Notebook pro max. 16in MacBook Pro (M1 Max, 2021) review: terribly fast and well built

in MacBook Pro (M1 Max, 2021) review: terribly fast and well built

The 16in MacBook Pro with M1 Max has a bigger screen, faster processor and faster everything. This is a computer for professionals.

Our Verdict

Fast, with a razor-sharp screen, excellent build quality, and a happy reunion with MagSafe, HDMI and SD card readers, the 16in MacBook Pro with M1 Max is a high ranking professional computer. This is not a computer for the average user – if that’s you buy a 13in MacBook Pro with an M1 processor instead. This is a computer for professional users that will render more pixels than there are people on Earth.

Even when unpacking, it becomes clear: This Mac is different, different in many ways. Compared to the just two-year-old Intel MacBook Pro with 16in display, the external changes are immediately noticeable.

The housing feels thicker, although it is actually a little thinner (if you don’t count the rubber feet). In fact the design reminds us of the MacBooks from the age before unibody design (before the end of 2008).

It is also striking that Apple dispenses with the “MacBook Pro” lettering below the display. This is in parallel with the M1 iMac, for which the Apple logo below the display has also been lost. Apple seems to want to establish a certain understatement here. Of course, the Apple on the back of the MacBook display still exists, and it even got a little bigger. The new modesty doesn’t go that far.

If you are interested in reading about the 14in MacBook Pro, which also comes with the M1 Max as a build-to-order option, read our 2021 14in MacBook Pro review.

Farewell TouchBar

When you open the display you see the next surprise: The TouchBar has disappeared. The experiment with the multi-touch touch-sensitive display strip, instead of mechanical function keys, is thus finally buried.

Personally, I found the TouchBar quite useful, although I rarely used it in practice. The additional information that appears on the TouchBar from time to time, depending on the app, is welcome, but it can be done without.

The next thing you notice is that the background of the keyboard is black and no longer the same as the housing colour. This irritated me at first, because the buttons can no longer be visually separated from each other. Luckily the lighting below the buttons solves this particular problem. Nevertheless, I wonder what prompted Apple to take this step. If you take a closer look, it becomes clear: Until now, Apple had to mill out the aluminum of the top case for each individual button. Now there is only one large milling and the keyboard is manufactured separately as a whole and fitted into the top of the case. This is likely cheaper and faster to manufacture. However, it does make the keyboard appear a little shaky with strong keystrokes. Regardless, keystroke and stroke are just as good as on the Intel-16in from 2019. There are no problems in everyday use.

The Notch

Now comes the moment when the display activates, and … oh woe, a notch! Yes, the notch … this has been discussed a lot on the internet and, of course, mocked. Personally, I am rather pragmatic about the notch. The notch never really bothered me on the iPhone and she doesn’t bother me here either. On the contrary: Without the notch, the display would probably have been a little smaller in height, so I am not looking at the notch, but at the additional display area to the left and right of it. And that is truly welcome to me.

On the Mac, the notch is also significantly less noticeable than on the iPhone, because after all, the menu bar is (almost) always at the top of the edge. Apple has cleverly integrated the notch here, because the bar has become a little thicker in macOS Monterey, so that its height corresponds to that of the notch. Here you can see Apple’s sense of detail again, because on other Macs, the menu bar remains slimmer.

What happens if you use a program that displays so many or long menus that they slip into the notch? Well, too find out we quickly wrote a small app in SwiftUI that contains a lot of long menus. No surprise: macOS Monterey ensures that no menu disappears under the notch. As a developer, as long as you follow Apple’s specifications with your menus, everything should go smoothly.

There could be an even bigger problem in full screen mode, but Apple has a way to deal with that too. Almost every program can be operated full screen, just click on the green traffic light icon in the window at the top left. When you do so on the 2021 MacBook Pro macOS behaves cleverly. The full-screen mode does not reach the very top of the display edge, it ends below the notch. Only when you move the mouse all the way up does the menu bar appear around the notch. So again, Apple has done its homework.

ProMotion display with mini LED backlight

Now to the display itself. Something huge has happened here – for the first time Apple uses mini LEDs. This means thousands of small white LEDs sit directly behind the LCD cells and illuminate them. Depending on the image content, the Mac dims these LEDs, summarized in so-called local dimming zones. Especially with dark image content, such as movies or videos, this should result in deep, rich blacks, which is usually only possible on OLED displays. The result is supposed to be an unprecedented contrast rate. We measured and actually determined a new record value of over 10,000 to 1 in contrast ratio.

And the display is also excellent in practice. The colours appear crisp, with wonderfully finely graduated gradients (internally the display works with 10 bits per colour channel), black is really black and not grey as with conventional LCD displays. Although colour shifts can still be perceived with the angle of view, these are not dramatic.

The brightness is also convincing, we measure almost 500 cd/sqm. In HDR mode, however, the display can briefly glow much brighter.

The new display intervenes massively not only in terms of backlighting, but also in frame rate. Apple calls the technique “ProMotion” and it adjusts the frame rate according to the requirements. In operation this means that the frame rate of static content decreases massively, i.e. when nothing moves on the screen the refresh rate is less. Apple does not specify, but it probably reduces to under 10 Hertz. This reduction saves battery capacity. On the other hand, however, it can go up to 120 Hertz if you quickly scroll up or down in long documents or websites, for example.

This can be seen in practice: scrolling is unspeakably smooth. Even with games, the ProMotion display can bring advantages and ensure a better reaction time for the players. If you still need a fixed frame rate, for example for video editing, this can be set in the Monitor System Preferences setting.

connections

There are more interfaces again! Apple has gone back to the good old days and reintroduced various well-known ports. First and foremost the MagSafe 3 connection. This now comes in an even flatter plug, so it is not compatible with MagSafe 2 or 1, but there is now a fast charging mode that justifies the enclosed 140-watt power supply. If the battery is completely discharged the power supply pulls over 130 watts out of the socket during charging in the first few minutes and after about an hour and 45 minutes the battery is back to 100 percent. A great thing!

Also great: you can also charge the MacBook Pro via USB-C. So you don’t have to dispose of old chargers. The enclosed power supply sets a good example, because the MagSafe cable is not fixed, but connected via a USB-C socket. This allows you to use both the cable on other chargers and the power supply on other notebooks for charging. Yes, it was time!

There is also an HDMI port and an SD card slot. Both are interfaces that were painfully missed with the predecessor and had to laboriously retrofit with external adapters. The HDMI port works according to the standard 2.0 and supports 4k displays with a maximum of 60 Hz. Unfortunately, Apple does not resort to the more modern HDMI standard 2.1, which delivers up to 120 Hz of 4k. This sounds like a limitation, but in practice this should have little significance. 4k resolutions in 120 Hz are mainly used in eSports, i.e. games. Even video editing professionals usually get by with 60 Hz. You should not forget the three Thunderbolt 4 ports. Although this is less than the Intel predecessor, thanks to an additional MagSafe charging port, a USB-C port remains free.

Improved audio output

Although Apple has not communicated much about it, the headphone output has also been improved and adapted to meet professional requirements. It can now detect the connection resistance (impedance) of the connected device and adjust the level for headphones with low or high impedance as well as for audio devices with line levels. For headphones with an impedance of less than 150 ohms, the output now delivers up to 1.25 volts of voltage. For headphones with an impedance of 150 ohms to one kilo ohm, the voltage rises to 3 volts.

A test with a Sennheiser HD 820 (300 ohm impedance) clearly shows this effect. The volume increases significantly audibly compared to other Macs. The sound remains powerful, crisp and reaches deep into the bass range.

In addition, the internal DAC now converts at up to 96kHz, which enables lossless listening to HiRes recordings. Ultimately, this improved headphone output can make the purchase of an external DAC with headphone amplifier quite superfluous. So you save money.

New camera – but no center stage

Apple has finally improved the camera, which was long overdue. Video conferences in FaceTime, Zoom, WebEx, Microsoft Teams or other tools now look much better. But unfortunately, Apple did not integrate Center Stage.

Centre Stage makes video conferences much better, because it automatically adjusts to fit all the participants in view. That feature is based on an ultra-wide-angle camera and is currently only available for the iPad Pro and iPad mini 6. Too bad, we really would have liked to see that on the Mac.

CPU and GPU performance

Now let’s get to the highlight of this MacBook Pro: the M1 Max. Apple really has pulled out all the stops here. Now we can put the abilities of the M1 Max to test.

With ten CPU cores, eight of them high-performance (Firestorm) versions. It is no surprise that in multicore benchmarks, such as Geekbench 5 or Cinebench 23, the chip reaches new record values. Here are the results in detail:

One thing stands out above all in daily work: The MacBook Pro is fast, fast! This impression is based on fractions of seconds. When starting programs, clicking on buttons, triggering functions in menus, you never get the impression that something is hanging. The MacBook always reacts promptly, almost instantaneously. The infamous “beachball” did not appear once during the time we spent with this MacBook Pro.

In the Geekbench 5 tests we saw a multicore score of 12733 – almost double the 6663 seen with the 2019 MacBook Pro.

To address the field of video editing, we exported an almost five-minute HD video to ProRes 422 format. The 5GB result wrote to the MacBook Pro M1 Max SSD in 19 seconds. The 2.3GHz Intel predecessor in our 2019 model took more than twice as long at 42 seconds. Unbelievable!

The Geekbench Compute tests showed just how good the M1 Max is too: with a score of 64967 compared to 28851 from the 16in from 2019.

Cinebench R23 was a similar story, 11765.0 to the 8695.0 of the 2019 model. That same test saw the M1 Mac mini store 7761.0.

High-power mode

A “high power mode” is reserved exclusively for the 16in model. You activate it in the Battery system settings. We performed all performance tests once in high-power mode and once in the “Automatic” setting. However, we did not notice any significant changes. The high-power mode obviously only affects the fan control. With extremely high loads on the CPU and at the same time the GPU, the fans start earlier and should keep the computing power high for longer.

We ran a special long-term load test with our benchmark tool “APSI Bench”. This did not result in measurable changes in high-power mode. The CPU remained at about 90 percent of its performance even after 20 minutes of maximum load. The Intel MacBook of 2019, on the other hand, collapsed after about five minutes to only 49 percent of its performance.

Heat management

Also amazing is the heat management of the M1 Max. Where the Intel Mac audibly turned up the fans after just a few seconds, the M1 Max remained steadfastly cool. After two weeks of operation with sometimes crazy CPU and GPU load, I didn’t really notice whether the MacBook had a fan at all. Only an extreme load test with the benchmark tool 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme, optimized for Apple silicon chips in a continuous loop, reveals audible fan noise, which remains rather moderate.

This means: In practice, you will not hear this MacBook! This is an invaluable advantage, especially in noise-sensitive environments such as recording studios.

Battery life

Finally, we let go of our standard battery life tests for this computing monster. We ran two tests, one to address the worst-case scenario (playing MP4 video at 100 percent display brightness) and then a practical surfing test. In both battery tests the MacBook Pro achieved new records. It ran for almost 16 hours in the surf test and the video test resulted in an incredible 10 hours and 30 minutes. This is more than twice as long as the 2019 Intel MacBook. Bravo Apple!

Verdict

Apple is driving this paradigm shift with giant steps. First the M1, which set standards for entry-level Macs, and now the MacBook Pro with M1 Max. Our test shows that the direction that Apple has chosen here not only works, it will revolutionize the market for mobile computers. Intel and AMD must react if they want to keep up here. It can be assumed that both chip giants will also turn to the SoC design with ARM cores. An ARM version of Microsoft Windows already exists, at least as a beta.

However, what Apple intends to do with a large iMac and ultimately with the Mac Pro remains exciting. In the iMac, the same M1-Max CPU should certainly initially provide sufficient performance, possibly with even better cooling and further limit clock frequencies.

With the Mac Pro, however, Apple has to come up with a little more, especially in terms of upgradeability. But this should be an issue for 2022.

The only problem with the 16in MacBpook Pro with M1 Max is getting hold of one – many resellers are out of stock and Apple has an 8-week wait for delivery. Check our guide to where to buy the 2021 MacBook Pro for help finding one in stock.

This article originally appeared on Macwelt. Translation by Karen Haslam.

Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro (M2 Max, 2023) review: A content creator’s dream machine

Apple’s flagship laptop has upgrades in three areas that make important improvements for high-end users.

June, who often goes by Kerry, serves as Reviews Editor of ZDNET and is based in New York City. He reviews the latest consumer gadgets and shares advice to make the most out of them.

June, who often goes by Kerry, serves as Reviews Editor of ZDNET and is based in New York City. He reviews the latest consumer gadgets and shares advice to make the most out of them.

Apple MacBook Pro (16-inch, M2 Max, 2023)

pros and cons

• Arguably the most performant laptop on the market
• Brilliant side speakers that get plenty loud
• Faster, more capable connectivity than M1 models
• Reliable battery life with fast charging
• Non-power users may not need such a powerful laptop
• Noticeably heavy when carrying around
• Large notch with no added functionality

Ever since Apple shifted to in-house silicon and renewed its FOCUS on laptop hardware, even a Windows and Android user like myself.- I know, it’s quite the pairing for someone who’s about to review a MacBook.- has fully succumbed to the Pro line’s supremacy.

That’s why, I’m not going to force a 3,000-word essay on you about how well the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Max runs browser tabs, streams Ted Lasso, or even handles benchmarks. If you clicked on this article, then you likely already know how the flagship Apple laptop trounces the above.

Instead, I enlisted the help of Tom Filip, a producer and editor for the sports network Overtime, and someone who falls under Apple’s customer checklist for the MacBook Pro. Together, we see how the flagship laptop fares with professional content creation. Here’s a summary of his experiences, including features that we both agreed Apple could do better with in the future.

Specifications

16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display (3,456 x 2,234, 16:10) with 120Hz

M2 Max with 12-core CPU and 38-core GPU

Up to 96GB RAM with up to 8TB of storage

100Wh (Up to 22 hours of movie playback)

1x HDMI (2.1), 3x Thunderbolt 4, 1x SDXC card slot, 1x 3.5mm audio jack, 1x MagSafe 3

What’s new with this model

On the surface level, much of the new MacBook Pro’s hardware has been carried over from the 2021 models, including the firm and sturdy aluminum chassis, 1080p FaceTime camera notched up top, finger-grease-loving keyboard, and side-firing speakers that remain the best that I’ve heard on a laptop. That means budget and size preference remain the two most important factors when deciding between the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBooks.

What’s changed this year mostly stems from within, including upgrades to the processor, connectivity, and battery life, as broken down below.

M2 Max wins where M1 was already winning

Last year’s MacBook Pro introduced Apple’s M1 Max chip, which featured a 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, and up to 64GB of unified memory. Considering Filip’s existing work system ran on that exact silicon, the ball was in Apple’s court to deliver higher performance with the upgraded M2 Max chip and its now 38-core GPU and up to 96GB of unified memory.

My daily workflow involves editing roughly 4TB worth of footage for videos across our media channels, says Filip. We’re talking two to three of these SSDs (as he points to a stack of LaCie drives ) that I need to import onto the MacBook, play through the hundreds of raw 4K clips, and compile a timeline of the very best to tell a story. All of this is done within strict deadlines, with each full-length video (about 15 minutes long) taking two to three days to piece together.

With the M2 Max MacBook, the processes that Filip took to video editing were no different, but the speeds for real-time rendering and exporting were noticeably faster.- or so it seemed to our curious eyes.

To editors, the telltale sign of a competent machine is whether or not it can play a part in a timeline as soon as the user hovers over it, Filip tells me. (Keep in mind that there are layers upon layers of effects, graphics, and coloring that must be processed here.) Thanks to the two ProRes encode and decode engines on the MacBook Pro, the hardware-based computing makes playing back raw clips in their original quality satisfying fluid.

As for export times? We saw the M2 Max model beating out Filip’s M1 Max by 20 to 30 seconds in each trial. Once you take those aforementioned deadlines into account, the quicker speeds can mean the difference between an occupied computer and moving on to thumbnails.

Faster, more capable connectivity across the board

You won’t notice it from the outside but the MacBook Pro this year features three enhancements to its connectivity. The first is Wi-Fi 6E (up from Wi-Fi 6), bringing a new, expanded spectrum for both faster internet speeds and lower latency.

While video editors like Philip may not stress the faster internet bit, being able to access the speeds in congested areas like basketball arenas and major sporting events is a game changer.- as long as those places have Wi-Fi 6E routers set up. I echoed that sentiment, having dealt with the connectivity nightmare that was CES at the Las Vegas Convention Center earlier this year.

The 2023 MacBook Pro also gets a bump with the more stable Bluetooth 5.3 and more versatile HDMI 2.1. The latter of which was the most appealing upgrade to Filip, who was already extending his MacBook onto a 34-inch LG 5K monitor. but has long considered kicking it to an 8K display for future-proofing. If and when that happens.- we both chuckle at the idea of pixels we can’t even fully conceptualize on a desktop screen.- the Apple laptop will be more than able of supporting the higher resolution.

Battery life that impresses everyone

Remember the 38-core GPU that I mentioned earlier? Part of its lift involves upping the MacBook Pro’s battery life by an hour compared to the M1-equipped predecessors. In practice, the improved efficiency was as negligible as the stat makes it out to be, but something both Philips and I came to appreciate nonetheless.

When deciding between the M2 Pro and M2 Max variants. users should note that while the latter is more powerful, it comes at the cost of an hour or two of endurance. Despite that, you’re looking at roughly 14 hours of battery life on the M2 Pro versus 12 hours on the M2 Max, which is promising no matter which of the two you end up buying.

What we’d like to see in the next model

For the work that both Filip and I do, there’s not much to complain about with the M2 Max, 16-inch MacBook Pro.- performance-wise, at least. The laptop starts at 3,499. which I’ll applaud Apple for retaining the 2021’s M1 Max price tag. Considering the price, here are two nitpicks that would make the larger MacBook experience even better.

A lighter form factor

Even if the MacBook Pro is your first experience with a 16-inch laptop, you’ll quickly notice just chunky the thing is. As someone who’s gotten used to carrying the MacBook along with a full-frame camera for work, I cannot fathom just how relieving my back feels when I’m testing a different, smaller laptop.

Part of the reason for the heavier hand feel in general is the MacBook Pro’s boxier design language. Compared to the Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra. another 16-incher I recently tested that has curved edges sloping across the chassis, the sharp-edged MacBook requires a firm grasp when carrying it around.

That’s why, if you’re switching over to a 2023 MacBook Pro and don’t require a maxed-out workstation, I’d heavily consider the 14-inch model. It’s just as snappy, has the same ports, and is more fit for travel.

A notch that does more

I never had an issue with Apple adopting its iPhone notch design onto its MacBook line. For a near-bezeless appearance, the bit of black space was negligible. The problem I have with the new MacBook Pro’s notch is that Apple didn’t make it any better. There’s no depth sensing for facial recognition to unlock (which other manufacturers have achieved with laptop lids that are just as thin) or a sharper camera sensor. There’s no added functionality, period.

In future models, I’d love to see the company either shrink the notch so it’s not as obtrusive or even replace it with a camera element that doubles as a live activity widget! It can be called Dynamic Island.

Bottom line

The latest MacBook Pro is a testament to Apple’s golden age of mobile computing. While most of the innovating happened with the now two-year-old, M1 MacBook Pros. the M2 variants absolutely deliver where it matters to both Filip’s (thanks again, Tom!) and my workflows while offering a more future-proof system.

Reviewing the M2 Max MacBook Pro side-by-side with its predecessor also demonstrated just how capable the latter was. To fall only seconds behind when it came to processing and exporting footage, the M1-powered machines should still be considered for shoppers who want a great-value MacBook.

Should I buy one?

That’s why if you already have an M1-powered MacBook Pro. keep it. If you’re upgrading from anything older, I suggest you buy this. At a starting price of 3,499. the 16-inch, M2 Max MacBook Pro is no impulse purchase. But if you need a laptop that can power through pro-grade apps and services as efficiently as possible, with some Apple perks on the side like iPhone syncing, a magical force-touch trackpad, and the company’s reputable after-sales service, then I can’t recommend anything better.

Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, M2 Pro)

The 14-inch, M2 Pro MacBook is the perfect middle ground for professionals and up-and-coming content creators. It’s also more portable.

Apple Mac Studio

The Mac Studio is not a laptop, nor does it carry Apple’s new M2 chip, but it’s one of the best desktop alternatives that can power the same apps and services as the latest MacBook Pro.

Apple MacBook Air (M2)

The new MacBook Air was ZDNET’s Product of the Year for 2022 for good reason. For how lightweight and powerful it is, it’s arguably the best mainstream laptop for video editors.

The 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros look the same, but have boosted performance.

Tom’s Hardware Verdict

The 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros, with M2 Pro and M2 Max offer incredible power and long-lasting battery life. Add best-in-class speakers and gorgeous Mini-LED screens and you have some of the best laptops on the market, if you’re willing to pay for their high price tags.

Pros

• Powerful performance
• Long battery life
• Best speakers on a laptop
• Beautiful Mini-LED display
• Color matching MagSafe charger for Space Gray

Cons

• – Notch in display is distracting, with no facial recognition
• – RAM and SSD upgrades are very pricey

Why you can trust Tom’s Hardware

Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Today’s best Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch M2 Pro (2023) 1TB and Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch M2 Pro (2023) 4TB deals

The 2021 redesign of the MacBook Pro supercharged the lineup, adding Apple Silicon, plenty of ports, a 1080p webcam and even made it thicker to accommodate it all. It was a bold move (and in some cases, a big reversal for Apple). Now, the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros maintain everything that was great about that design, but updates them to the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, adding more power and endurance than before.

These are still some of the best ultrabooks, with gorgeous Mini-LED displays, excellent speakers and functionality that feels worthy of professionals and hobbyist creators alike.

Upgrades to the highest-performance parts, including RAM and storage, will cost you a serious chunk of cash over the base models, but you should seriously consider them, because Apple’s design doesn’t allow for internal upgrades down the line. If you’re ever going to want 96GB of RAM with your M2 Max, consider emptying your bank account at the point of purchase.

With M2 Pro and M2 Max, the MacBook Pro is more powerful than ever, and is an alluring replacement for lots of aging.

MacBook Pro (2023) Design

The new 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros have the exact same chassis as last year’s redesign. They still feel new and fresh, and they still allow for a solid port selection and plenty of power, so I’m OK with this decision. Both options have boxy sides combined with rounded corners to mix pro functionality with Apple sheen.

We tested the 14-inch MacBook Pro in silver and the 16-incher in space gray (which I prefer), but the colors aren’t that dissimilar. At least this year, the notebooks come with color-matched MagSafe power cables. Either size or color has Apple’s logo in a tone-on-tone mirror finish on the lid, but is otherwise minimalist.

Whether you have the 14.2-inch or 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display, it’s going to have a notch in the top of it, similar to the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus (the 14 Pro line switched to a pill-shaped cutout last year). This allows Apple to fit a 1080p camera in there. Early last year, I bought a 14-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro, and, unlike with my iPhone, I have never stopped noticing the notch. That’s the case for me with this year’s Pros, as well as the M2 MacBook Air. The screens are actually taller than the usual 16:10, so you don’t lose any usable space versus previous models. But if you’re annoyed like I am, you might want to look into software fixes, like TopNotch, which make the menu bar black to help make the notch blend in. And yes, the mouse can still go underneath the notch, which seems like an oversight.

All of the other improvements from last year’s redesign, however, still feel great. There are full-sized function keys, Touch ID on the power button and plenty of ports.

Both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros have the exact same ports. On the left side, there’s a MagSafe 3 charging port, a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. The right side has an SDXC memory slot, a third Thunderbolt 4 port and the HDMI port. That HDMI port has been improved from the prior models, allowing 4K support at 240 hz or 8K at 60 Hz, as well as variable refresh rate. We didn’t have a 4K 240 Hz monitor to test with (those are pretty rare), but we’re curious to see how it holds up.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro measures 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches and weighs 3.5 pounds, while the 16-inch MacBook Pro is 14.01 x 9.77 x 0.66 inches and, with the M2 Max, weighs 4.8 pounds. Comparatively, the popular Windows-based Dell XPS 15 (9520) is 13.56 x 9.06 x 0.73 inches and weighs 4.31 pounds.

MacBook Pro (2023) Specifications

Productivity Performance on the MacBook Pro (2023)

Apple’s M2 Pro and M2 Max are both powerhouses. And both MacBook Pro configurations we tested: a 14-inch Pro with an M2 Pro, 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD and a 16-inch Pro with a whopping 96GB of unified memory and 4TB SSD both performed admirably in our testing.

The M2 Pro in our 14-inch review unit has 12 CPU cores. eight performance cores and four efficiency cores. The M2 Max has an identical CPU core setup to the Pro we reviewed. But the M2 Pro has a 19-core GPU, while the Max has a 38-core GPU. Both also include a 16-core Neural Engine and dedicated media engines for encoding and decoding in H.264 and HEVC or accelerating ProRes.

Both the Pro and the Max also have faster access to memory. Apple claims the updated architecture allows for 200 GB/s of bandwidth on M2 Pro and up to 400 GB/s on M2 Max.

Needless to say, both machines were overkill for my workload, which involves lots of web browsing for research, writing and photo editing, often with music and social media apps in the background and some light gaming (I still leave my intense gaming to PC and consoles.)

On Geekbench 5, the M2 Max-based laptop won with a single-core score of 1,993 and a multi-core score of 15,173, with the M2 Pro just a few points behind. It’s a nice jump over the M1 Max we tested back in 2021, as well as the Intel Core i7-12700H in the Dell XPS 15 (9520), though we haven’t seen what Intel’s 13th Gen Core mobile processors can do just yet.

The 14-inch laptop copied 25GB of files at a rate of 1,917.69 MBps, tied with the previous-gen 16-incher. This year’s M2 Max-based 16-inch Pro came in at 1,789.85 MBps, which represents being one second behind. It should be noted that there have been reports that entry-level MacBook Pros are reportedly seeing worse SSD performance, Teardowns suggest Apple has used fewer NAND modules on those devices.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Max made its strongest showing on Handbrake, transcoding a 4K video to 1080p in 3 minutes and 59 seconds. That’s seven seconds ahead of the M2 Pro-based system (4:06) and well ahead of the M1 Max and the XPS 15.

On the Xcode Benchmark, which we’re using for the first time here, we found that the similar CPUs meant similar scores. The 14-inch MarBook Pro with M2 Pro took 85 seconds, while the 16-inch Mac with M2 Max completed the task in 83 seconds.

To stress test the systems, we ran each through 20 runs of Cinebench R23 multi-core. Because the laptops have the same CPU cores, it’s not surprising that they both shared scores in the mid to high 14,700’s. Both had some peaks and valleys as the chips cooled off, but they largely operated in a similar fashion. Notably, the 14-inch MacBook Pro’s fans started earlier and were louder to my ears than the 16-inch MacBook Pro, which was far quieter until the eighteenth run, where I really noticed it.

During the stress test, I used TG Pro to track CPU core temperatures. (Apple doesn’t make clock speeds available to the software. For what its worth, Cinebench R23 lists estimates that the M2 Pro has a 3.2-GHz single-core clock, the M2 Max has a 3.4-GHz single-core clock, and both chips have 3.3 GHz multi-core clock speeds. Take that for what you will.) The M2 Pro’s CPU efficiency cores ran at an average of 94.44 degrees Celsius, while its performance cores measured 99.02 C. The M2 Max’s efficiency cores ran at 92.98 C and its performance cores averaged 97.62 C.

The M2 Max may have run cooler because it’s in the 16-inch chassis, with more room for heat and, likely, a larger cooling system.

Gaming and Graphics on the MacBook Pro (2023)

The full-fat M2 Pro has a 19-core GPU, while the M2 Max gets 38 cores. For many creatives, those cores will be put to work in rendering, motion graphics, illustration or other artistic pursuits.

It won’t come as a huge surprise that we FOCUS a lot on gaming as a show of graphical prowess here at Tom’s Hardware. In Apple’s case, newer games are being built on the Metal 3 API, including MetalFX Upscaling to render scenes more quickly with temporal or spatial algorithms. and more games, especially those on Apple Arcade, are using Metal 3. The biggest example of a major game coming to Apple’s App Store with native support for Apple Silicon is Resident Evil Village.

I was eager to test the M2 Max’s 38-core GPU and 96GB of unified memory, so when I played Resident Evil Village, I set the resolution to 3456 x 2160 and set the graphics preset to max. The game typically ran between 50 and 60 frames per second (higher in daylight scenes with less action, less in darker scenes with more detail), though it did achieve a flat 60 fps a few times. With MetalFX upscaling set to quality mode, it often stayed at a locked 60 fps. Using these settings took up 12.54GB of RAM out of the 70GB or so that the game can reserve.

On the M2 Pro’s 19-core GPU and 16GB of RAM, I tried some more reasonable settings, using the prioritize graphics preset at 1080p. In a dark, haunting scene early in the game, the MacBook with the M2 Pro ran Village around 80 frames per second, but in the daylight scenes, where more details in the game’s namesake village and surrounding forests needed to be rendered, it ran between 60 and 70 fps. With MetalFX scaling, the game often jumped to the high 70s or even 80 fps in the same scenes.

In an attempt to try some more conventional settings, I set the resolution to 2560 x 1440 and chose the prioritize graphics preset. I was able to get over 100 fps in game play, and that’s before MetalFX upscaling.

There’s power on Apple Silicon for gaming, but more developers have to be on board. I would love to see more games on Metal, but Apple will need to do some serious developer relations to get more native development released.

That’s not to say the new Macs can’t game over the Rosetta instruction set. On the (admittedly old) Rise of the Tomb Raider, the M2 Pro reached 49 frames per second at 1920 x 1200, while the M2 Max reached 92 fps at the same resolution. The M2 Max even achieved a palatable 32 fps at 3456 x 2234.

Display on the MacBook Pro (2023)

The screens on both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro are excellent. Apple labels them Liquid Retina XDR, which effectively translates to high resolution mini-LED panels with HDR support and adaptive refresh rates up to 120 Hz using Apple’s ProMotion technology.

The 14.2-inch laptop uses a 3024 x 1964 resolution screen, while the 16-inch notebook has a 3456 x 2234 resolution panel. Either way, the first episode of The Last of Us on HBO Max looked great. In a scene late in the episode in which Joel and Tess explore a darkened building with flashlights, the beams made a horrific infected body pop, and the shadows added a ton of atmosphere while not appearing too dark to actually see.

On our colorimeter, we found the screens to be largely identical for SDR content. They both covered 118% of the sRGB gamut and over 83% of the DCI-P3 gamut, and were around 450 nits of brightness. Those colors are better than the prior-gen 16-inch MacBook Pro, though seemingly at the expense of some brightness, though I certainly didn’t have any issues.

Some in the PC space have made the move to OLED, which Apple hasn’t done on its Macs yet. The Dell XPS 15’s OLED touchscreen covered slightly more of both color gamuts, though it wasn’t as bright as Apple’s displays (the 14-inch MacBook Pro reached 450 nits, the 16-inch laptop hit 447 nits).

In HDR content, the Macs could climb higher. At 40% coverage, the 14-inch laptop hit a peak brightness at 1,491 nits, while the 16-inch notebook hit 1,470.

By default, Apple uses a feature called True Tone to make the display adapt to different lighting conditions, which is great for watching movies or browsing the web. If you’re working with photos, graphic design or videos, though, you may want to turn it off for the most accurate rendition of your work.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the MacBook Pro (2023)

The scissor switches on the MacBook Pro are solid, and in the exact same layouts on both the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro. You get backlit keys in a black well, which looks sleek. The full-sized function keys are a welcome reprieve from the ones on the Intel-based models (or the Touch Bar).

On the monkeytype typing test, I reached 120 words per minute using the 16-inch laptop’s keyboard, with a standard 2% error rate.

Macs continue to have best-in-class trackpads. The 14-incher’s Force Touch trackpad is 5.1 x 3.2 inches, while the 16-incher has a gargantuan 6.3 x 3.9 inch touchpad. Both use haptic feedback, so you can click anywhere on the touchpad. Both laptops have plenty of room for macOS gestures, even the ones that require three fingers.

Audio on the MacBook Pro (2023)

The 16-inch MacBook Pro continues to have my favorite speakers on any laptop, especially outside of gaming. Both the 14-incher and 16-incher have a six-speaker sound system, but for my money, the 16-incher just sounds slightly more detailed.

Both get loud and can fill a room with sound. Fall Out Boy’s Love From The Other Side was balanced and detailed on the 16-inch Pro, with well-leveled guitars, vocals, drums and bass. It sounds excellent on the 14-inch model, too, and if they weren’t together, I wouldn’t notice the slight differences. I found the 14 didn’t get quite as loud, and that the bass and drums sounded ever-so-slightly better on the bigger model.

Both laptops support Apple’s spatial audio on supported apps, and also allow for Dolby Atmos on supported movies and TV. You can also get spatial audio over Airpods, and Apple claims that the 3.5 mm headphone jack offer pros advanced support for high-impedance headphones.

Upgradeability of the MacBook Pro (2023)

While all that separates you from the inside of your MacBook Pro are eight pentalobe screws, don’t expect to be making any upgrades here.

Firstly, pentalobe screws aren’t terribly common. But more importantly, the RAM is part of the M2 Pro and M2 Max system on a chip, while the SSD is soldered to the motherboard. Configure your laptop with the memory and storage you’re going to need to make it last.

As of this writing, some manuals for the new MacBook Pros are available through Apple’s website and Self Service repair, but the full repair manuals have not been uploaded. Some teardowns have shown that there are some internal changes, including around the cooler and layout of the RAM and SSD on the motherboard.

Battery Life on the MacBook Pro (2023)

Apple likes to tout the efficiency of its systems, and for good reason. Both the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros proved to be long-lasting on our battery test, which continuously browses the web, runs OpenGL tests and streams video, all while connected to Wi-Fi with the screen set to 150 nits.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro, with its 100 WHr battery, ran for 18 hours and 56 minutes — more than 3 hours of improvement over the 2021 version. The 14-inch MacBook Pro, with a 70 WHr battery, lasted 14:21. The Dell XPS 15 ran for 9:43, though its OLED panel is likely a factor in its shorter runtime.

Heat on the MacBook Pro (2023)

We ran our heat test on the MacBook Pro while running our Cinebench R23 gauntlet to get a sense of how hot the chassis gets to the touch during a stressful multi-core workload.

On the 14-inch MacBook Pro, the center of the keyboard reached 45.8 degrees Celsius (114.4 degrees Fahrenheit), while the trackpad was a cooler 30.9 C (87.62 F). On the 16-inch laptop, the center of the keyboard hit 43.1 C (109.58 F), while the touchpad hit 29.9 C (85.82 F). The 16-inch clearly kept these common touchpoints cooler, though neither seemed too uncomfortable to use.

The new MacBook Pro is hands-down the world’s fastest 14-inch laptop with Apple’s M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. Epic battery life makes it nearly perfect for creative pros

Tom’s Guide Verdict

The new MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 raises the bar for laptop performance, with the M2 Pro chip delivering incredible speed in our testing. The M2 Max is even faster, especially when it comes to graphics performance. You also get a stellar mini-LED display, plenty of ports and over 14 hours of battery life. Yes, it’s pricey, but the new MacBook Pro cannot be beat.

Pros

• Blistering performance
• Vibrant mini-LED display
• Superb battery life
• Good port selection includes HDMI and SD Card
• Faster Wi-Fi 6E

Cons

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The MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 (starting at 1,999) is designed to be the fastest laptop that you can take anywhere — with the battery life to back it up. And based on our extensive test results, this system is an absolute beast for creative pros.

Yeah, you get everything we loved about the MacBook Pro 14-inch 2021 model, including the dazzling mini-LED display, generous port selection, and sharp 1080p camera. But it’s really about the new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. The new M2 Pro promises 20% faster CPU performance and 30% faster GPU performance than M1 Pro. If you have the means, the M2 Max packs a whopping 38-core GPU.

While the design is identical to the previous MacBook Pro 14-inch, there are other notable upgrades here, including a faster Wi-Fi 6E connection and a beefed-up HDMI port that can support up to 8K displays.

So how fast is it? And is it worth the premium for you? My MacBook Pro 14-inch review will answer those questions and show you why it earns a spot on our best laptops list. Also see our MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 benchmarks results for more detail and video review below.

MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023) release date and price

The MacBook Pro 14-inch goes on sale January 24 and starts at 1,999. For that price you get a 10-core M2 Pro CPU, a 16-core GPU, 16GB of unified memory and 512GB of SSD storage.

The next step up is a M2 Pro model with a 12-core CPU, 19-core GPU, 16GB of memory and 1TB of storage for 2,499. Or you can opt for the M2 Max version with the same CPU but a 30-core GPU and 32GB of memory for 3,099.

Note that the M2 Pro model maxes out at 32GB of memory, but you can go all the way up to 96GB if you spring for the M2 Max chip with a 38-core GPU. That’s an 800 add-on by itself. You can also go up to 8TB of storage for a cool 1,800.

MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 specs

MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023) design

The MacBook Pro 14-inch looks the same as its predecessor, but that’s a pretty good thing. You get the same super solid, squared-off aluminum chassis available in Silver and Space Gray. I do wish Apple offered more color options, such as the Midnight Blue on the MacBook Air M2. Why can’t a laptop that’s powerful enough to launch rockets also have a fun side?

I do continue to appreciate the little things about this laptop, such as how easy it is to open with one hand (thanks to the grooved front lip), the easy Touch ID button for fast sign-ons and the elegantly carved MacBook Pro on the bottom of the machine.

Measuring 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches and weighing 3.5 pounds (3.6 pounds for the M2 Max version), the MacBook Pro 14-inch is a bit hefty for a 14-inch laptop. For instance, the Huawei Matebook X Pro weighs 2.9 pounds and the HP Spectre x360 14 is 3 pounds, but those systems don’t pack as much power.

My only real complaint about the design is the notch at the top of the display, which houses the 1080p camera. It interrupts an otherwise gorgeous screen, and is a bit distracting. But after a while you get used to it. I also wouldn’t mind if Apple trimmed the bezels a bit more next time around.

One other thing. As much as I appreciate having a Touch ID button built into the keyboard, I’d like to see Apple add a Face ID sensor to the MacBook Pro. Lots of Windows laptops let you log in by just looking at the front of the system — and some can even detect your presence as you walk up to the notebook. For a laptop this pricey it seems like a no-brainer addition.

MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023) ports

The MacBook Pro 14-inch remains the portable MacBook to get if you want more than just Thunderbolt/USB-C ports. Yes, there’s three Thunderbolt 4 ports, but you also get an SD card slot that photographers and videographers demand, as well as an HDMI port.

The HDMI port now supports up to 8K resolution on an external display at 60Hz, as the MacBook Pro 14-inch supports the HDMI 2.1 standard. Or you can plug in a 4K display at up to 240Hz.

Note that the M2 Pro chip supports up to two external displays overall and the M2 Max chip can drive up to four displays.

MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023) display and audio

The MacBook Pro 14-inch’s mini-LED display is easily one of the best you’ll find in any laptop. It’s bright, colorful and offers a smooth 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate. While recording some b-roll for our review video I got so lost in this panel while watching the trailer for Mandalorian season 3 I forgot for a moment I was also supposed to be taking pictures.

When watching the trailer I was impressed by the gleaming silver of the Mandalorian’s helmet, and I could see fine drops of water on it in one scene. Meanwhile, the rich gold textured cape worn by Greef Karga (played by Carl Weathers) really popped. I could even make out fine hairs on Grogu’s head in a darker scene.

As expected, the MacBook Pro 14-inch’s panel delivered excellent results in our lab tests, starting with brightness. When viewing HDR content we saw as high as 1,447 nits using our light meter for 10% of the display and 1,081 nits for 100% of the screen. For comparison, the 13-inch MacBook Pro reaches just under 500 nits.

The MacBook Pro 14-inch’s screen registered 117.7% of the sRGB color gamut and covers 83.4% of the more demanding DCI-P3 color space. The Dell XPS 15 hit a slightly higher 122.7% and 86.9%, respectively, on the two tests.

The colors on the display for Apple’s laptop are a bit more accurate, though, as it turned in a Delta-E score of 0.19 (where 0 is perfect). The XPS 15 registered 0.22.

That same trailer sounded thunderous coming through the MacBook Pro 14-inch’s six-speaker sound system, which includes four force-cancelling woofers and two tweeters. Everything from the Manadalorian’s monologue and laser fire to the wind instruments sounded crisp and clear, even at high volume.

Turning to Spotify, the MacBook Pro 14-inch expertly handled the driving percussion and soaring vocals on The Weekend’s ‘Blinding Lights.’ When ‘I Like You’ started up the trill in Post Malone’s voice filled a medium-sized room with sound while each beat snapped. This is definitely a system for work and play.

MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023) performance

There is one thing I can say for sure. Whatever you throw at the MacBook Pro 14-inch, this laptop can handle it with ease, whether you opt for the M2 Pro model or M2 Max version. Go for the M2 Max if you need more graphics might or more oomph for video projects.

The M2 Pro chip starts with a 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU, 16GB of unified memory and 512GB of storage. Apple sent us a version to test that costs an obscene 4,099, but it offers obscene power to match with a 12-core CPU, 38-core GPU, 64GB of memory and 2TB of storage.

Thanks to our sister site Laptop Mag, we also have the test results for the M2 Pro version of this machine, although this is a pricier configuration than the entry-level model. It offers a 12-core CPU, 19-core GPU, 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage for 3,299.

For comparison we also tested two powerful Windows laptops. This includes a Dell XPS 15 with a 12th gen Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD, plus Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics for 2,299. To be fair, the Core i9 model would be faster but we didn’t have that to test. Also keep in mind that newer 13th gen Intel chips are on the way.

We also tested an HP EliteBook 840 G9 business laptop with a 12th gen Core i7 VPro CPU, 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD and Intel Iris X graphics for 2,868.

On Geekbench 5, which measures CPU performance, the MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 is in a league of its own. The M2 Pro version notched a single-core score of 1,941 and the M2 Max version hit a similar 1,926. Both models cleared 14,900 on the multi-core test.

The scores earned by the Dell XPS 15 and HP EliteBook 840 G9 were both below 1,800 on single-core and below 12,000 on mulit-core. So what about other MacBooks? The MacBook Pro 2021 with M1 Pro hit 1,768 and 12,477, while the 2022 MacBook Pro 13-inch with M2 registered 1,899 and 8,911.

Overall, the MacBook Pro 14-inch is about 9% faster in single-core performance versus the previous model and 17% faster in multi-core.

So how about transcoding video? The MacBook Pro 14-inch wipes the floor with the competition and is notably faster than the previous M1 Pro MacBook.

For this test we use the Handbrake app to transcode a 6.5GB 4K video to 1080p. The new MacBook Pro 2023 took just 4 minutes and 3 seconds to complete the task. The Dell XPS 15 was over a minute and a half slower, and the HP EliteBook was nearly 3 minutes behind.

The MacBook Pro M1 Pro needed 4 minutes and 51 seconds to complete the same task, and the MacBook Pro 13-inch took nearly 7 minutes. So this new laptop is clearly more Pro.

If you are big into photo editing the MacBook Pro 14-inch will not disappoint. On the PugetBench PhotoShop test, which assigns a score based on how effectively a system uses scripts to apply a series of filters and other adjustments to a number of high-res photographs, the MacBook Pro 2023 scored 988 with the M2 Pro chip and 1,199 with the M2 Max. The test also times how long each system takes, and the MacBook 14-inch M2 Pro took 4:20; the M2 Max version was even faster at 3:57.

The Dell XPS 15 (962) and HP EliteBook 840 G9 (929) were not too far behind in terms of the overall score, but they needed a lot more time to complete the tasks. The Dell needed 5:42 and the HP 5:16. The previous M1 Pro MacBook Pro scored a much lower 806 but had a relatively fast time of 4:54.

When it comes to video editing, the MacBook Pro 14-inch with M2 Pro should be able to handle most projects, but the M2 Max version is even faster. We put both laptops through the PugetBench Premiere Pro test, which involves taking a 4K clip and applying a Lumetri Color effect and adding 12 clips across four tracks in a multi-camera sequence.

The M2 Pro model turned in a stellar score of 942, which blows away the Dell XPS 15 (616) and HP EliteBook 840 G9 (378). The M2 Max model hit 1,009. Unfortunately, the M1 Pro couldn’t run this test when we ran it in 2021, but the MacBook Pro 13-inch M2 turned in a score of 552.

Last but not least, we also ran the Blackmagic disk speed test to measure the SSD performance of the MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 versus the competition. With a 5,293 MBps read speed and 6,168 MBps write speed, the M2 Pro MacBook Pro handily beat the XPS 15 and was well in front of the HP EliteBook 840 G9.

The M2 Max model was a bit faster than the M2 Pro version in this test, and the MacBook Pro 13-inch M2 was about half as fast as the new MacBook Pro 14-inch. The M1 Pro MacBook Pro had similar read speeds to the M2 Pro version but the newer MacBook has faster writes.

What we did evaluate the entry-level model of the 14-inch MacBook M2 Pro. However, third-party tests of the MacBook Pro 2023 SSD have found that it is slower than the 2021 model, which is a shame. We’ll revisit that once we’ve done our own testing.

MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023: Graphics and gaming

The MacBook Pro 14-inch offers a wide range of graphics options, starting with a 16-core GPU. We tested the 19-core GPU inside the M2 Pro chip and the 38-core GPU from the M2 Max chip, and there’s definitely a difference in benchmark performance.

On 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited, which measures graphics performance, the MacBook Pro M2 Pro scored 47,844 and 287 frames per second. The M2 Max chip nearly doubled those results.

The MacBook Pro M1 Pro scored 38,406 and 230 fps, so that’s a pretty big jump of about 20% versus the M2 Pro. Same thing goes for the Unlimited test results.

1920 x 1080 resolution At 3,456 x 2,160 resolution

While Apple still has a long way to go in terms of gaming, the new MacBook Pro 14-inch is certainly capable of delivering solid frame rates. Take Rise of the Tomb Raider. The M2 Pro MacBook Pro hit 48.6 fps at 1920 x 1200 resolution, compared to 39.3 fps for the 2021 model with M1 Pro. However, neither system could reach a playable 30 fps at the MacBook‘s native 3024 x 1964 resolution.

The M2 Max version with 38-core GPU delivered a much higher 73 fps at 1920 x 1200 pixels and a playable 34 fps at the higher resolution. The Dell XPS 15 got to 38.4 fps with its Nvidia GPU at 1080p.

I also had a chance to play Resident Evil Village, which is one of the titles that’s been optimized for Apple’s Metal graphics engine. The level of detail was stunningly gory, especially when I got a chunk bitten out of my hand by a monster, and my jacket looked remarkably real as the fabric flowed in the wind while I walked.

Even with multiple monsters on the screen at once the MacBook Pro 14-inch M2 Max delivered smooth action with very little stuttering.

MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023) battery life

The MacBook Pro 14-inch M2 Pro offers awesome battery life based on our testing. On the Tom’s Guide Battery test, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits of screen brightness, it lasted an epic 14 hours and 2 minutes. That’s just a few minutes shy of the MacBook Pro M1, which lasted 14:08.

The MacBook Pro M2 Max didn’t last quite as long, but 12 hour and 51 minutes is nothing to sneeze at when you have that kind of power under the hood. The Dell XPS 15 only endured for a bit over 10 hours. But the 13-inch MacBook Pro M2 is still the champ with over 18 hours of runtime.

MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023) Wi-Fi 6E

The MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 supports Wi-Fi 6E, which supports the 6GHz Band and speeds up to twice as fast as the previous Wi-Fi 6. I connected the laptop to a TP-Link Deco XE75 Wi-Fi 6E mesh router, and I saw speedy downloads in the 400 Mbps range over my home internet connection, though uploads were just 20 Mbps.

The MacBook Pro M1 Pro delivered similar results in various locations as the M2 Max model, but we’ll conduct additional tests to see how much of a difference Wi-Fi 6E can make.

MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023) webcam

The MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 features the same 1080p webcam as the 2021 model, but it does have an improved image signal processor that makes modest improvements to image quality, especially in low light.

I took the two above photos in the same conditions, and the MacBook Pro M2 Max model’s shot is on the right. The newer MacBook Pro does capture a deeper blue in my shirt and sweatshirt as well as a richer red, and there’s a bit less noise in the shot.

It’s not a dramatic difference, but it’s notably better.

MacBook Pro 14-inch (2023) verdict

The MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 once again sets a new standard for laptop performance, thanks to its M2 Pro chip. It blows away the Windows competition, at least until we’re able to test systems with 13th gen Intel Core CPUs. The M2 Max is even faster, especially when it comes to intensive tasks like photo editing in Photoshop and video editing in Premiere Pro. And the M2 Max’s graphics prowess is a serious upgrade over the M2 Pro.

Even with the speed boost, the MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 delivers epic battery life over 14 hours. No other laptop offers this combination of performance and endurance for the money. The more capable HDMI port and faster Wi-Fi 6E are also welcome upgrades.

So is the MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 right for you? If you want something that’s portable but very powerful I would say yes, if you’re willing to spend at least 1,999. It’s certainly a lot faster than the MacBook Pro 13-inch with M2, but that model starts at 1,299 while lasting roughly 4 more hours on a charge. Then there’s the MacBook Pro 16-inch, which starts at 2,499; that system is worth getting if you really want a bigger screen and a design with a bit more thermal headroom for sustained performance, but it offers the same specs overall.

I wouldn’t say that the MacBook Pro 14-inch 2023 is fast enough to warrant an upgrade from the M1 Pro model, but if you’re looking to step up from an older system it is the pinnacle of performance.

Mark Spoonauer is the global editor in chief of Tom’s Guide and has covered technology for over 20 years. In addition to overseeing the direction of Tom’s Guide, Mark specializes in covering all things mobile, having reviewed dozens of smartphones and other gadgets. He has spoken at key industry events and appears regularly on TV to discuss the latest trends, including Cheddar, Fox Business and other outlets. Mark was previously editor in chief of Laptop Mag, and his work has appeared in Wired, Popular Science and Inc. Follow him on at @mspoonauer.

The most powerful MacBook has arrived but at an exorbitant price

Laptop Mag Verdict

The MacBook Pro 16 brings beauty, beastly performance and the longest battery life we’ve seen, but the price could be a dealbreaker.

Pros

• Powerful overall and gaming performance
• First-in-class battery life
• Excellent audio
• Beautiful display

Cons

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Price: 2,699 starting, 5,299 as reviewed CPU/GPU: M2 Pro (10-core CPU, 16-core GPU or 12-core CPU, 19-core GPU), with optional M2 Max with up to 12-core CPU and 38-core GPU RAM: 16 to 96GB Storage: 512GB to 8TB Display: 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display (3024 x 1964 pixels, 254ppi) Battery: 100Wh (18:56) Dimensions: 14 x 9.8 x 0.7 inches Weight: 4.8 pounds

The new king of the MacBooks is here. Long be its reign (which should be about a year). Apple’s coming out of the gate swinging, outfitting the laptop with the company’s proprietary M2 Max chip. It puts competitors to shame while putting a clear gulf between its predecessors. And yes, it is possible to game on this system thanks to the chip. I had a hell of a good time being terrified during Resident Evil Village.

In addition to the powerful chipset, you get a captivating 16-inch display, powerful audio and a super comfy keyboard. But the cherry on the top is the battery life, which lasted nearly 19 hours. In short, the MacBook Pro 16 is an unmitigated beast. But not so fast — there’s always a price. And in the case of MacBook Pro 16 M2 Max, the price is the actual cost (2,699 starting, 5,299 as reviewed). It’s par for the course with Apple, but it still will give most people, including this reviewer, pause.

But if you want the crème de la crème of Macs, the MacBook Pro 16 sits at the top of the heap. It’s also the latest entrant to our best laptops page as well as our best video editing laptops and longest lasting laptops pages.

MacBook Pro 16 pricing and configurations

Be right back; gotta look into selling a kidney or a spleen. Yes, my review unit is just that expensive. Is it the most expensive laptop I’ve ever reviewed? No, but it’s up there. Let’s get into it, shall we?

The starting price for my configuration is 3,499 and has a 12-core (8 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores) Apple M2 Max CPU, 38-core Apple GPU with a 16-core Neural Engine. You get 32GB of unified memory, a 1TB SSD and a 16.2-inch, 3456 x 2234-pixel, Liquid Retina XDR display. My review unit comes in at 5,299 and bumps up the unified memory to a ridiculous 96GB and the storage to a 4TB SSD.

Now, things don’t have to get so exorbitant. The base model MacBook 16 costs 2,499 and comes equipped with a 12-core Apple M2 Max CPU, 19-core Apple GPU with a 16-core Neural Engine, 16GB of unified memory and a 512GB SSD. All-in-all, I’d recommend the middle-ground 2,699 system, which gives 1TB of storage. But Apple is pretty generous with the configurator, so it shouldn’t be too hard to cobble together something within your budget.

MacBook Pro 16 design

The MacBook Pro 16 doesn’t deviate much from the Apple design playbook, which is a double-edged sword. On one hand, with its rounded edges, CNC anodized aluminum chassis and glossy top-mounted emblem, the MacBook Pro is a certified classic in any conversation. On the other hand, it might be time for Apple to shake things up. Hell, at least give us a new color to fawn over besides Silver and Space Gray.

Ah well, opening my Space Gray review unit revealed more of that pretty aluminum. The matte black keyboard sits top center in between two large speaker grilles. Directly below is the massive touchpad.

Weighing 4.8 pounds, the 14 x 9.8 x 0.7-inch MacBook Pro won’t go unnoticed in a backpack, but thankfully, it’s not a backbreaker. It’s lighter than both the Dell XPS 17 (14.7 x 9.8 x 0.8 inches) and the Asus ZenBook Pro 16X OLED (14 x 9.8 x 0.7 inches) which both weigh 5.3 pounds.

MacBook Pro 16 ports

The MacBook Pro 16 is scant on ports, but what it does have can create a solid workstation.

On the right, you have a Thunderbolt 4 port, a full HDMI port and an SDXC card reader.

Along the left are a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports, a headset jack and Apple’s proprietary MagSafe charger input. If you need more ports and slots, take a gander at our best laptops docking stations page.

MacBook Pro 16 display

Whew! Apple sure knows how to make a pretty display. The MacBook Pro 16 has a 16.2-inch, Liquid Retina XDR (Extreme Dynamic Range) panel that’s positively spellbinding. With its 3024 x 1964p resolution, this screen is jam-packed with pixels to the tune of 7.7 million pixels with 254 pixels per inch. It makes for bold colors with sharp details.

I learned that first hand as I watched Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story of the Once and Future Heavyweight Champion of the World trailer. In the titular role, actor Khris Davis’ golden brown sweat was beaded with sweat. I saw the perspiration fly as he took a right cross that sent him flying towards the mat. His ruby red shorts with the bright white trim drew my eye during his descent.

Due to how colorful the MacBook Pro 16’s panel seemed, I was surprised to learn that the screen’s 83.7% DCI-P3 score was below the 88.1% premium laptop average. The XPS 17 was slightly better at 85.1% while the Zenbook Pro 16X reached 90.2%.

The MacBook Pro 16 made a comeback on the brightness test with an average of 447 nits. That’s brighter than the 391-nit category average and the Zenbook Pro 16X’s 345 nits. However, it couldn’t outshine the XPS 17’s 466 nits.

MacBook Pro 16 audio

While I’m sure Apple would love for you to invest in a pair of Airpods Pro 2 or Airpods Max (you might want to hold out on the latter, though, if the rumors are true), the MacBook Pro 16 doesn’t need a pair of headphones or earbuds — it sounds that good. The six-speaker setup with its four force-cancelling woofers and two tweeters deliver rich, balanced highs and mids and bass with a significant thump, a point where rivals often fall short.

At full volume, Lizzo’s “Special” not only filled the upstairs portion of my duplex, but also managed to reach the small portion of the downstairs where my home gym resides. The horns were triumphant, accompanied by some airy strings, thumpy bass and crisp high hats. I heard every Echo and reverb of that sonorous alto.

Not all the audio coming from the MacBook Pro 16 sounded good. On the contrary, they sounded downright terrifying. Case in point, the wet, slippery, sloshing sound as the giant mutated baby in Resident Evil Village crawled its way toward me, with distorted baby gurgles spilling from its moist, gaping maw.

Similar to its predecessor, the MacBook Pro 16 has spatial audio, which transforms wherever you’re sitting into a mini concert hall. At least, it felt that way as I listened to De La Soul’s “The Magic Number.” The drums, while present, sounded like they were further away from me than Plug 1,2 and 3. The bass was located to the right while the delicately plinking piano sat to the left.

MacBook Pro 16 keyboard and touchpad

I’ve yet to meet a Magic Keyboard I didn’t like. The MacBook Pro 16 maintains that sentiment. Bouncy and depressing with a slight click, it’s a pleasure to type on the keyboard. The white backlighting is bright enough to work in even the darkest conditions. Buttons for Dictation, Do Not Disturb and Spotlight grace the top row along with several other Function keys.

I took the 10fastfingers typing test and wasn’t too surprised that I surpassed my usual 70 words per minute, reaching 80 wpm.

The 6.3 x 3.9-inch Force Touch touchpad is absolutely massive. But despite my wrists constantly coming into contact with it, I never had any problems with palm rejection (or lack thereof). In practice, multitouch gestures on the trackpad were incredibly agile and responsive.

MacBook Pro 16 M2 and M2 Max

It’s been a long wait, but we’re finally here. It started with the 13-inch MacBook Air and the M2 chip. It continues with the latest additions to the roster, the M2 Pro and the M2 Max.

First, let’s talk about the M2 Pro. It’s available as either a 10 or 12-core CPU with six performance cores and four efficiency cores for the former and eight p-cores and four e-cores for the latter. The base model of the GPU gives you 16 cores while the other has 19. Apple claims that translates into the chip being 20% faster than the CPU and 30% faster than the GPU on the last-gen M1 chip. With the M2 Pro, you can get either 16 or 32GB of unified memory.

Then there’s the M2 Max, the most powerful chip in the M2 series. It has a 12-core CPU with either a 30 or 38-core GPU. Apple claims the M2 Max CPU is 20% than last year’s M1 Max and 30% faster than its predecessor’s GPU. Every variation of both the Max and the Pro has 16GB of Neural Engine which can compute a maximum 15.8 trillion operations per second which equates to being 40% faster than last-gen chips, netting up to 10x boost in performance.

MacBook Pro 16 performance

So let’s get down to brass tacks. Outfitted with Apple M2 Max CPU, a 16-core Neural Engine, 96GB of unified memory and 4TB of storage, the MacBook Pro 16 is an unstoppable beast. I threw everything I could think of at it: 100 Google Chrome tabs, laden with Google Docs, Sheets and Slides. Plus, quite a few tabs of YouTube and Twitch, playing with , and a host of news sites. I even ran Resident Evil Village with all of this reckless chaos. The MacBook Pro 16 shrugged it off and I couldn’t detect any slowdown or stuttering.

Now, we dig into synthetic benchmarks, starting with Geekbench 5.4, our overall performance test where the MacBook Pro 16 got 15,044. That’s well beyond the premium laptop average of 6,977. With their Intel Core i7-12700H processors, the XPS 17 and ZenBook Pro 16X obtained scores of 13,714 and 11,974, respectively.

Running the Handbrake test, the MacBook Pro 16 only took 3 minutes and 59 seconds, a blistering speed that far surpasses the 8:48 average. The Zenbook Pro 16X was a distant second with a time of 5:51 while the XPS 17 lagged behind with 6:40.

Our usual file transfer test where we duplicate 25GB of multimedia files to determine transfer speed doesn’t work on Macs. But never fear, there’s the BlackMagic read/write test where the MacBook Pro 16 4TB SSD delivered speeds of 5,717.2 megabytes per second (read) and 6,664.8MBps (write). Both results bested the category averages of 4,297MBps (read) and 3,609.8MBps (write).

MacBook Pro 16 graphics and gaming

With its 38-core Apple GPU, the MacBook Pro 16 is ready to address the elephant in the room. Can a Mac game? The answer is a thunderous yes. As I frantically raced around a room trying to find the main killer doll in a room full of murderous moppets, I found and slashed at my prey in Resident Evil Village. The second time, I wasn’t so lucky as I was beset upon by a horde of knife-wielding figurines, slashing at my defenseless form at an average of 68 frames per second (1920 x 1080, Ultra settings). I ultimately emerged victorious, albeit a tad bit traumatized.

It’s impressive, especially for a Mac. However, Apple has a ways to go to match the power of a discrete chip. The MacBook Pro 16 hit a frame rate of 59 fps on the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm benchmark. It crushed the 49-fps premium laptop average, but it was no match for either the XPS 17 nor the Zenbook Pro 16X which produced 119 and 103 fps, respectively thanks to their Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPUs.

At 4K resolution, the MacBook Pro 16’s frame rate barely dropped at 58 fps. That beat the 39-fps average and put it a breath behind the XPS 17’s 60 while the Zenbook Pro 16X pulled out the win with 84 fps.

During the Rise of the Tomb Raider test, the MacBook Pro 16 reached 92 fps, dusting off the 56-fps category average. The frame rate fell to 34 fps, keeping it above the 22-fps average.

MacBook Pro 16 battery life

Say hello to the new king of longevity. Apple claims that the MacBook Pro 16’s 100-watt-hour battery will last up to 22 hours on Apple TV app movie playback and up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing. The notebook split the baby on the Laptop Mag Battery Test (continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness) posting a time of 18 hours and 56 minutes, making it our new longest lasting laptop.

That time was much longer than the 10:02 premium laptop average. The XPS 17 was a distant second with a time of 8:05 while the Zenbook Pro 16X posted 5:15.

Similar to the 14-inch MacBook Pro, the 16-inch model supports fast charging. With its 140W power adapter, the MacBook Pro 16 can charge up to halfway in only 30 minutes.

MacBook Pro 16 heat

Despite the powerful specs, the MacBook Pro 16 can keep its cool under most circumstances. We ran a 15-minute fullscreen video and measured several spots on the laptop. The trackpad measured a cool 78 degrees Fahrenheit while the center of the keyboard and the undercarriage registered 81 degrees. This falls well below our 95-degree comfort threshold.

MacBook Pro 16 webcam

Unlike many of its competitors, the MacBook Pro 16 has a 1080p webcam. The FaceTime HD shooter captures great images with accurate color and relatively clean details.

The camera did an amazing job with my red blouse as well as the pink, blue, green and purple and my hair. Much to my chagrin, it also caught a large bump on my forehead. Sometimes, a camera can be a bit too good.

MacBook Pro 16 software

The MacBook Pro 14 runs on macOS Ventura, one of the most responsive operating systems I’ve used on Mac. Apple has worked on optimizing how Ventura assigns multithreaded tasks to the CPU cores. Using its advanced power management features, the OS intelligently disseminates tasks between the performance and efficiency cores, delivering optimal performance and endurance.

Ventura also allows your MacBook, iPad, iPhone and Apple Watch to work seamlessly thanks to Continuity features and iCloud. For instance, with Handoff, you can start writing an email on your iPad or iPhone and pick up right where you left off. Airdropping between iDevices has become even easier. The Universal Clipboard allows you to copy and paste text or images from an iPhone or iPad right into a document on the MacBook.

And there are a few new GPU-centric features via Metal 3, allowing the system to render high-res graphics faster. That means games and content creation apps like Final Cut Pro are less taxing on the system, taking less time to render and load. There’s even ray tracing that shifts the weight of all that complex rendering over to the GPU, freeing up the CPU for other tasks.

The MacBook Pro 14 ships with a one-year limited warranty. See how Apple fared during Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands, our annual reports.

Bottom line

If you’re looking for the ultimate MacBook, you’ve found it in the MacBook Pro 16 M2 Max. At 16 inches, it’s big in all the right places. You’ve got that beautiful display, powerful six-speaker setup and a big comfy keyboard. And that’s before you get to M2 Max silicon, the new king of Apple chips. It laid waste to competing systems in all of our performance tests. Is the GPU ready to go head-to-head with discrete graphics chips? No. But the fact that it’s even in the conversation, is a win for Apple. And lest we forget, this laptop is our new longest lasting system falling short of 19 hours by only 4 minutes.

The MacBook Pro 16 is also big in another place: price. MacBooks don’t come cheap, and when it comes to the MacBook Pro 16, this is especially true. The starting price for an M2 Max configuration is an eye-watering 3,099, which jumps to 5,299 when you add more memory and storage. If you’ve absolutely had your heart set on a MacBook Pro 16, I’d recommend one with an M2 Pro chip. It’s cheaper, and if you check out our MacBook Pro 14 review, it’s plenty capable of getting the job done whether it’s work or play.

But if you’re a content creator with massive demanding projects, the MacBook Pro 16 will be hard to beat.