With the release of the 2023 MacBook Pro and 2023 Mac mini, the shape of the second generation Apple silicon on the Mac has been revealed. It’s, unsurprisingly, a bit of a repeat of the first generation: Apple has segmented its chips into a few different varieties.
As with the M1 generation, the new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips are closely related to each other and to the M2 chip introduced last summer. They are all based on the same foundation, but each chip has some different characteristics. When it comes time to choose how much to pay for a Mac mini or a MacBook Pro, these differences are important.
But first, the M2
Before I compare the M2 Pro and M2 Max, it’s only right to discuss the M2, which debuted last June with the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro. The CPU and GPU cores in the M2 are the same as those found in Apple’s A15 chip, which formed the basis of the iPhone 13 line.
Apple’s chips keep getting incrementally faster. In general, each M2 CPU core is about 12 to 15 percent faster than the corresponding M1 core. As a result, the M1-to-M2 transition cannot provide the quantum leap that Apple’s jump from Intel to its own processors offers. Instead, the Mac is now on the slow but steady path of progress that we see every year with the unveiling of a new iPhone processor.
Apple
However, Apple keeps tinkering around the edges from generation to generation. In the M2, Apple addressed one of the major shortcomings of the M1 processor: limited RAM capacity. The M2 can support up to 24GB of total memory, up from the 16GB limitation that made many potential M1 Mac buyers cringe. Apple also increased the memory bandwidth from 68 GB to 100 GB per second.
While the M2 kept the same CPU core configuration as the M1—eight cores, four dedicated to performance and the other four to efficiency—it increased the maximum number of GPUs available on the chip from eight to ten, slightly increasing the maximum graphics performance. The next-generation Neural Engine on the M2 is more than 40 percent faster for machine learning.
Perhaps most significantly, the M2 offered a boost to video encoding. In the previous generation of chips, Apple added dedicated hardware to the high-end M1 Pro, Max and Ultra chips to allow them to encode and decode ProRes video files much more efficiently. Apple rolled that capability into the M2, making Macs with M2 processors much more capable video editors.
The M2 is an impressive chip, but it really pales in comparison to the M2 Pro and M2 Max. The M2’s four performance CPU cores make it remarkably powerful – but the M2 Pro and Max offer twice as many, which doesn’t quite double the CPU performance… but it’s still around 1.6 times the speed. And then there’s the GPU side, where the M2’s maximum 10 GPU cores go up against up to 19 GPU cores on the M2 Pro and a staggering maximum 38 GPU cores in the M2 Max.
The M2 Max has the same number of CPU cores as the M2 Pro, but the Max boosts the GPU cores.
Apple
And while the M2’s 24GB maximum RAM is much better than the M1’s 16GB, the M2 Pro can go up to 32GB and the M2 Max can go as high as 96GB. The memory bandwidth on the M2 Pro is twice that of the M2, and on the M2 Max it is four times.
Throw in limited USB/Thunderbolt ports and video-out support, and you can see that there’s still a lot that separates the high-end chips from the M2. That’s not to say the M2 is a loser by any means! It’s actually a remarkably powerful chip. But Apple has designed the M2 Pro and M2 Max for a more demanding user.
Round (M)2: Pro versus Max
As with the M1 Pro and M1 Max, it’s important to note that the M2 Pro and M2 Max are identical in many ways. Apple offers M2 Pro chips with fewer than 12 CPU cores, but if you get a 12-core model, you’ll get the exact same 12 cores offered on the M2 Max. The CPU power will be identical. Don’t you believe me? Take a look:
Everywhere else the story is different. Apple has limited the M2 Pro to 19 GPU cores, but the M2 Max can have as many as 38 GPU cores. That means if you need graphics horsepower, the M2 Max is the way to take it to the max.
Similarly, the M2 Pro’s memory maxes out at 32GB, but the M2 Max can handle as much as 96GB. And the memory bandwidth of the M2 Max is double that of the M2 Pro. And M2 Max is better for video encoding when decoding because it has thaw video encoding engines and ProRes video engines for M2 Pro’s. This means that in some video encoding tasks, the M2 Max will be twice as fast as our Final Cut Pro export showed.
M2 Pro vs M2 Max: Choose wisely
You can basically think of the M2 Max as the M2 Pro with a little something extra – and based on Apple’s images of the chips, you can take that literally. The two chips look identical when viewed from top to bottom of the M2 Pro… but the M2 Max is bigger and goes on a bit longer. In the new area, Apple has added a second bank of GPUs, an additional memory bus, and additional video encoding engines.
So what will it be, Pro or Max? If your workflows are heavily driven by CPU speed, the extra GPU cores in the M2 Max chips won’t help you, making an M2 Pro a better buy. That is unless you need massive amounts of very fast RAM, in which case again, the M2 Max is a better choice. Video encoding will be faster on the M2 Max, but perhaps not enough to justify the increased prices.
Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro (2023, M2 Max, 12-core/38-core, 1TB)
Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (2023, M2 Pro, 12-core/19-core, 1TB)
Read our comparison of Mac Studio (M1 Max) and Mac mini (M2 Pro).
