In 2020, Apple announced that it was transitioning away from Intel processing hardware to shift the entire Mac lineup to Apple-designed chips, starting with the M1 processor. Since then, subsequent models gained increasingly more cores, integrated graphics hardware, and speeds that soon rivaled their laptop and desktop counterparts.Įventually, it became clear that Apple had enough chip-design know-how to step away from Intel, which had been providing processors for Apple's Mac products since way back in 2006. It was the first of many chips that would show up in the iPad, the iPhone, the iPod Touch, and the Apple TV streaming boxes. It was Apple's first modern chip design, and it used a single-core ARM processor. The story of Apple silicon (in a wider, big-picture sense, with a small 's') starts back in 2010 with the introduction of the Apple A4, the first system on a chip (SoC) designed in-house by Apple, which appeared in the first generation iPad and the iPhone 4. Now, it's time to deeply investigate the improvements that Apple's new processing hardware brings, and whether it's time for you to consider buying a new Mac. We've reviewed models with all of these processors, putting them through every benchmark and anecdotal test we could.

But that raises a few questions, like, 'What's the difference?' and, 'Is it time to upgrade?' In early 2023, Apple announced two new models in the M2 line, the M2 Pro and M2 Max, updating the upper-tier processors from M1 with second-generation models. But the second-generation Mac processors started arriving in the summer of 2022, as the first M2 processor launched in the MacBook Pro 14-inch and MacBook Air. Of course, the M1 processor line launched first in 2020, and some of Apple's best systems are still using M1 chips. The latest Macs feature Apple silicon CPUs, the M2 Pro and M2 Max, which feature increased power, enhanced graphics processing, and better energy efficiency than the first go-around.

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