Apple drops Intel chips in biggest MacBook Pro overhaul in years

 With the new processors and devices, Apple is aiming squarely at the high-end chips that Intel has provided for the MacBook Pro and other top-end Macs for about 15 years

Apple Inc. took the most aggressive step yet to strip Intel Corp. chips from its computers, announcing more powerful homegrown Mac processors alongside a total revamp of its MacBook Pro laptop computers.

The company showcased the chips at an event Monday called “Unleashed” that also included its latest audio products. The new components, called the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, are 70% faster than its M1 predecessors, Apple said. It also unveiled a redesigned MacBook Pro, adding larger screens, MagSafe charging and better resolution.

With the new processors and devices, Apple is aiming squarely at the high-end chips that Intel has provided for the MacBook Pro and other top-end Macs for about 15 years. Last year, Apple started transitioning its low-end Macs to its own M1 Apple Silicon chip. The new chips, however, are a bolder stroke, aiming at far outclassing Intel’s highest-performing products.

Apple shares rose as much as 1.4% to $146.80 after the event. They had gained 9.2% this year through the end of last week.

The chips include 10 total CPU cores -- the components that handle processing -- up from the eight in the M1 chip. The 10 cores are split into eight high-performance cores and two cores for tasks that require less energy. That compares with four high-performance and four low-performance cores in the M1.

Apple is also upping the graphics performance for the M1 Pro and M1 Max, which come with 16 and 32 graphics cores, respectively. That’s up from the seven or eight-core options offered with the M1 Macs. Graphics performance with the M1 Max is as much as four times faster than on the earlier M1 chip, while the M1 Pro is twice as fast, Apple said. It’s also 13 times faster than earlier Intel models.

The M1 Pro supports 32 gigabytes of memory, while the M1 Max has up to 64 gigabytes. That’s up from 8GB or 16GB offered with the M1.