Bloomberg: Overhauled Apple silicon MacBook Pros with 10 CPU cores, 16/32 GPU cores and up to 64GB RAM coming in the summer

As soon as this summer Apple may launch redesigned MacBook Pro notebooks with new Apple silicon chips featuring eight high-performance processing cores and two high-efficiency ones.


STORY HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Two different Apple silicon chips for the new MacBook Pros.
  • Both have ten processing cores and either 16 or 32 graphics cores.
  • The current M1 chip has eight processing and eight graphics cores.

Apple silicon MacBook Pros due this summer?

That’s according to a new Bloomberg piece bylined by well-informed Mark Gurman, who’s learned that Apple plans to launch two different MacBook Pros “as soon as early this summer”:

  • 14-inch MacBook Pro (code name J314): A new model in the lineup.
  • 16-inch MacBook Pro (code name J316): A redesign of the current 16-inch model.

The machines will be allegedly powered by two different Apple silicon chips:

  • Apple silicon (code name Jade C-Chop): 10-core CPU, 16/32-core GPU, 64GB RAM
  • Apple silicon (code name Jade C-Die): 10-core CPU, 16/32-core GPU, 64GB RAM

Both chips will allegedly have eight high-performance cores and two energy-efficient cores for a total of ten computing cores capable of running simultaneously.

How to see which apps on your Mac are made for Apple silicon

The new chips will reportedly support up to 64 gigabytes of unified memory vs. a maximum of sixteen gigabytes of RAM on the current M1. Also, the chips are said to come in two variations, one with sixteen graphics cores and the other featuring 32 graphics cores.

They’ll have an improved Neural Engine, which processes machine-learning tasks and enable the addition of more Thunderbolt ports, which let users sync data and connect to external devices, than the two on the current M1 MacBook Pro.

Any additional computing and graphics cores in the upcoming Apple silicon should boost speeds for heavy-duty tasks such as intensive video editing, programming and more.

Upcoming Apple silicon vs. Apple M1?

By comparison, the current Apple M1 chip in the 13-inch MacBook Pro (2020), Mac mini (2020), MacBook Air (2020) and 24-inch iMac (2021) has eight processing cores (four high-performance cores and four energy-efficient ones), seven or eight graphics cores (some entry-level Macs use seven GPU cores) and either eight or sixteen gigabytes of unified memory.

Dividing CPU power between two sets of cores isn’t new in the semiconductor industry.

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In Apple’s case, the high-performance cores take over more complex jobs like editing video or gaming while the energy-efficient cores handle more basic needs like web browsing, preserving battery life and so forth. Apple claims that the energy-performance cores in the M1 chip consume one-tenth the power of their high-performance counterparts.

MacBook Pro to bring back some missing ports

Aside from a redesigned chassis, these notebooks will also sport the following features:

  • Magnetic MagSafe charger
  • HDMI port
  • SD card slot
  • USB-C ports

A few years back, Apple removed the HDMI port, SD card slot and MagSafe charging from the MacBook Pro, but Bloomberg says those beloved features will now be making a comeback.