The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro are the best laptops Apple sells, and now they are available with new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. Apple introduced the M2 chip in the 13-inch MacBook Pro in June 2022, so there’s been a bit of a wait for the enhanced M2 Pro and Max chips to arrive, but now they are here. Here’s everything you need to know about the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models which went on sale on January 24, 2023.
Apple has updated the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. Battery life is longer. Prices for the 14-inch model still start at $1,999 in the U.S. where in the U.K. the price is up from £1,899 to £2,149.
The entry level 14-inch model offers a 10-Core CPU and 16-Core GPU and 16GB memory. While the maximum M2 Max offers 12-Core CPU, 30-Core GPU and up to 96GB of unified memory. The new models include support for Wi-Fi 6E, advanced HDMI, that supports 8K displays for the first time.
Read on for more information.
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New 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro: Release date
It feels like we’ve had a long wait for the MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and M2 Max to arrive, but the wait is now over. The 2023 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro started shipping on January 24, 2023. Read our review of the 16in MacBook Pro with M2 Pro.
You can order a new MacBook Pro on Apple’s website here or to get a bargain take a look at our round up of the best MacBook Pro deals.
For more information read: The M2 Pro and M2 Max MacBook Pro is here.
New 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro: Price
We were anticipating that prices for the new generation of MacBooks would skyrocket outside the U.S. following price rises for the whole range of iPads in October, and our fears were founded. While in the U.S. the price of the MacBook Pro 14-inch still starts at $1,999, now in the U.K. the price has been hiked from £1,899 to £2,149–that’s an increase of £250 (roughly $300). While price increases around the world relate primarily to inflation and currency fluctuations, it is not great news for those for whom the Mac is further outside of their price range.
Here are Apple’s MSRPs before and after the M2 Pro updates:
14-inch MacBook Pro
- WAS: M1 Pro, 8-Core CPU, 14-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD: $1,999/£1,899
- NOW: M2 Pro, 10-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD: $1,999/£2,149
- WAS: M1 Pro, 10-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD: $2,499/£2,399
- NOW: M2 Pro, 12-Core CPU, 19-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD: $2,499/£2,699
- NEW: M2 Max, 12-Core CPU, 30-Core GPU, 32GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD: $3,099/£3,499
16-inch MacBook Pro
- WAS: M1 Pro, 10-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD: $2,499/£2,399
- NOW: M2 Pro, 12-Core CPU, 19-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD: $2,499/£2,699
- WAS: M1 Pro, 10-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD: $2,699/£2,599
- NOW: M2 Pro, 12-Core CPU, 19-Core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD: $2,699/£2,899
- WAS: M1 Max, 10-Core CPU, 32-Core GPU, 32GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD: $3,499/£3,299
- NOW: M2 Max, 12-Core CPU, 38-Core GPU, 32GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD: $3,499/£3,749
With the price hikes you might want to take advantage of the discounts we’ve been seeing on the older M1 Pro MacBook Pro models.
New 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro: Design
Apple made some huge changes to the MacBook Pro in 2021, with the launch of a new 14-inch model and a new display with thinner bezels and ProMotion, along with the removal of the Touch Bar and the addition of a slew of ports. Unsurprisingly, the 2023 MacBook Pro has stayed the same.
Apple
New 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro: Specs
While the outside of the MacBook Pro looks the same, the insides are different. The M2 Pro and M2 Max chips offer the following:
- M2 Pro: Up to 12-core CPU, up to 19-core GPU, up to 32GB RAM
- M2 Max: Up to 12-core CPU, 38-core GPU, up to 96GB RAM
We will be running benchmarks on these new system on chips as soon as we can get our hands on them. Mark Gurman of Bloomberg had suggested (in a January 2023 newsletter) that the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips will offer “marginal leaps from today’s MacBook Pro processors.” We hope to see more than marginal leaps though.
In fact, we may already have some insight as to what to expect from the new M2 Pro and M2 Max processors. Scores that could relate to the processor appeared on Geekbench prior to the launch. The so-called “Mac14,6” achieved a Geekbench 5 score of 14,888 multi-core performance (up from an earlier score of 13,855), compared to a MacBook Pro with an M1 Max chip score of 12,154 for multicore on Geekbench 5.
CPU
The M2 Pro and M2 Mac both offer up to 12-core CPU. There is also a 10-core CPU option available for the entry-level 14-inch model.
GPU
There is a maximum of 38 GPU cores, six more than the M1 Max offered.
RAM
The Geekbench benchmarks above were for a new MacBook Pro with 96GB RAM inside–and that does correlate with the new M2 Max MacBook Pro model. This is up from a 64GB maximum with the M1 Max.
It’s no surprise that the new MacBook Pro models will offer more RAM. Apple upped the RAM in the M2 MacBooks from a maximum of 16GB in the M1 to 24GB in the M2. We have up to 32GB RAM in the M2 Pro and 96GB RAM in the M2 Max
Battery
The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro offer better battery life than the 2021 models did. Apple claims the new MacBook Pro achieves the longest battery life ever in a Mac—up to 22 hours from the 21 hours offered by the 16-inch 2021 model. The 14-inch model offers 18 hours, up from 17 hours.
For more help deciding which Mac to buy read our Best MacBook advice and our comparison of all the MacBook Pro models.
Author: Karen Haslam, Editor
Macworld editor since 2008, Karen has worked on both sides of the Apple divide, clocking up a number of years at Apple's PR agency prior to joining Macworld two decades ago.
Karen's career highlights include interviewing Apple's Steve Wozniak and discussing Steve Jobs’ legacy on the BBC. Her focus is Mac, but she lives and breathes Apple.