Apple just announced new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, powered by fresh Apple M2 Pro and M2 Max CPUs. Let’s dive in to see how they compare to the M1 offerings.and to each other.
Apple just announced new M2 Pro and M2 Max processors and, with them, new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros that will be built around the fresh silicon. Those additions to the MacBook brood make for, now, quite a few modern MacBook Pro options. So we’re here to help compare the old and the new.The Apple M1 & M2 Rundown: Where We Are in 2023
The Mac-maker made major waves in the processor space when it first introduced its homebrewed M1 system-on-chip (SoC) back in 2020, followed by souped-up M1 Pro and M1 Max options in 2021. These latter chips are better suited for truly demanding workloads than the base M1 chip, particularly those of creative professionals—the MacBook Pro’s target audience.
The die, another day: The new M2 Pro silicon
Since then, Apple really upped the ante with its even more powerful M2 silicon—we reviewed a 13-inch MacBook Pro with this chip. Now, we’re at the point in the cycle where Apple is introducing the more powerful M2 Pro and M2 Max, as it did for the M1 before. We’ll have to wait a bit longer to be able to test these chips ourselves and bring you the results, but, based on the M1 Pro’s and M1 Max’s improvements over the original, it should be a mighty leap in performance.
This can all sound confusing, and has knock-on effects for the laptop offerings. So let’s dive into the hardware and see how the MacBook Pro options stack up.2023 MacBook Pro Design and Pricing: Do These Laptops Look Familiar?
Though the 13-inch MacBook Pro is available with the base M2 chip and is somewhat relevant, we’ll focus on the comparisons with the previous 14- and 16-inch laptops. These are the systems that have been updated here in early 2023, and they pit the M1 Pro and Max against the new M2 versions.
First off—and one of the main things you may be wondering—they look the same. The new laptops are the same design and size as the existing models. This MacBook launch is not a redesign or an external refinement, but an update focused on the latest silicon, which does come with some new features in addition to increased performance. Maybe the next edition will focus on a physical redesign, but 2023’s first MacBook moves are really all about the new processors.The 2021 MacBook Pro 14-Inch: Same look in ’23
This means that the aspects most folks appreciate in a MacBook Pro are back, even though most are not upgraded. This includes the Liquid Retina XDR display at 14 and 16 inches, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an SDXC card slot, a headphone jack, and a MagSafe 3 power port. The new features come in the form of support for faster Wi-Fi 6E, and a new “advanced HDMI” that can power 8K external displays at 60Hz.The 2021 Apple MacBook Pro M2 16-Inch: Same sharp look, too
Just as important, the color options remain the same. Either size laptop comes in Apple’s signature Space Grey or in silver, as did the existing models. The Touch Bar has not returned to these models, either.
Let’s look at the pricing: The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro starts at $1,999, and the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro starts at $2,499. Bumping up to the M2 Max will cost you a pretty penny, with the 14-incher jumping to $3,099 and the 16-incher to $3,499. These starting costs reflect the same dynamic we saw with the M1 versions.Head-to-Head Specs: All About M2
To start, you can read some more in-depth about each of these SoCs and their advantages in our separate M2 Pro and Max explainer. If you’re already caught up, or just want to cut to the chase, we’ll run the differences down here.
The hard specs below are useful, and of particular interest to the speeds-and-feeds enthusiasts out there, but they don’t tell the whole story. Particularly with the hardware and software efficiencies we touch on, it’s difficult to tell, on paper, just how much faster the M2 Pro and M2 Max are than their predecessors—Apple’s synergistic formulas are a bit of a black box.Apple’s render of the 2023 MacBook Pro 14-incher
Apple does provide plenty of claims, however, for how much faster the new silicon is. We’ll say up front before repeating them that you should take them with a grain of salt, or at the very least understand it’s not always a 1:1 conclusion. Testing conditions can be favorable for quoted results, and sometimes, claims can speak to peak improvements rather than the average gains users will see.
Additionally, comparisons are often made to the “fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro,“ but Intel has also released new (very fast) processor generations in the time since Apple used its chips in MacBooks.
