The Macbooks Pro presented last October as part of the “Unleashed” event with their striking new design (we only say: “Notch”) are far from being scraps a year after their market launch. On the contrary, they are among the best you can buy if you are looking for a notebook for professional use. But Apple’s development does not stand still, the second generation of Apple Silicon is ready to replace the M1 Pro and M1 Max. However, hopes are fading that this will happen before the end of this year.
Current best price: Macbook Pro 14 inch M1 Pro with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD in silver
When the new Macbooks Pro will come – probably not until 2023
We will definitely have to do without a second autumn keynote this year. After the iPhone keynote at the beginning of September, Apple added products via a press release: new iPads and a third generation of the Apple TV 4K on October 18th.
Still missing new Macs, in addition to the Macbooks Pro mentioned at the beginning, we also miss a Mac Mini with an M2 chip. However, there are many indications that Apple will take its time with the presentation until March 2023Apple’s chief financial officer Luca Maestri and the company’s CEO Tim Cook dropped clear indications at the balance sheet press conference last week that the product range for this year was complete.
We are therefore betting on a spring keynote on which Apple will show several new Macs and possibly other products. This year, too, it happened in the first full week of March, and we assume that it will also happen in the coming year Tuesday March 7th as a date for a special event of Apple. The new devices can then be pre-ordered from Friday of that week, and they will be delivered a week later. The schedule would be as follows:
- March 7, 2023 from 7 p.m.: Apple Special Event
- March 10, 2023 from 2 p.m.: Start of pre-orders for new Macs: Macbook Pro M2 Pro/Max 14” and 16”, Mac Mini M2 (Pro)
- March 17, 2023: Official market launch, delivery of pre-orders
Macbook Pro M2 Pro/Max: This will be new
Externally, the Macbook Pro years will not differ, which is a tradition at Apple. The 2016 MacBook Pro (the one with the touch bar) was followed by two other visually similar generations, each with slightly different features like an improved keyboard or newer Intel processors. So Apple is sticking with the design introduced a year ago for the 14 and 16 inchers, the notch called “camera housing” in Apple-speak remains. After all, this enables narrower edges and thus a larger screen diagonal with the same external dimensions – and is at least not perceived as annoying as the notch of the iPhones X and newer.
Anyone hoping for a return of the touch bar will be disappointed, Apple has apparently sent this interactive OLED strip above the keyboard to the siding, only in the Macbook Pro M2 13 inch is it installed. The Touch ID on the keyboard, on the other hand, remains, to the right of the returning fixed function keys.
What is new, however, is the heart of the Macbook Pro, the system-on-a-chip (SoC) of the second generation of Apple silicon. As early as summer 2022, Apple showed the M2 in the barely revised already mentioned Macbook Pro 13 inch and in the newly designed MacBook Air M2. The difference to the previous generation are the two additional graphics cores and an improved 5 nm process. In all likelihood, the expected SoCs M2 Pro and M2 Max will not only double and quadruple the number of cores compared to the M2, but will also be manufactured by TSMC in the 3 nm process. The increase in performance and efficiency of the M2 Pro/Max compared to its predecessors should be greater than that of the M2 compared to the M1. While that was significant, it wasn’t a significant leap like the one Apple took when it switched Intel’s to its own silicon.
Macbook Pro M2 Pro/Max: Prices
The bad news: Following the example of the iPhone 14 and iPad Pro, Apple will increase prices in the euro zone. Due to the strong US dollar, the group will have little choice if it does not want to jeopardize its margin. How high the price increase could be we have explained in detail elsewherewe assume that today’s 2,249 and 2,749 euros will become 2,599 and 3,199 euros in the coming year for the entry-level models with the M2 Pro of the 14 and 16-inch models.
Current best price: Macbook Pro M1 Pro 16 inch with 16 GB RAM and 512 MB SSD in space gray
Mac Mini M2: The overdue successor
In addition to the Macbooks Pro, Apple will also update the Mac Mini in spring 2023. The simple desktop, which comes without a monitor, keyboard and mouse, was one of the first Apple silicon models two years ago. An update of the Mac Mini from M1 to M2 would be as obvious as it is trivial, comparable to the Macbook Pro 13” M2 this summer. However, Apple should still close a gap on the desktop and bring a somewhat better equipped Mac Mini, which would shorten the gap to the rather expensive Mac Studio. This would be a Mac Mini with M2 Pro, which would also replace the last Mac Mini with an Intel chip, which is still being sold four years later. Anyway, it is currently not a good idea to buy a Mac Mini M1since successors are very likely to be forthcoming.
Tag: macbook issue, macbook pro, macbook release, macbook macos