Apple ditched Intel chips in 2020, and started using its chips, named Apple Silicon. It started with the M1, which brought about the M-chip moniker for the fist time. These chips are very efficient, using less power to give more performance. The current model chips, the M2, are even more impressive with more power than the original M1 models. If you want to learn more about them we have a page dedicated to Apple’s M2 silicon.
If you spot a Pro, Max, or Ultra suffix after the chip then that means its one of the supercharged versions of the M1 or M2 chip. These have more CPU and GPU cores to help them bulldoze through heavier workloads, and are designed for more professional workloads.