Apple upgrades 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro, M2 Max
Apple has updated its 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro, with the main change being an upgrade of chips from the M1-series to the M2 Pro and M2 Max.
M2 Pro and M2 Max in MacBook Pro
Introduced as one of a pair of surprise January press releases, the refresh of the 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro models are relatively straightforward, with it chiefly consisting of an internal spec bump.
Top of the agenda is Apple's chip change, migrating from the M1 Pro and M1 Max options in the previous generation to new counterparts: M2 Pro and M2 Max.
At the top of the screen is the heavily-criticized notch, containing the 1080p FaceTime HD camera.
On the sides are the usual selection of three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, an HDMI port, and an SDXC card slot. A MagSafe 3 connector is also offered, which can work with the included 96W USB-C power adapter in the 14-inch model, 140W for the 16-inch.
Display specs and external appearance remain the same
The HDMI port is capable of outputting 8K video for the first time and supports outputting in 4K 240Hz. Also, the new laptops support Wi-Fi 6E, which is up to twice as fast.
Battery life has increased to be rated at up to 22 hours of Apple TV app movie playback for the 16-inch MacBook Pro. The new Apple Silicon brings improved battery life ratings across the lineup.
The backlit Magic Keyboard makes a return with Touch ID, as well as the usual Force Touch trackpad.
"MacBook Pro with Apple silicon has been a game changer, empowering pros to push the limits of their workflows while on the go and do things they never thought possible on a laptop," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "Today the MacBook Pro gets even better. With faster performance, enhanced connectivity, and the longest battery life ever in a Mac, along with the best display in a laptop, there's simply nothing else like it."
The GPU for the M2 Pro has up to 19 cores and delivers up to 30% more graphics performance. The Neural Engine is also 40% faster.
Apple claims that the M2 Pro can render titles and animations in Motion up to 80% faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro and up to 20% faster than the M1 Pro. Compiling Xcode is also 2.5x faster than the Intel-based machine or 25% faster than the M1 Pro.
The M2 Pro and M2 Max
The CPU for the M2 Max has a 12-core CPU with up to eight high-performance and four high-efficiency cores with up to 20% greater performance over M1 Max. It has 400GB/s of unified memory bandwidth and can be configured with up to 96GB of RAM.
The M2 Max can be configured with up to a 38-core GPU with up to 30% graphics performance improvements over M1 Max. Apple says it is up to six times faster at effects rendering in Cinema 4D than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro.
The 16-inch versions start at $2,499 for the M2 Pro model. The M2 Max model starts at $3,499 with a 30-core GPU and 2TB of storage by default.
Customers will have to max out the M2 Max GPU at 38 cores to get the 96GB of RAM. Maxed-out configurations with 8TB of storage and 96GB of RAM are priced at $6,299 for the 14-inch and $6,499 for the 16-inch.
Pre-orders for the new models start today, with initial shipments and in-store availability on January 24.
Read on AppleInsider
M2 Pro and M2 Max in MacBook Pro
Introduced as one of a pair of surprise January press releases, the refresh of the 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro models are relatively straightforward, with it chiefly consisting of an internal spec bump.
Top of the agenda is Apple's chip change, migrating from the M1 Pro and M1 Max options in the previous generation to new counterparts: M2 Pro and M2 Max.
New MacBook Pros
On the outside, the notebooks both remain practically unchanged, with respective 14.2-inch and 16.2-inch mini-LED backlit Liquid Retina XDR displays capable of up to 1,000 nits of brightness, 1,600 nits for HDR content, along with Wide color (P3) and True Tone support, and 120Hz ProMotion.At the top of the screen is the heavily-criticized notch, containing the 1080p FaceTime HD camera.
On the sides are the usual selection of three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, an HDMI port, and an SDXC card slot. A MagSafe 3 connector is also offered, which can work with the included 96W USB-C power adapter in the 14-inch model, 140W for the 16-inch.
Display specs and external appearance remain the same
The HDMI port is capable of outputting 8K video for the first time and supports outputting in 4K 240Hz. Also, the new laptops support Wi-Fi 6E, which is up to twice as fast.
Battery life has increased to be rated at up to 22 hours of Apple TV app movie playback for the 16-inch MacBook Pro. The new Apple Silicon brings improved battery life ratings across the lineup.
The backlit Magic Keyboard makes a return with Touch ID, as well as the usual Force Touch trackpad.
"MacBook Pro with Apple silicon has been a game changer, empowering pros to push the limits of their workflows while on the go and do things they never thought possible on a laptop," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "Today the MacBook Pro gets even better. With faster performance, enhanced connectivity, and the longest battery life ever in a Mac, along with the best display in a laptop, there's simply nothing else like it."
The M2 Pro and M2 Max
The M2 Pro uses a 10-core or 12-core CPU with up to eight high-performance and four high-efficiency cores for up to 20% greater performance over M1 Pro. It doubles M2 memory bandwidth to 200GB/s and supports up to 32GB of RAM.The GPU for the M2 Pro has up to 19 cores and delivers up to 30% more graphics performance. The Neural Engine is also 40% faster.
Apple claims that the M2 Pro can render titles and animations in Motion up to 80% faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro and up to 20% faster than the M1 Pro. Compiling Xcode is also 2.5x faster than the Intel-based machine or 25% faster than the M1 Pro.
The M2 Pro and M2 Max
The CPU for the M2 Max has a 12-core CPU with up to eight high-performance and four high-efficiency cores with up to 20% greater performance over M1 Max. It has 400GB/s of unified memory bandwidth and can be configured with up to 96GB of RAM.
The M2 Max can be configured with up to a 38-core GPU with up to 30% graphics performance improvements over M1 Max. Apple says it is up to six times faster at effects rendering in Cinema 4D than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro.
Pricing and availability
The M2 Pro 14-inch MacBook Pro will start from $1,999 with the M2 Pro. The M2 Max equipped 14-inch MacBook Pro comes configures with a 30-core GPU by default at $3,099.The 16-inch versions start at $2,499 for the M2 Pro model. The M2 Max model starts at $3,499 with a 30-core GPU and 2TB of storage by default.
Customers will have to max out the M2 Max GPU at 38 cores to get the 96GB of RAM. Maxed-out configurations with 8TB of storage and 96GB of RAM are priced at $6,299 for the 14-inch and $6,499 for the 16-inch.
Pre-orders for the new models start today, with initial shipments and in-store availability on January 24.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
It would be a game changer if Apple could get Ultra chips on the 16".
However, 8-core is only considered as mid-tiers.
Meanwhile, the best-selling chip from Intel is the Core i5, which is at least 10-core.
So just a speed/spec bump with no physical changes or new features? My 16-inch MBP M1 Max is still near the top.
Although, I'll admit. I have color-matched MagSafe charging cable envy on the new models.
The base model 16” M1-pro is currently in stores with a 13,33% discount at 2.469,99€.
I’m still on my late 2013 15” MBP w/ discrete graphics, so… M1 Pro it is.
Like, fingerprints on my pristine screen. And just thinking of reaching up all the time makes my shoulder sore.
I might add the trackpad function on the Mac computers is far beyond anything on Windows. Maybe that’s part of the reason they think having a touchscreen on the Mac computers would be cool.
The real metric which should interest workstation level users is single core speed - single core speed has the greater influence on perceived speed than any other single factor.
x86/64 improves single core speed by bumping up clocks which increases heat generation exponentially which then must be cooled to keep the CPU from burning up - Apple Silicon does this by making the CPU wider which allows the CPU to peer deeply into the execution queue and parallelize instruction execution. Ever since the A14's Firestorm cores Apple Silicon has been able to peer 690 instructions forward in the execution queue, and with a massive reorder buffer and multiple redundant arithmetic units and has an out-of-order execution unit capable of running up to eight instructions simultaneously. Now multiply that by 6 or 8 high performance cores.
Oh, and the high efficiency cores have been sped up considerably too.
I believe that Apple has also increased the memory cache so Trans Lookaside Buffer stalls will no longer be an issue from too many developers simply porting graphic logic across from Wintel graphics workflows and not reengineering graphic workflows to properly use Tile Based Deferred Rendering keeping intermediate graphic results out in tile memory (using immediate mode in a step by step rote port).
I pulled the trigger in December replacing my i2017 iMac 5k with a 16“ M1 Max + screen and with the discount I got plus the price hike here in Europe I totally don‘t regret not to have waited. The only thing I catch myself occasionally still doing is reaching up formte keyboard to double tap a word, or move the cursor on the screen, like I‘m used to do on my iPad/magic keyboard combo. So much for pristine screens as well, I suppose ;-)