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M2 MacBook Pro vs. 14- and 16-Inch MacBook Pro Buyer's Guide

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Apple recently announced a major update for its high-end MacBook Pro models, adding the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, better battery life, Wi‑Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and a HDMI 2.1 port. Last year, Apple updated the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the M2 chip, so how do the machines compare?

13-inch-macbook-pro-m2-mock-feature-2.jpg

Despite both being MacBook Pros, the M2 model and the high-end models are very different machines, so should you consider purchasing the lower-cost MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,299, to save money, or do you need the higher-end 14- or 16-inch MacBook Pro, which costs at least $700 more? Our guide helps to answer the question of how to decide which of these two Apple silicon MacBook Pros is best for you.

Comparing the 13-Inch MacBook Pro and 14- and 16-Inch MacBook Pro

The 13-inch MacBook Pro and high-end MacBook Pro share a large number of important features such as an Apple silicon chip, wide stereo sound, and Touch ID. Apple lists these same features of the two devices:

Similarities

  • Display with P3 wide color and True Tone
  • Apple silicon System on Chip (SoC)
  • Media engine with hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW, video encode and decode engines, and ProRes encode and decode engines
  • 16-core Neural Engine
  • 16GB unified memory option
  • 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB storage options
  • Ambient light sensor
  • FaceTime HD camera with advanced image signal processor with computational video
  • Wide stereo sound
  • Studio-quality three-mic array with high signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming
  • Touch ID
  • Backlit Magic Keyboard
  • Force Touch trackpad
  • 3.5mm headphone jack with advanced support for high-impedance headphones
  • At least two Thunderbolt 4 ports
  • Available in Space Gray and Silver

Apple's breakdown shows that the two MacBooks share a large number of key features. Even so, there are some meaningful differences between the M2 MacBook Pro and the 14- and 16-inch models that are worth highlighting, including design, chip options, battery life, and display brightness.

Key Differences Overview

13-Inch MacBook Pro14-Inch and 16-Inch MacBook Pro
13.3-inch display14.2-inch or 16.2-inch display
LCD Retina displayMini-LED Liquid Retina XDR display with ProMotion
500 nits brightnessUp to 1,000 nits sustained (full-screen) brightness, 1,600 nits peak brightness
M2 chipM2‌ Pro or ‌M2‌ Max chip
8-core CPUUp to 12-core CPU with eight performance cores and four efficiency cores
10-core GPUUp to 19-core GPU with ‌M2‌ Pro and up to 38-core GPU with ‌M2‌ Max
100GB/s memory bandwidthUp to 400GB/s memory bandwidth
8GB, 16GB, or 24GB of unified memory16GB or 32GB unified memory with ‌M2‌ Pro and 32GB, 64GB, or 96GB unified memory with ‌M2‌ Max
256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB of storage
720p FaceTime HD camera1080p FaceTime HD camera
Stereo speakers with high dynamic rangeHigh-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers
Support for Dolby Atmos playbackSupport for spatial audio when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos on built-in speakers
Two Thunderbolt 4 portsThree Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI 2.1 port, and SDXC card slot
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)Wi‑Fi 6E (802.11ax)
Bluetooth 5.0Bluetooth 5.3
Supports one external display with up to 6K resolution at 60HzSupports two external displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz (M2 Pro) or three external displays with up to 6K resolution and one external display with up to 4K resolution at 60Hz (M2 Max)
Touch BarFull-size function keys
Integrated 58.2-watt-hour lithium-polymer batteryIntegrated 70 or 100-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery
Up to 20 hours battery life when playing back videoUp to 18 or 22 hours battery life when playing back video
67W USB-C Power Adapter67W, 96W, or 140W USB-C Power Adapter
–MagSafe 3 and fast charging


Design

Both the entry-level and high-end MacBook Pro models are available in Silver and Space Gray, but their designs vary. Although the machin... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: M2 MacBook Pro vs. 14- and 16-Inch MacBook Pro Buyer's Guide
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/guide/m2-macbook-pro-vs-14-and-16-inch-macbook-pro/
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radus

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What I like ist the 144 Hertz on the Spectrum Display connected via Displayport ( Macbook Pro 16" ).
Is this possible with the M2 Macbook Pro ?
 
Kdvl7

Kdvl7

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From a technical point of view, it still makes no sense to keep the MacBook Pro 13" together with the new MacBook Air M2, as the latter features overall better characteristics (same chip, better camera, bigger and more advanced display, new design...) for roughly the same price.
 
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MICHAELSD

MICHAELSD

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Apple is shooting themselves in the foot a little bit by staggering the release of Mac’s with next-generation silicon. There are a few M1 Mac’s, like the Mac Mini and iMac, that are bound to be upgraded soon, and M1 Pro chips in the MacBook Pro that are poised to imminently become M2 Pro.

That being said, the strategy is fine if they don’t delay releasing the M2 versions of other Mac’s for too long. I’m definitely still considering the current 14” MacBook Pro.
 
mudflap

mudflap

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Ordered my 14" MacBook Pro 16GB 512GB Wednesday afternoon, saw that it had a 5 week wait, but at final checkout I was able to choose next day delivery and setup for free, and I got it Thursday afternoon. AMAZING. Total surprise, I thought it was too good to be true but here I am typing on the best keyboard I've ever used in my life.

Had the Air but I'm selling it. I love it, and the form factor can't be beat — it's probably the greatest thin laptop ever made, but I needed more power and higher external display resolution. The 14" is pretty incredible.

[EDIT: spelled "day" wrong :/ ]
 
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heystu

heystu

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MR scraping the bottom of the barrel a bit here - this isn’t comparing apples with apples, more like apples with jumbo jets 🙄
 
B

BeatCrazy

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Kdvl7 said:
From a technical point of view, it still makes no sense to keep the MacBook Pro 13" together with the new MacBook Air M2, as the latter features overall better characteristics (same chip, better camera, bigger and more advanced display, new design...) for roughly the same price.
Click to expand...
But not everything happens for a 'technical' reason :)

They're likely keeping it in the lineup because their amortized BOM for the 13" is dirt cheap (compared to the Air), they can probably ramp supply easily, and maybe they make someone a good deal on them for an enterprise/education customer deployment.
 
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Shirasaki

Shirasaki

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It’s disappointing to see Apple goes all out on notch, one of the major factor that drove me from using iPhone primarily to using iPad primarily, simply because iPad has no notch. As someone else pointed out, that notch and redesigned menubar has more than what it sounds (always the same size regardless of scaling level, eat away menu area, status icons got covered etc).

M2 doesn’t seem like a big enough jump compared To M1, even though I’m already feeling a bit sluggish when using M1 MacBook Pro sometimes while doing no intensive workloads. But for iteration upgrade I guess it’s ok. Better than Intel’s 14+++++++++nm era Lol.

I agree that for most people 13” MacBook Pro should be a no brainer unless lightweight is your major concern or you like new color or you believe The better camera is Appealing, or you don’t like Touch Bar, or you enjoy fanless experience (doesn’t mean it will always remain cool when under load).
 
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roncron

roncron

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A useful comparison is between the base model 14" and the 13" M2 MBP equipped with the same RAM and SSD (16/512).

Equipped this way, the 13" M2 Pro costs $1700, just $300 less than the base model 14".

That extra $300 buys you a bigger, MUCH better display, much better speakers & webcam, ports galore, and a better cooling system.

The price difference may be less than $300, since the base model 14" pro can sometimes be found for $200 off at Costco, Amazon, Best Buy, etc.

I think most "pro" users would be much better served by the 14" MBP for not that much more money, and most "non-pro" users by the M2 MB Air coming in a few weeks.

So who is the 13" M2 MB Pro for, exactly? People who...
  • like the Touch Bar
  • value a lighter machine: the 13" M2 MB Pro weighs 8 ounces less than the 14" MB Pro (though the M2 Air will weigh even less, and be cheaper)
  • do a lot of processor-intensive work and want the active cooling of the 13" M2 Pro over the fanless M2 MB Air
I'm happy for these folks that the 13" M2 MBP is available, but I'm guessing there are relatively few of them, and that 13" M2 MB Pro sales will fizzle out quickly.
 
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roncron

roncron

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snipr125 said:
It’s strange some people saying the M2 MBP should not exist, yet it is Apples 2nd best selling laptop model.
Click to expand...
I think Apple said the 13" M1 MBP was their second best seller, since the M2 model wasn't yet available at that time.

That's not a surprise. Second cheapest macbook, second best seller.

I don't see many people saying the 13" M2 MBP shouldn't exist, just that there are other options that are unambiguously better for most users. (Except Touch Bar fans, obviously.)
 
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bradman83

bradman83

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MICHAELSD said:
Apple is shooting themselves in the foot a little bit by staggering the release of Mac’s with next-generation silicon. There are a few M1 Mac’s, like the Mac Mini and iMac, that are bound to be upgraded soon, and M1 Pro chips in the MacBook Pro that are poised to imminently become M2 Pro.

That being said, the strategy is fine if they don’t delay releasing the M2 versions of other Mac’s for too long. I’m definitely still considering the current 14” MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...
This is par for the course with Apple. Their upgrade releases have been staggered for as long as they've been making computers. I suspect their release cycle for the M1 family was extended because of supply chain issues. There were indicators they wanted to launch the M1 Pro/Max in June 2021 but it got pushed to October because of supply chain issues. Apple likely wanted to get the entire M1 family out in 2021 and launch the M2 in early 2022 but factors outside their control put a damper on that. While supply chain issues persist hopefully Apple can move the M2 upgrades sooner. (ie: M2/M2 Pro Mini, M2 Pro/Max MBP and M2 iMac in the fall 2022, M2 Ultra Studio early 2023, M3 Fall 2023).
 
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