No one noticed when Apple unveiled its 15-inch Macbook Pro packed with a new graphic processor within its chassis - the AMD Radeon Pro.
The AMD Radeon Pro 400 Series was formally launched a day after the Apple event. The GPU is touted as the thinnest graphic processor constructed using the GloFlo's 14nm FinFET process technology. It underwent a 'die thinning' process reducing the chips' thickness to a mere 380 microns equivalent to four stacked sheets of paper, wherein all variants in the series operates in an envelope of 35 watts of power. It draws as little power as possible that makes it possible for the chip to remain cool even under heavy use.
There are three variants that are introduced in the series, the top of the line being the AMD Radeon Pro 460 packing 16-compute units at a peak compute performance of 1.86 TFLOPs, TechnoAisle reported.
| SPECIFICATIONS | AMD Radeon Pro 450 | AMD Radeon Pro 455 | AMD Radeon Pro 460 |
| GPU | Polaris 11 | Polaris 11 | Polaris 11 |
| GCN Version | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Peak Compute | 1 TFLOPs | 1.3 TFLOPs | 1.86 TFLOPs |
| Compute Units (CU) | 10 | 12 | 16 |
| Core Count | 640 | 768 | 1024 |
| TDP | <35 W | <35 W | <35 W |
| Memory | ? | 2 GB | 2 GB |
| Memory Bandwidth | 80 GB/s | 80 GB/s | 80 GB/s |
| Release | Nov. 2016 | Nov. 2016 | ? |
The AMD Radeon Pro 400 Series was designed for serious content creators, according to AMD. Apple, on the other hand, says the 15-inch MacBook Pro performs graphics 130 percent faster and has 2.5x more computing power per watt compared to the previous iteration of the 15-inch MacBook Pro.
As you can see from the spec chart, all units carry 80 GB/s bandwidth and feature the Polaris architecture. As specified, the GPU is created for content creators. Gamers, on the other hand, might struggle with an acceptable frame rate on the device. It is advised to use laptops equipped with NVIDIA GTX 1080 that is still the best option for gaming requiring higher settings.
