Needless to say, both machines were overkill for my workload, which involves lots of web browsing for research, writing and photo editing, often with music and social media apps in the background and some light gaming (I still leave my intense gaming to PC and consoles.) Apple claims the updated architecture allows for 200 GB/s of bandwidth on M2 Pro and up to 400 GB/s on M2 Max. Both also include a 16-core Neural Engine and dedicated media engines for encoding and decoding in H.264 and HEVC or accelerating ProRes.īoth the Pro and the Max also have faster access to memory. But the M2 Pro has a 19-core GPU, while the Max has a 38-core GPU. The M2 Max has an identical CPU core setup to the Pro we reviewed. The M2 Pro in our 14-inch review unit has 12 CPU cores - eight performance cores and four efficiency cores. And both MacBook Pro configurations we tested: a 14-inch Pro with an M2 Pro, 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD and a 16-inch Pro with a whopping 96GB of unified memory and 4TB SSD both performed admirably in our testing. Productivity Performance on the MacBook Pro (2023)Īpple's M2 Pro and M2 Max are both powerhouses. With M2 Pro and M2 Max, the MacBook Pro is more powerful than ever, and is an alluring replacement for lots of aging.ġ4.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display, 3,024 x 1,964, 120 Hz ProMotionġ6.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display, 3,456 x 2,234, 120 Hz ProMotionģx Thunderbolt 4 over USB Type-C, HDMI, SDXC card slot, 3.5 mm headphone jack, MagSafe 3ġ2.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches (312.6 x 221.2 x 15.5 mm)ġ4.01 x 9.77 x 0.66 inches (355.7 mm x 248.1 mm x 16.8 mm)

If you're ever going to want 96GB of RAM with your M2 Max, consider emptying your bank account at the point of purchase. Upgrades to the highest-performance parts, including RAM and storage, will cost you a serious chunk of cash over the base models, but you should seriously consider them, because Apple's design doesn't allow for internal upgrades down the line.

These are still some of the best ultrabooks, with gorgeous Mini-LED displays, excellent speakers and functionality that feels worthy of professionals and hobbyist creators alike. Now, the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros maintain everything that was great about that design, but updates them to the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, adding more power and endurance than before. It was a bold move (and in some cases, a big reversal for Apple). The 2021 redesign of the MacBook Pro supercharged the lineup, adding Apple Silicon, plenty of ports, a 1080p webcam and even made it thicker to accommodate it all.

Macbook pro for video editing