A few days after the announcement of the new MacBook Pros with the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, the first press tests were published. We read them to understand what the 2023 vintage of Apple laptops had in store for us.
Source : Apple
On January 17, 2023, Apple announced, without a press conference, the new 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro, equipped with the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, presented at the same time. If the design does not change at all compared to that of the MacBook Pro with M1 Pro or M1 Max, the interior of these machines has a priori improved. To verify this, we read several tests from the press that gave their verdict on these Apple computers:
The design hasn’t changed, but it’s still just as good
The shapes and connections are the same as last year, it must be said that it was a brand new design introduced with the M1 Pro and M1 Max. However, this is not necessarily a problem since the finishes are excellent with an aluminum body. The keyboard and trackpad are still level and we still have the right to a power key which is also used to use Touch ID, which is very practical.
Source: Arnaud Gelineau – Aroged
The connection consists of three Thunderbolt 4 ports, a jack port, a MagSafe connector, an HDMI 2.1 port and an SD card reader, which is quite complete. Also, we have the return of the notch on the screen, the main purpose of which is to create the identity of the machine. No Face ID or special technology that requires the integration of a notch: it’s just for looks. What was praised, on the other hand, was the support for an external 8K screen for the first time (in 60 Hz) or 4K (in 240 Hz).
screen
The screen is also always the same: a Liquid Retina XDR mini-LED panel with a definition of 3024 by 1964 pixels, offering an adaptive refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. A perfectly calibrated screen that offers excellent brightness a contrast ratio that is close to the values of OLED screens.
The arrival of Wi-Fi 6E
These laptops from Apple are Wi-Fi 6E enabled, which promises better transfer speeds and lower latency thanks to the use of the 6 GHz band. Numerama is somewhat disappointed with the performance observed: “The MacBook Pro M2 Pro achieves speeds worthy of Ethernet when it is in the same room as its router (a Google Nest Wifi Pro here). On the other hand, as soon as it moves away a little, the difference is more limited. In some cases, the 5 GHz MacBook Air even did better. »
Source: Arnaud Gelineau – Aroged
Sometimes 5 GHz is even faster, especially for larger files. For Toms’s Guide, “the MacBook Pro M1 Pro delivered similar results in various places as the M2 Max model.”
Performances
A consensus that arises in the press around the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips is that for the general public, the power it delivers is not really useful. What the MacBook Pro M1 or MacBook Air M2 can offer is more than enough. Devindra Hardawar from Engadget talks about her daily use of the computer: “I haven’t noticed any major performance benefits over previous models. This isn’t really a criticism of the new computer, it’s more of a testament to what Apple managed to do last time around. “A finding shared by MacWorld for which the M1 Pro model can do as well as the M2 Max model. However, the media clarifies that “Apple also stated that the M2 Pro is twice as fast as the M2, but we did not see this in Geekbench. »
The “Pro” version is more useful for creative people: video editors, animators, architects, etc. But these chips remain the main novelty of these MacBooks, with the addition of additional cores, which is why they have been tested at length by the press. For example, “Numerama’s test results confirm Apple’s claims, which promise a 20 to 30% gain over the previous generation. Unsurprisingly, with a single core, the M2 Pro chip is the most powerful of all (it’s normal, it’s the latest one)”. A promise also verified by Engadget. Tom’s Guide measured that “the 14-inch MacBook Pro is approximately 9% faster in single-core performance compared to the previous model and 17% faster in multi-core.”
As for the difference between the two new chips, The Verge notes that: “The M2 Max and M2 Pro are neck and neck on the synthetic CPU-related benchmarks we ran. In most cases, the M1 Max was a bit ahead but within the margin of error. “A lesser difference which is not verified on the graphic part, on which “the M2 Pro and M2 Max seem to be on different planets. The M2 Max is by far the most graphically powerful laptop chip that Apple has released.
Autonomy
On the autonomy side too, there is better, while the previous version of the MacBook Pro with M1 Pro or M1 Max chips was already excellent on this point. Engadget notes a significant improvement: “The previous MacBook Pro lasted 12 hours and 36 minutes during our tests, but the new model lasted 15 hours and 10 minutes. An improvement also noted by The Verge, which was at 10 hours of autonomy during work with a MacBook Pro 16 M1 Max and which increased to 14 on the M2 model.
However, this is not the finding of Tom’s Guide, which measured similar autonomy (continuous web browsing and brightness at 150 cd / m²) with just over 14 hours for the MacBook Pro M2 Pro compared to its M1 Pro version. . The media still welcomes the consistency of the autonomy which is accompanied by a gain in performance, which remains a feat. Apple announces up to 22 hours of autonomy in movie playback via the Apple TV application: MacWorld took up the challenge and was able to watch a full-screen video in a loop for 27 hours (display set to 150 cd / m²).
Charging, too, has been tested: the MacWorld journalist says: “When I drained the MacBook Pro’s battery to test its life, I found that fast charging worked exactly as Apple had announced. : it reached 50% in just under 30 minutes. »
MacBook Pro M2 Pro/Max are too expensive
The cheapest version of this new series of MacBook Pro is the 14-inch MacBook Pro M2 Pro, which has increased in price by 150 euros compared to the 14-inch MacBook Pro M1 Pro, bringing it up to 2399 euros. No matter the chip or the amount of storage, these new “Pros” are overpriced, like the MacBook Pro M2 was a few months ago. Engadget recommends for its part to choose a MacBook Air M2 and that it is worth “keeping an eye on the M1 Pro and Max machines if you are looking to save money” by adding RAM in particular. A thought shared by Tom’s Guide.
Another consensus made by the press in conclusion: this new vintage of MacBook Pro is a success, but it is above all due to the feat achieved with the MacBook Pro M1 Pro/M1 Max in the fall of 2021. The MacBook Pro M2 Pro/M2 Max are essentially a significant evolution in performance, with a few welcome new features as a bonus (Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, support for very high definition external screens). The Verge goes further saying that, “Even with performance aside, the MacBook Pro 16 far outperforms most Windows laptops in areas such as screen quality, audio, touchpad and construction. For media, if you can afford a MacBook Pro, go for it.
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