M2 Max MacBook Pro Review – is it best?
This is the M2 Max MacBook Pro. Apple updated the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with a press release and an 18-minute YouTube video that featured a bunch of creators at the start, which was cool, and then basically a whole pre-recorded event that looked like it was cut out of another event, which it is rumoured was cut out of an event that they were rumoured to have late last year.
A Comparison of the Apple Silicon MacBook Pros with the M1 Pro and M2 Pro
What you need to know is that on the outside, they’re nearly identical, but on the inside, instead of M1 Pro and M1 Max, it’s M2 Pro and M2 Max. There are a few other minor improvements as well, so the first Apple silicon MacBook Pros when they came out in October 2021 were some of the most unanimously well liked computers I have ever seen. They added back the ports, got rid of the touch bar, brought back magsafe, and upgraded to an excellent higher refresh rate mini LED
M2 Max MacBook Pro
| Display | 16-inch 3,456×2,234 254ppi 3:2 aspect ratio; 500 nits SDR, 1,600 nits HDR |
|---|---|
| CPU | 3.3GHz Apple M2 Pro 12 cores (8P/4E) |
| Memory | 32GB LPDDR5 |
| Graphics | Apple M2 Pro integrated 19 cores |
| Storage | 2TB Apple SSD AP2048Z, SD card slot |
| Ports | 3 x USB-C/Thunderbolt 4, 1 x HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm audio |
| Networking | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Operating system | MacOS Ventura 13.2 |
| Weight | 4.7 lbs/2.2kg |
Is a MacBook Pro Really a Mistake?
When you see a new one a year and a half later, there isn’t really much that we’re expecting to change because the big change was from the Intel MacBook Pros to the Apple silicon ones now we’re back to more incremental improvements so as you can imagine yeah completely identical on the outside same sizes same colours. I don’t think I’ve met a single person who got one and was like oh no I made a mistake with this one.
The M2 Pro and M2 Max: Upgrades of the GPU and Neural Engine
The new chip within M2 Pro and M2 Max is practically the same in terms of pricing tiers and configurations as before, but according to Apple, CPU and GPU performance have increased by 20 and 30, respectively. Under the hood, it’s built on a new second generation 5 nanometer process, and they’ve added some cores: two more high efficiency CPU cores and three more GPU cores on the pro, making it a 19 core GPU on the M2 Pro and a 38 core GPU on the M2 Max. Additionally, the neural engine and media engine have been improved to handle machine learning and media processing, respectively.
A New 16 Core Intel Mac Pro
The M1 Max laptop did it in 32 seconds so that was so sick that’s one of those things you instantly notice is way faster this new M2 Max did it in 23 seconds so again a pretty substantial Improvement like clearly the outgoing machines weren’t up to par. A 16 core Intel Mac Pro with the Vega Pro 2 Duo that retailed for over fifteen thousand dollars took a three and a half minute screen recording and churned that out in 56 seconds.
New Features of the MacBook Pro: Battery Life, MagSafe Cable, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 and HDMI 2.1
Battery power These laptops still fast charge, but there is also a new color-matching magsafe cable. This is a small change since these laptops are really only silver or slightly darker silver, but there you go, it’s darker now with the space grey one it matches co. not only is the battery life still really good, but there is also a claimed extra hour on both the 14 inch and 16 inch of battery. I’m not seeing a dramatic difference, but hey the fact that it’s better at all sick capabilities HDMI 2.1 was really something I was confused about lacking on the previous version because it had been out for a little while, but it’s now here and that allows for up to 8K 60fps through that HDMI connection so that’s about time. Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth 5.3 and HDMI 2.1 In the studio, we literally just installed Wi-Fi 6E routers for the first time, and the MacBook Pros have consistently been the fastest device on our Wi-Fi network, so Wi-Fi 6E is going to be wonderful for future proofing.
Comparing the M1 Pro and M1 Max Laptops: Battery Life and Power Considerations
These are a step above the rest, and my general advice on what to buy at different points in the lineup essentially remains the same. If you’re looking for battery life, M2 Pro is going to be fantastic. If you want maximum power at the cost of some of your battery life, M2 Max is probably the way to go. And really, my incredibly obvious conclusion is that these laptops aren’t for people who already own the M1 Pro and M1 Max laptops that just launched. In fact, for those using older laptops, I recommend waiting for sales of the M1 Pro and M1 Max when you start to find discounts on them. If you are one of the tiny minority of people who purchased the older ones and were pushing it to its maximum capacity and simply needs that 30 more power, then you know who you are.
