Apple has launched the next-generation 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with faster M2 Pro and M2 Max chips that support up to 96GB of RAM. With the latest Apple Mac Pro models, now the company has upgraded its large-screen notebook laptop lineup with an M2 chipset. The new MacBook Pro devices are also equipped with the latest HDMI 2.1 port that supports an external display of 8K and faster Wi-Fi 6E and many other features.
The latest M2 Pro chip features a 10-core or 12-core CPU, and provides up to 20% more performance than its predecessor, the M1 Pro chip, according to Apple. The chip is also equipped with up to 19 cores of GPU that boost its graphic performance by 30%, and its Neural Engine performs 40% more efficiently.
The most expensive M2 Max chip features an improved 12-core CPU and offers up to 20% more performance than M1 Max chip. It has as many as eight performance cores as well as four high-efficiency cores and offers up to 20% more performance over that of the M1 Max chip. It also comes with up to 38-core GPU.
With the upgraded M2 Max chip, the latest MacBook Pro is now up to 6x faster than the most powerful Intel CPU-based MacBook Pro.
The new MacBook Pro models can now support up to 96GB of unified memory when equipped with the most powerful M2 Max chip. The older model with an M1 Max chip supports as much as 64GB of memory. However, the memory bandwidth remains the same, with up to 200GB/s on the M2 Pro chip, and up to 400GB/s on the M2 Max chip.
The Apple Notebooks can be configured with up to 8TB SSD storage, which is no different from the previous generation.
The latest MacBook Pro models support Wi-Fi 6E, which enables greater wireless connectivity as well as less latency when using six GHz bands. The older version of 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models equipped with M1 chips under the hood were limited to Wi-Fi 6, which works in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.
The new MacBook Pro models with M2 chips also have an upgraded HDMI 2.1 which supports one external display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz refresh rate, or 4K resolution with 240Hz.
Apple promotes its newly released 16-inch MacBook Pro as having up to 22 hours of battery life per charge, which is the longest battery lifespan ever offered in the history of a Mac. On the other hand, the 14-inch model offers up-to-18 hours of battery backup. This is an extra hour of battery backup for every model when compared with the older model, according to Apple’s technical specifications.
Apple has decided not to make any changes in the design of the latest 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. They feature the Liquid Retina XDR display with the notch, an all-black keyboard housing and 3 Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port as well as one slot for SD cards, a 3.5mm headphone connector, MagSafe 3 for charging as well as a 1080p facetime HD camera along with the six-speaker sound system. This is identical to what a user gets with 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 chip.
Customers can buy the latest 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 chips via Apple’s online store beginning today, with availability starting January 24. Pricing starts at $1999 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro and at $2,499 for the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
The price of MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips is the same as its predecessor, which indicates Apple may soon discontinue the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 chips.
Apple, however, is yet to pass any official statement related to the future existence of the model M1 chipset. We don’t rule out the possibility of Apple discounting the 13-inch MacBook Pro lineup to simplify its offerings. For some time rumours have been making rounds that Apple may offer MacBook Air with M2/M1 chip, MacBook Pro with M1 Pro/M2 Pro chip and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Max/M2 Max chip only.
