Apple today announced the 2023 editions of the MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch as well as the Mac mini with the new Apple M2 Pro and M2 Max processors. The MacBooks also get updated connectivity options and the Mac mini has a lower starting price. The MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch can now be configured with the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, which claim to offer up to 20% faster CPU performance and 30% faster GPU performance over the previous generation M1 variants. You can either go with Apple's preset configuration options — three each for the two sizes — or you can configure any of the options to essentially have any processor, memory, and storage configuration you like.
On offer here are two options for the M2
Pro and M2 Max, respectively. You can get the M2 Pro with 10-core CPU and
16-core GPU or 12-core CPU and 19-core GPU. The M2 Max can be configured in
either 12-core CPU and 30-core GPU or 12-core CPU and 38-core GPU options. The
new processors also bring updated unified memory configurations, with the M2
Pro offering 16GB and 32GB options whereas the M2 Max offering 32GB, 64GB, and
96GB options. You can also configure the built-in flash storage from 512GB all
the way to 8TB. 16GB memory and 512GB storage are standard on the cheapest
variant.
The new processors have also bumped up the
battery life of the 2023 models, with the 14-inch model enabling 18 hours of
video playback and 12 hours of wireless web browsing, while the 16-inch model
can do 22 hours of video playback and 15 hours of wireless web browsing. Also
new on the MacBook Pro models are improved connectivity options. You now get
Wi-Fi 6E for faster wireless connectivity and the HDMI has been updated to the
2.1 standard, supporting up to 8K at 60Hz and 4K at 240Hz.
The MacBook Pro 14-inch is available in US$ 1999, US$ 2499, and US$ 3099 variants, while the 16-inch is available in US$ 2499, US$ 2699, and US$ 3499 variants. All models can be configured with all options
through the Apple online store. Moving on to the desktop side, the new Mac mini
now comes with the M2 and the M2 Pro processors. It also now has a lower
starting price of US$ 599 as the old Intel variant has finally been discontinued.
The Mac mini has the M2 processor for the US$ 599 and US$ 799 models, which has an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU. Both of these
have a measly 8GB unified memory as standard but can be configured manually
with either 16GB or 24GB. The US$ 1299 model comes with the M2 Pro with 10-core
CPU and 16-core GPU as standard but can be configured with the 12-core CPU and
19-core GPU variant. It includes 16GB unified memory and can be upgraded to
32GB. The M2 models can be configured up to 2TB storage while the M2 Pro model
can be configured up to 8TB. There is no M2 Max option for the Mac mini.
All new Mac mini models come with Wi-Fi 6E
but the M2 Pro model also includes the new HDMI 2.1 port as well as four
Thunderbolt 4 ports instead of two on the M2 models. As mentioned before, the
older Intel variant has finally been discontinued, leaving the Mac Pro as the
only Intel-based option in Apple's lineup. Speaking of which, there is still no
word on the arrival of the Apple Silicon based Mac Pro, which is now officially
past Apple's original 2022 transition period claim. But if we had to guess it
is likely arriving later this year with the inevitable M2 Ultra in tow.
