M2 chip vs. M1 Pro chip: specs and performance comparison

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

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

M2 chip vs. M1 Pro

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.

M2 chip vs. M1 Pro

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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About the Author

Addicted to social media and in love with iPhone, started blogging as a hobby. And now it's my passion for every day is a new learning experience. Hopefully, manufacturers will continue to use innovative solutions and we will keep on letting you know about them.