More power? Check? Mesmerizing display, powerful speakers, comfortable keyboard, sharp and accurate webcam? Checks down the board.

Īfter causing a ruckus among its fans by not releasing the M2 Pro or M2 Max chips at the end of 2022, the shiny new Apple Silicon arrived and it ticks most of the boxes fans were hoping for. See our full Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M2, 2022) review. This is the same design Apple has used for years and the Magic Keyboard is a pleasure to type on (and reliable, too!). We're disappointed to see the TouchBar back, but it does have its fans and the notch-less screen will absolutely be a welcome sight for some buyers. Yep, you can run all your favorite iOS games and apps on your laptop.Įverything else about the MacBook Pro should feel familiar. With a yet again improved image processing unit, the webcam (sadly, still 720p) is better than before and since it runs on Apple's ARM-based architecture, iPad and iPhone apps are available on Mac. The M2 does more than improve speeds and endurance. That was enough to land it atop our list of laptops with the best battery life. The MacBook Pro M2 may not get the fancy redesign of the new MacBook Air, but the internal upgrade gives it a more significant performance boost than many expected, which keeps it well ahead of the Windows 11 competition at this price point and well beyond.Īnd despite cramming so much power into such a slim and sleek chassis, the Pro lasted for an almost unbelievable 18 hours and 20 minutes on our battery test, which simulates real-world testing. If you find yourself cresting the $1,499 mark for your configuration then you may want to consider the base 14-inch MacBook Pro, which I cover later in this list and can now be regularly found for $1,799. As I mentioned the Air M1 stuck around at $999, so you are paying a premium for the M2 model. The biggest consideration with the Air M2 is the price if you need to upgrade much from the $1,199 base model.

That first will be particularly welcome to those that are using the Air M2 on the go and may be faced with less than optimal lighting conditions. The list of upgrades also includes a brighter display, a quad-speaker array and the new 1080p webcam. The fact that it does all this while staying whisper quiet and cool without fans remains astounding. You also get a nice performance bump and it still delivered 14 hours and 6 minutes in our battery life test, placing it easily ahead of the Windows competition and ridiculously so when factoring in performance.

The notch in the display isn't my favorite design choice, but the rest of the changes are great with the addition of MagSafe charging freeing up those two Thunderbolt 4 ports for other purposes. While most will be happy with the MacBook Air M1, there's no denying the appeal of the new design and of course chip inside the MacBook Air M2.

Best buy for apple laptops