If there’s one thing Apple fans love, it’s more power. New details on next year’s 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models suggest that’s precisely what they’ll get. This fascination with power means the best choice is to wait for the 2023 MacBooks, but for everyone else, this quest for performance can be safely ignored…there are better choices.
What can we expect from these new super-powerful laptops? The latest details come from the ever-reliable Geekbench. Picked up by industrious Apple commentator @ShrimpApplePro, benchmarks show an increase in capabilities, but not the quantum leap we’ve seen with Apple’s move from Intel’s x86 platform to Apple Silicon’s proprietary ARM-based platform. William Gallagher reports:
“…the Geekbench numbers include details about the device’s configuration. As noted, the device has 96GB of RAM, which is more than a current MacBook Pro can offer, but less than the Mac Studio. The processor is listed as “Apple M2 Max”, and the data includes that it is a 12-core processor running at 3.54 GHz. The single-core score is 1853 and the multi-core score is is 13855.”
As with any discussion of benchmarks, there is no guarantee of the device being measured and the development path of the device; it could be a new Mac Studio instead of the MacBook Pro M2 Max, although there’s plenty of confidence that the latter is the case.
A quick look at the numbers shows a 20% increase in performance over the M1 Max; oddly, it’s the same game seen in the MacBook Air between the M1 and M2 laptops.
Remember that the M1 Max (and the lower-tier M1 Pro) were among the most powerful laptop chipsets when they were launched. The fact that the M2 Max builds on that success means those looking for a powerful machine should consider these updated MacBook Pro laptops, which are expected to arrive towards the end of Q1 2023.
And these scores are for a single a5 core in the CPU. What happens when the number starts to increase or the GPU gets its own boost?
For the average consumer, the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops with the upgraded M1 chips were already seen as offering unnecessary excess power. The next generation will intensify this once again. This will make them even more appealing to developers and intensive creatives. It’ll also tempt geekerati who want “the laptop with the most numbers”, but for those who need a budget laptop for everyday use, the MacBook Air wallet is still the best choice that balances price and potential.
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