In this year’s Apple’s WWDC event, they announced a wide range of new hardware and software. Apple unveiled an updated 13-inch MacBook Pro featuring Apple’s custom M2 chip. The M2 is the next-generation version of Apple silicon, succeeding the M1 chip from 2020.

Apple, in October 2021, introduced the M1 Pro and the M1 Max silicon chips. They follow the ‌M1‌ and are available in the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. Despite being the latest, the M2 cheap will not be as powerful as the ‌M1 Max‌ and the ‌M1 Pro‌. However, it will still be more powerful than its predecessor, the ‌M1‌.

You might be thinking of an M2-based-device as a festive gift to yourself or someone, and that’s totally okay. Honestly I just found a good excuse to talk about this chip, so allow me. Here is why the M2 chip is a good upgrade, but not necessarily the best.

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Why the Latest MacBook M2 Chip Is Not The Best Upgrade-If you are coming from M1

First, of course, there are improvements in every part of the M2 chip, from the M1. The CPU, GPU, memory system, Neural Engine, and media engine have received upgrades. The new MacBook Air has an 8-core GPU and up to a 10-core GPU powered by an M2 chip.

Apple confirms that the M2’s CPU is 18% faster than the M1. The M2’s GPU is also 35 percent faster than that of the M1, according to Apple.

Things get tricky when we compare with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips.

The M1 Pro allows up to 32GB of memory and 200GB/sec of memory bandwidth. This is more than the 24GB memory in M2 and twice the memory bandwidth.

The M1 Pro has 10 cores for performance and efficiency. The multi-core performance is around 35 percent higher than the M2. As a result, I expect a Mac with the M1 Pro to be approximately 40 percent faster in every way than the M2.

In the M1 Max, the GPU is twice as big as the one in the M1 Pro. It is definitely better than the M1. The GPU performance is roughly 2.5 times that of the M2. There are two media engines on the M1 Max, giving it similar features to the M1 Pro but double the performance.

Even as devices, the ‌M2‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ is similar to its predecessor, with the same Magic Keyboard and Force Touch trackpad, two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports, a passive cooling system, and 18-hour battery life.

There is no reason to upgrade to a Mac with M2 if you have one of the first-generation chips. It is truly best suited to those who are first-time ‌MacBook Air‌ buyers or are upgrading from an older machine. But if you are from the 2020’s ‌M1‌ model, I recommend you upgrade once M2 Max, M2 Pro, and M2 Ultra arrive.