Apple has officially announced its first new products of 2023. Specifically, the brand just launched new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, as well as new Mac minis. None of these models look any different than their predecessors — they have the same exact designs as last year's models — but it's what's under the hood that counts: they're the first products to feature Apple's super powerful M2 Pro and M2 Max chipsets.
The new M2 Pro and M2 Max chipsets are new-and-improved versions of the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips that Apple announced in October 2021 — and they promise big leaps in power, performance and battery life. According to Apple, the M2 Pro chip promises roughly a 20 percent boost in performance over the M1 Pro and is up to 80 percent faster than the 2019-released MacBook Pros with an Intel Core i9 processor. The M2 Max has a 30 percent faster GPU than the M1 Max.
But perhaps the biggest news here for most users is that new chipsets should give these new MacBook Pros up to 22 hours of battery life, which would making them the longest-lasting MacBooks to date.
More details on Apple's new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips:
The M2 Pro has 20-percent more transistors than the M1 Pro (and double the amount in the M2), while the M2 Max has just over 17 percent more transistors than the M1 Max (and three times more than the M2). The M2 Pro features 200 GB/s of unified memory bandwidth (twice as much as M2) and up to 32GB of low-latency unified memory. The M2 Max features 400 GB/s of unified memory bandwidth (twice that of M2 Pro and four times that of M2) and supports up to 96 GB of fast unified memory.
Aside from the new chipsets, these new MacBook Pros and Mac minis have a few other under-the-hood upgrades. They support Wi-Fi 6E, which promises faster connectivity — if you have a router that also supports Wi-Fi 6E. And they have a more advanced HDMI port that supports an 8K displays (up to 60Hz) and 4K displays (up to 240Hz).
The new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros will replace the 2021-released models in Apple's lineup. The 14-inch and 16-inch model with M2 Pro starts at $1,999 and $2,499, respectively. You can preorder them today, and they'll be available next week — starting Tuesday, January 24.
The new Mac mini has another layer of interest because, for the first time, Apple is separating line into "entry-level" and "pro." There's a new base model that's decked out with an M2 chip (along with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage) that starts at $599. And you'll be able to buy a pro version with the upgraded M2 Pro chip for $1,299. Both are available for preorder now and are expected to ship January 24.
