Apple Unveils M2 Pro & M2 Max Chips in Updated MacBook Pro & Mac mini

[Amulet Man]

MaxTech just compared the 16" M2 Max to the 16" M1 Max. Most apps see a marginal or not much increase in speed. Blender however rendered is 21 seconds vs 40 seconds for the M1 Max. Thats almost2x faster for Blender thanks to the better GPU scaling and memory sharing of the M2. Assuming MaxTech is using the same unaltered BMW test file it renders on my base M1 Pro in 1:27. The M2 Max is 4.14x faster for Blender.

Now thats an upgrade and putting Blender into a realistic production tool on a Mac category.

Thanks! That's really encouraging! I might wait a generation longer and get an M3 but I want to stick with a MacBook Pro as my primary computer. That's for Cycles?

 

[Run&Gun]

I got my new M2 Max up and running earlier this week. Apple hooked my old laptop that was crashing up to the new one and booted it in 'target disk mode' and was able to transfer everything over to the new one in a few hours. So, obviously some (or a lot) of the software doesn't work on the new one, because it's (really) old and hasn't been (and won't be) updated to work with 64 bit and/or Apple Silicon. The only program that I've run across, so far, that is an issue work wise is Panasonic P2 Viewer Plus (yes, I'm a dinosaur... NorBro). Are there any non-editing/just (simple) viewing programs out there that can be used to just quickly view/playback P2 and other files "natively"? FCP is an option(and it does open pretty quickly on the new M2M MBP vs. my RMBP), but it seems a little "much" just to quickly check/view files/footage before/after a transfer. Catalyst Browse still works for my F55 files and it's easy-peasy for my Arri, since it's recording in ProRes.

Also... Is anyone using the different display profiles, for example, switching from the native/default 'Apple XDR Display(P3-1600 nits)' to the 'HDTV Video(BT.709-BT.1886)' display profile, when viewing "rec 709" video? When playing back my Arri footage from an interview yesterday, it seemed a little washed/bright(shot baked-in, not log), but when I switched to the HDTV display profile, it looked much better.

 

[NorBro]

maybe try VLC media player...