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Did anyone go from a 13” M1 Pro to a 13” M2 Pro?
- Thread starter Jacoblee23
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The M2 isn't really intended as an upgrade path for M1 owners. The new chip is better, but not so much that it will make a difference to your life. Anyone who did this (presumably because they were crushing the M1) would be disappointed because the M2 wouldn't be much better. Someone in that situation would have to shop for an M1Pro/Max/Ultra to see a tangible benefit.
Given the same (aging) hardware and only an incremental performance boost, I doubt many would even think to do this. A few MacBook Air folks have done this and posted about it, and there are a gazillion YouTube videos on exactly this. e.g.
Given the same (aging) hardware and only an incremental performance boost, I doubt many would even think to do this. A few MacBook Air folks have done this and posted about it, and there are a gazillion YouTube videos on exactly this. e.g.
I think I still agree with the theories that a) Apple had a lot of 13" MBP chassis to get rid of and b) Apple needed a stopgap in price and release date between the Air and the 14" and 16" M2 Pros.
I keep wondering if they'll eventually get all Mac releases more or less in sync and then can stop these filler products at that point. I really doubt there will be a 13" M3 MacBook Pro though.
It's such a weird entry in the line-up because it was designed around Intel chips vs. Apple silicon. The thing is... people keep buying them. It will be interesting to see how many they sell of these vs. M2 Air's because the performance difference is really so very minimal (except in very specific sustained workload situations).
I wonder if they will even replace this in time?
I sort of did this. I was a PC user and was tempted by the M1 13" MBP reviews and the cheap prices at Costco a couple of months ago to leave the PC world behind. I tried an M1 Pro and ended up returning it within the Costco window for an M2 13" MBP base model. The M2 IS faster for things that use the GPU significantly as I tried them side by side. I got better frame rates on the M2 in the couple of applications where I needed the graphics performance. I have a couple of use cases that make the fans kick on and temps get into the 80/90C range for a while, so an Air wasn't going to be viable for me.
I love the 13" form factor (I goofed around with the 14" and the display on the 14" IS beautiful), but the 1/2 pound of weight, longer battery life, and slightly smaller form factor tipped me into the base 13" Pro vs. the 14". It's quickly becoming my daily driver as I like the ecosystem and the M2 is very quick. I have periods with lots of travel so that 1/2 pound and battery advantage mattered. I have not noticed any SSD weirdness with a base model but I haven't moved a bunch of files around and I'm not editing 8K video files.
I get why people still buy the 13" - the design is stable and well known, the price is fair if you can get by with a base model (yes, I too wish it was 16/512 as a base but..), the SOC is really good with memory and most everything is cloud-based now anyhow so a small drive isn't a dealbreaker. The TouchBar is more useful in Logic Pro X than regular function keys would be as I adapt to the ecosystem as being able to tweak settings like Reverb right from the Touch Bar or changing articulations easily is really neat. I did buy AppleCare in case the Touch Bar goes south.
All that said, my use cases are narrow and I can see why a line up of Air and 14" and 16" might be in the offing in the future for Apple. If I was already invested in an M1 that wasn't returnable, I *might* have considered upgrading to the M2 outright; but my use is pretty much an edge case and admit that.
I love the 13" form factor (I goofed around with the 14" and the display on the 14" IS beautiful), but the 1/2 pound of weight, longer battery life, and slightly smaller form factor tipped me into the base 13" Pro vs. the 14". It's quickly becoming my daily driver as I like the ecosystem and the M2 is very quick. I have periods with lots of travel so that 1/2 pound and battery advantage mattered. I have not noticed any SSD weirdness with a base model but I haven't moved a bunch of files around and I'm not editing 8K video files.
I get why people still buy the 13" - the design is stable and well known, the price is fair if you can get by with a base model (yes, I too wish it was 16/512 as a base but..), the SOC is really good with memory and most everything is cloud-based now anyhow so a small drive isn't a dealbreaker. The TouchBar is more useful in Logic Pro X than regular function keys would be as I adapt to the ecosystem as being able to tweak settings like Reverb right from the Touch Bar or changing articulations easily is really neat. I did buy AppleCare in case the Touch Bar goes south.
All that said, my use cases are narrow and I can see why a line up of Air and 14" and 16" might be in the offing in the future for Apple. If I was already invested in an M1 that wasn't returnable, I *might* have considered upgrading to the M2 outright; but my use is pretty much an edge case and admit that.