For the upcoming MacBook Pro and the professional Mac Pro workstation, Apple is to upgrade the successor to its first ARM-based notebook SoC, the M1 processor, vigorously. The current octa-core SoC in the 4 + 4 + 8 design should initially have 8 + 2 + 32 cores, later even larger configurations should follow.
Performance + Efficiency + GPU
The design of Apple's ARM SoC for MacBooks and Mac consists of powerful performance cores and energy-saving efficiency cores as well as the GPU cores. The current M1 SoC has 4 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores and 8 GPU cores and thus corresponds to a 4 + 4 + 8 design.
10-core SoC and 64 GB RAM for the MacBook Pro
As the usually well-informed Mark Gurman from the New York news and media company Bloomberg reported, citing his own sources, the future MacBook Pro in 14 and 16 inches will optionally come with a SoC with 8 + 2 + 16 or 8 + 2 + 32 cores be equipped. In this case, there would be two more CPU cores, but the distribution would shift in favor of the performance cores – the SoC for the MacBook Pro would even offer twice as many. The expansion of the GPU should at least be doubled, and four times the performance is also conceivable. With this Apple could possibly ban the dedicated GPU usually used in the MacBook Pro directly from the computer.
The RAM, which is currently limited to a maximum of 16 GB and located directly on the package, should increase to up to 64 GB in this context. The successor to the M1 SoC will be codenamed “Jade C” and will be able to celebrate its debut in the next MacBook Pro this summer.
For the MacBook Air and the Mac Mini, an M1 refresh (” Staten “) with either 9 or 10 GPU cores are conceivable. So far, buyers of the M1 processor have had the choice between 7 or 8 GPU cores. Arithmetic units.
Mac Pro with up to 40 cores and 2,048 ALUs
Already in 2022 a further drilled out ARM SoC from Apple Silicon will follow, which will optionally have a design with 16 + 4 + 64 or 32 + 8 + 128 cores for the next Mac Pro and will be codenamed “Jade 2C” and “Jade 4C”.
With 64 or 128 GPU cores, the huge system-on-a-chip would then have a comparatively generous 1,024 and 2,048 EUs (“Execution Units”) available. The M1 processor is currently limited to 128 graphic execution units.
The maximum amount of RAM for use in professional workstations should also be at least 256 to 512 GB be raised. The Mac Pro currently relies on an Intel Xeon W with up to 28 cores, two Radeon Pro Duo VIIs with 2 × 32 GB HBM2 and four Vega-20 chips as well as a maximum of 1.5 TB DDR4 ECC.