• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Apple M2 Processor is Reportedly in Mass Production

AleksandarK

AleksandarK

News Editor
Staff member
Joined
Aug 19, 2017
Messages
2,999 (1.07/day)
Apple's M1 processors are a big success. When Apple introduced the M1 processors in the MacBook lineup, everyone was impressed by the processor performance and the power efficiency it offered. Just a few days ago, Apple updated its Mac lineup to feature these M1 processors and made it obvious that custom silicon is the way to go in the future. Today, we have information coming from Nikkei Asia, that Apple's next-generation M2 chip has entered mass production and that it could be on the way for as early as July when Apple will reportedly refresh its products. The M2 chip is made inside TSMC's facilities on a 5 nm+ N5P node. While there is no more information coming from the report about the SoC, we can expect it to be a good generational improvement.


View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 
but, will Apple update "old" M1 based hardware to preform worse so as to promote M2 based hardware sales?
 
But then why release a gimped iMac just a couple months ahead running a CPU SoC that can also be found on their thin&light?
Wouldn't it make all the sense in the world to hold back the iMac release and have it spearhead the M2?
 
I know a number of freelancer dudes, who despise apple walled gardens and would never buy an iphone, but have mac notebooks (whatever the made up word for them is), since they don't care about price, but do appreciate the build quality.

None of them is excited about Apple leaving x86 world.
 
medi01 said:
I know a number of freelancer dudes, who despise apple walled gardens and would never buy an iphone, but have mac notebooks (whatever the made up word for them is), since they don't care about price, but do appreciate the build quality.

None of them is excited about Apple leaving x86 world.
Click to expand...
They should be. The future is ARM anyway and in the meantime Rosetta2 emulates x86 so well to the point where it outperforms Intel Macs in x86.
I'm sure those people would have said the same thing in the PowerPC to x86 transition.
 
Those things need 32 and 64GB of RAM options, the top for the Mac Mini is 16GB. Because the memory is built in (something Apple obviously loves) you can't physically add more RAM which is lame. Sure, performance is important though not as important as making sure you don't grind your SSD to death with a swap file/page file.
 
kayjay010101 said:
But then why release a gimped iMac just a couple months ahead running a CPU SoC that can also be found on their thin&light?
Wouldn't it make all the sense in the world to hold back the iMac release and have it spearhead the M2?
Click to expand...
My guess is they'll release the M2 line-up as 'creation' devices, like iMac Pro and Macbook Pro 16, as it looks like currently it's aimed at students and more casual users (even though the M1 chip is still really capable in more intensive apps).

I've not owned an Apple product since 2009 so I'm quite looking forward to the M2 Macbooks for work on the go.
 
ZoneDymo said:
but, will Apple update "old" M1 based hardware to preform worse so as to promote M2 based hardware sales?
Click to expand...
*Cough, clears throat*
"Bitch pls you buy a new iPhone and a speckle of dust hits the screen as you unbox and you don't expect a 6 gig OS update while you're asleep and wake up to find camera malfunctioning? You think share earning grows on trees?"
 
ZoneDymo said:
but, will Apple update "old" M1 based hardware to preform worse so as to promote M2 based hardware sales?
Click to expand...

Why would they? Either the battery goes so weak they won't turbo anyway or the OS gets an update that kills performance.

And, these are features, mind.
 
Vayra86 said:
Why would they? Either the battery goes so weak they won't turbo anyway or the OS gets an update that kills performance.

And, these are features, mind.
Click to expand...
I don't think they have to do any extra effort to achieve that. These custom ARM designs have pretty much planned obsolescence built in as a "design feature", as most of its heavy software relies on special instructions which are obsolete within a few years.
 
efikkan said:
I don't think they have to do any extra effort to achieve that. These custom ARM designs have pretty much planned obsolescence built in as a "design feature", as most of its heavy software relies on special instructions which are obsolete within a few years.
Click to expand...

Can you elaborate? What instructions exactly?
 
TumbleGeorge said:
M2 4X performance than M1?
Click to expand...

and 10X the price?
While first iteration ARM clearly marked a success by many, I'm still bit skeptical about their take on iMac and MacPro, many out there still using x86 apps.
 
ZoneDymo said:
but, will Apple update "old" M1 based hardware to preform worse so as to promote M2 based hardware sales?
Click to expand...
Didn’t this also happen to pretty much every Intel CPU made in the last decade due to security patches?
 
JAB Creations said:
Those things need 32 and 64GB of RAM options, the top for the Mac Mini is 16GB. Because the memory is built in (something Apple obviously loves) you can't physically add more RAM which is lame. Sure, performance is important though not as important as making sure you don't grind your SSD to death with a swap file/page file.
Click to expand...
There are few people that complain they went thru their SSD life due to swaping. The thing is i suspect Apple will keep the mac mini on the low memory side and they will give more memory to higher sku so people that want more ram have to buy up.
 
Darmok N Jalad said:
Didn’t this also happen to pretty much every Intel CPU made in the last decade due to security patches?
Click to expand...
Lack of optimization for older products is a different boat altogether from security issues, whcih is a different boat from feature updates and code bloat. Apple has a tendency to use extreme optimization to excuse cutting back on hardware (1GB RAM in iphones for years, 8GB of RAM with the M1) which works fine until a few years pass and software bloat has caused that hardware to age poorly. Android and windows have the exact opposite issue, but this is further worsened by apple's refusal to allow hardare upgrades.

The M1 was an interesting chip, and it's translation showed great promise. Of course this is apple, so in 5 year's theyll strip away this layer and force you to either run native arm or GTFO, jsut liek they did with rosetta after snow leopard. And while the M1 was competitive from a power use and performance perspective compared to the 4700u, it required a huge die on 5nm to do so, and even then pulled quite a bit of juice. We still havent seen a scaled up version capable fo taking on desktop level chips, and the 4700u was zen 2. We've seen the huge jump AMD's 5000 series have gained from zen 3, and that is still 7nm. Only time will tell if apple can keep the ball rolling with ARM. It'll be interesting to see if the M2 has a zen like jump per generation from the M1 or an intel wet fart style jump.
 
Where I live the M2 is a congested motorway where one drives into the sun in both the morning and afternoon. Even the BMW M2 isn't pretty. However, Judi Dench is cool (M).

​

 
TheinsanegamerN said:
Lack of optimization for older products is a different boat altogether from security issues, whcih is a different boat from feature updates and code bloat. Apple has a tendency to use extreme optimization to excuse cutting back on hardware (1GB RAM in iphones for years, 8GB of RAM with the M1) which works fine until a few years pass and software bloat has caused that hardware to age poorly. Android and windows have the exact opposite issue, but this is further worsened by apple's refusal to allow hardare upgrades.

The M1 was an interesting chip, and it's translation showed great promise. Of course this is apple, so in 5 year's theyll strip away this layer and force you to either run native arm or GTFO, jsut liek they did with rosetta after snow leopard. And while the M1 was competitive from a power use and performance perspective compared to the 4700u, it required a huge die on 5nm to do so, and even then pulled quite a bit of juice. We still havent seen a scaled up version capable fo taking on desktop level chips, and the 4700u was zen 2. We've seen the huge jump AMD's 5000 series have gained from zen 3, and that is still 7nm. Only time will tell if apple can keep the ball rolling with ARM. It'll be interesting to see if the M2 has a zen like jump per generation from the M1 or an intel wet fart style jump.
Click to expand...
Considering how Apple has equipped themselves on the R&D side, and the fact that they have tons of cash to throw at things, I’m not terribly concerned that they won’t progress. I am a bit concerned at the die sizes they arrived at, but they must deem it worth it. Who knows how they’ve engineered the chip to accommodate chip salvaging. I’m wondering what the clock speed limit would be on a golden sample of the M1 with abundant cooling. My guess is that the M1‘s retail clocks are very conservative to hit the yield/power/performance trifecta. If the chip’s low-end target is something like 10W (I believe that’s the iPad’s peak TDP), I suspect they should be able to push the design to 50W or better, right? Could M2 be aimed at higher TDP segments, like the MBP, mini, and above?
 
Tardian said:
Where I live the M2 is a congested motorway where one drives into the sun in both the morning and afternoon. Even the BMW M2 isn't pretty. However, Judi Dench is cool (M).

​

Click to expand...
Hey, most BMW's a pretty fugly these days, but BMW M2 is very nice car and only one I would even consider buying. I just hope they don't put the pigs snout grille on a new M2 like they did with M3/M4/340i.
 
kayjay010101 said:
But then why release a gimped iMac just a couple months ahead running a CPU SoC that can also be found on their thin&light?
Wouldn't it make all the sense in the world to hold back the iMac release and have it spearhead the M2?
Click to expand...
Apple released the low end iMac. Pretty much a spiritual successor to the color iMac G3's of the 2000's. Good enough use at home and in the classroom. The higher end, more professional and prosumer versions will launch with the M2 in more grown up attire. Hard to think of the M1 SoC as being gimped compared to it's Intel and AMD competition though....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top