One of the rumors we’ve heard over the last few weeks is one Apple could introduce the second generation Apple Silicon, the expected Apple M2, during WWDC 2022, And what would you do with a MacBook Air?. The rumor, we can confirm it now, was completely correct, but it lacked detail, and that’s it a MacBook Pro should also be addedmaking the two lines of Apple laptops the first corporate computers with the new generation Cupertino SoC.

That, I admit, catches me a little, I think it would make more sense to combine a laptop with a desktop PC, although of course it’s true that Mac Studio was only released a few months ago, so today we present the system with M2, and especially Mac Mini with Apple M2, could be harmful to the hypervitaminized version of the Mini. yes, pIt seems that we will have to wait a while for any Pro desktop option with Apple Silicon.

Apple M2

First, and in this case, the first is the first evolutionary leap of the Apple Silicon, the second generation of its integrated product, after cultivating excellent reviews for the good work done with the M1 and its higher performance variants. Is the Apple M2 a big qualitative leap compared to the M1? The answer to this question reminds me of Both Sides now by Joni Mitchell, maybe yes, maybe no, Although so, it seems to prevail. Let’s look at the numbers.

The first metric we will look at to assess the performance of a chip such as the Apple M2 is the number of cores it integrates, and in this regard we see that it remains at eight CPU cores (four for performance and four for efficiency) and up to 10 for GPU, with 5 nanometer photolithography. This would first of all encourage us to think that there has been no evolution compared to the previous generation, but in reality this is not the case. And just that, according to the company, there were significant improvements in design, which made it possible increase the number of transistors in the Apple M2 to no less than 20,000 millioncompared to 16,000 million M1.

Another important improvement over the Apple M2 over its predecessor concerns memory. Recall that Apple Silicon uses unified memory (that is, the CPU and GPU share the same memory pool). With the M1, the maximum amount it could handle was 16 gigabytes, which up to 24 gigabytes of LPDDR5 RAM is increased in this generation plus 50%, and you will also like it bandwidth 100 GB / s, again an increase of 50% due to its predecessor.

This CPU and RAM improvement will certainly be evident in very memory-intensive tasks, such as massive data analysis processes and artificial reality-related processes. And to be precise about artificial intelligence, in this field we find another of the enhancements of the Apple M2, which with its 16 neural motor cores dedicated AI, is able to perform up to 15.8 trillion operations per secondwhich is 40% better than the Apple M1.

With all these improvements, Apple scores increase CPU performance by 18%.which grows up 25% when we talk about your GPU, with the same consumption as M1. But that’s not all, and the Apple M2 motorized device is said to be able to prioritize performance over efficiency, gaining up to 35% more power than the first-generation Apple Silicon. We are undoubtedly talking about an important qualitative leap.

MacBook Air M2 2022

Among the dubious rumors, one of the most recurring about the WWDC 2022 and the possible announcement of the expected Apple M2, was that it would debut with the new MacBook Air 2022, and finally it was. Once we had a quick overview of the features and innovations of the new Apple SoC, we threw ourselves into the first computer to feature it, the lightest and most portable of the Cupertine laptops, and the one that it seems to have undergone a major redesign using the incorporation of the Apple M2.

Starting with its appearance, in this case we can talk about a full-fledged redesign, which Apple managed to reduce its thickness to only 11 millimeters and weighs less than 1.3 kilogramsThis is quite a success in the notebook, which generation after generation continues to set the standard in terms of thickness and weight reduction. And that the Apple M2 adds 4,000 million transistors compared to its predecessor, that’s nothing. Personally, I really like the new design, more sober and more elegant, but what, it depends on taste.

The most visible face of the MacBook Air M2 2022 is, of course, its screen. And in this aspect we find a 13.6-inch Retina Liquid Display panel with shine 500 rivetswith Native resolution 2560 x 1664 and a density of 224 pixels per inch, accompanied by four speakers compatible with Spatial Audio, an implementation of Apple’s positional sound they introduced last year, along with Apple Music HiFi. The screen is complemented by a notch at the top center, in which the FaceTime camera with 1080p resolution is located.

Already inside and apparently in addition to the Apple M2 SoC, we find configurations of up to 24 gigabytes of LPDDR5 RAM and up to two terabytes of SSD storage, all inside a unibody chassis in whichWe find only passive scattering elementsso without fans, so, as is the tradition in the MacBook Air family, this model will be as quiet as its predecessors.

In terms of its autonomy, Apple wanted to focus on both the Apple M2 and the equipment introduced today, on energy efficiency. In this way, we find a lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 52.6 watts / hour, which the company claims to be able to provide up to 18 hours of video playback on Apple TV and up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing over an 802.11ax Wi-Fi connection that complements Bluetooth 5.0.

And if we’re talking about a connection, albeit a cable one in this case, we’ll find four ports on the MacBook Pro M2 2022: two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports compatible with DisplayPort, a minijack headphone jack that also shares the surround audio features of its speakers, and something that makes me quite nostalgic (good), MagSafe return for your cargo, in my opinion, the best charging connection system that ever existed. In addition, to further enhance the experience, the MacBook Air has a 67-watt fast charge feature for the first time, which the company says will charge 50% in half an hour.

The new MacBook Air M2 2022 arrives and goes on sale next July, with two variants of the Apple M2 SoC, the difference is in the eight or ten-core GPU. The cheapest option will be the MacBook Air M2 2022 with Apple M2 with an eight-core GPU, eight gigabytes of unified memory and 256 GB of storage, which is included € 1,519.00. And the opposite extreme is the most expensive model, which features an Apple M2 chip with a 10-core GPU, 24 gigabytes of unified memory and two terabytes of storage, which makes € 3,019.00.

MacBook Pro M2 2022

An interesting surprise, because we expected a MacBook Air and maybe a desktop computer from the Apple M2, but the MacBook Pro M2 2022 seemed less likely based on rumors. However, it is true that in this case, we do not have the redesign that the MacBook Air experienced and in fact, the time Apple devoted to the presentation was very little compared to it.

Beware, I do not want to indicate that this is a minor update, because just a jump on the Apple M2 from its predecessor, we will find a remarkable increase in its performance, although it is true that The good news he receives are the ones we’ve already seen on the MacBook Airand that many of them are directly related to the new Apple SoC. Still, let’s see what exclusive features we can find in this MacBook Pro M2 2022.

First of all, to clarify that we’re talking about a 13.3-inch MacBook Pro, the 14- and 16-inch models remain in the previous generation SoC for now, so we can expect it to jump on the Apple M2 sometime between October this year and summer 2023. in this case it is 13.3-inch Retina with True Tonewith native resolution 20.560 1,600 points and a density of 227 points per inch and glow 500 rivets.

Unlike the MacBook Air in this MacBook Pro M2 2022 we find elements of active scattering, which is an obvious sign that we are talking about a computer designed to withstand a very demanding workload at all times. A sensation that is confirmed with the knowledge that in this case we can only opt for the SoC model with a 10-core GPU, the current top of the Apple M2 offering, and that it has hardware acceleration for H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW, a coding module and video decoding and ProRes encoding and decoding module for video editing up to 8K resolution.

Another significant difference that we find in the MacBook Pro M2 2022 compared to the Air is its autonomy, which in this case rises to 20 hours of video playback in Apple TV and up to 17 hours of wireless web browsing thanks to the efficiency of the Apple M2 and its 58.2 watt-hour lithium-polymer battery. As with the MacBook Air, we have a 67-watt fast charge feature.

As for its connectors, it’s no surprise, because we’re talking about an update rather than a redesign, this MacBook Pro M2 2022 retains two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports compatible with DisplayPort and audio minijack connector. I keep my fingers crossed for MagSafe to return to the MacBook Pro, which was never to leave, in its future design.

With Apple M2-based configurations with a 10-core GPU, the new MacBook Pro M2 is 2022 lwill be launched in July next year with 8, 16 and 24 GB unified memory configurations and 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 and 2 terabytes of RAM. The cheapest version with 8 gigabytes of memory and 256 gigabytes of storage will cost € 1,619.00while the top of the line with 24 gigabytes of memory and two terabytes of storage is expanded to € 2,999.00.

More information: Apple