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"What a strange-looking MacBook." That was my first thought when I first saw the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the new M2 chip at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino during . 
There wasn't anything particularly strange about it -- it looked like the last several models of 13-inch Apple laptops, both Pro and Air. But in the Apple Silicon era, I've become far more used to the company's new design language, which is built around flat, constructivist designs with sharper angles and a studied minimalism. That same design has since been applied to the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops, the 24-inch iMac and soon, the new . 

The M2 Air, with a bigger screen, better webcam and newer design is said to be arriving sometime in the next month. As both 13-inch laptops have the same M2 chip and a similar price, I won't consider this a complete review until I can test and compare the two systems side by side. 
















MacBook Pro (M2, 2022)































LikeM2 is faster than M1 chip in the same systemIncludes a fan for better cooling

Don't LikeDated design, with a lower-res webcamSmaller screen than the new M2 MacBook Air





This M2 MacBook Pro, despite being the newest MacBook you can buy right now (until the revamped MacBook Air goes on sale next month), has a gently rounded edge that tapers ever so slightly on the front side. It's a throwback design that can be traced back more than a decade, starting with the to the . 


Apple M2 vs. M1 vs. M1 Pro vs. M1 Max vs. M1 Ultra
















Apple M1





Apple M2





Apple M1 Pro





Apple M1 Max





Apple M1 Ultra











Total CPU cores





8





8





8 or 10





10





20









Performance cores





4





4





6 or 8





8





16









Efficiency cores





4





4





2





2





4









GPU cores





7 or 8





8 or 10





14 or 16





24 or 32





48 or 64









Neural engine cores





16





16





16





16





32









Maximum memory supported (UMA)





16GB





24GB





32GB





64GB





128GB









Peak memory bandwidth (GBps)





n/a





100





200





400





800









ProRes accelerators





None





1





1





2





4









Available in





MacBook Air (2021), iPad Pro (5th gen), iMac 24 (2021), Mac Mini





MacBook Air (2022), MacBook Pro 13 (2022)





MacBook Pro 14, MacBook Pro 16 (2021)





MacBook Pro 14, MacBook Pro 16 (2021), Mac Studio





Mac Studio










In fact, it looks just like the 13-inch MacBook Pro that was part of . Same body, same camera, same limited ports, same Touch Bar. Yes, this remains the last holdout of the Apple Touch Bar, a clever-but-underused second screen that's fallen out of favor. 

And that's exactly what this system is: The 2020 13-inch MacBook Pro, with the initial M1 chip swapped out for the new M2 chip. That makes it Apple's most powerful 13-inch laptop, and it will probably edge out the otherwise similar new M2 MacBook Air because its active cooling allows it to run at higher temperatures. 

Read more:

Dan Ackerman/CNET
Where the M2 fits in the lineup
But despite the hype, the M2 sits in a confusing spot in the Apple silicon hierarchy. It sits above the original M1 chip (which was available in two versions with different numbers of graphics cores), but below the M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra. The M1 Pro and M1 Max are available in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. The M1 Ultra, essentially two M1 Max chips side by side, is only available at the moment in the new Mac Studio desktop. 

Which of these chips will show up in an eventual revamp of the Mac Pro desktop, or a new big-screen iMac, is unknown. 

In the original M1 Mac lineup, I had the hardest time reconciling the 13-inch MacBook Pro with a target audience. It was more expensive than the practically identical M1 MacBook Air, while offering the Touch Bar, active cooling and a slightly brighter screen. For most people, the Air—even with a few upgrades—was a better choice. There's a reason I call the MacBook Air the most universally useful laptop you can buy. 

Dan Ackerman/CNET

With the new M2 MacBook Air right around the corner, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is an even tougher sell. The M2 Air has the newer design (plus cool colors), a slightly larger liquid retina display, now just as bright as the Pro, and a much-needed full HD webcam. This leaves the 13-inch MacBook Pro as the only Mac left with a substandard 720-pixel resolution webcam. 

But there are some reasons you may still want the 13-inch MacBook Pro over either the new MacBook Air or the much-more-expensive 14- or 16-inch MacBook Pro. We , and they include:
It's the last opportunity to get a Touch Bar MacBook.It's the smallest MacBook with the longest battery life (at least until we test the new Air model).It provides platform continuity for your company or creative shop.
























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MacBook Pro M2: Apple's New Chip Put to the Test






5:01




MacBook math: M2 Mac price comparisons 

The M2 MacBook Air is currently $1,299 (£1,349, AU$1,999) to start, compared with $1,199 (£1,249, AU$1,899) for the MacBook Pro. Both base models include 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage. That's a much less expensive way to get into a MacBook Pro than the 14-inch or 16-inch Pro models, which start at $1,999 and $2,499.

We tested the new M2 MacBook Pro and compared it to the nearly identical M1 13-inch MacBook Pro, as well as the 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro chip. As shown in the charts below, the M2 is a notable bump over the M1, but not as powerful as the next chip up on the chain, the M1 Pro. The last generation of Intel MacBook Pro was far behind, while a new (and expensive) premium with a 12th-gen Intel Core i7 and an Nvidia 3070Ti GPU was also faster. 

While we won't know for sure until we can test the M2 Air, based on our previous testing, I expect only minor performance differences between the M2 laptops. Both M2 laptops top out at 24GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. 

Dan Ackerman/CNET

In my hands-on experience, it felt like exactly what it is -- a modest internal bump to the M1 version. When the M1 chips launched, I was excited that I could easily edit and play back 4K video clips, only running into a little stuttering when I applied real-time effects and color correction in Premiere. The M2 version was even better, but not as good as the video editing we tried on our MacBook Pro and Mac Studio systems, using the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. 

I love the new MacBook Air design and its upgrades to the display and webcam. I suspect the 13-inch Pro will appeal to only a very specific subset of shoppers, such as those who want the better cooling and who want to jump into the Pro line without spending $2,000 or more. 

For everyone else, I'd suggest waiting to see what the M2 version of the MacBook Air can do when it arrives sometime in July. 

Originally published June 22, 2022. 
M2 MacBook Pro performance testing results 


Geekbench 5 (multicore)




Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch M1 Pro 2021)





12259



Razer Blade 15 (2022)





9861



Apple Macbook Pro (13-inch, M2, 2022)





8954



Apple Macbook Pro (13-inch M1, Office 2021)





7349



Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, Intel, 2020)





4179






Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance







Geekbench Metal




Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch M1 Pro 2021)





40631



Apple Macbook Pro (13-inch, M2, 2022)





29997



Apple Macbook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020)





21591



Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, Intel, 2020)





10343






Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance







Cinebench R23 (multicore)




Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch M1 Pro 2021)





12302



Razer Blade 15 (2022)





11224



Apple Macbook Pro (13-inch, M2, 2022)





8731



Apple Macbook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020)





7772



Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, Intel, 2020)





4564






Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance







3DMark Wild Life Extreme




Razer Blade 15 (2022)





19086



Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch M1 Pro 2021)





10264



Apple Macbook Pro (13-inch M2, 2022)





6800



Apple Macbook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020)





4977






Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance







JetStream2 (Safari)




Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch M1 Pro 2021)





243



Apple Macbook Pro (13-inch M2, 2022)





241



Apple Macbook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020)





241



Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, Intel, 2020)





141






Note:
Longer bars indicate better performance






System configurations









Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch M2, 2022)





MacOS Monterey 12.4; Apple M1 8-core chip; 16GB RAM; Apple 10-core GPU; 1TB SSD









Razer Blade 15 (2022)





Microsoft Windows 11 Home; 2.4GHz Intel Core i7-12800H; 16GB DDR5 4,800MH; 8GB Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070Ti; 1TB SSD









Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, M1 Pro 2021)





MacOS Monterey 12.4; Apple M1 Pro 10-core chip; 32GB RAM; Apple 16-core GPU; 1TB SSD









Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020)





MacOS Monterey 12.4 Apple M1 8-core chip; 16GB RAM; 8-core GPU; 1TB SSD









Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, Intel, 2020)





MacOS Monterey 12.4; 2GHz Intel Core i5-1038NG7; 16GB RAM; 1,536MB Intel Iris Plus Graphics; 512GB SSD