Video Review: Three Months With the M2 Max MacBook Pro

[Ubele]

Given that M1 Max prices are now hundreds of dollars less than their m2 max counterparts, sometimes by $500 or more depending on the specific sale, is it even worth considering an m2 based machine

seems like m2 is a lost generation… it’s decent in a vacuum but in comparison to the predecessor, it’s just not worth the extra cost. and perhaps the 40% mac sales decline is the market’s way of sending that signal. I like that apple added Wi-Fi 6E and hdmi2.1 but those features were readily available in late 2021 so not sure why apple skimped out on the M1 Max series.

I agree, at least for my use case. I just ordered a refurbished 16" M1 Pro MBP with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD for US $2,079. A comparable new M2 model goes for $2,699. I've been ordering products from Apple's Refurbished store for myself and my family since the mid-2000s, and we've never had a problem with any of them, so I only buy new if it's something Apple just released and I can't wait for a refurbished unit. And for what I do (MS Office apps and light to medium Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere, Logic, and other photo-editing apps), I wouldn't notice a difference between an M1 and M2. Heck, I could manage with an M2 MacBook Air, but that 16" display and extra ports were worth the extra cost to me. I'll mostly be using it around the house in different rooms and will rarely travel with it (my iPad Pro suffices for travel), so the size and weight don't bother me. But I understand the excitement around the forthcoming 15" MBA for many people.

 

[citysnaps]

3 months is considered long term? Geez. Tech reviewer reality distortion field.

Yeah... it sounds like you're in the market to purchase a computer introduced in early 2022, and therefore need to look for 1 year reviews.

 

[autofree]

M1/M2 both look appealing, my only concern is how they will be in a few years. My current 2017 Macbook pro with an Intel i7 and 16GB RAM runs Ventura like absolute crap, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't curse it for running slow or for the fans always being maxed out when working.

I had a 2013 MacBook Pro with the i7 and 16gb ram and it ran like a champ. The fan rarely turned on. It was smooth as butter until the day I sold it and upgraded to the 2021 MacBook Pro M1.

 

[spinedoc77]

Do a clean install of Ventura and you will see the difference. I also suggest opening the bottom cover and cleaning the fans.

I'm going to give this a try, I did upgrade instead of a clean install. The fans blaring full speed is just insane, I can just open a program which doesn't tax the CPU/GPU but it still causes the fans to go crazy. I had read somewhere it was the turbo mode and experimented with apps which let you disable the turbo mode, but that didn't help.

Is it possible to do a backup and then restore to a fresh Ventura install?

 

[UltimaKilo]

All I can tell him is that I have a 244hz / 1440p monitor and it runs smooth with my M1 MB Air. I may upgrade to an M3 MB Air later because I do need more RAM.

 

[noblesoul117]

I also want to know about the desktop widgets. very envious of those.

In post #30 Zachari suggested it's Widgetwall. I'm trying it out and it does appear to be what Dan's using.

 

[CarAnalogy]

You'll have to blame the so called tech influencers, for convincing the majority and Apple that the Touch Bar was crap 😡
It isn't and it should be offered as an option of every MacBook

If they had just done that then yeah it might have been worth it. But they tried to use it as an upsell or something, I really don't know why they didn’t put it on every model. They kind of half committed from the beginning, and even to this day.

Also it should have been in *addition* to the function row.

 

[kyykesko]

Good review… >1 year if not 2-3 years would be even better and closer to my idea of “long term”.

Still boggles my mind there isn’t a cellular modem or whatever needed for outdoor / not-at-home access, for this and most laptops… with so much work online-dependent these days, that would be a genuinely “pro” feature for me.

I used to think so. Then saw how much the tele companies charge for those SIMs and decided I'd rather just share my phone connection whenever I need it - which isn't all that often these days with good wifi available almost everywhere. At least on this part of the globe. I'd be ok paying max 5e/mo extra for the connectivity from my computer but not much more than that. Even then it'd actually be 20-30e per use, so let's scratch that. I'm not ready to pay even that much.

 

[jdoll021]

I also want to know about the desktop widgets. very envious of those.

That was an app? I thought it was something macOS could do on AS Macs!

 

[Tagbert]

It is annoying they took away the keyboard brightness controls only to replace them with two redundant buttons hardly anyone will ever touch while owning the device

I think we all have very different usages scenarios so that is hard to predict. I don't recall the last time I needed to adjust the keyboard brightness, though I understand why someone might need to.

FYI there are a couple of post here about how you can setup alternate key mappings using Karabiner Elements so you can have something like cmd-f1/f2 for keyboard brightness. It works well since those keys are already screen brightness. It might have been nice if Apple setup Opt/Ctrl/Cmd alternates for those.

 

[Dan Barbera]

Seems those complaining about 3 months being long term and want a 1 year review instead, would in essence be looking to purchase a 1 year old computer, rather than something more recent with better performance/display/etc.

A three month review is perfect for me. That's enough time for Dan to form strong opinions and discover any nits.

I'd much rather purchase a recent computer based on recent reviews rather than a model from a year ago.

I feel like 3 months is an incredibly long time in the tech world. I usually try to revisit devices 3-6 months in and then 12 months but if the next generation is already out, then my attention moves to that.

 

[phenste]

It is annoying they took away the keyboard brightness controls only to replace them with two redundant buttons hardly anyone will ever touch while owning the device

https://karabiner-elements.pqrs.org/ !

 

[ric22]

I think we all have very different usages scenarios so that is hard to predict. I don't recall the last time I needed to adjust the keyboard brightness, though I understand why someone might need to.

FYI there are a couple of post here about how you can setup alternate key mappings using Karabiner Elements so you can have something like cmd-f1/f2 for keyboard brightness. It works well since those keys are already screen brightness. It might have been nice if Apple setup Opt/Ctrl/Cmd alternates for those.

Aren't the other buttons just there for people that don't want to touch the trackpad and use a gesture? I can't even remember what the two pointless buttons do again unless I open my laptop 😂

 

[trifid]

Nice review but I'm surprised that there was no mention of the M2's external monitor support 4k up to 240Hz. This is the only reason I considered switching my M1 MBP to M2 to get the "promotion" experience on external displays. I'm surprised there is not much talk about this

 

[spinedoc77]

Do a clean install of Ventura and you will see the difference. I also suggest opening the bottom cover and cleaning the fans.

Just wanted to update here that I did a clean install of Ventura and it still runs horribly. I think it might even be worse now. As I switch back and forth between my Windows PC and Macbook, when the Macbook is completely idle and unused now it's ramping up the fans to maximum for no good reason at times. I even took it apart and cleaned the internal fans. I'm really close to just going back to the previous OS at this point, thankfully I don't have to use macOS very often.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Anyways, I wish you the best and whatever you decide, I hope you’re happy with your purchase.

Thanks!