Apple M2 Pro

The Apple M2 Pro is an ARM-based (SoC) designed by Apple. It was announced by Apple for the updated Mac mini, and 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models in the early morning of January 17, 2023.

Specifications
The M2 Pro is manufactured by TSMC to Apple's design specifications. The processor contains 40 billion transistors that are fabricated through a second-generation  (N5P). Dynamic RAM (DRAM) is built onto the package and is shared through Apple's unified memory architecture (UMA) to eliminate the need to copy data from the CPU to GPU, which are both part of the package.

The 12-core CPU (same as in the M2 Max) contains eight high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores, similiar to the architecture used by the Apple M2 and other mobile devices for power efficiency. The GPU contains 19 cores for graphics. However, in some entry-level configurations, two of the high-performance cores and two of the GPU cores are deactivated, indicating the practice of. The Neural Engine contains 16 cores for machine learning performance. The improved bandwidth of the Media Engine can enable real-time playback of multiple 8K video streams.

Performance
Apple stated that performance of the M2 Pro was increased by up to 20% for the CPU, 30% for the GPU, and 40% for the Neural Engine over the previous generation Apple M1 Pro. The memory controller also operates at 200GB/s, twice as fast as the M2.

Limitations
DRAM must be ordered in advance in 16 or 32 GB configurations as they are part of the M1 Pro's SoC package.

Articles

 * M2 Pro and M2 Max benchmarked against every other current Apple Silicon chip by Ben Lovejoy at AppleInsider (2023-01-27)
 * From A to Ultra: How the M2 Pro and M2 Max stack up to every other Apple chip by Roman Loyola at Macworld (2023-01-27)