The MacBook Pro's M2 Pro chip upgrade improves performance and battery life, but it comes at a significant price increase, making it especially expensive outside of the United States.
Despite being the same price in the US, the starting price is £2,149 ($1,999/A$3,199), which is £250 (A$200) higher than its predecessor. This is partly due to weak currency rates. It isn't as though the 2021 model was modest, however pushing past the £2,000 mark for the new variant essentially raises the boundary to section.
The winning combination of a brilliantly fast, sharp, and super-bright screen, a class-leading keyboard and trackpad, a reasonable selection of ports, and a premium look and feel appropriate for its price remain on the machine's exterior. In 2021, it was excellent, and it still is today.
Like all recent Macs, including its desktop stablemate, the Mac mini, it runs macOS 13.2 Ventura. It has useful screen-sharing and proximity features, allowing you to use a recent iPad as a second screen or remotely control it. It generally runs like previous versions and is not too different from Windows. Although the FaceTime HD camera on the MacBook Pro is already quite good, using an iPhone as a wireless webcam works extremely well.
Specifications
- Screen: 14.2in mini LED (3024x1964; 254 ppi) ProMotion (120Hz)
- Processor: Apple M2 Pro or M2 Max
- RAM: 16, 32, 64 or 96GB
- Storage: 512GB, 1, 2, 4 or 8TB SSD
- Operating system: macOS 13.2 Ventura
- Camera: 1080p FaceTime HD camera
- Connectivity: wifi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, 3x USB 4/Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1, SD card, headphones
- Dimensions: 221.2 x 312.6 x 15.5mm
- Weight: 1.6kg
M2 Pro is more efficient and faster
In tests, the new M2 Pro chip outperforms the already fast M1 Pro chips in terms of performance, with CPU speeds up to 14% faster and graphics speeds up to 22% faster. That puts it in line with some of the best laptop chips from Intel and AMD, but it uses a lot less power. For those who require additional graphics or power for specialized applications, the M2 Max chip is also available.
In my testing, the laptop equipped with the M2 Pro managed more than 15 hours of light work, such as word processing or browsing, and approximately 12 hours of more demanding tasks, such as editing batches of large images in Affinity Photo, with a battery life that was about 10% longer than its predecessor. That is completely noteworthy, outliving all adversaries by some edge.
Using Apple's included 96W USB-C charger and MagSafe cable, the battery can be fully charged in just under 90 minutes and reach 50% in about 30 minutes. However, it can also be charged through any of the USB ports.