At the Apple Unleashed event on Monday, the company announced the M1 Pro chip, which is Apple’s second effort at using its own silicon in its desktops and laptops. The M1 was impressive enough, but the new chip looks to push core counts and RAM capacity to the limit — plus give a solid boost to graphics power.
Rumors point to two versions of the M1 Pro: Both with 10 CPU cores, but one with 16 graphics cores and another with 32. Based on the performance of the seven to eight GPU cores in the M1 — depending on the model you choose — some estimate that the extra power can bring the M1 Pro to the level of a mobile RTX 3070 graphics card.
That’s great if you want to play some of the best Mac games. But the M1 Pro rumors point to much higher general compute power, too. Although the bump from eight CPU cores to 10 may seem small, the cores themselves are much better on the M1X. Rumors suggest eight high-performance cores and two high-efficiency cores. That stacks up to a four/four split on the M1.
Although the M1 Pro is a big leap for Apple, it isn’t an entirely new generation. The system-on-a-chip (SoC) is still built using TSMC’s 5nm lithography, just like the M1. The big difference here comes in core counts and RAM capacity. Rumors point to up to 64GB of RAM on the M1X, which compares to only 16GB on the M1.
The M1X is set to show up on the MacBook Pro 14, MacBook Pro 16, and a new Mac Mini. The 14-inch model is set to replace the 13-inch Intel-based MacBook Pro that’s currently available, while the 16-inch model will replace the aging MacBook Pro 16.
As for the MacBook Air, it doesn’t seem like we’re getting an update now. We probably won’t see it until the launch of the M2 chip, which is an entirely new generation. This chip is rumored to come in 2022, and it could feature as many as 32 CPU cores.
This is a breaking story. We will update this post with more details as they are announced.
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