13" MacBook Pro with M2 - Why?

[DHagan4755]

The 13" MacBook Pro with M2 still has the TouchBar. No MagSafe. 720p webcam. So it has a fan. Big deal. It's an outdated design. Can someone explain why Apple thought this product was necessary in light of the new MacBook Air with M2 that has mostly superior specs?

 

[inglishmayjur]

This surprised me as well. The touch bar is a step backwards. Lower res camera. Wtf?

The fan does help with temps which allows it to outpace the MBA. It also supports multiple monitors which will matter to some. Decisions, decisions!

 

[jav6454]

The 13" MacBook Pro with M2 still has the TouchBar. No MagSafe. 720p webcam. So it has a fan. Big deal. It's an outdated design. Can someone explain why Apple thought this product was necessary in light of the new MacBook Air with M2 that has mostly superior specs?

Why do you feel the design is outdated? Granted the 720p and no MagSafe are negatives. But the overall chasis design is still great.

 

[Mojohanna32]

daughter needs a computer for college. trying to decide between 13" MBP and the M2 MB Air. Seems that for the money, the MBA is a better way to go.
She's going to be majoring in Environmental science. I don't foresee any issues with a Mac vs. a PC.

Pluses for MBA:
Mag safe
larger screen
better camera
better display

Pluses for MBP
thermals
slightly better specs (10core vs 8 core GPU), probably won't be noticable to my daughter, or me for that matter.

Anything I am missing? would be happy to take any thoughts from others...

 

[slplss]

I literally have no idea.
MacBook Pro 13": 720p cam, stereo speakers, Touch Bar, 58,2 Wh = 17-20hrs battery life, no MagSafe, possibly with fan
Macbook Air 13": 1080p cam, quad speakers, no Touch Bar, 52,6 Wh = 15-18hrs battery life, MagSafe, possibly fanless

If anyone could explain, why would you pay slightly more for 13" Pro?

 

[inglishmayjur]

daughter needs a computer for college. trying to decide between 13" MBP and the M2 MB Air. Seems that for the money, the MBA is a better way to go.
She's going to be majoring in Environmental science. I don't foresee any issues with a Mac vs. a PC.

Pluses for MBA:
Mag safe
larger screen
better camera
better display

Pluses for MBP
thermals
slightly better specs (10core vs 8 core GPU), probably won't be noticable to my daughter, or me for that matter.

Anything I am missing? would be happy to take any thoughts from others...

I'm not going into college (wish I was!) but for work doing web development and driving an external monitor + video calls I think the Macbook Air M2 presents a better case than the MBP.

 

[madat42]

I suspect as with the original M1 configs, the new M2 Air will be the better value. With M1 it was easier to defend the MacBook Pro 13, but with the new M2 Air now available you really can't. I suppose if you want a portable computer that will sustain M2 power for longer stretches with longer battery life, and don't care about sporting an older design and components. Or if you leave it plugged into a dock and external monitors most of the time?

 

[JPack]

Thermals is the biggest reason. Anybody using M1 MBA knows it throttles after a couple minutes of heavy loading. M2 is even hotter.

If you use the computer for graphics/video/audio editing, MBP 13 makes sense.

 

[inhalexhale1]

I literally have no idea.
MacBook Pro 13": 720p cam, stereo speakers, Touch Bar, 58,2 Wh = 17-20hrs battery life, no MagSafe, possibly with fan
Macbook Air 13": 1080p cam, quad speakers, no Touch Bar, 52,6 Wh = 15-18hrs battery life, MagSafe, possibly fanless

If anyone could explain, why would you pay slightly more for 13" Pro?

It's likely in the lineup to offer a more financially accessible laptop that has the "Pro" branding. It is $800 less than the 14" model. Some people will want the "Pro" laptop. Maybe they have a lot of stock left in that design too, who knows.

But I agree, I would buy the Air over that Pro especially for $100 less. I'm sure some people will buy it, but I don't see a reason to purchase that over the Air.

 

[slplss]

Thermals is the biggest reason. Anybody using M1 MBA knows it throttles after a couple minutes of heavy loading. M2 is even hotter.

If you use the computer for graphics/video/audio editing, MBP 13 makes sense.

View attachment 2014601

So this is where the fan makes difference for some people, interesting. I never get my MBP hot, but I remember the days of 2010-11 MBP, they ran super hot being idle, even with double fans.
iPad Pro 2021 convinced me I don't really need any fans, I played some Apex Legends on max, just to test it. It stayed room temperature. Same with LumaFusion export.

 

[inhalexhale1]

Thermals is the biggest reason. Anybody using M1 MBA knows it throttles after a couple minutes of heavy loading. M2 is even hotter.

If you use the computer for graphics/video/audio editing, MBP 13 makes sense.

View attachment 2014601

What % does a M1 MBA throttle when compared to the 13" MBP?

 

[SupraSaiyan]

Larger and arguably better screen on the MBA as well.

 

[JPack]

What % does a M1 MBA throttle when compared to the 13" MBP?

About 10-15% based on running Cinebench. The MBP doesn't throttle.

The M2 is hotter according to Apple so I'd expect 20% now.

 

[TechZeke]

Apple said it in the keynote - it's the world's second best selling laptop, behind the MBA.

As much as I think the 13" TB MBP is a waste of time, you can't argue against it from a business perspective if it's still selling.

Considering the fact that even the M1 chip is still overkill for most tasks, the M1 MBA is still the strongest value in the lineup especially if you take advantage of the $899 specials.

My guess is that the 13" TB MBP sells based on the prestige in having the "pro" name. Honestly, I'd much rather have a 15" M2 Air to cover the price range between the 13" MBA and the 14" MBP.

 

[GooseInTheCaboose]

My guess is that Apple is just trying to do right by the very few people who currently “need” the touchbar for their workflow (those who became to some extent dependent on it for their work during the time Apple released it)

It seems obvious they are phasing it out and because the form factor is not prime/new (no notch) I think the only people who should get it are those for whom the touch bar is top priority, and those folks should get this and find a way to not need it or an alternative soon..

Anyone else buying it, IMO, is not making an ideal choice

 

[Royksöpp]

They should really quit with the Pro crap and rename it the MacBook SE.

 

[jav6454]

Thermals is the biggest reason. Anybody using M1 MBA knows it throttles after a couple minutes of heavy loading. M2 is even hotter.

If you use the computer for graphics/video/audio editing, MBP 13 makes sense.

View attachment 2014601

Agreed on the thermals as the bigger die at same node process will yield more heat to dissipate.

 

[Steve121178]

It's a popular model for Enterprise users and the "default" option for a lot of companies issuing Macs.

 

[arcite]

Thermals is the biggest reason. Anybody using M1 MBA knows it throttles after a couple minutes of heavy loading. M2 is even hotter.

If you use the computer for graphics/video/audio editing, MBP 13 makes sense.

View attachment 2014601

I don't get why so many are overlooking this simple fact. It's physics people! Heat is bad for computer components over long duration. The extra battery capactiy in the pro is also a huge plus. Think about it; if you're unplugged and running something intensive; the Macbook air will run down EVEN FASTER given the smaller battery and lack of fan. Plus there are other considerations, like a stronger chasis design for the Pro 13, no notch.

Also:

$1199 Macbook Air:
8-Core CPU
8-Core GPU

$1299 13' Macbook Pro M2
8-Core CPU
10-Core GPU

----

Apple remains very clever with their pricing. For $100; I'd go for slightly more performance, larger battery (ie. several HOURS more), +fan, over the HD camera in the Air. But that's just me.

 

[Zdigital2015]

I literally have no idea.
MacBook Pro 13": 720p cam, stereo speakers, Touch Bar, 58,2 Wh = 17-20hrs battery life, no MagSafe, possibly with fan
Macbook Air 13": 1080p cam, quad speakers, no Touch Bar, 52,6 Wh = 15-18hrs battery life, MagSafe, possibly fanless

If anyone could explain, why would you pay slightly more for 13" Pro?

The price of the 8/512 M2 MBA and 13” M2 MBP are the same at $1499, so it’s a wash. The 256GB version might be a harder decision, though, but my days of buying 256GB Macs came to end back in 2020.

 

[yabeweb]

My guess is that Apple is just trying to do right by the very few people who currently “need” the touchbar for their workflow (those who became to some extent dependent on it for their work during the time Apple released it)

My guess is they have stock around that needs to be moved, to plugging in a newer chip makes it easier for them to sell it.

 

[TSE]

Something tells me the thermals on the M2 Air are going to be worse than the M1 Air.

-Same node size = not dramatically improved efficiency
-Higher clock speeds
-More GPU cores
-Smaller Chassis

All add up to worse thermals. I'm not saying the thermals are going to be BAD, but I think the 13" Pro is going to have more of a market of a lightweight, M2 computer that sustains performance than it did with the M1 Air.

 

[jav6454]

Something tells me the thermals on the M2 Air are going to be worse than the M1 Air.

-Same node size = not dramatically improved efficiency
-Higher clock speeds
-More GPU cores
-Smaller Chassis

All add up to worse thermals. I'm not saying the thermals are going to be BAD, but I think the 13" Pro is going to have more of a market of a lightweight, M2 computer that sustains performance than it did with the M1 Air.

Bigger die which means more heat creation.

 

[Mojohanna32]

Something tells me the thermals on the M2 Air are going to be worse than the M1 Air.

-Same node size = not dramatically improved efficiency
-Higher clock speeds
-More GPU cores
-Smaller Chassis

All add up to worse thermals. I'm not saying the thermals are going to be BAD, but I think the 13" Pro is going to have more of a market of a lightweight, M2 computer that sustains performance than it did with the M1 Air.

do we know for sure that the MBA M2 redesign does not better address the thermals as compared to the MBA M1? It seems like there are assuptions being made that nothing changed with the internal design of the MBA M2 vs M1.

 

[TSE]

do we know for sure that the MBA M2 redesign does not better address the thermals as compared to the MBA M1? It seems like there are assuptions being made that nothing changed with the internal design of the MBA M2 vs M1.

It's still assumptions because we don't have reviews yet. But... all of those factors I mentioned objectively, factually lead to more heat. The only thing Apple could do is improve the engineering on their cooling systems to counteract that, but... the Air is still passively cooled. So unless they engineer magic, which I would love them to, it's going to run hotter than the previous Airs.

Is it going to run HOT? No. Is it going to run hotter than M1 Airs? 99% likely.