New models of Mac mini desktops and MacBook Pro laptops with upgrades to Apple’s M2, M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, the company announced on Tuesday.
In addition, Apple introduced an entry-level Mini with an M2 processor priced at US$599, $499 for the education market.
“That was one of the more interesting parts of the announcement,” said Ross Rubin, principal analyst at Reticle Research, a consumer technology advisory firm in New York City.
“It’s not often that you see Apple announce a low entry price point,” Rubin told TechNewsWorld.
“At $599, the price is designed to bring in new users, but even higher configurations can add up in price very quickly,” said Jitesh Ubrani, a research manager at IDC, an international market research company.
Those higher configurations with the M2 Pro chip start at $1,299, $1,199 for the education market.
Ubrani told TechNewsWorld that the muscle that the M2 Pro adds to the mini could potentially cannibalize the market for Apple’s premium desktop, the Mac Studio. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing,” he said.
“The mini may appeal to budding creators or consumers who have started to appreciate desktops a bit more, especially as desktops have seen a bit of an uptick during the pandemic,” he added.
More Video Editing Muscle
The M2 Mini features an eight-core CPU — four high-performance and four high-efficiency cores — and a 10-core GPU. According to Apple, with the new chip, the Mini is up to 50% faster than the previous model.
The maximum configuration for its integrated memory is 24GB with a bandwidth of 100GB per second.
The Mac mini M2 model has two Thunderbolt 4 ports and supports up to two displays. (Image credit: Apple)
With the M2, ProRes acceleration is added to the Mini, giving it some real punch for handling video. Apple says the M2 mini can handle tasks like video editing in Final Cut Pro up to twice as fast as previous hardware models as well as two streams of 8K ProRes 422 video at 30 fps or 12 streams of 4K at 30 fps Can run till
Overall, Apple claims the M2 Mini is up to five times faster than the bestselling Windows desktop.
The M2 brings a 12-core CPU to the Pro Mini with eight high-performance and four high-efficiency cores and a GPU of up to 19 cores.
The Mac mini M2 Pro model includes four Thunderbolt 4 ports and support for up to three displays. (Image credit: Apple)
The memory in the Pro model can be up to 32GB with a bandwidth of 200GB/s.
The M2 also gives the Pro Mini more video handling power, allowing it to play up to five streams of 8K ProRes 422 video at 30 fps or 23 streams of 4K video at 30 fps.
Apple said the M2 Pro Mini is up to 14 times faster than the fastest Intel-based Mini.
minimize mac studio
“The fact that Apple is allowing these chips in the existing Mac Mini is sobering,” said Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research in San Jose, Calif.
“This makes the Mac mini a more formidable content creator solution than the much higher priced Mac Studio,” Vena told TechNewsWorld.
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Rubin said that getting the more powerful chip in the Mini closes the gap between it and the Mac Studio.
“The Mini can do a more professional-level workflow,” he explained, “so it could be a match for people who want to mix and match peripherals but can’t justify the expense on a Mac Studio.”
“It also provides a way for people still on Intel Macs to move to Apple silicon and experience its advantages,” he added.
When he heard that Apple was refreshing the Mini, David McQueen, a research director at ABI Research, an international technology advisory firm, thought the move was designed to satisfy customers already invested in the Apple ecosystem. Will be done. “But performance improvements and price drops could entice new consumers to the product,” he told TechNewsWorld.
fostering leader’s leadership
The new MacBook Pro laptops will also introduce an M2 Pro model and an M2 Max version.
The Max chip has the same 12-core CPU as the M2 Pro but with an expanded GPU of up to 38 cores and a larger L2 cache.
The chip can also address more integrated memory – up to 96GB – at faster bandwidth – 400GB/s.
MacBook Pro prices range from $1,999 for the 14-inch model with the M2 Pro chip to $3,499 for the 16-inch model with the M2 Max chip.
The new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros feature the M2 Pro and M2 Max, Apple’s next-generation Pro silicon. (Image credit: Apple)
“Adding the new M2 chips makes these new Macs powerful options and, in laptops, they get longer battery life and additional graphics speed,” Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a technology advisory firm in San Jose, California, told TechNewsWorld. told. ,
Ubrani said the new chips will advance Apple’s position in the market.
“Apple’s previous generation MacBooks were already ahead of many other laptops on the market because they offered productivity and battery life that very few devices could compete with,” he said.
“The new generation is likely to widen Apple’s lead in this perspective, and it puts pressure on Windows PC makers and silicon makers to step up their game,” he said.
ready for prime time
However, those competitors have upped their game, and this announcement, which seems out of sync with the usual Apple calendar, may be a sign that the company is looking over its shoulder with some concern.
“At CES, we saw a number of announcements by Intel and AMD about laptops claiming they were catching up to Apple,” Rubin said. “With this announcement, Apple is answering those processor introductions at CES.”
“It will be interesting to see how these M2 chips compete against the likes of AMD’s new Ryzen offering, which could offer comparable – or even better – performance in terms of battery life and processing speed in the Windows space. “
image credit: apple
However, Bajarin insisted that the new chips were too cool to keep under wraps until the end of the year.
“The M2 chips are such an improvement over the M1s that Apple wanted to get them to market as quickly as possible,” he said. “That’s why the launch is earlier in the year than usual. The new M2s were ready for prime time.”
Releasing new products when the PC market is in one of the worst declines in its history might make some computer makers pause, but that’s not the case with Apple.
“Apple positions itself differently from its PC competitors,” said Mikako Kitagawa, director and analyst at Gartner, a research and advisory firm based in Stamford, Conn.
“Despite the challenging environment, the market is determined to be conquered,” he told TechNewsWorld. “That’s the message behind the new product release today.”
