Apple has brought its M6 chip to the 14 inch MacBook Pro and the iMac, a mid-cycle refresh that leaves the designs largely unchanged and puts the gains in the silicon. The M6, built on TSMC’s 2 nanometre process according to The Register, carries a 12 core CPU and a 12 core GPU, up two cores on the outgoing generation, with a dual 16 core Neural Engine.
The MacBook Pro starts with 16 gigabytes of unified memory, configurable to 32 gigabytes, with memory bandwidth of 153 gigabytes per second rising to 170 gigabytes per second on higher configurations. Apple claims up to 30 percent faster performance than the M5 model in workloads such as Xcode compiling and graphics, and up to 25 percent faster AI workloads, while keeping the same 24 hour battery life. Pricing is unchanged, starting at 1,999 dollars. The refresh also adds Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
The iMac skipped the M5 entirely, so its jump is larger. Apple claims up to five times faster on-device AI performance than the M4 model, and the machine starts at 1,499 dollars, also with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, with some models gaining 2.5 gigabit Ethernet.
Both machines can be preordered from October 28 and will be available from November 6. The launch came a day after the new iPad mini covered in yesterday’s edition and a day before Apple’s own Pro and Tell event, spreading the autumn hardware announcements across the week.