Science
M2 vs M1 Pro, Max, and Ultra: When the newest chip isn’t the best
Apple’s M2 is here…or it will be shortly, when the 13-inch MacBook begins shipping on June 24. As expected, the M2 is a nice upgrade over the M1, but not revolutionary. There are improvements in every part of the system-on-chip; the CPU, GPU, memory system, Neural Engine, and media engine.
Clearly the M2 is superior to the M1, but it now begs the question: Is it worth buying a Mac with the M1 Pro, M1 Max, or M1 Ultra anymore? Just because the second generation of Apple silicon is here, does that mean the first generation has reached the end of the line?
We don’t have benchmarks yet, but in general, the answer to that is going to be yes, with the differences becoming more stark as you move up the performance stack. If anything, it’s those considering the M1 Pro simply to get more memory or GPU performance that might be tempted by the M2. Here’s how the products stack up.
Updated 06/16/22: Updated to point out differences in external display support.
M2 vs M1 Pro
The M1 Pro has a CPU with up to eight performance cores (twice that in the M2) and two efficiency cores (half that of the M2). It’s 10 cores for the M1 Pro vs. 8 cores for the M2, but with the M1 Pro leaning more heavily toward performance cores.
The M1 Pro generally offered CPU performance more about 60 percent higher than the M1. Apple says the M2’s CPU is 18 percent faster than the M1 (and recently leaked benchmarks back up those numbers), so there’s still a pretty substantial gap there. When the benchmarks arrive, we suspect the M1 Pro will still deliver multi-core performance that is around 35 percent higher than the M2.
Apple
The M2’s GPU is 35 percent faster than that of the M1, according to Apple. But the M1 Pro, with up to 16 GPU cores and way more memory bandwidth, is about twice as fast as the M1. So expect the M1 Pro to still come in around 40 percent faster than the M2.
Similarly, the M2 offers more maximum memory (24GB) and memory bandwidth (100GB/sec) than the M1. But the M1 Pro allows up to 32GB of memory and 200GB/sec of memory bandwidth.
Interestingly, the M2’s upgrade to the media engine actually appeared in the M1 Pro. You get improved H.264 and HEVC encode and decode performance and ProRes support in the M1 Pro, while you didn’t in the M1. As far as we can tell, it’s the same media engine–it just landed in the M1 Pro first.
The one area where the M2 has a clear performance advantage over the M1 Pro is in the Neural Engine–Apple’s custom hardware to accelerate machine learning and AI software. They both feature a 16-core Neural Engine, but the M1 Pro has the same Neural Engine as the M1 (and A14), capable of 11 trillion operations per second. The M2’s newer-generation 16-core Neural Engine can handle a reported 15.8 trillion ops, making it more than 40 percent faster.
In sum, expect a Mac with the M1 Pro to be a good 30 percent to 40 percent faster than the M2 in every way, with the the exception of the media engine (which appears the be the same) and the Neural Engine (in which the M2 is 40 percent faster).
M2 vs M1 Max
If the M1 Pro is faster than the M2 in most ways, the M1 Max certainly will be. It has the same CPU, so performance there won’t change–still likely about 35 percent faster than the M2.
Apple’s M1 Max has the same CPU as the M1 Pro but adds more graphics power.
The GPU is twice as big, and it offers twice the maximum memory with twice the memory bandwidth as the M1 Pro. Expect GPU performance roughly 2.5x that of the M2. The M1 Max has two media engines, giving it similar features but double the performance of the M1 Pro or M2.
But the M1 Max only has one 16-core Neural Engine, of the same generation as that in the M1 and M1 Pro, which means the M2’s Neural Engine is likely 40 percent faster.
M2 vs M1 Ultra
The M1 Ultra is essentially two M1 Max chips sewn together with a super-fast interconnect, so you can take everything about the M1 Max and double it. You actually get 20 CPU cores, so it’ll be more than 2.5x faster than the M2’s CPU. The GPU is up to 64 cores, and is likely 5x faster than the M2. There are four media engines, too.
In fact, the M1 Ultra will actually beat the M2 in every way, including the Neural Engine, because it has two 16-core Neural Engines. While they each do 11 trillion ops, the combined 22 trillion ops is still about 40% faster than the next-generation Neural Engine in the M2.
External Display support
If you really care about hooking your MacBook up to multiple external displays, you should know that the first products to include the M2–the new MacBook Air and the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro–only support a single external display with a resolution up to 6K at 60Hz. In this respect it is just like the M1. You can workaround the limitation with DisplayLink adapters and drivers, but you can’t simply plug in two monitors.
It’s unclear if this is a limitation of the chip itself or the products it is used in so far. A hypothetical updated Mac mini or other product with more than one pair of Thunderbolt ports might support more displays, but such a product might never exist. The current M1 Mac mini has one pair of Thunderbolt ports that support a single 6K display and one HDMI port that supports up to 4K at 60Hz.
The M1 Pro supports two external 6K displays and the M1 Max supports three 6K displays and one 4K display on the MacBook Pro. The Mac Studio supports four 6K displays and one 4K display over HDMI wither you have the M1 Max or M1 Ultra.
Should you wait for M2 Pro, M2 Max, or M2 Ultra?
We certainly don’t know exactly what to expect from the M2 Pro, Max, and Ultra. It seems reasonable to expect that Apple will follow the same strategy it did with the M1, increasing CPU and GPU core counts, memory bandwidth, and media engines while keeping the Neural Engine the same (save for the M2 Ultra).
But we don’t really expect these chips to come soon. It will likely be at least late 2022 before an M2 Pro and/or M2 Max is announced, and at least another six months after that before we get the M2 Ultra. It’s possible that we don’t see any of those chips until mid-2023.
And of course, they will appear in more expensive Macs, while the M2 Ultra, like the M1 Ultra, will likely not appear in any laptop. If you are thinking of buying the entry-level $1,999 14-inch MacBook Pro, with an M1 Pro that has an 8-core CPU and 14-core GPU, along with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, you might want to seriously consider the upcoming M2 MacBook Air instead. Similarly configured it would cost $1,699, and you’d only give up a couple ports, a tiny bit of screen size, and a tiny bit of performance. It could well be worth the lower price, not to mention size and weight.
If you want a MacBook Pro with the full 10/16-core M1 Pro setup, or anything more powerful than that, you probably shouldn’t let the existence of the M2 concern you just yet. It’s only when the M2 Pro, Max, and Ultra hit the scene that it will really matter, and that’s probably at least six months away.
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There’s an iconic scene in Braveheart where William Wallace, played by Mel Gibson, repeatedly orders his army of Scots to “hold… hold… hold!” in the face of an English cavalry charge, and I want you to keep that in mind for the next few minutes as I talk about iPhones.
Now, the stakes—literally—are not as high today as they were when Wallace’s infantry raised sharpened wooden poles at the last moment, obliterating the rushing horsemen. But those three words will truly help you as I walk through how to select and move multiple apps at once on your iPhone’s home screen.
How to select and move multiple apps at once on iOS
Anyone who’s reorganized their iPhone screens knows this first step: press and hold the app you want to move. Keep holding—don’t let go. Ignore the dialog box that appears, asking you if you want to edit your home screen. Keep holding. Don’t waver when all the app icons start to jiggle. Keep. Holding. This is where the fun begins.
Now, using any finger other than the one keeping pressure on that first app you touched, start tapping the icons you want to move. They’ll start to stack up, along with a number that shows how many apps you’ve grouped together. When you’ve grabbed everything you want, just drag the pile to another part of the home page, a folder, or another home page entirely, and let go. The apps will fall into place right there, in the order you selected them.
That’s all there is to it, but there are some foibles that can make the process a little awkward if you’re using it for the first time.
Seriously, don’t let go
I emphasized Wallace’s words above for a reason: let go of the first app you pressed down on—at any point—and you’ll have to restart the process. If you stop holding when the dialog box popped up, you’ll be stuck there and will have to tap elsewhere on the screen to close it. Don’t bother choosing Edit Home Screen—you won’t be able to stack the apps no matter how hard you try. If you release when the icons start vibrating, you’ll lose the ability to start a pile. Hit Done in the top right to begin again. And if you lift your finger before the app stack gets where you want it to go, they’ll all drop right where they are.
Move the app stack to an empty part of the screen
Before you start grouping apps, slide the first one to an empty part of the screen. Not only will this eliminate the need for dexterous digit gymnastics, but it will help you avoid accidentally creating an app folder as the unselected apps slide left. If they slide under your stalwart fingertip, iOS will think you’re trying to create a folder and open one up. If that happens, just drag your app hoard away from the folder window and it’ll disappear.
[Related: Your iPhone’s home screen can hold more than just apps]
You can stack apps that are in folders
If you want to pull an app out of a folder and stick it in your ever-growing pile, just use your tapping finger to open the folder and touch the icon you want. Tap outside the folder to close it when you’re done. You can’t, however, stack folders.
Tap strategically, if you want
Some people are happy to let apps fall where they may, building an iPhone organizational scheme that only makes sense to them. Others strategize. If you’re in the latter group, and have a plan for how you want your apps to end up, all you have to do is make sure you long-press on the first one first, then tap them in the order you want them listed. So if you want to keep your home screen in alphabetical order, for example, tap App Store, then Bumble, Chrome, and so on until you’ve got everything under your finger. Sterling work, friend.
Fireflies are one of the best parts of warm summer nights. The dancing, flickering lights of these tiny bugs have enamored people for centuries. Now, a group of scientists at MIT have created robot lightning bugs inspired by nature. Not only can these robots fly, but they also emit light. Just like real-life fireflies.
From performing simple tasks to helping explore the Moon, humans have found many uses for robots. But what could robots the size of an insect do? Well, the possibilities, as it turns out, are quite endless.
Check out these robot lightning bugs that MIT researchers created
Making robot lightning bugs that are built to insect-scale isn’t easy. And, there are a lot of factors to consider. After all, at such a small size, these robots can’t really be fitted with sensors and other tracking tech. That’s not even taking into account the need to keep the robot’s weight down as low as possible to make flying smoother.
But, because these robots can emit light, the researchers can track them without sensors. Instead, all the researchers need is a camera capable of picking up the emitted light. Normally, we’d have to rely on bulky infrared cameras. Which would make the robot’s usefulness outdoors unlikely.
However, the researchers proved they can track the robot lightning bugs using a standard smartphone camera. And, the researchers say, they could even teach them how to communicate using their lights, similar to how real fireflies communicate.
The glow up
Image source: sihasakprachum / AdobeOne of the most challenging parts of the process was creating small robots capable of emitting light. While it might not sound difficult, you still have to take the weight and overall size of the robot lightning bugs into account. As such, the researchers at MIT had to embed minuscule electroluminescent particles into the artificial muscles the robot utilizes.
Altogether, the process added around 2.5 percent more weight to the robot. However, it didn’t affect its flight performance, a key factor the researchers had to consider. Another intriguing part of these robots is how they move around.
Unlike drones, which require propeller-like systems to move around, the robot lightning bugs use artificial muscles capable of flapping built-on wings. That means that MIT’s robot is actually flapping wings to take off, instead of forcing air underneath it like a propeller system. To make the light-emitting qualities work, the researchers had to create an electrode that wouldn’t block light.
To do this, they used highly transparent carbon nanotubes. These nanotubes are only a few nanometers thick. As such, they allow the light to pass through them easily and clearly. The researchers published a paper on the robot lightning bugs in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters earlier this month.
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