unified memory in place of RAM, which you can learn more about here, so it should operate more quickly and efficiently. Additionally, it aids in reducing the energy consumption of the HDD and RAM modules, which should lead to a more streamlined experience for consumers in general.
Up to 400GB/s memory bandwidth on the M2 Max
While the M2 Max chip can be tuned for up to 400GB/s, the M2 Pro chip features up to 200GB/s. How rapidly the CPU can read and store data and information depends on memory data. Simply defined, higher data rates and response times come from having greater memory bandwidth, which can be crucial if you’re working on demanding media jobs like 3D rendering or 4K video editing.
Given that it has double the memory capacity of the M2 Pro and can transfer data much more quickly, the 400GB/s memory bandwidth of the M2 Max makes it the best choice for professional creatives.
Thanks for reading our Apple M2 Pro vs M2 Max comparison, you can also learn more about the new M2 Pro and M2 Max by visiting our recent news article!
