New year, new MacBooks. With little fanfare, Apple has revealed updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, now powered by the M2 Pro and M2 Max. Chipsets made by Apple. That’s practically the only major change from MacBook Pro predecessor 2021. That’s not the only new hardware announcement, though. There is also a more powerful Mac Minipowered by the M2 chip, for the ultra-low price of $599.
The new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models are the first to introduce Apple’s M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, the successors to the M1 Pro and M1 Max from 2021. Last year, Apple revealed standard M2 chip inside MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro, but these newer chipsets are more powerful and efficient.
You can choose one of two chips for each machine; they offer up to a 12-core CPU, with the M2 Pro having a 19-core GPU and up to 32 GB of unified memory potential. Go with the M2 Max and you can upgrade to a 38-core GPU and up to 96 GB of unified memory for really power-hungry tasks. Making those upgrades increases the price significantly, but fortunately, the base price remains the same for these laptops. The MacBook Pro 14 inch starting at $1,999 and 16 inch model priced at $2,499. You can order now and they will ship on January 24th.
Apple says the M2 Pro comes with 20% more transistors than the M1 Pro and doubles the bandwidth when compared to the M2, from 100 GB per second to 200. Image processing is said to be fast. 40% more on M2 Pro than M1 Pro too. All of this will lead to improved performance across the board, but the proof will be in the pudding—we’ll have our thoughts on these devices soon.
Other MacBook support features include support for 8K/60-Hz and 4K/240-Hz external monitors when you use the HDMI port, as well as Wi-Fi 6E compatibility if you have a Wi-Fi 6E router. Many other things remain the same as their predecessors. You get the same great 120 Hz display, durable construction, and innovative port selection that includes three USB-C ports, HDMI, an SD card slot, a headphone jack, and a MagSafe connector. However, that means the things we don’t like stay the same. These 14- and 16-inch laptops are heavy, not quite the machines you want to take with you everywhere. Still no Face ID (only Touch ID).
We weren’t happy with the battery life either, but Apple has somewhat addressed this in its latest model. Specifically, the 16-inch MacBook Pro has been given an increase in battery life to 22 hours, up from 21 hours. Not a huge increase, but it’s still what Apple claims is “the longest battery life ever on a Mac”.
