In 2022, Apple introduced the M2 chip in the 13-inch MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro. As second-generation SoC (system-on-a-chip), the M2 chip features a new CPU, more GPU cores, and memory than the M1 chip to deliver up to 18% faster CPU performance.
The M1 Pro and M1 Max chips debuted in 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro in 2021.
The M2 chip is clearly faster than M1 but if are curious to know how the M2 chip performs against M1 Pro so you can invest in the right MacBook for your need, then continue reading.
M2 chip vs. M1 Pro chip: Specs comparison
| Spec | M1 Pro | M2 |
| Process node | 5nm | 5nm |
| CPU | 10-cores (8 performance cores and 2 power efficiency cores) |
8-cores (4 performance cores and 4 power efficiency cores) |
| GPU | up to 16-core | 10-core |
| Neural engine | 16-core | 16-core |
| Memory | 16GB 32GB |
8GB 16GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 200GB/s | 100GB/s |
| SSD Storage | 512GB 1TB 2TB 4TB 8TB |
256GB 512GB 1TB 2TB |
Is the M2 chip faster than M1 Pro?
| Test | M1 Pro | M2 |
| Cinebench R23 | Single-core: 1534 Multi-core: 12370 |
Single-core: 1581 Multi-core: 8667 |
| Geekbench 5.4 | Single-core: 1768 Multi-core: 12499 |
Single-core: 1914 Multi-core: 8951 |
Benchmark scores reveal that the single-core performance of the M2 is faster than M1 Pro, but the M1 Pro beats the M2 chip in multi-core performance.
Does M2 chip use less battery than M1 Pro?
| Size | Model | Battery life |
| 13-inch | M2 MacBook Pro | 18 hours 20 minutes |
| 13-inch | M2 MacBook Air | 14 hours 6 minutes |
| 14-inch | M1 Pro MacBook Pro | 14 hours 9 minutes |
| 16-inch | M1 Pro MacBook Pro | 15 hours 31 minutes |
The 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 delivers incredible battery life of over 18 hours on a single charge, up to 3 hours more than the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro chip.
If you are on a budget and need a laptop for everyday tasks then opt for M2 MacBook Air starting from $1199 or M2 MacBook Pro starting from $1299. Only choose the expensive M1 Pro MacBook Pro, if you have heavy workloads: 14-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro starts from $1999 and 16-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro starts from $2499.
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