Apple reveals new MacBook Pros and adds ‘world’s fastest laptop chip’
Apple has announced two new versions of its popular MacBook Pro laptop.
The 14-inch and 16-inch models have been upgraded with new Apple-made processor chips to make them even faster.
Both laptops will be available to buy with either the M2 Pro or M2 Max silicone chips inside. These processors not only increase performance power but, Apple says, prolongs battery life as well.
The company quotes ‘up to 22 hours’ on a single charge.
For enhanced connectivity, the new MacBook Pro supports Wi-Fi 6E,3 which is up to twice as fast as the previous generation, as well as advanced HDMI, which supports 8K displays for the first time.
‘MacBook Pro with Apple silicon has been a game changer, empowering pros to push the limits of their workflows while on the go and do things they never thought possible on a laptop,’ said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing.
‘Today the MacBook Pro gets even better. With faster performance, enhanced connectivity, and the longest battery life ever in a Mac, along with the best display in a laptop, there’s simply nothing else like it.’
Prices for the new machines aren’t for the faint hearted. The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro starts at £2,149 while the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro starts at £2,699
Both MacBooks are available to pre-order now and will start arriving with customers from 24th January.
Ben Wood, chief analyst and CMO at CCS Insight, commented: ‘Apple’s decades-long journey to design its own chips has proven extremely valuable, with its own silicon now playing a role at the heart of its most successful products. Its expenditure in this area now places it in the top 12 globally when it comes to chips.’
‘The announcement of the M2 Pro and M2 Max underscore the importance of Apple’s deep investment in silicon, and demonstrates how central this approach is to the company’s entire approach to computing.’
He continued: ‘We see the announcement of the M2 Pro and M2 Ultra as a clear strategy to persuade existing Mac users with older Intel-powered devices to upgrade to a new Mac machine. The growing penetration of the iPhone and other Apple products with consumers has seen the appetite for Mac grow substantially.’
‘Consumers who would have previously gravitated towards a Windows-powered PC are now willing to consider a MacBook given their greater familiarity with Apple software and the synergies of having a range of products from the same ecosystem.
‘This is undoubtedly a worrying development for PC makers, particularly when they are trading in an unfavourable macroeconomic environment.’
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