“The Apple M2 is marginally faster than the M1”

When Apple introduced the latest Macbook Air in the fall of 2020, this was the beginning of the company’s in-house developed system circuits, which will soon be placed in the entire company range. The current system circuits consist of the original M1 as well as the M1 Pro and M1 Max, where TSMC’s 5nm technology is commonly engineered and manufactured. What distinguishes the trio is the number of cores.

► Apple upgrades the M1 to the M1 Pro and M1 Max

With the next Macbook Air, Apple is expected to introduce the M2, the second generation that should make all-sound changes to the architectural front. A newsletter from Bloomberg journalist Mark Gorman states that the upcoming Macbook Air will see the light of day in 2022, but also adds that there will be no major breakthroughs in terms of performance.

It is not currently known how many CPU cores are delivered to the M2 system circuit, but several have independently reported that the number will be eight – similar to today’s M1. In such cases, TSMC’s new architecture and manufacturing technology alone should explain the performance gains, which could explain why the M2 is described as “marginally faster”.

More specific than the number of CPU cores is the graphics part, which is said to come with up to 10 GPU cores. That’s a 25 percent increase compared to up to 8 in the M1. Add to this the architectural and manufacturing improvements and an even greater increase in performance is expected for the graphics part, which can be used primarily for accelerating applications as well as games.

In terms of manufacturing technology, TSMC doesn’t have any major news to deliver for a product launched in 2022. It’s mainly about the company’s 5nm that Apple has been able to hit since fall 2020, with improvements in terms of transistor density, power efficiency and potential performance (the watch repeats ). The optimum option is called 4nm and is believed to be the basis of the Apple A16 system circuit, which is looking into the next generation of Iphone 14.

Moreover, with regard to the computer itself, Apple is said to be adding USB Type-C to documents for charging and reintroducing Magsafe, which snaps into the charging socket with a magnet. This is believed to be accompanied by two USB Type-C outputs with support for a high-speed Thunderbolt 4 interface and a 3.5mm audio input/output interface. Like the Macbook Pro, the display is expected to consist of a Mini LED panel and a “reflection” of the webcam.

source: Apple Insider