Apple execs on M2 chips, best time to buy a Mac, and macOS for gaming

Apple recently unveiled new Mac mini and MacBook Pro models with the M2, M2 Pro, and M2 Max processors. In the second generation of its custom silicon chips, the company made them around 20% faster than its predecessors and continues to overscore Intel compared to its current generation.

To TechCrunch, Apple’s vice president of Platform Architecture and Hardware Technologies, Tim Mille, and VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, Bob Borches, talked about the impact of the M chip, the best time to buy a Mac, and gaming on the macOS platform.

During the interview, the executives praised the first M1 chip and how they wanted to build a scale of solutions that could deliver the maximum performance for each kind of machine: the fanless MacBook Air, the Pro choices with active cooling systems, etc. With the M2 chip, they want to go further:

“The M2 family was really now about maintaining that leadership position by pushing, again, to the limits of technology. We don’t leave things on the table,” says Millet. “We don’t take a 20% bump and figure out how to spread it over three years…figure out how to eke out incremental gains. We take it all in one year; we just hit it really hard. That’s not what happens in the rest of the industry or historically.”

Regarding the best time to buy a Mac, the executives discuss that they will release a new Mac every time they can, “when possible, ship,” as previously, Apple would have to wait for Intel to prepare its schedule for new computers.

Both executives believe “now is the best time to buy a Mac.”

“If you bought a MacBook Pro last year with M1, you’re gonna be fine. [Even] if you bought it in December, you’re not going to come screaming at me telling me I hate this machine, [and] why didn’t you tell me to wait?” says Millet. “Friends and family reach out all the time and they say, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about getting a new Mac, wink, wink. Is now a good time?’ And what’s beautiful about this story is that I really, with full sincerity, believe now is always a good time…Nobody should be shy about it.”

Last but not least, the executives discuss the M2 Macs as a gaming machine. Tim Millet says he doesn’t think anyone would believe that “overnight” Apple will make the Mac a great gaming platform, but they’re working on it.

“Game developers have never seen 96 gigabytes of graphics memory available to them now, on the M2 Max. I think they’re trying to get their heads around it, because the possibilities are unusual. They’re used to working in much smaller footprints of video memory. So I think that’s another place where we’re going to have an interesting opportunity to inspire developers to go beyond what they’ve been able to do before.”

You can read the full interview here with lots of tidbits about the development o M chips.