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Everything You Need To Know About Mac’s Graphic Card (GPU)

Our experts at iSTYLE mention everything you need to know about Mac’s graphics card (GPU). Learn how to identify which graphic card your Mac has & how powerful your Mac’s Graphic card is here.

We first need to know that Macs have many different graphics cards. One for every Mac model. So a 2020 iMac will have a certain one, a 2020 MacBook Air will have another, and a 2022 MacBook Pro will have yet another.

There was a noticeable before and after in terms of Mac’s graphics power when it leaped from processors manufactured by Intel to those manufactured directly by Apple.

It was from 2020 onwards that Mac graphics cards took an impressive leap in power. This was, and continues to be made possible thanks to a new way of manufacturing the processors, or chips, for Macs. It is unique in the industry and has never been seen in laptops or desktops.

Apple processors are all-in-one, i.e., until then, a Mac was made up of different parts. The processor on one side, the graphics card on the other, the hard disk as well, and so on.

ince the M1 Chip, Apple's first processor for Macs, all the components are inside the processor. This results in unprecedented data transfer speeds and unique energy and temperature efficiency.

Learn more on everything you need to know about M1 chip in our comprehensive article on M1 vs M2 chip, here.

What graphics card does my Mac have?

You will be able to view the different types of graphic cards that your Mac has by following these steps:

Step 1 - Go to the apple at the top left of your screen.
Step 2 - Click ‘About This Mac’.
Step 3 - Here you will see which Chip you have (M1, M2, Intel, etc.)

Everything You Need To Know About Mac’s Graphic Card (GPU)

Find out everything you need to know about the M1 vs Intel chip and which one is faster. here.

How powerful are Mac graphics cards?

From the M1 Chip through the M1 Pro, M1 Max, M1 Ultra, and even the M2, Mac graphics cards are ultra-powerful. These chips are currently found in different Mac models. In the following image, you can see the difference in power between one processor and the other.

Check out the differences between M1 vs M1 Pro vs M1 Max, here.

Suppose you have an Intel-based Mac with an Intel Graphics or Iris Plus graphics card or a dedicated graphics card in a powerful iMac or MacBook Pro such as an AMD. In that case, the power will depend significantly on your purchase settings.

In summary, if you have a 13" MacBook Air or MacBook Pro with an Intel processor, the jump in graphics might be close to 90% more powerful than an Apple processor. It seems incredible, and yes, in fact, it is.

Everything You Need To Know About Mac’s Graphic Card (GPU)

Whichever Mac you choose, you'll have an impressive graphics card

As we've seen, thanks to Apple's M Chips, graphics have taken a giant leap forward. Even with a MacBook Air M1, you can do previously unthinkable things with a MacBook Pro.

For example, the MacBook Air M1 has an 8-core graphics card, whereas the 16' MacBook Pro has a 32-core graphics card. What a difference!

Check out our Mac comparator tool to see the differences between Macs and graphics cards.

If you have questions about which Mac you might need, our sales advisors are available at any of our iSTYLE Apple Stores. We look forward to seeing you!