Apple M2 vs. M1: All You Need to Know About Second-Generation Apple Silicon
From the debut of Apple silicon in the M1 chip two years ago, it was clear that the transition away from using Intel CPUs in Macs would require more than just a single line of processors akin to the A-series chips that power iPhones and iPads. Apple offers too many variations of Macs for one chip to satisfy all of them.
So this week at WWDC, Apple introduced the M2, a true second-generation bit of silicon to succeed the M1 processor that originally debuted in the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro in 2020. It will be available first in a brand-new version of the MacBook Air and in a refresh of the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
The M1 is an extraordinarily capable processor by 2020 standards, but silicon engineering moves at a breakneck pace. So, two years later, the M2’s unveiling should have you, the Mac user, questioning whether or not you should upgrade from a laptop running first-generation Apple silicon. To understand the differences between the two chips and what they mean for your workflows, we need to get a bit technical. But after we’re done comparing the specs, the decision should be pretty clear-cut. Let’s dive in.
First, let's have a look at a spec-summary version of the new M2. As with the original M1, the M2 is debuting in a single base version, and presumably enhanced ones (like the Pro, Max, and Ultra variants) will follow over time...
The several different versions of the M1 range from the base model that powers the $999 MacBook Air up through the M1 Ultra available on the upper configurations of the $3,999 Mac Studio. They offer vastly different performance capabilities, but all of them use a common microprocessor architecture, which the semiconductor industry generally refers to as the 5-nanometer production
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