Apple’s M2 Max promises even higher performance per Watt

I can still recall June when the M2 chip first appeared

The latest rumour suggests the next major Mac introduction will deliver higher end machines that offer even better computational performance per watt than Apple’s PCs do currently, even while the stars are aligning toward an even bigger leap in processor performance in the next 12-18 months.

The story of the chips

A set of benchmark test results allegedly for Apple’s as yet unreleased M2 Max processor have appeared.  As noted by ShrimpApplePro on the ‘musknet’ (NB: please join me on Mastodon), a single test result shows an unidentified Mac running an all new chip. It’s a 12-core CPU with a staggering 96GB of RAM running at 3.54GHz.

The scores are good. The Mac scored 1,853 for single core and 13,855 for multi-core performance. Compare that to the current M1 Max-powered MacBook Pro, which has 10-cores, runs at 3.2GHz and scores 1,746 single-core and 12,154 in multi-core tests.

While the performance is “only” 14% faster it’s worth also considering the amount of energy Macs carrying the chip will consume to achieve that performance, given how much battery life improved between M1 and M2 architectures.. The M2 chip delivered a similar performance improvement in comparison to the M1 but was far more energy efficient.

New Mac’s Geekbench 5 scores!
12 cores, 96GB of RAMhttps://t.co/74dOcmgTod pic.twitter.com/PXl8Ul9eVp

— ShrimpApplePro 🍤 (@VNchocoTaco) November 30, 2022

The next chapter is in development. We know that TSMC and Apple are working up a 3nm processor. This had originally been anticipated to debut late this year, but the schedule seems to have slipped, due to – well, there’s no shortage of reasons for delay.

And we know they’re already developing the M3

At the same time, Apple is working to change its supply chain to become less reliant on China, so it is possible we may be waiting on 3nm for some time yet. TSMC is thought to be planning to manufacture processors at factory in Arizona starting later next year.

[Also read: How to think about Mastodon as you retreat from Twitter]

Apple is expected to include new Macs in 2023, some of which (MacBook Pro, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro) may use the M2 Max or another iteration of the company’s processor architecture.

The good news is these will certainly be more performant at lower wattage than before with huge quantities of addressable memory to enable some of the most cutting edge computational tasks.

Meanwhile, Mac market share continues to grow in response to the innovation taking place on the platform.

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