Apple today announced 2023 editions of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Air, 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 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros can now be configured with the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, which claim to deliver up to 20% faster CPU performance and 30% faster GPU performance than the M1 generation variants previous one. You can choose from Apple’s preset configuration options, three each for the two sizes, or you can configure any of the options to have essentially 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.
M2 Pro and M2 Max
The new processors also offer updated unified memory configurations, with the M2 Pro offering 16GB and 32GB options while the M2 Max offers 32GB, 64GB and 96GB options. You can also configure the built-in flash storage from 512GB up to 8TB. 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage come standard on the cheapest variant.
The new processors also increased the battery life of the 2023 models, with the 14-inch model allowing for 18 hours of video playback and 12 hours of wireless web browsing, while the 16-inch model can perform 22 hours of video playback and 15 hours. hours of wireless web browsing.
Also new on MacBook Pro models are improved connectivity options. You now get Wi-Fi 6E for faster wireless connectivity, and HDMI has been upgraded to the 2.1 standard, supporting up to 8K@60Hz and 4K@240Hz.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro is available in $1999, $2499, and $3099 variants, while the 16-inch is available in $2499, $2699, and $3499 variants. All models can be configured with all options via the Apple’s online store.
Moving on to the desktop side, the new Mac mini now comes with the M2 and M2 Pro processors. It also now has a lower starting price of $599 as the old Intel variant has finally been discontinued.
The Mac mini has the M2 processor for the $599 and $799 models, which has an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU. Both have unified memory of just 8GB as standard, but can be manually configured with 16GB or 24GB.
The $1299 model comes with the M2 Pro with a 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 of unified storage and can be upgraded to 32GB. The M2 models can be configured up to 2TB of 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 and four Thunderbolt 4 ports instead of two on M2 models.
As mentioned earlier, the older Intel variant has finally been discontinued, leaving the Mac Pro as the only Intel-based option in Apple’s lineup. By the way, nothing is known yet about the arrival of the Apple Silicon-based Mac Pro, which has now officially passed Apple’s original 2022 transition period request. But if we had to guess, it will likely arrive later this year with the inevitable M2 Ultra in tow.
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