Something to stay up for: Apple introduced a collection of latest Mac merchandise throughout its latest WWDC 2023 convention. These included a 15-inch MacE book Air, the newest model of macOS, and the most recent iteration of Apple’s silicon, the M2 Ultra. The chip is now making it into reviewers’ palms, and the outcomes are spectacular.
Apple claimed the M2 Ultra might double the efficiency of its earlier flagship, the M2 Max. It achieves this feat by combining two M2 Max chips utilizing its “ultra-fusion structure.” The M2 Ultra boasts 20 and 30 % efficiency enhancements in CPU and GPU-based duties, respectively.
While Apple’s claims have been intriguing, there was skepticism as a result of underwhelming enhance in efficiency between the earlier technology’s M1 Max and M1 Ultra. Thankfully, Mac Studios that includes the brand new M2 Ultra are actually reaching reviewers, together with Luke Miani, who benchmarked the pc to place Apple’s numbers to the check (video on prime).
Apple wasn’t simply blowing smoke. In Cinebench, the M2 Ultra beats the M2 Max’s efficiency by 95 %.
The GFXBench outcomes have been considerably odd. In one check, the numbers almost doubled once more on the brand new chip. However, the M2 Max solely held an 18 % lead over its predecessor in one other benchmark.
This oddity inside Miani’s testing seems to be a easy outlier, as each different GPU-bound check reveals the anticipated close to doubling of efficiency from the M2 Max to the M2 Ultra.
Miani additionally examined the silicon’s efficiency with Rise of the Tomb Raider. However, the M2 Ultra’s outcomes have been lackluster, solely managing a 12 % bounce in common body charge. Miani believes this may very well be as a consequence of CPU bottlenecking and never permitting the chip to make the most of all 76 GPU cores.
Lastly, each rendering and exporting inside Final Cut Pro have been examined. When rendering a closely edited 15-minute 4K video, the M2 Ultra completed a second shy of 4 minutes, almost a complete minute sooner than its predecessor. While a powerful acquire, it isn’t the identical doubling we have seen in different exams. However, the M2 Ultra proved significantly better at exporting. The M2 Max exported the video in 12 minutes and 30 seconds, whereas the M2 Ultra turned in a flat 8-minute consequence.
Overall, the M2 Ultra seems to reside as much as Apple’s guarantees and hype. Despite minor setbacks in particular eventualities, the chip doubled the efficiency of the M2 Max in quite a few further benchmarks. This is probably going the ultimate iteration of the M2 household of Apple silicon, as Apple is already within the testing part for the M3, which we would see in new merchandise earlier than the top of the yr.
