Marketed from 2,399 euros, the new MacBook Pros adopt new chips, once again from Apple Silicon laboratories. They will be marketed from Tuesday, January 24.
Until 2010, Apple held an event in January every year. The Macworld conference, where the iPhone and MacBook Air were unveiled, was a moment Apple aficionados had been looking forward to. Since Apple broke with this tradition, few products from the Californian brand were released in January. In fact, since the iPad in 2010, Apple has always preferred to remain silent until spring.
This January 17, 2023, Apple returns to the announcements of the beginning of the year. By press release, Cupertino announces the refresh of its overpowered 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, which go from M1 Pro and M1 Max chips to M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. The rest is unchanged, but their predecessors excel too much for that to be a problem.
2023 in continuity
The 2023 MacBook Pros look like those of 2021. It’s not really a surprise, the previous generation had the right to a makeover. It is very likely that Apple will not touch the design of its most powerful laptops for a few years, the time to properly amortize the production chains.
We therefore find the same two models with a choice of a 14.2 or 16.2 inch screen (with notch ?). In both cases, these are mini-LED panels with ProMotion technology, which allows their refresh rate to go up to 120 Hz. Logically, these screens should largely outclass those of the MacBook Air M2 (LCD and 60Hz).
On the ports side, we are still entitled to three Thunderbolt / USB 4 (USB Type-C) ports, a jack, an HDMI port (now capable of reaching 8K), an SD card reader and charging MagSafe 3 (small novelty: as with the MacBook Air, the cable is now the color of the Mac!). There’s still Touch ID to unlock it quickly, plus a huge trackpad. Finally, the 2023 MacBook Pro benefits from the same six powerful speakers that we can’t wait to try again. Those of the previous generation were really impressive.
M2 Pro, M2 Max and Wi-Fi 6E, the new MacBook Pros
As you can see, the new MacBook Pros are probably not for you if you have the previous generation. Unless your job requires extraordinary power. Then the new Apple Silicon chips might interest you.
Under the bowels of the 2023 MacBook Pros, there are several configurations. If the basic models are “content” with an M2 Pro chip limited to 10 cores, other options make it possible to achieve unprecedented power (Apple speaks of 20 to 30% higher performance). The M2 Pro/Max are also entitled to a new, more powerful NPU (the Neural Engine) (+40%), a great development at a time when generative algorithms are used. It’s up to the user to choose between the two chips, even if there are obviously plenty of possible variations:
- The chip Apple M2 Prowith a 12-core CPU (10 on the M1 Pro) and a 19-core GPU (16 on the M1 Pro).
- The chip Apple M1 Maxwith a 12-core CPU (10 on the M1 Max) and a 38-core GPU (32 on the M1 Max).
Videographers, while they probably had no complaints with the performance of the M1 chips, should gain even more power with these new configurations. Apple also announces a record autonomy, which can reach 22 hours on the 16-inch version (18 hours on the 14-inch model). On the RAM side, Apple leaves the choice between different options (between 16 GB and 96 GB of RAM).
Finally, the other novelty of this 2023 generation concerns the modem connected to the new M2 chips. After the iPad Pro, the MacBook Pro becomes the second Apple product compatible with Wi-Fi 6E, which uses the 6 GHz band. If you have a compatible box, such as a Freebox Delta 6E or a Livebox 6, the gain should be noticeable. Numerama’s test with an iPad Pro and the Google Nest Wifi Pro was quite impressive. We can’t wait to put the MacBook Pro through its paces, hoping that the MacBook Air and iPhones will also upgrade to Wi-Fi 6E later this year.
Apple raises prices slightly
After iPhones, iPads, other Macs and subscriptions, Apple is unsurprisingly attacking MacBook Pros. Inflation and the euro/dollar equivalence have something to do with it, but it is inevitably difficult to digest an increase of 150 euros in France when we see that prices remain the same in the United States. At maximum (i.e. in its most powerful configuration, with M1 Max, 96 GB of RAM and an 8 TB SSD), a 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M2 Max chip can reach 7,599 euros .
MacBook Pros will be available on January 24 and, we hope, will soon be tested by Numerama and its team of video editors in search of speed.
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