Neural Engine
It's hard to ignore a 40% increase in any type of performance, and you can expect that level of upgrade with the improved 16-core Apple Neural Engine in M2 chips. The Neural Engine is a specialized co-processor made for accelerating machine learning algorithms. In the M2 this system can run at 15.8 trillion operations per second, far surpassing the M1's 11 trillion operations per second on its 8-core Neural Engine.
The main takeaway here is that the MacBook Pro M2 will deliver enhanced capabilities for any tasks that rely on machine learning. These include voice recognition, natural language processing, and automated image and video processing.
Media engine
If you often edit videos using Apple’s video format, you have good reason to look into M2 or higher chips instead of M1. With the help of a higher bandwidth video decoder, the M2 chip can easily support H.264 and HEVC videos. You can also stream multiple videos in 4K and 8K resolutions powered by M2’s video engines that enable ProRes and ProRes RAW — features that are unavailable in M1.
Unified memory
With a 100GB unified memory bandwidth, M2 chips can be a preferred option over their predecessor’s max 68.25 GB. Again, besides the 8GB and 16GB unified memory configurations in Pro M1 and M2 chips, the latter offers an additional 24GB configuration.
Battery life
With the greatly improved speeds, one might expect a decreased battery life from a laptop computer. That assumption doesn’t hold true for the M2, however. The M2 chip has a double battery efficiency, with the M2-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro 2022 having the most extended battery life of 20 hours of video playback on a single charge. It is followed by the 13-inch Air with a battery lasting 17 hours.
Security features
Among the Apple Silicon technology improvements, a built-in Secure Enclave is included, doing away with secondary chips for security. The Secure Enclave enables a more secure and faster SSD performance using a storage controller with AES encryption hardware. It also controls the touch-sensitive ID for enhanced privacy controls.
Price comparison
Only three types of Apple MacBooks contain the standard M2 chip. These are the MacBook Air 13-inch, MacBook Air 15-inch, and MacBook Pro 13-inch (mid-2022). Prices for these computers when bought brand new start from $1099 and go up from there, depending on the model and other specifications like memory and storage.
All of these MacBooks also come in M1 versions, however, and their price tags are generally $100-$200 lower for a device with all specs equal besides the core chip. So, here is the critical question: Is the $200 difference between the M1 and M2 siblings worth it? It really depends on what you're using it for.