When you need power from your laptop, it’s smart to plug in the charger to get the best performance possible. However, Apple’s first M1 tablet MacBook Pro models marked a major shift in this ideology, delivering comparable performance whether you’re plugged into a wall outlet or not. The new 2023 MacBook Pro models—powered by the enhanced M2 Pro and M2 Max chipsets—do the same trick, although they don’t add much else.
The MacBook Pro 14 and 16-inch 2023 models are not too different from version 2021, so I’ll mainly focus on the changes the new processor introduces, specifically the performance and battery life of the M2 Max on the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which is what I’m testing. Either way, if you’re after power on the go and you have a big budget, these machines are among the best available today.
Power and Freedom
Photo: Apple
The M2 Max saw Apple’s flagship laptop chip grow from the 10-core CPU and 32-core GPU on the M1 Max to 12-core and 38-core respectively. What’s changed? are not represents the move from 5 nanometer to 3 nm process for silicon—this is expected to happen with M3 Pro and M3 Max next year. With a smaller, more efficient chip, it should deliver significant increases in both performance and battery life, but that doesn’t mean the improvements in the second-generation chipset aren’t impressive.
My test unit configuration is a 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Max—12-core CPU, 38-core GPU version—with 64GB of unified memory and a 2 terabyte SSD. This will cost you $4,299 (£4,549) and you can stand still spend more money to upgrade it to 96 GB of unified storage and a 4 or 8 TB SSD. Wild. At these levels of completeness, it still can’t reach the pinnacle of the best laptop processors and graphics cards for raw performance. However, it comes close and sometimes surpasses the competition in real-world missions—and, I must emphasize, even on the battery.
I tested one a lot of of laptops in my day, and few produce an audible “wow” as often as the MacBook Pro. It consumes less power than its competitors, ultimately achieving better battery life across everything—from productivity to intense creative workloads—and generating less noise and heat. more. The M2 Max model fell short of Apple’s listed 15-hour wireless browsing claim, but managed to get close to 12. But the important thing is that during intensive work, it easily beats competitors that usually max out 2 hours by an hour or two. When it’s time to top up, the 140-watt MagSafe charger will get you up to 100 percent restored in less than 90 minutes.
M2 Max laughs in the face of massive productivity workloads. It’s a tab hoarder’s dream. But, that’s really not the purpose of this chip. I enlisted the help of experienced editor and WIRED creative development director, Anna O’Donohue, to test our review model. We added a combination of 4K footage, image files, and 3D effects to the project in Adobe Premiere Pro. The M2 Max reacted breathlessly. Anna notes that playback is smooth—she expected to have to reduce the quality of the footage to avoid stuttering. We also have fast export times.
This chipset is made to tackle graphics-intensive production work, although it may even have more horsepower than most video creators need. I would argue that the M2 Pro is a better choice for an intermediate photo or video editor, as well as for anyone else that doesn’t require a lot of graphical power (like for music production).
