More on new MacBooks: Shaky M2 Pro rumors dispelled, but Wi-Fi 6E support has a catch
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Apple’s new MacBook Pros – and Mac mini – have just arrived on the scene with new spins on the M2 chip, and we’ve gotten some new information on how Wi-Fi 6E support works – with a big caveat – along with an informative look at the M2 Pro die.
Let’s start with Wi-Fi 6E support that these new Macs include, but the catch is that not all macOS apps can take advantage of it. At least not initially, because if Mac from 9 to 5 (opens in new tab) reports, the co-founder of Intuitibits – which makes the WiFi Explorer app – informs us that some apps are not yet able to use Wi-Fi 6E with these Apple devices.
Changes are needed in macOS and its third-party app frameworks to take advantage of the new 6E Wi-Fi interface. I hope Apple will make these changes available as soon as possible. https://t.co/GMapX4vmH8January 17, 2023
Why not? Because, as the tweet explains, macOS in its current form doesn’t have the frameworks for third-party apps to work with Wi-Fi 6E.
The good news, though, is that this vital work is in the pipeline, and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that it will arrive with the next major macOS update.
That hard
The other interesting point that has emerged regarding Apple’s new Macs is a dieshot of the M2 Pro chip. As WCftech (opens in new tab) highlighted, this was aired by High Yield on Twitter, with the inside of the chip clearly showing the presence of 19 GPU cores.
First #Apple M2 Pro SoC that shot analysis. Clearly visible 8 P-cores, 4 E-cores, 19-core GPU, 16-core NPU, dual Media Engine, large SLC & LPDDR5 memory interface. Produced in a TSMC N5 node. Waiting for a closer look from @Locuza_ pic.twitter.com/epvIpsxafCJanuary 17, 2023
Why is that important? Especially since there were rumors that the M2 Pro shipped with 20 GPU cores, but one was locked out to make 19 – mainly based on the fact that that was an odd number (and previous chatter on the grapevine). However, the die clearly shows that there is no disabled core, and the plan was to have 19 cores in it all along.
Wccftech further points to the presence of LPDDR5 memory, dispelling another rumor from the past that Apple could upgrade to faster RAM with these new M2 chips. The belief was that a shift to LPDDR5X was likely in 2023, but this has not happened with the M2 Pro, as we can see it has stayed with LPDDR5.
Analysis: No real surprises – and hopefully Apple should be fast on the Wi-Fi front
The fact that the old LPDDR5X rumor isn’t true isn’t much of a surprise considering it’s the original source highlighted by Wccftech (opens in new tab), was a forum post (a rather shaky source indeed, unlike a known Apple leaker – if it came from a heavyweight we might have given it more stock). At least we now know it’s not true (even if that’s a little disappointing).
And we also know that Wi-Fi 6E won’t work with some apps for now. The new wireless standard is important because it significantly improves on Wi-Fi 6 in terms of faster connection speeds, lower latency, and less interference (so bandwidth doesn’t get so congested, avoiding issues like dropped or stuttering connections). The latter is especially important in dense signal environments, such as apartment buildings where many routers and devices are in close proximity (you can read more about Wi-Fi 6E here).
So Wi-Fi 6E is a clear winner for hardware that supports the standard, and we think it won’t be long before Apple brings the necessary frameworks into macOS. Since we’ve now launched this hardware, it would be a pretty bad show if owners waited quite some time for this support to be introduced – so it makes sense for it to arrive with the next major update, macOS 13.2.
That said, we’ll just have to wait and see, but we won’t be waiting that long, as macOS 13.2 is expected to release quite soon (most likely early February, maybe in a few weeks).